A visit to my local mosque

[William Thornton]

Yesterday, the closest mosque to me held an open house and having business in the vicinity, I stopped by. This is an annual event that draws quite a crowd of local, non-Islamic visitors. The small parking lot was full and cars were parked up and down the street.

The open house included guided tours of the facility, information about Islam and the local center, questions and answers, free food, some "sweet water" from Mecca, free literature, and some Islamic art. As with the only other mosque I have visited (the al-Hussein Mosque adjacent to the mammoth souk in Cairo) visitors had to remove shoes before entering. The prayer room with the carpet with spaces pointed towards Mecca is small, about the size of a large living room.

The imam introduced himself to me, quite a friendly and gregarious fellow. He, along with all of the males, were dressed in western fashion. A few had the kufi, a white cap. Many of the females were covered but I didn't see any with the full coverings. There may have been uncovered females but with a large crowd, I wouldn't know how to identify the Muslim women. The imam I recognized from local newspapers, since he is the local source for comments on Islamic matters, terrorist attacks, and the like.

One might note from the information given that the purposes of the open house was:

Come and meet your Muslim neighbors. The locale, Athens, is a university town and has a sizable international population. I do not know what percentage is Islamic. The mosque is quite small.
Take a tour of the mosque. It is interesting. I wasn't present when any of the various call to prayers were held.
Try henna tatoos or try a hijab. No thanks.
Enjoy some snacks. I did indeed. They were good.
Attend Q & A. No questions off the table. I wasn't present for this but bet it was interesting. Note the specific statement that there would be "no questions off the table." As an aside, I did learn that the Quran is in Arabic. A translation of the Quran is not a Quran (sort of like the KJV 1611 only folks maybe?).
Athens is a liberal-minded community, above average in education with the major employer being the University of Georgia, and probably more ecumenical and open minded than a typical Georgia city. The county was in a minority of such that voted for Clinton in the election, about 70% in her favor attributable to the sizable minority population and the more liberal "gown" part of a "town and gown" community. The mosque has been around for years and there was no protest or controversy about its establishment.

One can judge the reason for the open house: demystify Muslims to folks with whom they work, shop, attend school, and live. It's tough to generate a general hatred or bigotry to folks whom you know and whose behavior is the same as yours, dignified, civil, law-abiding. With general hostility towards Muslims a little hospitality and openness goes a long way in establishing goodwill.

Our constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

There are those who would have the state classify Islam as some hybrid religion, a geopolitical movement deserving either no state first amendment protections or some limited version of such. My views on church and state are not influenced by a mosque tour and a few free snacks. All religions should have the same rights of free exercise as does mine - Christian, Protestant, Baptist, Southern Baptist. I doubt a friendly imam and some Baptist-like hospitality at a mosque will influence those who seek to restrict religious liberty for Muslims in our country but it might help to de-demonize all Muslims by getting to know a few neighbors.

There are something like a billion and a half Muslims in the world. I've been around a few of these in a half dozen countries, eaten in their homes, talked with them, visited their places of worship. In America, where Muslims, Mormons, or Baptists should have the same religious freedoms under our constitution. Where worship practices or behavior of Muslims, Mormons, or Baptists run counter to our laws, they should be stopped.

This Baptist, while wishing and working for the salvation of all who do not follow Christ, favors protecting the religious liberty of all.

[KeithE]

Amen

[Dave Roberts]

William, I commend you for your willingness to reach out to the local mosque. I have visited our local mosque, a former Western Auto store, that welcomes visitors from time to time. This is a much poorer community here. My visit to the Imam included a welcome to sit in his office and to share briefly. We will never have better relations or receive any openness to our faith until we show kindness to Muslims. Thanks for sharing this.

[Haruo]

Good report, William.

Unfortunately there are some folks near the throne who are among those who think Muslims' freedom of religion should be curtailed because "Islam is not a religion". Mr. Bannon, who has replaced the JCS on the National Security Council, is on record quite recently with that opinion.

