News!!!
Bishop's
Message
August 30, 2010
Public
Statement on the Islamic Center Proposal
We live
in a continuing, escalating culture of fear. If we succumb to that fear,
terrorism and extremism will be able to claim another victory. Rather, it is my
hope and prayer that the energy surrounding this proposal can be directed to
confronting our fears. Factual information may help.
Regardless of your
opinions about whether or not a Muslim community center and/or mosque should be
located in lower Manhattan, this is a time for us to be sensitive to one another
and for us, as Christians, to learn more about Islam, one of the world’s major
faith traditions, our “cousins” in Abrahamic faith. Islam is complex, just
as Christianity is complex. I would not want the world to judge all of
Christianity on the basis of a few violent extremists; so, too, we should not
condemn all of Islam because of a strand of that tradition.
Imam
Feisal Abdul Rauf, leader of the proposed downtown center, is of the Sufi
tradition, the most mystical of the branches of Islam and, in my opinion, the
most tolerant and pluralistic. Sufism has itself been seen as guilty of
infidelity to the tradition by the more fundamentalist versions of Islam and has
been a target of Jihadist violence. The quotable conclusion of a recent opinion
piece by William Dalrymple in the August 16, 2010, New York Times offers
insight: “Sufism is an entirely indigenous, deeply rooted resistance movement
against violent Islamic radicalism. Whether it can be harnessed to a political
end is not clear. But the least we can do is to encourage the Sufis in our own
societies. Men like Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf should be embraced as vital allies,
and we should have only contempt to those who, through ignorance of political
calculation, attempt to conflate them with the extremists.”
There are thoughtful,
well-reasoned arguments on both sides of the debate about locating the Islamic
Center and Mosque near ground zero. One must ask, “What is near? What are the
geographic boundaries of that?”
There is
much pain very near the surface of our emotions with regard to the tragic events
of September 11, 2001. But how will preventing this center from being
constructed help us to deal with that pain? There is great fear driving our
lives today. How do persons of faith respond to that fear? We commend ourselves
to the reliable and merciful arms of the God of Abraham, the God whom Jesus
calls Abba, the God whom Muslims and Christians in various parts of the world
call Allah. This God promises a reign in which all shall be well. Our faith is
bigger and stronger than all our fears.
Bishop Robert Alan
Rimbo
September 12th is Rally Day!
9-10AM Drumming with master drummer Maxwell Kofi Donkor; all ages welcome and no previous experience necessary
10AM Coffee hour
Worship/Eucharist at 10:30
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