A small public media storm has erupted today (Dec 14, 2012) over the planned conference of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which has offices in Washington D. C. and Los Angeles. The reason is that the conference is being hosted by an Episcopal Church, All Saints Church in Pasadena.
The New York Times article about this event uncovers the root of the controversy in the work of Ryan Mauro, who was paid by the Institute for Religion and Democracy to write a piece accusing MPAC of being connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist political organization that is currently in power in Egypt. The Institute for Religion and Democracy regularly attacks liberal-leaning Christian organizations for their openness and tolerance.
Laurie Goodstein, the writer of the NYT article, pushed Mauro on the nature of the connection he saw between MPAC and the Muslim Brotherhood. Mauro's response was that the council "still promoted books written by scholars who studied with the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood." (That person, Hassan al-Banna, was assasinated in Egypt in 1949.)
Maybe. But that connection, even if true to some extent, is tenuous at best. What is more important is what MPAC stands for in its civic work, and even more so, the relationship that they evidently have with their Christian brothers and sisters at All Saints. The church’s rector, the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon Jr., has worked on interfaith issues with MPAC for years, and is not alone among other civic voices in supporting MPAC through interfaith cooperation.
So there is a level of trust that has been established. Public trust of this kind is highly undervalued, and regularly dismissed by those who wish to hinder progressive civic action and cooperation. The Christians and Muslims involved in making the MPAC Conference happen are to be lauded for working against the tide of kneejerk Islamaphobia that continues to slosh around in American society today. Courageous hospitality, of the kind All Saints Church obviously teaches and preaches, is vital to making interfaith encounters and cooperation not just a dream, but a reality.
