PLEASE NOTE:
Since this blog post was written, and certainly since the article in Front Page Magazine was published, there have been a considerable number of allegations and concerns raised about the probity of some of Eric Allen Bell’s statements in various media. Therefore although this post is being left up, Eric Allen Bell’s words should be treated with suspicion due to the concerns about his probity.
Thank you to the commenator who brought this to my attention, If the allegations against Mr Bell turn out to be false then I shall remove this warning. However it does appear that there are problems with Mr Bell’s words and actions.
Many people have in recent years made the journey from either being ambivalent about Islam to being outright sceptics and opponents of Islam. One person who has made such a journey, at great personal and professional cost is the documentary maker Eric Allen Bell.
He started out supporting the idea of a mosque being imposed on the citizens of the town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee in the USA, on the grounds of freedom of religion. But later, as he learned more about Islam became concerned that the documentary he was making on the mosque campaign was ‘dishonest’ and he felt he had to tell the truth about Islam. The cost to him was great. He has been vilified by the political Left and the terrorist spin masters of groups like Loonwatch. He has been told by colleagues and backers that he shouldn’t be telling the truth about Islam and he has had to invest in upgraded personal security.
Mr Bell says in Front Page Magazine
“Is the Liberal view that Stealth Jihad is just some whacky conspiracy theory really true? Who will win – free speech or the savagery of a growing mob hell bent on Jihad? I can only tell you this. I will not back down. I will not be bullied, threatened, coerced or terrorized by the “religion of peace”.
We each have a responsibility to the other people on this planet, and especially to those whom we will leave this planet to after we are gone. And this sometimes means taking an unpopular stand in order to protect the rights of innocent people. Loonwatch, CAIR and the other numerous terrorist spin control networks – you’ve not seen the end of me. Not by a long shot. As the saying goes, “You have a right to swing your fists, but that right ends when your fist connects with my nose”.
Mr Bell is correct and for his stand against Islam deserves to be supported. He is one of those thoughtful people of the centre-left that need to be listened to and welcomed, because he is not coming to Islamoscepticism because of prejudice or lack of knowledge, but instead he has changed his view on Islam through study. Please read the full article from Front Page Magazine which outlines his change of view and how he made his journey from accepting the lies of the promoters of Islam to boldly declaring that the pro-Islam emperor has no clothes.
Links
Original article from Front Page Magazine
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/eric-allen-bell/the-high-price-of-telling-the-truth-about-islam-1/
It seems that his journey from lies to truth with regards to Islam has upset his previously supportive leftist brethren. However, despite the sceptical tone which the HuffPo uses to describe Mr Bell change of view, he picks up support from the below the line commentators, including a heartfelt one from an Ex-Muslim, which is reproduced below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/23/murfreesboro-mosque-eric-allen-bell_n_1619422.html
Comment about Mr Bell from an Ex-Muslim. The writer criticises the HuffoPo for being against Mr Bell. They said:
“I think this article is totally wrong and the writer has no any knowledge in Islam. I am an ex-muslim from the Maldives and I can see how Islam is destroying our country. We were taught to hate all non muslims and as a consequence, Maldives has become an intolerant country now. If you read the history of India, then you will know what happened to India. It was simply because of Islam. Wherever you have Islam, Muslims try to increase the number and by the time they reach 20% they will start fighting for a seperate country. Then they will try to implement Sharia and they will never be happy implementing Sharia because the country will start going back stone age. Look at Pakistan, B’desh and Afghanistan, Iran. So do not blame Eric who is strying his best to unveil the truth.”
Eric Allen Bell is a liar, and a fraud.
Last year, he lied, and lied, and lied about his New Age beliefs, about his status with the FBI, about Pakistani death threats, about a fatwa, about a bounty on his head, and on, and on, and on.
Eric Allen Bell’s story is part of the public record, and so is his fraud.
I really do not understand why people are so willing to look the other way in the face of this man’s outrageous fraud, and lying.
He has been doing this for years now. The record is out there. You are being foolish.
Living Engine. I normally only take information from sources that I can trust and Front Page Magazine, which although I do not agree with everything it says, comes into one of those trusted, if polemical sources. I do not like being caught out by fraudsters and take reasonable care to avoid being caught by them.
Furthermore, I take with a pinch (or sometimes a bucketload) of salt attacks on counter jihad people from places like Loonwatch. The way that Loonwatch treats sensible and scholarly counterjihad activists like Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller means that I treat all criticism of people by Loonwatch as suspect and sometimes a loonwatch criticism has piqued my interest in a person.
I concur with you that there have been concerns about Mr Bell’s statements, especially those which can be seen as of an antisemitic nature (the ‘Jewish power’ conversation that is alleged to have happened). In Mr Bell’s favour however, he does come over as anti-religious per se and attacks Christians as well, in a similar way that Richard Dawkins attacks all religions and not just Christianity, Judiasm or Islam.
The Cult Education Forum has also raised concerns about Eric Bell.
There are most certainly issues of probity with Eric Bell which I wasn’t aware of when I wrote the original piece. As is normal, I did a check on Mr Bell so that I could be assured that I was not quoting from a neo-Nazi or a mental patient, or a ‘tin foil hatter.’ I searched for ‘dirt’ on Mr Bell but what came up was the usual array of Islamists and Leftist fellow travellers and Leftist media just ‘having a go’.
This blog has a policy of making reasonable corrections when an error has been pointed out so thank you for pointing out this error. I must say that I’m annoyed at being caught out by this plausible story of Bell’s.
The reason that I quoted Mr Bell’s story is that I have made a similar journey from Islamo agnostic to Islamosceptic, it is also a journey that friends who started out as socialist leaning have made.
I shall leave the original item up but I shall preface it with a warning. Sadly,the world of counterjihad like any other area can attract plausible charlatans such as Mr Bell.
In my defence, the Front Page Magazine article I quoted from predated the concerns raised about Mr Bell and the legitimate concerns that you have pointed out about Bell didn’t show up in my initial research on the filmaker.