Longtime adversaries Norquist and Gaffney continue ideological battle at conservative conference

At this weekend’s Awakening conference in Lynchburg, Va., a longstanding ideological battle continued between Grover Norquist, president of the taxpayer advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, and his longtime foes, anti-Sharia activist Frank Gaffney.

During a panel discussion on “Sharia Law and the Constitution,” Gaffney blamed Norquist, who is married to a Muslim, for “enabling and empowering Muslim Brotherhood influence operations against our movement and our country,” as reported by ThinkProgress’ Scott Keyes.

Gaffney inserted Norquist’s image in a PowerPower presentation on the influence of radical Muslims and told the audience, “This is how that has happened.”

Watch the video:

In a separate interview with ThinkProgress, Norquist accused Gaffney of waging “a direct attack on religious liberty.”

Asked if the concern of Sharia law will play a constructive role for the GOP, Norquist told Keyes: “I don’t know that it’s having much impact one way or another. The challenge there is a religious liberty issue. When you say, we’re going to start telling people you can’t build a church, a synagogue or a mosque somewhere, that’s a direct attack on religious liberty.

Listen to the interview: