Robert Morey

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Robert Morey is a Christian apologist and pastor who has written a number of books and pamphlets. He strongly criticises Islam, Wicca, and non-Evangelical Christian beliefs. He is the founder, executive officer, and primary faculty member of the California Biblical University and Seminary,^[1] an unaccredited school offering distance education programs under Morey and adjunct faculty.

1 Biography
2 Controversy and criticism
3 Works
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Morey runs Faith Defenders, an organization dedicated to Christian apologetics and is the pastor of the related Faith Community Church in Irvine, California.^[2] He received a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Westminster Theological Seminary and was trained under Francis Schaeffer, Gordon Clark, Cornelius Van Til, and John Murray.^[3] He also claims to have a Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Studies from the unaccredited Louisiana Baptist University,^[1]^[3] (but elsewhere he has said it is actually a doctorate in theology with an emphasis on Islam)^[2] and a Doctor of Divinity, usually an honorary degree bestowed upon someone who has made distinguished contributions to the field of religion, from Faith Theological Seminary in Gujranwala, Pakistan,^[1] but there is some controversy over whether this degree was bestowed (and later rescinded) with the proper authority.^[2]^[4]

Morey worked closely with the late Walter Martin of the Christian Research Institute in producing a series called "Doctrinal Errors of the Church of Christ."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Controversy and criticism

[edit] Dirty bombs in the United States

In March 2002, Morey was interviewed by Mark Ellis, assistant pastor at Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Laguna Beach. Based on that conversation, Ellis wrote "Islam Expert Warns of [Three] Nuclear Terror Devices Inside U.S.," an article for the Christian news service ASSIST.^[2] Morey explained in the interview "I have Middle Eastern friends throughout the U.S. who continually feed me information as to what the terrorists are up to". "I, in turn, feed that information to the FBI and Naval Intelligence. I’ve been right so many times the FBI showed up at my house, suspicious as to whether or not I was somehow involved—because I knew too much. I simply pointed out to them they don’t have their ear to the ground in the Middle Eastern community."^[2]

[edit] Anti-Islamic comic book

In Spring 2006 the Fullerton, California based Davidson Press and Morey fought over the rights to publish the comic book Mohammed’s Believe It or Else!.^[5] Davidson Press allowed internet users to download the comics for free until the Danish cartoons controversy drew interest to anti-Islamic comic books (the website went from 1,000 visitors to 180,000 visitors a week). At that point "Morey — who owns the copyright to MBIE—demanded that Davidson Press cease free distribution" and "refused Davidson Press’s demand to be reimbursed for the costs of translating MBIE into 34 languages and maintaining islamcomicbook.com."^[5]

Davidson accused Morey stopped the free downloading for money, which is on sale for $6.95 on Morey’s website.^[5] The publisher accused Morey of having "questionable ethics," but still recommends his books.^[5]

[edit] Anti-Islamic writings

Morey told "a San Diego church he had advised the State Department to blow up the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina if they wanted to win the war on terror quickly."^[2]

Robert Morey has written several books condemning Islam. One controversial book entitled "The Islamic Invasion", which is printed by Chick Publications, makes several controversial claims such as Allah not being the same God as that of the Christian Bible, that Muhammad was not God's prophet and that the Quran doesn't contain the words of God. As religious scholars agree that Islam is one of the Abrahamic religions, these claims are in opposition to accepted theological positions. Publication of the book by Chick Publications, which is owned by the evangelical tract maker Jack Chick, is consistent with the overall tenor of books published by Chick, as he and Alberto Rivera ignited the Vatican Islam Conspiracy.^[6]

Morey has also written predictions that World War III will be caused by Islam.^[7] Daniel Pipes said of Morey in a 1998 Middle East Quarterly book review^[8] that Robert Morey "sees Islam primarily as 'a form of cultural imperialism' that seeks to impose the ways of seventh-century Arabia on twentieth-century America." A detailed (18 page) criticism of Morey's methods has been written by Shabbir Ali, President of the Islamic Information and Da’wah Centre International,Toronto,Canada, who charges Morey with deception, contradictions, and poor scholarship.^[9]

