Author, Sharia-ism Is Here: The Battle to Control Women and Everyone Else
Joy Brighton is a former Wall Street trader who today is part of an international team of experts concerned about the non-transparent risks of the Shariah-compliant Islamic finance investment market. She speaks with legal, policy, grassroots, and legislative leaders who are concerned about the challenge to America's national security, civil and women's rights, First Amendment freedoms, and free capital financial markets posed by Shariaism, the political movement of radical Islam. She is the author of Shariaism is Here: The Battle for Control of Women and Everyone Else, released January 2014.
Ms. Brighton is a graduate of Columbia Business School and has been a fixed-income salesperson and trader for Lehman Brothers, a mortgage pipeline hedge trader for Chase Home Mortgage, and an adjunct Professor of Securities and Investments at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Ramapo College. Later, as a graduate of Fordham University with a Master's in Psychological Counseling, Ms. Brighton worked as an executive coach catering to investment professionals and a college mental health counselor.
Senior Fellow, National Review
Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. During is 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. He is a columnist for The Hill, and his essays and book reviews appear frequently at The New Criterion. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion (Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).
Alexander M. Bickel Professor of Public Law, Yale Law School
Degrees from Davidson College, B.A. summa cum laude, 1973; Harvard University, M.A., 1974; Yale Law School, J.D, 1978. Clerked for Edward Weinfeld, 1978-79; Attorney at Shea & Gardner, 1979-82; Law Professor since 1982, tenured at Georgetown and Yale, visiting professor at Stanford, NYU, Toronto, Harvard, Columbia, Penn, Fordham, Vanderbilt. Author of casebooks on legislation and sexuality, gender and law, as well as monographs on statutory interpretation and the rights of sexual and gender minorities. Author of dozens of articles, by one empirical count a top ten most cited law professors.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
Alexander M. Bickel Professor of Public Law, Yale Law School
Degrees from Davidson College, B.A. summa cum laude, 1973; Harvard University, M.A., 1974; Yale Law School, J.D, 1978. Clerked for Edward Weinfeld, 1978-79; Attorney at Shea & Gardner, 1979-82; Law Professor since 1982, tenured at Georgetown and Yale, visiting professor at Stanford, NYU, Toronto, Harvard, Columbia, Penn, Fordham, Vanderbilt. Author of casebooks on legislation and sexuality, gender and law, as well as monographs on statutory interpretation and the rights of sexual and gender minorities. Author of dozens of articles, by one empirical count a top ten most cited law professors.
Of Counsel, Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider & Stine P.C.
Elizabeth K. (Betsy) Dorminey is of counsel with the firm. She received a B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Georgia in 1976, a license ès lettres from the Sorbonne in 1978, a J.D. from UGA’s Law School in 1981, and an LL.M. from Columbia in 1984. She clerked for the Hon. Ed Carnes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and worked for the U.S. Departments of Justice and Commerce prior to joining the firm. Ms. Dorminey is a member of the State Bars of Georgia, Connecticut, and New York, and is admitted to practice in Federal District and Appellate Courts throughout the Southeast. With Larry Stine and Mark Waschak, she is co-author of “Occupational Safety & Health Law: Compliance and Practice” (Thomson/West 2008). Her practice concentrates in all aspects of employer defense, including but not limited to litigation the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII employment discrimination, and occupational safety and health. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Labor & Employment Practice Group of the Federalist Society, and serves on the Board of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
Founder & President, Alliance of Iranian Women
Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, an organization that informs world governments and human rights groups of the plight of women and children in Iran. During the Iranian revolution Manda witnessed the execution of many innocent people, the basic human rights of the women of Iran being brutally taken from them, and her homeland reverting back to 6th century Arabia.
Manda Zand Ervin has currently been working to inform Western governments about the plight of the women of Iran under Islamic law. She meets regularly with the members of the European Parliament and American Congress. In 2003 she garnered support from US Senators to pass a resolution on the Human rights of the women of Iran. She is frequently interviewed on national and international television and radio programs such as CNN, BBC, Radio France, VOA, and video America . She also lectures at Universities and conferences on the equal rights of women, human rights, and Islamic Sharia law. In February of 2008 Manda was appointed, by the President of the United States, as the United States’ Delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women.
Former Member, Danish Parliament
Naser Khader was born the 1st of July 1963 in Damascus, Syria. His father was Palestinian and his mother Syrian. His family lived a couple of years in Palestine and Jordan before they moved to Syria, where Naser Khader went to school.
When Naser Khader was 11 years old he moved to Denmark with his mother and siblings. His father had already been living in Denmark for a while when they came to live with him in the country where his father had managed to find a job. Naser Khader and his family became integrated into the Danish society.
Naser Khader has a master in economics from Copenhagen University. At the moment he studies theology also at the University of Copenhagen.
