The Daily Sigh

Marley The Mook Makes Moronic Moves (and outright lies)

A Taylor Township board member -– who in an interview called Islam an “evil religion” and criticized Democrats for “supporting homosexuals” –- was caught on video this week in a physical altercation with a protester during an event advertised as unveiling “The Truth on Islam.”

Board member Bob Marley was videotaped Wednesday night confronting a group of protesters, and in one instance bumping chests with a protester, in the midst of an anti-Islam speech at Solid Rock Ministries in Kokomo.

The program, which was in part planned by Marley, featured speaker Usama Dakdok and his message that Islam is “quickly infiltrating the West,” according to the website of Dakdok’s ministry.

The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Dakdok's The Straight Way of Grace Ministry of Venice, Florida, as a hate group.

The video, posted on former Indiana House District 30 candidate Natalie Guest’s Facebook page, shows the protesters, many of whom carried signs, moving from the back of the church around the right side of the congregation.

After multiple protesters turn the corner toward the front of the room, Marley can be seen confronting a protester. Both men square up, chest-to-chest, and aggressively push into each other before the protester walks away and Marley is grabbed by another attendee.  

Dakdok, in a room roughly one-quarter full, can be heard yelling, “You’re stupid, you’re stupid,” and calling the protester, who said he was a military veteran, “a piece of trash.” The protester, who could not be reached for comment, yells back at Dakdok, calling him a “fool.”

Marley, a Democrat who said he is considering a switch to the Republican Party because he’s tired of Democrats supporting homosexuals and abortion, is again restrained at the end of the 1-minute-and-36-second video after telling protesters they “can’t take the truth.”

In an interview Thursday, one day after the event, Marley defended his actions, saying he was only trying to protect his church and that “being an elected official, I do my job there. Being a church member trying to have a church service, I do my job there.

“I didn’t have a problem with them protesting. They had their right to do that as well as we had our right to have a certain speaker,” he said. “But I think they crossed a boundary when they wanted to interrupt the service inside the church.”

“All I was trying to do was defend the right of the church to have their own service without people coming in and waving flags and being disruptive,” he added later. “They should’ve stayed for the whole service and could’ve learned something.”

Marley also defended Solid Rock as “no hate church or anything like it. It’s just that we believe there’s a serious problem that most American people are not aware of.” He also urged people to read the Quran, the contents of which he believes threaten local residents as infidels.

Marley was elected in 2014 to a four-year term as a Taylor Township board member, with 1,086 votes.

“If you think a person can be overly aggressive trying to stop people from disrupting a church service, then you can think that,” said Marley about the altercation. “But if you don’t think a person, a member of the church, defending the pastor, defending the church, defending the speaker, defending people -- you know what? I’m 73 years old. Now, really.

“These people were all young people. And the gentleman was arguing with me –- I’m in my church trying to have a church service. He’s the one that came in and was the aggressor. Not me. I’m just trying to defend myself and the church.”

Marley went on to provide his opinion on Islam, which he believes is unrepresentative of the local community and nation as a whole.

“We just feel like there is a problem with the Islam religion, but you have to really get into it and study the Quran,” he said. “A lot of people find fault with people being –- we’re not anti-Muslim, we’re anti-Islam religion.

“You know, ISCED is the truest form of the Islam religion almost. They’re called radical Islam; now I don’t see any radical Christian people going out in groups and beheading people … I believe that Islam, in the truest form, that Islam is an evil religion.”

Despite those statements, Marley said he prays for Muslims, specifically for them to become Christians. And he noted that his beliefs about Islam would not get in the way of his job as a Taylor Township board member.

“If a person lives in Taylor Township and they say they’re a Muslim person, I would not hesitate to help them if they needed help, in a heartbeat,” he said.

“I have nothing against Muslim people, so-called Muslim people. In my mind, there’s a difference between Muslim people and someone that truly practices the Islam law and knows what the Quran says.”

In a brief interview, Taylor Township Trustee Paul Munoz said Marley’s beliefs do not reflect those of the township or its board.

“[Marley] chose to do that on his own, and it does not involve the trustee’s office or is it the opinion of the trustee’s office whatsoever,” said Munoz.

“That’s not our feelings as an office in what we believe in … Those are his opinions solely, those are not the opinions of our office. And that’s why we were not involved in that, and we stayed clear of anything to do with that event or those opinions that he has.”

In a statement, Howard County Democratic Party Vice Chairman Steve Geiselman expressed the party’s opposition to Marley’s comments and Wednesday night’s event.

“Bob Marley has not been active in the Democratic Party since before 2015 and really didn't become active at all until he decided to run for office in 2014,” said Geiselman. “His beliefs and views certainly don’t represent the Howard County Democratic Party. We value respect, inclusion and dignity for people of all faiths, beliefs and orientations.

“While I was not at the event Wednesday night, I have seen some of the hateful messages the featured speaker has put online attacking people of the Islamic faith. That hate has no place in our community, and the Howard Democratic Party will always speak out against it.”