Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Church, the church that has rented its facilities to the Muslim organization, MPAC, is astonished at the negative reaction to his cosying up to Islam, a religion that has as much in common with Christianity as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does with the Pope.
From here:
A storm cloud has swept over us and is raining down fear and intolerance. On Dec. 15, an American Muslim organization, MPAC, will hold its 12th annual convention at All Saints Church. This has caused some to vilify our community and has brought out the Islamophobes.
At All Saints, we believe that to be religious in the 21st century is to be interreligious. And to be a member of this church is to be a member of the peacemaking community. MPAC is one of our integral partners in interfaith peacemaking.
It is in the DNA of All Saints Church to stand up for justice and provide a voice for the marginalized in society.
The theme of this year’s MPAC convention is “Our Future in the Making.” Salam al-Marayati, executive director of MPAC, said, “at this moment, as we convene at All Saints Church, the future is now, where we all can take hope and encouragement from this opportunity, where we come together to glimpse what is possible and can visualize what a future of peace could look like.”
It is time to end the toxic narrative that too many of our religions have promulgated that says that in order to become a part of my religion you have to hate somebody else in another religion. We can change that dynamic. We can make the decision to stop sleepwalking, to wake up to reality, to embrace the inter-connectedness that binds us all, no matter what religion or race.
Salam al-Marayati, executive director of MPAC, is renowned for his interfaith peacemaking by endearing himself to Jews when he suggested, a few hours after the 9/11 attacks, that Israel might be to blame:
”If we’re going to look at suspects, we should look to the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what’s happening in the Palestinian territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies.”
Also, while not busy “embrac[ing] the inter-connectedness that binds us all” he spends his time defending Hezbollah and Hamas and complaining that people will keep reminding him about the Holocaust:
For this administration to appoint to an august human rights organization Salam Al-Marayati, who has openly supported Hizbollah, claimed that the FBI has illegally incited Muslims on terrorism charges because of FBI sanctioned policies of “racial profiling,” has defended as innocent the most notorious members of Hamas who were found guilty of laundering millions of dollars to a terrorist group, and someone who has complained of ‘having the Holocaust shoved down [his] throat,’ is an outrage.
I do hope that my next comment won’t be interpreted as Islamophobic or part of a toxic narrative, let alone a reluctance to come together to glimpse what is possible, but Salam, old boy, are you sure you want to rent a building from a person whose surname is Bacon?
