On Monday night, as I took a seat in an office at the Islamic Center of Maine in Orono, I found myself issuing a surprising apology to the two leaders with whom I was meeting for the first time. Little did I know, when I scheduled the appointment to meet with them last week, that on the same day I was to visit with them, the Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, would steal the attention of the world by declaring he would enact “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
So as I sat down with these two Muslim brothers, I felt an urge to extend an apology to them because of Trump’s comments — and because of the heightened rhetoric in general against Muslims, which, according to some Muslims, exceeds that of the days immediately after 9/11.
Perhaps not surprisingly, these gracious leaders laughed off my apology and said that they recognized that Trump no more represents all Americans than the extremists in San Bernardino represent all Muslims.
On this, we fully agree. And yet, at this time of increased fear, we, as Americans, and particularly those of us who are Christians, need to stand tall for the religious rights of all — even for those with whom we disagree theologically.
The reality is, as some of us suffer from shell-shock, somewhat ambivalent about whether Trump is serious about his audacious claims, or whether he is just playing to the crowd, those claims seem to be gaining more and more traction with each passing tragedy.
We can remain ambivalent no longer — especially since it seems rather evident that Trump is not the only presidential candidate who is seeking to capitalize on those fears. Similarly, while we may scoff at the idea that such a thing could ever happen, few of us probably anticipated in the past that we’d ever even have to publicly disavow such notions.
Yet here we are.
To be clear, as a Christian pastor, I hold a very high view of Scripture. As such, I am no pluralist who thinks that the claims of every religion are equally valid, or that salvation is found through any “other name under heaven” except Jesus Christ (see Acts 4:12).
But these convictions in no way undermine my unrelenting support for the right of any person to practice the religious dictates of his or her own conscience. In fact, these convictions stand as the basis for that support. Or, as Russell Moore, who serves as president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “It is not in spite of our gospel conviction, but precisely because of it, that we should stand for religious liberty for everyone.”
Such a perspective is, of course, quite apart from any biblical basis, woven into the very fabric of America’s founding documents and historical experience. This country has always placed a premium on liberty — including the religious variety. No tragedy — and that’s what these horrific events in Paris and San Bernardino surely are — should ever cause us to turn our backs on the values that make America truly exceptional.
And those of us who are Christians, who came to this great land in the first place to escape religious persecution, believing that these “inalienable rights” were given to us by our Creator, should be foremost in defending the religious liberty of all. Indeed, we should never let fear — which has no place in the Christian’s vocabulary anyway (see 1 John 4:18) — determine our actions.
Not long ago another group of displaced wanderers from the Middle East found themselves as the recipients of fear-based rhetoric from the mouth of one of the world’s most notorious fascists. Even more tragic than the actions of the godless Adolf Hitler was the inaction of a paralyzed German church.
Among the German Christians, however, there arose a few who stood tall for the rights of persecuted Jews.
One such giant, misunderstood at the time, was Dietrich Bonhoeffer — a pastor and theologian who became involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler. While one might debate the morality of a Christian plotting to assassinate a leader, even one as evil as Hitler, one cannot debate the motives from which Bonhoeffer operated. He had an unrelenting concern for the life and rights of all — even those with whom he disagreed theologically.
And thus, he famously declared, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
We must not remain silent. We must speak, we must stand, we must act.
Shawn Brace has served as pastor of the Bangor and Dexter Seventh-day Adventist churches since January 2011.