August 25, 2010

The New York State Council of Churches released a statement today supporting the planned Community Center at 51 Park Place in Manhattan. The Statement in Support has been sent to Governor Paterson, the New York State Legislature, The New York State Congressional delegation, Mayor Bloomberg, the New York City Council, and the media.

Statement in Support of Park51 Center

The New York State Council of Churches represents Protestant denominations with more than 6,000 congregations in New York State. Many of their ancestors came and built houses of worship on this soil, and oftentimes religious persecution followed. So when the Constitution was written, religious freedom defined the aspirations and character of what a good society could be. Others then came to this country specifically seeking religious freedom. All of the Christian denominations the Council represents recognize that the three world Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Islam and Christianity – stand firmly, in their religious traditions and in their holy scriptures, for a global community of peace, under one God, uniting all people in a culture of nonviolent social justice.

The Council rejects religious terrorism. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, of the Islamic community wishing to build the Community Center, is a religious leader allied with the best of both our traditions. He has repeatedly denounced Islamist terrorism and has admonished members of his congregation to be, "both good Americans and good Muslims." He describes himself as an adversary of Osama bin Laden, not an ally.

Whatever else might be said about the controversy over The Community Center at Park51, the bottom line is that this is a test of what we do when events test what we say we believe. If we say that freedom of religion is a fundamental principle on which our nation rests, then even when it is difficult to do we must put those words into action. This is an opportunity for our nation to demonstrate to the world that this nation stands up for its principles.

To be sure, those principles are betrayed by bigotry, but they are also betrayed by those who claim to honor religious freedom in principle but urge that the community center be built elsewhere. Martin Luther King, Jr. admonished his fellow clergy for criticizing him because he would not accommodate the sensitivities of segregationists in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail: "I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate... who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice... Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." Where negative and positive peace conflict, positive peace must prevail for justice to be manifest. Those seeking to build The Community Center at Park51 in lower Manhattan lost family members in the September 11th tragedy also. Now they are seeking to replace a dilapidated building with a community center all can enjoy. What a tribute to the American way of life that those whose faith is often blamed for the sins of extremists that happen to claim the same religious label, wish to turn this place into one that is life-giving for the community. Bringing life to an area still physically and economically depressed by the events of nine years ago will show extremists that the spirit they sought to eradicate still thrives and that new vitality will grow here. They are not asking us to worship as they worship. They are not asking us to believe as they believe. They are only seeking the freedom we profess to stand for. How can we deny that?

The New York State Council of Churches