From Fundamentalist Christian to Islamic Terrorist

Adam Yahiye Gadahn (born September 1, 1978) is an American-born man who is suspected of being a member of the Al Qaeda organization. He is notable for his suspected appearances as "Azzam the American", a spokesperson in videotapes which claim to be messages from Al Qaeda to the United States.

Gadahn was born Adam Pearlman, the son of musician Phil Pearlman. Gadahn's family raised goats on a farm in Riverside County, California and butchered the goats in accordance with halal food requirements for sale to Muslim groceries. Gadahn's Jewish grandfather was a prominent surgeon named Pearlman but Gadahn's father converted to Christianity and changed his name to "Gadahn", derived from the name of the Biblical figure "Gideon". He was homeschooled until 15, when he moved in with his grandparents in Santa Ana, California. Gadahn was fond of heavy metal music and later briefly listened to fringe fundamentalist Christian radio stations before converting to Islam.

In late October 2004, ABC News broadcast a 75-minute videotape of a man who identified himself as "Azzam the American" threatening the United States with terrorist attacks. After the network played excerpts of the video, Haitham Bundjaki, the mosque chairman who served as a witness during Gadahn's conversion to Islam, told law enforcement officials that he believed the man in the video was Gadahn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Yahiye_Gadahn


Azzam the American

Conservative

I used to work in a state mental hospital down south in the old days before deinstitutionalization put them all out onto the street, and god craziness was the predominant form of craziness in the place.

There was a mixed bag, really, of substance abusers, depressives, elderly folks with dementias of various types, and schizophrenics but all the truly crazy ones were god crazy.

Talking in tongues in the wingnut churches (this was the south, after all) was seen as normal behavior. Testifying on the street and talking in tongues to strangers was considered proof of insanity (which it was) and provided a quick ticket to the nuthouse for an evaluation.

Now we let them wander around and vote Repuglican.

from Christian Fundie to Muslim Fundie.