From 2001 - 2011 he was a member of the Danish parliament, Folketinget. His main political key issues are freedom of speech, the fight for democracy and democratic values in a multicultural society - subjects that have been intensively discussed in Denmark - particularly after the cartoon crisis in 2006. Naser Khader is member of The Conservative Party and he was spokesman of foreign policy and integration for the party. He has written several books about Islam and integration, he attends many debates, gives lectures and is often appears as an expert regarding the issues on Danish television and other medias.
Naser Khader has been awarded several prizes in recognition of his fight for the right to freedom of speech, secularity, and integration of immigrants into the Danish culture. Furthermore, he is the Co-Founder of the Association of Democratic Muslims in Denmark.
Naser Khader has a sincere interest in the “Arab Spring”, due to his origins and still having family living in Syria. This summer he therefore went to Syria and brought home much documentation (i.e. on video) of how the people in reality are being treated by the Assad regime and how they are fighting against the regime. He is considered one of Denmark’s leading experts in Middle East affairs, and he was one of the first to talk about an emerging civil courage amongst the civilians in the Arab countries (before the Arab spring).
With three phrases Naser Khaders describes himself primarily as a fanatic democrat, secondly as a Danish citizen and thirdly as cultural Muslim "ultra light".
Partner, Baker Hostetler LLP
David Rivkin is a member of the firm's litigation, international and environmental teams and is co-leader of the firm's national appellate practice. He has extensive experience in constitutional, administrative and international law litigation and has been involved in numerous high-profile cases. With his prior experience in the government sector, David draws on a wealth of knowledge when providing compliance advice to companies and handling enforcement proceedings before government agencies on issues arising out of multilateral and unilateral sanctions, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-boycott issues, bankruptcy and financial fraud matters, and environmental and energy issues.
David has developed and implemented legislative, regulatory and litigation initiatives for two presidential administrations. Over the years, he has published hundreds of articles, op-eds, book reviews and book chapters on a variety of international, legal, constitutional, defense, arms control, foreign policy, environmental and energy issues for various newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times, and has been a frequent commentator and guest on TV and radio shows including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR and PBS.
Founder & President, Alliance of Iranian Women
Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, an organization that informs world governments and human rights groups of the plight of women and children in Iran. During the Iranian revolution Manda witnessed the execution of many innocent people, the basic human rights of the women of Iran being brutally taken from them, and her homeland reverting back to 6th century Arabia.
Manda Zand Ervin has currently been working to inform Western governments about the plight of the women of Iran under Islamic law. She meets regularly with the members of the European Parliament and American Congress. In 2003 she garnered support from US Senators to pass a resolution on the Human rights of the women of Iran. She is frequently interviewed on national and international television and radio programs such as CNN, BBC, Radio France, VOA, and video America . She also lectures at Universities and conferences on the equal rights of women, human rights, and Islamic Sharia law. In February of 2008 Manda was appointed, by the President of the United States, as the United States’ Delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women.
Former Member, Danish Parliament
Naser Khader was born the 1st of July 1963 in Damascus, Syria. His father was Palestinian and his mother Syrian. His family lived a couple of years in Palestine and Jordan before they moved to Syria, where Naser Khader went to school.
When Naser Khader was 11 years old he moved to Denmark with his mother and siblings. His father had already been living in Denmark for a while when they came to live with him in the country where his father had managed to find a job. Naser Khader and his family became integrated into the Danish society.
Naser Khader has a master in economics from Copenhagen University. At the moment he studies theology also at the University of Copenhagen.
From 2001 - 2011 he was a member of the Danish parliament, Folketinget. His main political key issues are freedom of speech, the fight for democracy and democratic values in a multicultural society - subjects that have been intensively discussed in Denmark - particularly after the cartoon crisis in 2006. Naser Khader is member of The Conservative Party and he was spokesman of foreign policy and integration for the party. He has written several books about Islam and integration, he attends many debates, gives lectures and is often appears as an expert regarding the issues on Danish television and other medias.
Naser Khader has been awarded several prizes in recognition of his fight for the right to freedom of speech, secularity, and integration of immigrants into the Danish culture. Furthermore, he is the Co-Founder of the Association of Democratic Muslims in Denmark.
Naser Khader has a sincere interest in the “Arab Spring”, due to his origins and still having family living in Syria. This summer he therefore went to Syria and brought home much documentation (i.e. on video) of how the people in reality are being treated by the Assad regime and how they are fighting against the regime. He is considered one of Denmark’s leading experts in Middle East affairs, and he was one of the first to talk about an emerging civil courage amongst the civilians in the Arab countries (before the Arab spring).
With three phrases Naser Khaders describes himself primarily as a fanatic democrat, secondly as a Danish citizen and thirdly as cultural Muslim "ultra light".
Partner, Baker Hostetler LLP
David Rivkin is a member of the firm's litigation, international and environmental teams and is co-leader of the firm's national appellate practice. He has extensive experience in constitutional, administrative and international law litigation and has been involved in numerous high-profile cases. With his prior experience in the government sector, David draws on a wealth of knowledge when providing compliance advice to companies and handling enforcement proceedings before government agencies on issues arising out of multilateral and unilateral sanctions, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-boycott issues, bankruptcy and financial fraud matters, and environmental and energy issues.