[William Thornton]

[Haruo]

My Aunt Margie (the religious nutcase in the family; she even went through a Christian Science phase ) was appalled that my parents were supporting Kennedy in 1960, given what we knew about the stockpiles of weapons in the Catholic church basements that they had bought with their bingo winnings. Seriously. She was also some sort of misguided Landmarker, convinced that John the Baptist had been a Baptist... That was one of three distinct memories I have from the 1960 campaign (the first, I think, that I have any recollection of; I was 6.)

[Haruo]

The other two were (1) what I regard as my introduction to "alternative facts": the discovery that there were two factions among my politically activated classmates, those who said if Kennedy won he would make us go to school on Saturday, asnd those who said if Nixon won, he would make us go to school on Saturday, and (2) the discovery that our most Catholic neighbor, Mr. Duffy (Kathleen Duffy's dad) was the state chairman of Catholics for Nixon. That last one may be a later memory; I may not have learned it until 1964 when Mr. Duffy (by then somewhat less Catholic because of his disillusionment with the Pope's modern ways at Vatican II) was state chair of Democrats for Goldwater... Oh, and the fact that the Duffy couple voted absentee because the polling place was in a public school...

[Tim Bonney]

Thanks for sharing about your visit! I'm attending an event in Sioux City on Wednesday by our human rights commission that is a "conversation with our Muslim neighbors." This is the second event I've attended where our community was hoping to show hospitality and support to our neighbors who happen to practice a minority religion.

I'll share with the group the experience afterwards. I'm looking forward to attending.

[Joseph Patrick]

Joseph Patrick...aka Gerry Milligan,
William, while we were in the UAE there was a Mosque just down the road from the Baptist church which conducted tours and explanations on a set day every week. There were no questions that were not answered. Very informative. So informative that we required all of our visiting volunteers attend these tours. On a related note...BaptistLife.com was once known as the hotbed of "rough and ready" interactions. Now, comparing this with your post on SBC Voices, Baptistlife.com is tame.

[William Thornton]

Mainly one commenter, an extremist, doing most of the nonsense.

[Haruo]

What were the rough and ready interactions? How did I miss them? Moz?

[William Thornton]

I think I ran across moz awhile back.

The half dozen of us here might get on one another's nerves but I have little patience for some of the rabid theocrats/YEers/Cals. I think it's my curmudgeonly old age.

[Sandy]

There were two mosques within a mile and a half of my house when I lived in Houston. One had a school which hosted the local spelling bee once, in which our kids participated. They were very gracious hosts. I agree with William in that a friendly demeanor, an open house and some refreshments aren't going to change minds.

There are some aspects of the Islamic faith that are in conflict with American constitutional law, but the exaggerations and hysteria over all of that, along with attempts to claim that Islam isn't a religion, and is therefore not entitled to religious liberty is ludicrous.

[Rvaughn]

[William Thornton]

No problem with your comments, though i may not agree with all of your stuff.

There's no big problem with courtesy or uncivil commenters. I just think I recognize single issue people and the futility of trying to discuss with them.

[Rvaughn]

Guess I'll give you a pass. I don't always agree with all my stuff either!

[William Thornton]

[Haruo]

I think I was less idiotic a couple decades back, myself. But I'd have to go back more like thirty years before I'd come right out and disagree with myself boldly and bodily.

[Rvaughn]

[Tim Bonney]

[Rvaughn]

[William Thornton]

[Tim Bonney]

The event I attended last night by the Human Rights Commission in Sioux City was very well attended. They had hoped for 60 and got about 150. There were two panelists who were of the Muslim faith. One gentleman who grew up in the Muslim faith and the other a convert to Islam from Christianity.

The panelists made presentations and then fielded questions and statements from the audience for 2 1/2 hours. All the questions were polite and generally thoughtful. Some Muslims in the audience shared their experiences of discrimination, including a young woman who shared that a man at Walmart had tried to remove her hijab and that her kids had been picked on for their faith at times.

I that it was a good event and I was pleased that so many people were interested in knowing more about each other.

[Rvaughn]