One of the better known and most controversial assertions Morey made about Islam is that Allah is actually the ancient moon god Hubal, a deity of Sumerian origin which was later adopted throughout the Middle East, including throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Morey presents two main arguments for this idea; linguistic and archeological. The linguistic argument is based on Morey's assertion that the same name was used for pre-Islamic gods and the God of Islam (Allah). Morey asserts that the word used was al-ilah, later shortned to allaah, citing Carleton S. Coon as his source. Coon, however, states otherwise - that Ilah, the general term for "god", became Al-Ilah, "The God", or Allaah, the "Supreme Being".^[9] Morey cites a 1950s era archeological excavation in Hazor, Israel, in what was ancient Galilee in which a decapitated male statue was unearthed which some archeologists thought might be Hubal. This assertion has been declared probably inaccurate by Islamic groups such as Islamic Awareness, who also question the connection Morey states exists between Hubal and Allah.^[10]

[edit] Claims against atheists

Jon Nelson also has criticized Morey for incorrect quotes.^[11] Nelson explained in Morey's The New Atheism (1986) quoted Nicholas Capaldi's book The Art of Deception as an example of atheist deception, but the "problem is that Capaldi never says this (or anything like it) on this or on any other page. Morey has numerous other false quotes attributed to Capaldi, such as: 'Refuse to be convinced. Even if you feel that he has a good argument and that your case is weaker, refuse to be convinced of your opponent's case'. Nowhere does Capaldi advocate, as Morey accuses him of doing, that atheists should 'use any invalid or deceptive argument as long as it helps him (to) win his case.'^[11] Nelson described "However, Morey has an 'out'. There are no actual quotation marks on these alleged quotes." Furthermore, "most theists will not be dissuaded from their beliefs by any amount of contrary evidence. Although they will never admit it, it is obvious that comfort is more important to them than intellectual integrity."^[11]

On "The Infidel Guy" radio program, Morey also debated Erik Wielenberg of DePauw University on whether or not atheism is a sustainable and logical position.

[edit] Works

The Dooyeweerdian concept of the word of God. Nutley, N.J.: Presbyterian & Reformed Pub. Co., 1974.
How to answer a Jehovah's Witness. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1980. ISBN 0871232065
Horoscopes and the Christian. Minneapolis, Minn. : Bethany House, 1981. ISBN 0871232022
How to answer a Mormon. Minneapolis, Minn: Bethany House, 1983. ISBN 087123260X
Death and the Afterlife. Minneapolis, Minn: Bethany House, 1984
The new atheism and the erosion of freedom. Minneapolis, MN : Bethany House, 1986. ISBN 0871238896 : 9780871238894
The origins and teachings of Freemasonry. Southbridge, Mass.: Crowne Publications, 1990. ISBN 0925703281
Islam unveiled: the true desert storm. Shermans Dale, PA: Scholars Press, 1991. ISBN 0962939404
The Islamic Invasion: Confronting the world's fastest growing religion. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House, 1992. ISBN 0890819831
The truth about masons. Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1565070771
Satan's devices Eugene, Or.: Harvest House, 1993. ISBN 0890818819
The moon-god Allah in the archeology of the Middle East. Newport, PA : Research and Education Foundation, 1994.
Fearing God : the key to the treasure house of heaven. Yorba Linda, CA: Davidson Press, 1999. ISBN 1891833529
An Open Letter to Muslims Orange, CA : Faith Defenders, 2001.
Muhammad the racist prophet. Orange, CA: Faith Defenders, [ca. 2001]
Who owns the land of Israel? Orange, CA: Faith Defenders, ca. 2001
Winning the War Against Radical Islam. Christian Scholars Press, 2002. ISBN 1-931230-08-0
The Encyclopedia of Practical Christianity. Las Vegas, Nev.: Christian Scholars Press, 2003. ISBN 1931230110