David has developed and implemented legislative, regulatory and litigation initiatives for two presidential administrations. Over the years, he has published hundreds of articles, op-eds, book reviews and book chapters on a variety of international, legal, constitutional, defense, arms control, foreign policy, environmental and energy issues for various newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times, and has been a frequent commentator and guest on TV and radio shows including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR and PBS.
Author and Columnist
Bruce Bawer is the author of several books, including the bestselling While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within (2006), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom (2009). His earlier books include the influential A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society (1993), which was a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”; Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity (1997); and several volumes of literary criticism, film criticism, and poetry. His essays have appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, The New York Times Magazine, The American Scholar, Newsweek, The Wilson Quarterly, Standpoint, City Journal, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and he has been a prolific book reviewer, contributing regularly to The New Criterion, The Hudson Review, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a native New Yorker, holds a doctorate in English from Stony Brook University, and has lived in Norway for over a decade. His website is http://www.brucebawer.com.
Barrister
Paul Diamond is a barrister who practices in the field of the law of religious liberty. He is one of Britain’s and Europe’s leading attorneys in this area. He has been instructed in some of the most controversial cases; for example, the case of the British Airways employee who was prevented from wearing a Cross (whilst other religious groups were permitted to manifest their faith), the right to free religious speech during a General Election by the ProLife Alliance and in cases over the repeated clash between the religious rights of individuals and the same sex agenda. In his recent major case, on the right of a Christian marriage counselor to be exempted from the counseling of same sex partners, he acted on behalf of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey. Paul’s counsel is sought after by a number of religious leaders and organizations.
The rapid growth of the militant secular agenda which seek to remove religious values from public life has turned a rather specialist and sleepy area of law into the front line in the battle to maintain Judeo Christian civilized values. This gave the opportunity to Paul to develop his legal skills.
Paul was always fascinated with the issue of religion and felt the call of God in his life. After studying Middle East Government, Paul attended Magdalene College, Cambridge to study law. From there, he won a scholarship to the Hague Academy of International Law, The Netherlands. An early article by Paul, attracted the attention of Lord Denning (the most famous British Judge) who openly supported Paul’s arguments. He commenced practice thereafter and has appeared before all levels of court including the House of Lords.
Early in his career, he became the barrister to the Keep Sunday Special Campaign (until the mid 1990s, Britain had a ban on Sunday trading and the campaign sought to keep Sundays as a ‘day of rest’). As standing Counsel, Paul handled many leading controversial cases and built a reputation for his future work in religious liberties. The issue of Sunday working was one that directly affected family life as the pressures on low income families to work has become relentless in recent years.
Paul has been involved in a number of controversial cases. In 2009, he was instructed to prevent a Hizbollah terrorist from entering the United Kingdom by the use of the threat of an international arrest warrant; and in 2011, Vladimir Bukovsky, the famous Soviet dissident instructed Paul to seek legal redress against former Soviet President Gorbachev.
Vicar of St Mary, Australia
Mark Durie completed an Arts Degree with First Class Honours and a University Medal in Germanic Languages and Linguistics. He gained his PhD in Linguistics from the Australian National University in 1984 with a study of the language of the Acehnese, a Muslim people of Indonesia. He conducted field research trips in Aceh during the 1980’s and 1990’s, producing several books, and many research articles. The dialects he documented were among those obliterated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004.
Dr. Durie was a visiting researcher at the University of Leiden in 1985, investigating the Dutch Acehnese manuscripts, many of which are concerned with Islamic jihad. Then he spent two years as a Harkness Fellow in the USA, holding positions as visiting researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Los Angeles and Stanford University. After coming to Melbourne, Dr. Durie became Head of the Department of Linguistics and Language Studies before taking up an Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellowship in the mid 1990’s. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 1991, and awarded an Australian Centennial Medal in 2001 for contributions to linguistics.
After a change in career, Dr. Durie now works as the Vicar of St Mary’s Anglican Church, Caulfield in Melbourne. He is a human rights activist, writing and speaking extensively in Australia and internationally on issues relating to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the persecution of religious minorities, particularly Christians living under the Islamic sharia. He speaks across Australia and internationally on Islam. He also writes on issues related to world missions, interfaith dialogue and religious conflict. His book Revelation: do we worship the same God? was published by CityHarvest in July 2006 and is into its second edition. His latest books The Third Choice and Liberty to the Captives, appeared in 2010. They are on understanding Islam, the experience of non-Muslims living under Islamic rule, and how to find spiritual freedom in the face of the challenge of Islam.
Sharia Law in the United States
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Elizabeth K. Dorminey
Introduction France and the U.S. have much in common. Both nations share a commitment to...
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Irvine, CaliforniaKeynote Address and Commentary: Where Are the Muslim Moderates?
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Manda Zand Ervin, Naser Khader, David B. Rivkin
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Panel II: Growing Repression in the West
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