Posted on 01/25/2011 5:43:41 AM PST by wmfights
An influential Southern Baptist withdrew from an interfaith coalition that assists in protecting Muslims against discrimination with regard to building mosques in the U.S.
Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, made the announcement Friday after fellow Southern Baptists had expressed concerns with his involvement in the Interfaith Coalition on Mosques, established by the Anti-Defamation League.
"While many Southern Baptists share my deep commitment to religious freedom and the right of Muslims to have places of worship, they also feel that a Southern Baptist denominational leader filing suit to allow individual mosques to be built is ‘a bridge too far," Land wrote in a letter to the ADL, according to Baptist Press.
The coalition was formed in September amid what it called "a disturbing rise in discrimination against Muslims trying to legally build or expand their houses of worship."
Religious leaders from various faith traditions – Catholic, Protestant, evangelical, Muslim and Jewish – shared mutual concerns over the "hostility" and "hate speech" surrounding recent mosque building projects in Tennessee, Wisconsin and California.
"We believe the best way to uphold America's democratic values is to ensure that Muslims can exercise the same religious freedom enjoyed by everyone in America," the coalition affirms in its statement of purpose. "They deserve nothing less than to have a place of worship like everyone else."
Land has been vocal in his call for the respect of religious freedom, though he opposes the planned Islamic cultural center and mosque in New York City, calling it inappropriate.
He affirmed, "Baptists have been victimized by such religious discrimination in the past. We should always remember that if we allow the government to discriminate against one religion today, they can discriminate against all religions tomorrow. We should not make a religious belief illegal or treat it differently than we treat other religious beliefs in the law."
The ERLC has made clear that though Land defends the right of Muslims building mosques, he is not involved in efforts to encourage or aid the building of those mosques. "He is only involved in legal efforts to defend American Muslims who are having their legal rights under the First Amendment denied or curtailed by zoning commissions and city councils."
Still, his decision to join the interfaith coalition to "stand together to fight for the rights of our Muslim neighbors when they are being violated" was met with criticism from fellow Southern Baptists.
Many felt that he was "crossing the line from defense of religious freedom to advocacy of, or promotion of, Islam itself," as reported by BP.
After listening to concerns, Land expressed "Southern Baptists have the oft-expressed right to form their own perceptions as well as the right to expect their denominational servant to be cognizant of them and to respect them."
The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. with over 16 million members.
Other religious leaders on the Interfaith Coalition on Mosques include Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed; Bishop Paul Peter Jesep, American Representative for the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church; Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, Senior Rabbi, Park Avenue Synagogue; and Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Chair of Islamic Studies, American University.
Many felt that he was "crossing the line from defense of religious freedom to advocacy of, or promotion of, Islam itself," as reported by BP.
What was he doing there in the first place?
Is Islam a religion or a seditious political project? And how would we know the difference? It is the Baptists who have the strongest record of being able to distinguish between politics and faith and it is the Islam that absolutely can’t.
Ping
Good question.
Islam is not a religion in the sense that our western minds understand religion to be. Instead, it's a circa 7th century political power structure and IMHO it is not protected by the Constitution. I don't believe that the authors intended the 1st Amendment to protect the "right" of an aggressive, predatory, quasi-religious evil empire such as Islam to invade our nation and attempt to destroy both our unique democratic-republican form of government and the American people's right to worship according to one's conscience. And that is exactly what Islam intends for the US and the American people if it is ever given the chance.
Making a terrible mistake. At least he had the good sense to listen to the Baptists that were telling him not to give any credibility to this evil called islam.
I've seen zero evidence that this has occurred with any more frequency than it has for Christians or Jews.
I think you are being too kind. I haven't seen any evidence of any persecution of muslims. All the persecution is muslims hurting, or killing Christians.
I wish we could just say to muslims "you can build mosques, when Christians can build churches and worship without fear of persecution in muslim countries". Obviously we can't do that because unlike them we are a free society, but we sure don't have to support them.
Baptist ping
I'm glad that they could 'come together' long enough to decide to back out of the Interfaith Coalition on Mosques. I don't doubt that there are some Muslims who are shocked and appalled by the violence and mayhem carried out by their 'fundamentalist' brethren but too few of them have "stepped up to the plate" and condemned it as something the Muslim World should renounce...
Good for Richard Land. I know he has been taking well deserved heat on this issue. Looks like he finally found a little common sense.
The mooselimbs are not a religion, in the classic sense, they are more of a violent political movement.
Richard Land is much more tolerant of them than I am. I don’t have any use for people who want to kill me.
Thanks for the ping.
‘Bout time.
Thanks for the ping!
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