Heckler At Washington Cathedral’s First Muslim Prayer Service
This was he first-ever recitation of Muslim prayer in the Christian cathedral, organized as a call to unity.
[su_center_ad]
…the carefully scripted ceremony was marred once when one well-dressed, middle-age woman in the audience suddenly rose and began shouting that “America was founded on Christian principles. . . . Leave our church alone!” She was swiftly ushered out by security aides, and the service continued…
speakers said they hoped the service would help correct some Americans’ misperceptions of Muslims as extremists and reinforce tolerance among faiths.
“Salaam, shalom, peace. You are all so very welcome here,” said the Rev. Canon Gina Gilland Campbell, the cathedral’s director of liturgy, in an open greeting…
In a Facebook post Thursday, the Rev. Franklin Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said that it was “sad to see a church open its doors to worship of anything other than the One True God of the Bible.” As of late Friday, 64,000 people had “liked” the post.[su_csky_ad]
Kim Serrahn November 15th, 2014 at 11:24 am
how sad for those that have nothing but hate in their hearts because some one is different or follows a different religion.
Spirit of America November 15th, 2014 at 11:34 pm
Looks like there is plenty of those types in this thread alone. I agree w/you, it is indeed a shame.
Candide Thirtythree November 15th, 2014 at 11:46 pm
You with the backhanded compliments and nasty qualifiers in every single comment, seriously, you have nothing better to do than see just how much dog whistling you can get away with? We know the code, we are just ignoring you but you seem too thick to get the hint.
Spirit of America November 16th, 2014 at 12:01 am
I have no idea what you mean by ‘dog whistling’ or ‘the code’, care to explain? And I don’t see any backhanded compliments in my post above, let alone w/a ‘nasty qualifier’.
(doesn’t ‘ignoring’ mean one wouldn’t reply via post?)
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:52 am
Indeed. It is refreshing to see someone else who sees that. I believe if we point this out repeatedly in a way that makes the point and presents a better way, we can turn this thing around.
Spirit of America November 17th, 2014 at 2:01 am
“Bigotry is common in this forum”
I have yet to see a political/religious/social forum that isn’t.
Go to a hobby or gaming forum, a large segment is helpful, courteous etc.
Bunya November 17th, 2014 at 7:00 pm
I’ll give you credit for diversity SofA,. At least you argue on the wide variety of topics posted here, unlike Burqa who seems to be stuck on Christian persecution.
Spirit of America November 17th, 2014 at 7:07 pm
I try. Like my football coach used to say:
Its not how many patterns you memorize, its how many different topics will you ‘post’ because of…
🙂
Bunya November 16th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Are you accusing us of being hate-filled and intolerant? If so, is somebody holding a gun to your head, forcing you to post here?
Just askin’.
Spirit of America November 17th, 2014 at 1:56 am
define us first… 1 poster, 1/2 the posters, all the posters… ?
(Besides, if someone is holding a gun to my head making me post, I doubt they would let me type it out)
🙂
Bunya November 17th, 2014 at 1:33 pm
Then I’m puzzled as to why you even visit Liberaland. You’re like the guy who always goes to Steven Segall movies just so he can bitch about how much he hates Steven Segall movies.
Spirit of America November 17th, 2014 at 3:47 pm
You didn’t define ‘us’ yet… I can’t answer your question until I have an idea roughly how many you are asking about. So until I answer, does it make any sense to say what I’m like?
(besides, if I am like you say, maybe segall movies have great leading ladies and that’s why i go)
🙂
Bunya November 17th, 2014 at 6:53 pm
I don’t know. How much do you consider “plenty” as in; “Looks like there is plenty of those types in this thread alone.”?
Spirit of America November 17th, 2014 at 7:06 pm
anything over 12.04%, not to exceed 17.8%.
StoneyCurtisll November 15th, 2014 at 11:53 am
‘Rev’. Franklin Graham is a charlatan and a bigot.
Larry Schmitt November 15th, 2014 at 12:05 pm
If you’re going to believe in a fairy tale, no one else should be allowed to believe in any other fairy tales.
