Contact: Don Feder, 508-405-1337, Dixie Verum, 202-543-0300

NASHVILLE, Oct. 25, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Reacting to the news that Nashville's Hutton Hotel has cancelled "The Constitution or Sharia: Preserving Freedom Conference," scheduled for November 11, Chairman William J. Murray (Sharia Awareness Action Network, the conference organizer), declared: "Today the concept of free speech took yet another blow as radical Islamists celebrated their use of threats to stop a conference of free people holding open discussions. Who will the Islamists shut up next?"

Steve Eckley, Senior V.P. of Hotels for Amerimar Enterprises, informed Lou Ann Zelnick of the Tennessee Freedom Coalition that the hotel will refuse to honor its legally binding contract because of 'threats.' Murray said, "Apparently the Hutton Hotel and Amerimar Enterprises has become Sharia compliant by accepting the premise that no aspect of Islam may be criticized publicly."

Murray pointed out that another Amerimar property, St. Ermin's Hotel in London, frequently allows conferences on Sharia compliant finance. Last year a conference was held there on Sharia compliant life insurance. "Apparently the Hutton Hotel's parent company enjoys making money selling to Sharia compliant organizations in the U.K."

Murray concluded: "If the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) scheduled a conference at the Hutton, its management would never bow to pressure and cancel the event because the hotel is joined at the hip with Sharia in London. The Hutton is in effect saying that Christians and Jews who are concerned about the imposition of Sharia in this country are not allowed to speak out."

The planned Conference has attracted a stellar array of speakers, including: David French (American Center for Law and Justice), Frank Gaffney (Center for Security Policy), Pamela Geller (Stop Islamization of America and Atlas Shrugs) Fred Grandy (entertainer, former Congressman and talk show host), Rabbi Jonathan Hausman, Bishop Earl Jackson (STAND America), Andrea Lafferty (Traditional Values Coalition), Father Keith Roderick (Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights), Pastor Rick Scarborough (Vision America), Robert Spencer (Jihad Watch), Mathew Staver (Dean of the Liberty University Law School), Wafa Sultan (author and eminent critic of Islamism), Coptic Christian Joseph Nasralla, Bill Warner (Political Islam), Rep. Rick Womick (Tennessee Legislature) and Lou Ann Zelenik

The conference webpage is www.preservingfreedomconference.org.
For more information, contact: Don Feder 508-405-1337 or Dixie Verum 202-543-0300