World News
Interfaith leaders denounce anti-Islamic actions, call for cooperation
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Dozens of religious leaders across the spectrum of faiths issued a joint statement Sept. 7 denouncing past and planned attacks against Muslims and Islamic houses of worship and calling for a new era of interfaith cooperation. In a news conference at the National Press Club, dozens of clergy men and women flanked Ingrid Mattson, the president of the Islamic Society of America, as she described recent attacks on Islam as an aberration of the true views of American Christians, Jews and nonreligious people alike and pleaded with Muslims around the world not to take the hateful views of a minority as representative of the whole nation. The event focused on the plans of a small Gainesville, Fla., evangelical church to publicly burn copies of the Quran, the Islamic holy book, on Sept. 11, the ninth anniversary of terrorist attacks on the United States at the hands of Islamic extremists. Plans for mosques to be built in several parts of the country have met strong opposition this summer, with vandalism to construction equipment and other incidents. The statement also noted that "we have become alarmed by the anti-Muslim frenzy that has been generated" over the plans to build an Islamic community center near the site of ground zero in New York. It said the group's concern in meeting that day was not to debate the New York project, "but rather to respond to the atmosphere of fear and contempt for fellow Americans of the Muslim faith that the controversy has generated."
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