Spirit of America November 15th, 2014 at 11:36 pm
Not that I see any discussion in article or threads here pertaining to fairy tales, but that aside, why not?
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:57 am
It’s the belief police on patrol!
tracey marie November 15th, 2014 at 1:07 pm
a “christian” teabagg
Candide Thirtythree November 15th, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Rich, white,old and christian, the perfect storm for a hater.
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:56 am
How do you feel about rich, white, old Christians?
Candide Thirtythree November 17th, 2014 at 8:43 am
I have a very negative view of them because I belong to 3 of those categories, and christians make all of the rest of us look bad.
Wayout November 15th, 2014 at 1:47 pm
Even though the Imam spoke out against radical Islam, why is it that Christians are always rolling over for the Muslims? Does anyone here really think that a Catholic Mass or a Baptist worship service will be allowed at some mosque any time soon?
Larry Schmitt November 15th, 2014 at 1:52 pm
No one is looking to have a christian service in a mosque. In case you haven’t noticed, christians are the majority. It was merely a sign of inclusion. There are no christian services in synagogues either. No one is rolling over for anyone.
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:49 am
Yes.
I would point out that many communities have interfaith councils where ministers of different faiths get together to work on projects of mutual interest and have prayers or rites of various faiths and everyone is respectful and generally seeks to maintain a sort of unity even though there are significant differences in their doctrines. The idea is to find common ground, ignore the differences so as much good as possible may be done.
fancypants November 15th, 2014 at 2:01 pm
in the middle east ? no chance at all The gop tried and failed 12 yrs and counting…
neworleans878 November 15th, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Shining City Upon the Hill.
Yes or No?
tracey marie November 15th, 2014 at 2:44 pm
keep rolling to the right till you hit stormfront or brietbart…do you need a push?
Candide Thirtythree November 15th, 2014 at 11:41 pm
hahahah I told him pretty much the same thing the other day.
Kick Frenzy November 15th, 2014 at 3:56 pm
Do you think the church should base its willingness to extend an olive branch on whether or not the other side would also extend one?
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:45 am
Because the bigotry directed at them is just as wrong as the bigotry directed against Christians which is just as wrong as the bigotry directed against gays which is just as wrong as the bigotry directed against African Americans.
Bigotry is wrong, period.
I have never heard of a Christian service held in a mosque, but we should do good regardless of what others do. To allow others to determine whether we do good is weak reasoning.
Are you familiar with the Christian concept of turning the other cheek?
We should not do wrong because someone else does wrong. If we do, it goes from one wrong being done to two wrongs being done, so our response worsens the situation.
This is one reason we endeavor to love our enemies, too.
See how easy that is to see?
I’m a pretty good teacher.
Suzanne McFly November 15th, 2014 at 3:37 pm
We need to stop making it seem like a big deal. There was one whole idiot there who yelled out against it, how many others were there supporting it? Why does this one moron get a louder voice than the many others who were in attendance? We need to quit focusing on the negative, look for the positive.
Kick Frenzy November 15th, 2014 at 3:53 pm
It is a big deal.
Until that kind of ignorant hatred is banished, I would think it is a big deal.
While the downside of reporting on them is that they get their shiny 15 minutes, the upside is that it grows the collective shaming of that behavior and helps to move us past the idiocy.
Suzanne McFly November 15th, 2014 at 4:27 pm
I don’t think they feel shamed, I think they feel justified. I just wish there were stories about the fact that this has been tried and I am willing to bet this wasn’t the first service of this kind. If this service received some positive feedback, more churches may take notice and start similar services.
Kick Frenzy November 15th, 2014 at 4:35 pm
I agree that it would be great to see headlines on stories like this that focus on the positive.
For example, “Washington Cathedral holds peaceful Muslim Prayer Service”, then maybe a short mention in the article that there was one woman who yelled some hate speech, but she was quickly removed.
Suzanne McFly November 15th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
That would be a beautiful headline, imagine all the clicks it would receive and I bet people on the right would click on it just to see if any rwnj was able to ruin the celebration, happy to let them know she didn’t ruin it, she just exposed their idiocy a little more. 🙂
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:38 am
I have saying the same thing for some time now.
