Churches Support Tolerance Toward Muslims

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Churches for Middle East Peace has encouraged its members to support a resolution in the U.S. House and Senate supporting religious tolerance toward Muslims. The Rev. Mark B. Brown of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said, "The use of violence in the name of religion by extremists must not shape our perceptions of Muslims globally or locally."
Brown is associate director for public policy advocacy ministry with the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs in Washington, D.C. He said, "Peacemaking begins at home and we each must work to build bridges with our Muslim neighbors and foster a climate of goodwill and a shared commitment for harmony between nations. How can we ask our government to be an instrument of peace and tolerance if we fail to do so in our own communities?"
Brown said, "The peace that we strive for in Jerusalem must begin at home by remembering that Muslims as well as Jews and Christians have their roots in the same family." The ELCA is a member of Churches for Middle East Peace, based in Washington, D.C. Brown chairs the organization's executive committee.
The concurrent resolution, introduced by Senators Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) and Joseph Leiberman (D-Conn.) and Representatives David Bonior (D-Mich.) and Tom Davis (R-Va.), condemns anti-Muslim intolerance and discrimination as "wholly inconsistent" with the American values of religious tolerance and pluralism.
"The spiral of violence these past weeks between terrorists acting in the name of Islam and the government of the United States poses a challenge for people of faith and good will," said a Churches for Middle East Peace memo. Americans feel "threatened and most-likely angry about the hatred toward the United States exhibited by the bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania," the memo said.
The memo said, "It is now incumbent upon American Christians to take action that assures our American Muslim neighbors of the commitment we share with them for inclusiveness, harmony, peace and justice in the United States and around the world."
President Bill Clinton, in his address to the nation on August 20, asked the world to understand that retaliatory missile strikes were not aimed against Islam, "the faith of hundreds of millions of good, peace-loving people all around the world, including the United States."
The resolution says, "While Congress respects and upholds the right of individuals to free speech, Congress acknowledges that individuals and organizations that foster such intolerance create an atmosphere of hatred and fear that divides the nation."
The resolution calls upon Congress to resolve "to uphold a level of political discourse that does not involve making a scapegoat of an entire religion or drawing political conclusions on the basis of religious doctrine" and to recognize "the contributions of American Muslims, who are followers of one of the three major monotheistic religions of the world and one of the fastest growing faiths in the United States."
Members of the ELCA want to learn about Islam, according to the Rev. Bonnie L. Jensen, director of the church's Division for Global Mission. "It has a higher profile now, and people want to learn about a major religion that is an increasing presence in their lives, in their neighborhoods. There is a genuine eagerness to learn, a healthy curiosity," she said.
Jensen reported that special Islam workshops have attracted more participation each year at the ELCA's summer Global Mission Events. "Lutherans want to know how to engage effectively in relationships with Muslims," she said.
"The ELCA has a commitment to Christian mission based on respectful relationships with Muslims," Jensen said. The church provides funds tosupport Islamic studies at two ELCA seminaries, Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director 1-773-380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html