Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) on Tuesday informed Muslim leaders they were complicit in terrorism unless they perpetually denounced such acts.

“When the most devastating terrorist attacks on America in the last 20 years come overwhelmingly from people of a single faith and are performed in the name of that faith, a special obligation falls on those that are the leaders of that faith,” he said on the House floor. “Instead of responding, silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow.”

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Pompeo said to avoid being complicit in terrorism, Muslim leaders must make frequent and public remarks condemning violence in their mosques and madrasas.

“Every Muslim leader must unequivocally proclaim that terror committed in the name of Islam violates the core tenets of the Prophet Muhammad and they must do so repeatedly. Period,” he said.

Pompeo claimed that Christian leaders had denounced the Westboro Baptist Church. He also noted that Pope John Paul apologized for the Catholic Church’s reluctance to condemn Nazism.

“Just as these religious leaders have called out those who have killed and acted brutally in the name of their faith, so too must Muslim religious leaders refute terrorist theology,” he said.

The liberal blog Think Progress noted that Muslim leaders in the United States had repeatedly denounced acts of terrorism, and the Muslim community had even helped prevent terrorist attacks.

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