This forum is dedicated to highlighting a tiny number of kooks and crazies and ignoring what the vast majority are up to. The forum was once titled “Spirit” but there were not stories giving spritual information and even now it is mis-titled, since nearly all the blog posts are intended to follow the theme of presenting nitwits to the end that people think the kooks represent the whole group.
Go back through previous comments under previous blog posts and you will see people expressing this opinion.
When challenged to look at what churches are doing in their area, many here refuse to do so and objected when I did so because it presented Christians in a good light and that is a no-no around here.
Kick Frenzy November 16th, 2014 at 6:17 pm
As for the types of story this site runs, yes… some are sensational or heart-string tugging, but then again… so are most other sites, on any point of the political spectrum.
But to be fair, the amount of kooks in the Republican party are not a small, silent minority… they’re a large and defining part of the party.
For instance, assigning someone to a Science Committee that rejects science because the bible told him so.
Or how somehow crazyballs Joni Ernst got a slew of support while Howard Dean was mocked and practically ruined for an excited “YA” that only sounded crazy because we couldn’t hear the roar of the audience he was joining.
Or “legitimate rape”.
Or Grimm getting voted in even though he threatened to KILL a reporter for asking him a question.
I imagine it’s difficult to name more than one highly public Republican figure who isn’t a kook to some degree.
On the other hand, I would have to make an effort to find more than one Democrat that’s quite so kooky.
(Not that there aren’t Dems I disagree with… Mary Landrieu ain’t no Dem as far as I’m concerned.)
I have never seen any refusal to check out a church… or even a proposal for someone to check one out in the first place.
Nor do I know of anyone who objects to people practicing their chosen religion, as long as they don’t try to force their religion onto others in the form of laws.
(Claiming that denying employment to LGBTQ, or any segment, should be allowed for religious reasons is asking for laws to be made that respect a particular religion. A Christians right to be Christian doesn’t mean they get to force me to follow their religious rules, that’s specifically anti-Constitutional and anti-American.)
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:31 am
I agree.
But to do so would require this forum to change direction and it appears Alan wants it this way. There is no sense of proportion.
Suzanne McFly November 16th, 2014 at 9:48 am
I love this site, I am on it more than any other sites combined. I think it is a microcosm of the entire internet, some stories need to be told a lot less(i.e. Kardashians, honey boo boo, boners crying episodes…..) and some stories need to be expanded upon such as this one.
Bunya November 15th, 2014 at 3:58 pm
I find it interesting someone who has no proof of a “one true god”, would make the outlandish claim that they’re right and everybody else is wrong.
Of course, we all know the true god of Franklin Graham. If there were something called “truth in advertising”, his statement would go something like this.
” It’s sad to see a church open its doors to those who don’t contribute to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.”
Carla Akins November 15th, 2014 at 4:08 pm
I thought the “one true god” was once the Lord of Kobol.
Bunya November 15th, 2014 at 6:01 pm
Flash Gordon is the savior of the universe.
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:29 am
Maybe so, but Flesh Gordon had more fun…………….
Carla Akins November 16th, 2014 at 5:57 am
Ha, now that song is going to run through my head all day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyIIYerdlUA
StoneyCurtisll November 15th, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Only if you are a Mormon, (mornon)..:)
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:28 am
Some used to think it was Clapton.
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:27 am
Bunya: “I find it interesting someone who has no proof of a “one true god”, would make the outlandish claim that they’re right and everybody else is wrong.”
That’s the way it is with a lot of things.
When people are really into something, often they think their favorite is the best. I think Iggy Pop is the best rock singer since Elvis.
Some people think jazz music is superior to all other genres.
Some people think the place they live is the best, or that a particular genre of art is the best or a particular painter is the best in that field. You may think Monet was a better painter than Cezanne and I may think the opposite.
You may think Led Zeppelin is the best rock band ever while I think it is the Rolling Stones.
So it is with faith. People in a particular sect of a particular faith think their way is superior to others. We’d never read it here, of course, but Shiites and Wahabbis and Alawites all think their version of Islam is superior to others. This makes sense, after all, why go with one when another is more correct?
Can someone “prove” that pecans taste better than walnuts?
