The ending to the story is kind of interesting. The Jewish synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, immediately stepped up to the plate and opened their doors to the group…to ALL of the group, including its Muslim members. They said it was an honor.

Gee…recollecting my elementary school history…didn’t Thanksgiving get its start with diverse people sitting down together? Pilgrims and Indians? Happy Thanksgiving to all!

If you are in Niger Shadrach, you are in a dominant Muslim country. Same issue in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya, etc.

I was addressing Lee’s statment:

“How many mosques in Austin would permit Christians and Jews to worship in their own way on the premises? For that matter, how many mosques would permit Christians and Jews through the front door, period? None.”

I answered one of my own questions (sorry) this was the first year Austin Muslims had hosted this and they didn’t have a big enough space.

It was not a prayer room or sanctuary. Did Hyde Park return the money?

Bene D

It was wrong and shady of Hyde Park to pull their acceptance, but they should not have allowed it in the first place. I think there is a difference between bad judgment and intolerance, but as we have seen, Baptists are willing to do many things in order to not affirm other beliefs.

I had to look this up. Hyde Park Baptist has a staff of 50. Someone decided they didn’t want the interfaith meal after it had been booked.

What mosques won’t allow an interfaith group in?
Of course none Muslims are welcomed. How do you know an Austin mosque hasn’t hosted this event?

There are seven in Austin according to my research, five are Sunni, one is S’hia and one is Nation of Islam.

Nothing in their faith says they can’t hold interfaith services, they do.

What mosques in Austin do not permit none Muslim events?

Here is an account:

“The event featured a Jewish shofar — a trumpet typically made of a ram’s horn — a Muslim song calling for prayer and Christian bell music. Religious leaders from several faiths and denominations, including Methodists, Bahais and Buddhists, took part. At sundown, the Maghrib, the fourth of five daily Muslim prayers, was also held there.”

Bene D

Hyde Park may have made a mistake in originally agreeing to rent their facility to host the event, and they are apparently guilty of a lack of internal communication, from what I can gather. But their decision is not anywhere close to an example of intolerance or a “lack of respect for religious diversity.”

They rented their space to a group, and then later, determined that a mistake had been made and changed their mind. Did they keep the money or something? Are they not entitled to make even a last minute change, for whatever reason they deem necessary, related to the use of their own property? Eileen Flynn’s failure to treat them fairly is bias, pure and simple.

The story-line seems, to me at least, that Hyde Park was okay renting out their gymnasium to an interfaith Thanksgiving service. But had a change of heart once members realized that several Muslim groups were leading the event.

That’s why I chose the word intolerance in the title above. Hyde Park seemed to tolerate an event led by and primarily attended by Jews, Christians, and even liberal groups like UU but were not willing to tolerate Muslim involvement and Muslim groups taking the lead.

Having said that, my biggest problem with what they did is that they agreed to rent space and then backed out. But I don’t think any Baptist should have a problem with their rationale for not wanting an interfaith service on their campus.

Baptists have historically been very clear on how they feel about other religions. While respecting diversity and calling for religious liberty, early Baptists never believed that they should worship with those of differing religions. Consider the fact that the majority of Baptists in America and abroad practiced closed communion, even calling pedobaptists heretics and barring them from even praying in their churches. Spurgeon was seen as a radical for having a pedobaptist preach at his church.

So intolerance is clearly the wrong word choice here. These people aren’t intolerant, they are simply incompetent. Tolerance doesn’t mean one agrees that all worship the same God (despite the current PC view), nor does it mean that one believes that they can worship with others of the same faith. Tolerance means that one is able to endure a difference of religious views without violating another’s rights. And intolerance means one violates another rights because of a difference of views. This church, despite going back on their word, didn’t violate these group’s rights.

In our society not conforming means being intolerant, and our Baptist forefathers were persecuted for not doing so. Even though this church screwed up in their decision, they have every right to allow whomever they wish to use their facilities. And if it violates their conscience to allow the worship of false gods on their property, then others should be “tolerant” of that as well. Unfortunately for those yelling “intolerance”, it works both ways.