Ground Zero Mosque and Qur'an Burning

Muslim Bashers 'Bring Dishonor to the Name of Jesus Christ,' Says Evangelical Leader

September 7, 2010

CNSNews.com - A group of religious leaders joined Muslims in denouncing what they call “derision” and “bigotry” being directed at American Muslims as a result of the proposed ground zero mosque and Islamic cultural center. One evangelical leader in the group said those who have spread misinformation about Muslims in America “bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ,” while a Reverend at the press conference said “Christians in the West” have “mostly been responsible” for the “intolerant” rhetoric toward Muslims.

"To those who would exercise derision, you see, bigotry, open rejection of our fellow Americans for their religious faith, I say, shame on you. As an evangelical, I say, to those who do this, I say, 'you bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ. You directly disobey his commandment to love our neighbor," said Richard Cizik, President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good at the National Press Club during a press conference sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

“You violate the command, you see, not to bear false witness and not least of all, you drive the watching world further away from any interest in our Gospel message.”

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington says leaders of all religions cannot allow American Muslims to be publicly criticized for their faith.

“Religious leaders cannot stand by in silence when things like this are happening; when things like this are affecting the – so many good, wonderful people around our country who have brought Islam to these shores and who are playing a role in our society, which is constructive and which is excellent,” he said.

“I think we have to reach out to them and say, ‘look, we’re happy you’re here. We love you and we understand that you bearing false witness against your neighbor is against the Qur’an, is against the Bible, is against the Gospels and this is why we’re here so we have to be here.’”

Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches said Christians in the West have often been responsible for anti-Muslim rhetoric in America.

“Christians in the West have often been responsible for the kind of intolerant rhetoric that we now hear from various places in this country,” said Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon.

“So, it’s important for us as a Christian community to say an unequivocal no, that is not who we are. Our own faith calls on us to bear, not false witness, but true witness and that means to speak out on behalf of Islam, for example, as a peace loving and peace teaching faith and to say that these are indeed our brothers and sisters.”

During the press conference, the General Secretary of the organization, American Baptists Churches said Baptists have made “some of the most offensive statements” about Muslims.

“Some of the most offensive statements about Islam, unfortunately, have come forth from the Baptist community and, therefore, some of us as Baptist leaders felt that it was important for us to join with ISNA and with our Muslim brothers and sisters in order to put together our program that would help us with this very issue in our local congregation of understanding other faiths; in this particular point, the Islamic faith,” said Roy Medley, the General Secretary of American Baptist Churches.

Religious Leaders Condemn "Anti-Muslim" Frenzy

September 8, 2010

Reuters - U.S. religious leaders on Tuesday condemned an "anti-Muslim frenzy" in the United States, including plans by a Florida church to burn a Koran on September 11, an act a top general said could endanger American troops abroad.

Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders denounced the "misinformation and outright bigotry" against U.S. Muslims resulting from plans to build a Muslim community center and mosque not far from the site of the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks in New York by the Islamist militant group al Qaeda that killed 2,752 people.

Tensions have risen with the approach of both the September 11 anniversary on Saturday and the Muslim eid al-Fitr festival that marks the close of the fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected to end around Friday.

Passions have been further inflamed by Terry Jones, the pastor of a 30-person church in Gainesville, Florida, who has announced plans to burn a Koran on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Jones says he wants to "expose Islam" as a "violent and oppressive religion."

Religious leaders, including Washington Roman Catholic Archbishop emeritus Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Dr. Michael Kinnamon of the National Council of Churches, released a statement saying they were "alarmed by the anti-Muslim frenzy" and "appalled by such disrespect for a sacred text."

"To attack any religion in the United States is to do violence to the religious freedom of all Americans," said the religious leaders, including Rabbi David Saperstein, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Julie Schonfeld of the Association of Conservative Rabbis.

"The threatened burning of copies of the Holy Qu'ran this Saturday is a particularly egregious offense that demands the strongest possible condemnation by all who value civility in public life and seek to honor the sacred memory of those who lost their lives on September 11," they said.

The planned Koran-burning by the Dove World Outreach Center has already prompted protests in Kabul. Several hundred Afghans -- mostly students from religious schools -- gathered outside the Milad ul-Nabi mosque and chanted "Death to America" in anger over the plans.

