Palin Calls Planned Islamic Center Near Ground Zero a 'Provocation'

For those who aren't yet aware, a new Islamic community center is being built and facilitated near Ground Zero where the Twin Towers used to be. The Cordoba Project, framed and named through inspiration from the YMCA and JCC (Jewish Community Center) formats in these respective traditions and called Cordoba after the Spanish city in the middle ages that fostered fruitful relations between all the Abrahamic faiths, is to be a community center designed to serve the local community and reach out to neighboring religions and cultures in the spirit of dialogue and collaboration toward equality, justice, and peace. It's really about improving Muslim-West relations.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is the chair of the Cordoba initiative and founded the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which was the first U.S. program focusing on bring together Muslims and non-Muslim through the avenues of academia, policy, current affairs, and culture.

However, though the Cordoba Project is actually a force for good, truth, and justice dedicated to fostering greater understanding across communities, cultures, and religions, Sarah Palin has denounced these efforts as "provocation" and against the "interests of healing" (The Hill, 7/18/10).

I believe Palin has grossly misunderstood the intentions and possibilities of the Cordoba initiative. Rather than spreading rumors and distorted tropes, perhaps she could gain a bit more insight through seeking to better understand and learn from the principles and actions of this very important and peace-making project.

For more, read the whole article by Ben Geman at The Hill.

IL State Police Revoke 1st Muslim Chaplain

This story actually hits very close to home for me, since I live in central Illinois and know quite a few state troopers.

Here's a snippet from Faith in Public Life:

"The Illinois State Police has revoked the appointment of the agency's first Muslim chaplain, citing only information revealed during a background check. A national Muslim advocacy group Wednesday blamed the move on Islamophobia.

Kifah Mustapha, a Chicago-area imam, was appointed the agency's first Muslim chaplain in December. Community groups had praised Mustapha's appointment as a nod to the growing diversity among the agency's nearly 2,000 officers." (FPL, 6/24/10)

I'm certainly glad to see that the IL State Police are interested and seeking a greater diversity in their chaplaincy positions, since, no doubt, the religious diversity of state troopers and IL citizens is ever-increasing. However, I'm a bit disturbed that there are groups like the Washington-based think-tank, the Investigative Project on Terrorism, that seem to be dead-set on suppressing this burgeoning plurality and diversity, couching it in the guise of "terrorist threat."

Now, the details of Mustapha's background haven't been discussed because they're considered confidential by the IL State Police Department. Nonetheless, a thorough background check should be administered, but this shouldn't deter the Department from seeking other imams to serve if Mustapha's turns out to be detrimental. We need to encourage our police departments, fire squads, educational facilities, community centers, and other public services to celebrate and affirm religious diversity and see the positivity in it.

Read more of the story by the Associated Press's Sophia Tareen.

Parialment of World Religions Names First Muslim Leader

The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions elected as its chair Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, a Chicago Muslim.

Adelle M. Banks has the whole story at RNS.

Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren Addresses U.S. Muslims

Counter to some of his fellow conservative Christian critics, Rick Warren, pastor of the enormous Saddleback Community Church in Orange County and one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country, told several thousand American Muslims of the Islamic Society of North America on Saturday that "the two largest faiths on the planet" must cooperatively work together to dispel stereotypes and address global problems. Warren said Muslims and Christians ought to be partners in helping to end what he calls "the five global giants" -- war, poverty, corruption, disease, and illiteracy.

Though some of his more evangelical-fundamentalist positions make me a little uneasy, I thoroughly appreciate and respect Pastor Warren's outspoken attitude and practical action toward mainline Muslim communities since 911. It marks a sense of hope for interfaith dialogue and social action toward peace and reconciliation among our more conservative and evangelical-minded brothers and sisters.

Sarah Karush of the AP writes this article at Faith in Public Life outlining Warrens recent extent of solidarity and support to American Muslims.

This Weekend on State of Belief

This weekend's State of Belief program features Muslim feminist Asra Nomani's conversation with Rev. Gaddy about working towards greater gender equality at her hometown Mosque. They are joined by filmmaker Brittany Huckabee, who chronicled Asra's efforts for the documentary The Mosque in Morgantown, premiering on PBS nationwide this Monday at 10:00 pm ET.

Check it out at State of Belief's website.

Scholars Plan First Islamic College in U.S.

A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars Imam Zaid Shakir and Sheik Hamza Yusuf, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States. There is scheduled a June vote to decide whether the proposed Zaytuna College will open its doors in the fall of next year. Shakir and Yusuf of California have spent many years planning this institution, which will offer a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship.

As I have quite a few Muslim friends and colleagues, I'm aware of how important the establishment of such an academic institution is. Though the study Islam in religious/cultural studies departments is done at major universities, there has yet to be a place of higher education founded and ran by Muslims grounded in Islamic principles.

Those of us who are Christian progressives ought to be supportive of these efforts of promoting and furthering Islamic scholarship and religion, which is becoming a widely prominent religion in the U.S. Helping institutions of higher education that are religiously-affiliated will serve to foster more awareness and understanding of the religious diversity in our country and learn more about each others' faith traditions. The more we engage with each other, the more we understand each other; and the more we understand each other, the less afraid we'll be of each other; and the less we're afraid of each other, the less violence and more love we'll show each other.

Read the Associated Press story at Newsmax.