Baptist says Muslims want to conquer U.S.*

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A prominent Midwest Baptist
preacher claimed in a speech this week that Muslims wanted to conquer
the United States.

The Rev. David Clippard told the Missouri Baptist Convention's annual
meeting Mnday night at Southeast Missouri State, that he believed Islam
was the greatest threat facing the United States, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday.

"Today, Islam has a strategic plan to defeat and occupy America,"
Clippord said. According to the Post-Dispatch report, many members of
the 1,200 church activists in his audience "cheered his words."

Clippard claimed that the Saudi Arabian government and royal family had
financed teaching positions and 138 Muslim student centers on university
campuses across the United States. "What they are after is your sons and
daughters," he said. "They are coming to this country in the guise of
students, and the Saudi government is paying their expenses."

The Post-Dispatch described Clippard as "the executive director of the
state Convention, a fellowship of 2,000 congregations who cooperate with
the 16-million member Southern Baptist Convention, the largest
Protestant denomination in the United States."

Clippard said that Muslims wanted to take over the United States one
city at a time, and that they were starting with Detroit. "They are
trying to establish a Muslim state inside America, and they are going to
take the city of Detroit back to the 15th century and practice Sharia
(or Islamic) law there," he said according to the Post-Dispatch report.

In an interview Tuesday, Clippard told the newspaper he believed the
Islamic "strategy for taking over America" was to wait until there was a
Muslim majority here and then "eradicate those who don't conform to
their religion."