General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement the Koran burning could "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort" to stabilize the Afghan situation.

"It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems, not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community," Petraeus said.

UN-AMERICAN ACTIONS

President Barack Obama's administration made clear that it deplored the planned event, which State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley described as "un-American."

"I am heartened by the clear and unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act that has come from American religious leaders of all faiths," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told American Muslims at the State Department as she hosted an Iftar, the meal at which Muslims break their daily fast during the month of Ramadan.

Attorney General Eric Holder, the top U.S. law enforcement official, called the planned Florida event "idiotic" during a closed-door meeting with a small group of religious leaders, said Saperstein and a Justice Department official.

Holder also told the group no one should have to live and pray in fear and that he planned soon to address the issue publicly, the meeting participants said. He also reiterated a commitment to aggressively prosecute hate crimes, they said.

Dr. Ingrid Mattson, the Islamic Society of North America president who helped organize Tuesday's statement by religious leaders, said ordinary U.S. Muslims were feeling increasingly worried and harassed as they went about their daily lives.

"I have heard many Muslim-Americans say that they have never felt this anxious or this insecure in America since directly after September 11," she said.

She urged Muslims abroad to "take a step back" and not use the "loud voices of some Christian extremists" in the United States as a justification for action against American Jews and Christians.

"They do not represent America, they do not represent Christianity or Judaism," Mattson said. "These people who are here with us today represent the true values and views of the vast majority of American Jews and Christians and just American citizens."

The religious leaders did not take a stand regarding the planned cultural center and mosque near the Ground Zero site in downtown Manhattan. The Muslim cleric leading the project reasserted in a New York Times opinion piece on Tuesday that organizers would proceed with the center.

Rallies for and against the center and mosque are set for Saturday in New York after a memorial ceremony for those killed. Families of the victims were debating whether to call a truce on the anniversary, with some saying the day should be reserved for "appropriate remembrance and reflection."

Critics say the planned location two blocks from Ground Zero is insensitive, while supporters say politicians have wrongly commandeered the emotionally charged debate before U.S. congressional elections on November 2.

New York Imams Say Muslims Are Americans, Too

September 1, 2010

Reuters - New York City Muslims declared themselves just as American as opponents of an Islamic cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center on Wednesday in a bid to seize control of a debate they appear to be losing.

Leaders of some 55 New York mosques and Islamic organizations gathered on the City Hall steps in the face of growing opposition to the proposed $100 million Islamic center that would stand two blocks from the site where the Twin Towers were destroyed on September 11, 2001.

A Quinnipiac University poll on Tuesday showed 71 percent of New Yorkers said it should be built further from the site known as "Ground Zero," where 2,752 died.

Republican politicians hoping to wrest control of Congress from President Barack Obama's Democrats in the November 2 election have latched onto other polls showing a majority of Americans oppose building a mosque near what they consider sacred land.

With Democratic defenders of the mosque taking a more cautious tone in the face of those same polls, New York Muslims staged Wednesday's rally to defend themselves. Some Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, have joined in opposing locating the center near Ground Zero.

"We are not strangers to this country and this country is not a stranger to us. Rather we have a long history and heritage of Muslims in this land," said Zaheer Uddin, executive director of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York.

One of the imams said 300 Muslims died in the attacks, and there were Muslims among the police and fire department first responders and the chaplains who aided survivors following the attacks by al Qaeda suicide hijackers nine years ago.

"We do not believe that we are good enough to die, that we are good enough to minister to others, that we are good enough to respond to tragedy, but we are not good enough to build a place where we can pray right where we worked and died," said Talib Abdur Rashid, another imam with the council.

Other speakers expressed sympathy for the families of those who died on September 11 but questioned whether proximity to "Ground Zero" was the issue considering opposition to Islamic centers or mosques elsewhere in New York City and in California, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky.

"This kind of verbal assault on Islam and Muslims is unprecedented in our history in this country," said Al-Amin Abdul Latif.

"This nation was founded on the values of religious freedom and tolerance and fairness and justice and pluralism. We're going backwards."