Another dose of sanity
by Tom Sullivan
After the week and year we have had, it becomes hard to believe there is still a Force for good operating in this world. So the NPR story last night about Omaha's Tri-Faith Initiative lifted the gloom just a bit. Religious leaders in Omaha are constructing a mosque, a church and a synagogue on a shared 38-acre plot.
At least someone is trying to get along. These days, it is a radical idea. Making Omaha a target even:
All the more reason that it feels right, says Doug Dushan, a member of Countryside Church. He says attacking the foundation of extremist, separatist, ideology isn't just dangerous — it is exhilarating.
"It does reinforce that I think any development in any faith have happened against the grain," Dushan says.
Similar initiatives are underway elsewhere. One in Berlin would house all three religions in a single building. Elnes, the minister at Countryside, says it's part of a growing movement.
"Right now, worldwide, what we see when we look at the three Abrahamic faiths," he says, "is that the progress end of all three of those faiths actually have more in common with each other than they may have in common with the extreme ends within their faith."
Syed Mohiuddin agrees. A cardiologist, he heads the American Muslim Institute and is excited to complete the Tri-Faith campus, which should happen in the next few years.
"We'll have music. We'll have parties," Mohiuddin says. "Food, food brings everybody together" — that is, after they work out the various dietary restrictions and hundreds of other small issues.
Representing the Darker Side, the publications FrontPage, Daily Caller, and WorldNetDaily view attempts to have interfaith music and parties as deeply disturbing, as possible attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood (and Warren Buffett?) to destroy Israel and the Judeo-Christian values of America. (Sorry, no links. Not gonna do it.) A ringing endorsement, you might say.
Happy Hollandaise everyone!