Can someone “prove” that the Who was a better band than the Rolling Stones?
Can someone “prove” that Cezanne was a better painter than Monet?
It’s just people expressing their preference and there are polite and impolite ways to do so. There are also disagreements on what would be polite or not, and so it goes with human experience.
Bunya November 16th, 2014 at 5:18 pm
It’s great that you think the Rolling Stones are better than Led Zepplin. Just to threaten me with eternal damnation if I don’t listen to “Gimme Shelter”.
Ravensinger November 15th, 2014 at 5:21 pm
Ah, so all three Gods gave Their followers free will – and only the Christian God’s followers are allowed to exercise it in this country?
tracey marie November 15th, 2014 at 6:24 pm
same god, their prophets are diffrent.
StoneyCurtisll November 15th, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Tell that to Franklin Graham..:)
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 4:56 am
No.
There are rude people of other faiths and rude people who do not subscribe to any faith.
look around, you will find examples of that.
I’ve always been puzzled when people imply that certain human behaviors are confined to one group when we all are susceptible to the same temptations and are also all capable of good, regardless of religious belief or unbelief, race, ethnicity or culture.
Human nature is human nature.
There are hecklers who are Christian.
There are hecklers who are Jewish.
There are Buddhist hecklers.
There are agnostic hecklers.
There are atheist hecklers.
There are white hecklers.
There are black hecklers.
There are brown hecklers
There are American hecklers.
There are French hecklers.
There are white collar hecklers.
There are blue collar hecklers.
There are poor hecklers.
There are rich hecklers.
There are middle class hecklers.
There are blue-eyed hecklers.
There are brown-eyed hecklers.
But since this forum is devoted to misbehavior of Christians, I cann see why you would think they were the only ones. This is how this forum functions. The idea is to single out one faith and present them in as bad a light as possible so people such as yourself draw false conclusions….
tracey marie November 17th, 2014 at 11:19 am
Name one time a heckler that was NOT christian stopped a prayer in a place of worship
Bunya November 17th, 2014 at 1:44 pm
Burqa has no proof. He lives in this alternate universe where the the Christians are forever being persecuted, and he’s their only savior. You know, something like the second coming of Christ.
burqa November 16th, 2014 at 5:11 am
The older I get, the more I tire of hecklers.
Occasionally, if one is really funny, I’ll give them a break unless they overdo it.
While we have freedom of speech, with that comes responsibility to use it appropriately. License is the abuse of a right and this is an example.
It is improper to exercise our right to free speech in a church to disrupt a service. That goes for many places and circumstances, but there is a drift in this country to allow more and more impropriety and the result is to introduce coarseness into our culture.
While it does seem odd to have a Muslim service in a Christian church, they should be allowed to do so if they wish without this sort of behavior. If someone objects, they can speak to whoever is in charge privately or write to the parent organization, newspaper, or whatever. I have not heard of any prominent Muslim mosques where such a thing was ever done, but what others do should not determine what we do. If it is a good idea, someone has to go first, after all.
At political events or other occasions we see hecklers who try to prevent people from speaking and who think the correctness of their cause gives them permission to deny someone else their right to speak. I have seen posts here go unchallenged when someone proudly spoke of shouting others down or harassing them out of a forum such as this.
There have been occasions when protesters showed up at the private residence of a public figure and I think that was wrong, too. It was wrong of Code Pink to try to do that to President Bush, for example.
The principal should apply across the board with the same standard held for all.
Now, I spoke of exceptions. I remember when Hillary Clinton was in New Hampshire, as I recall, running for the nomination President Obama eventually won. A heckler hollered for her to “Iron my shirt!” Now that one was funny enough for me to give him an exemption, but then he ruined it by repeating it over and over.
tracey marie November 17th, 2014 at 11:18 am
because sexism is so funny
Suzanne McFly November 16th, 2014 at 9:52 am
I think we have been trained to focus on the one idiot, we just need to let the media know we want them the focus on the majority of people who were there to celebrate their commonalities and get away from showing us the multiple differences we are inundated with all day long.
Serious Starsider November 17th, 2014 at 8:24 am
There is only one true God, Zues. The father of Gods.