Mosque in Manhattan: Baptist Round-Up

President Obama has waded into the heated controversy over the proposed construction of a Cultural Center/Mosque just blocks away from Ground Zero in Manhattan.  From CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Obama threw his support behind a controversial proposal to build an Islamic center and mosque near New York’s ground zero, saying Friday that “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” Obama said at a White House Iftar dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Read the transcript of President Obama’s remarks here and NYT coverage here.

A number of Baptists have weighed in on the Cordoba House Controversy.

In an online Newsweek/Washington Post article, Richard Land – president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission – wrote:

As a Baptist who believes in religious freedom and separation of church and state, I strongly support religious communities’ right to have places of worship within reasonable distance of where they live. However, no religious community has an absolute right to have a place of worship wherever they choose, regardless of the community’s objections.

I believe that putting a mosque at Ground Zero, or very close to Ground Zero, is unacceptable. The persons who committed that atrocity did so in the name of their understanding of Islam. Even though the vast majority of Muslims reject that ideology and condemned their actions on Sept. 11, 2001, it still remains a fact that the people who perpetrated the 9/11 attack were Muslims and proclaimed they were doing what they were doing in the name of Islam. Given that fact, I believe that it is inappropriate for a mosque to be at Ground Zero, and for Muslims to insist that they have the right to have a mosque there is counterproductive to the spirit of reconciliation and healing that we all seek.

Having a mosque at Ground Zero would be the equivalent of having a Japanese Shinto shrine built next to the USS Arizona. Do the followers of Shinto have a right to have a shrine in Honolulu? Yes. In close proximity to the USS Arizona? No. I am well aware that many Japanese did not support the attack on Pearl Harbor and in fact, Japanese-Americans in a Nisei battalion composed the most decorated combat unit in the American armed forces in WWII, as they demonstrated their patriotism, even while many of their family members were shamefully placed in internment camps in the United States. That still does not negate the fact that it would be inappropriate to have a Japanese shrine in close proximity to the USS Arizona. It is similarly inappropriate to put a mosque in close proximity to Ground Zero.

Later, on his radio show, Land claimed that Supreme Court precedent - Boerne v. Flores (1997) – backed up his stance.  Land’s appeal to Boerne is quite revealing considering his organization, then the Christian Life Commission (SBC), signed onto an amicus brief along with the ACLU urging a radically different outcome than what SCOTUS handed down.  Now, Land is appealing to a decision that he once did not support.  Nonetheless, these two articles (here and here) demonstrate that Land’s argument is not for religious freedom but for religious discrimination.

Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas, echoed Richard Land’s arguments during an interview with Contessa Brewer on MSNBC.  The video is here.  Frankly, I thought his arguments were weak; but Brewer had absolutely nothing and was unable to counter the well-known Southern Baptist pastor.

Melissa Rogers, director for the Center for Religion & Public Affairs at Wake Forest University, has an excellent article on this ongoing controversy at the Baptist Standard.  Here’s an excerpt:

Local officials who are facing related issues also should study New York City’s example.  In the face of enormous pressure to do otherwise, city officials held fast to the principle that the government must apply the same standards to all faiths, a linchpin of the American tradition of religious liberty.

Adherence to this principle has helped us to make peace and build solidarity in a nation where a stunning array of religions are practiced, often with great fervor, and frequently side-by-side.  Contrary to Newt Gingrich’s suggestions, honoring this standard of religious freedom has not made us “weak” or “submissive.”  It has made us strong.

Norman Jameson, editor of the Biblical Recorder – the official newsjournal of North Carolina Baptists, has written a strong editorial on the Manhattan Mosque.  Here’s a snippet:

Because the radicalized terrorists who struck at our heart were Muslim, we somehow think that to deny unrelated American Muslims the opportunity to build a worship center close to where the World Trade Center towers once stood is to strike some kind of defiant blow against terrorism. We think it will raise freedom’s torch higher because we’ve defended the memories of those who died by denying a place to read, swim, meet and worship to people who claim the same faith as the terrorists….To be true to our principles as Christians and for other Americans to be true to the Constitution we cannot let the painful memory of a terrorist attack and sympathetic acquiescence to those families whose identity was arrested by the events of that day dictate our responses in the future to situations that – were they unrelated to that day – would be totally unremarkable.

Not all Southern Baptists in North Carolina are sympathetic to Jameson’s viewpoint.  Tim Rogers of the popular blog SBC Today offered an “appalled” but “it’s their right” argument:

While I am appalled that a Mosque is being planned in the shadows of the buildings that were destroyed by Islamic terrorist, I still have to defend their religious right to build that Mosque.

Southern Baptist pastor and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustee Bart Barber wrote a lengthy post on the subject.  Here’s Barber:

I’m in favor of there being no mosques anywhere. Islam is a false religion. The Islamic Allah is a false god. Mohammed was a false prophet who misled people….Baptists have a consistent history of defending religious liberty for four centuries. Where others have merely sought to manipulate the government to obtain religious privilege for themselves (such as the more Reformed folks in Massachusetts Bay), Baptists fought for religious liberty for ALL. May we avoid the temptation to let hot-button issues distract us from the importance of defending the First Freedom for others as well as for ourselves.

Jim Wallis (who I guess we can now claim as he’s member of FBC Washington) has an op-ed worth reading titled Who wins when the U.S. restricts religious freedom?

In the face of global terrorism, who wins when the U.S. restricts religious freedom? The opponents of the Cordoba Initiative seem to be saying that Americans win if we restrict the free expression of religion of some Americans. Religious sensitivities, especially around Ground Zero, are understandable. 9/11 was a crime against humanity, and tragically, it was the first significant encounter many Americans had with radical Islam or Islam of any sort. But this is why the mission of the Cordoba Initiative as a cultural and community center is so important. The goal of the center is to run programs that reduce tensions and build understanding between Muslims and the West. In order for our country to continue healing, more Americans need to meet and build trust and respect with other Americans who are different than they are — especially with the many Muslims who love this country and the freedoms it affords.

Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics also contributed an essay on this debate:

If religious liberty is an American hallmark, then a mosque near Ground Zero would be an American landmark to our nation’s commitment to religious freedom for all. What better cultural signpost could we offer than one that says America is guided by its better angels, not its dark demons of fear and politicians of demagoguery.

And from Baptist minister Welton Gaddy of The Interfaith Alliance:

A great irony disturbs me. For years, public discourse (sometimes unaware of a plethora of the sounds for which it pleads) has called for a great moderate Muslim voice to counter extremism. Now, when such a voice is seeking to be heard in meaningful and helpful ways, it faces severe backlash and strong opposition – indicating a continued fear and ignorance of the Muslim faith, even at its most peaceful.

Bob Roberts Jr., pastor of NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas (affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas) also has a thoughtful op-ed on the controversy:

I don’t know the details of the Muslim Community Center in Manhattan – there may be some hanky panky I don’t know about. For me, it isn’t about that institution in particular. It’s about something America’s founders got – the best way to preserve religious freedom for any of us is to make sure it is extended to all of us.

**If you know of another Baptist who has weighed in on this controversy, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail**