April 26, 2007—Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02), with several other Members of the House of Representatives, attended a Congressional film screening last night featuring the PBS documentary entitled “Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center.”  Initially, the documentary was to be featured as part of a series that PBS began airing last week, but PBS refuses to show it. 

Franks said, “It is unfathomable that PBS has chosen to censure a film which so powerfully encapsulates a message every person needs to hear.  The network’s censorship of this documentary is one of the best examples to date of how the media refuses to acknowledge free speech being used to reveal the truth about crucial issues when they are deemed politically incorrect.”

Dr. Zhoudi Jasser, Chairman of the Board of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), is among those featured prominently in the film, and spoke along with Congressman Franks after the screening last night. 

Rep. Franks commented, “As a dedicated practicing Muslim, Dr. Jasser is among the most credible and articulate individuals willing to publicly address the danger of radical jihadist ideology dressed in the garb of religious faith.  The last thing anyone should be doing is preventing the public from hearing a message that encourages Muslims who uphold the rule of law, love America, and privately and peacefully exercise their religion, to step forward and condemn virulent perversions of their faith.”

Congressman Franks will be joining with several other Members of Congress in a bi-partisan letter, to address their serious concern regarding PBS’s decision to drop the film.

Congressman Franks is serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Readiness Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary, and is Ranking Member on the Constitution Subcommittee.