GlocalNet

The following article appeared in the July 26, 210 edition of the Washington Post.  Here is the link if you want to read it on the Washington Post site: 

Today’s guest blogger is Bob Roberts, Jr., the founding and Senior Pastor of NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas. NorthWood has started 130+ churches in the United States and trains young pastors here and around the world. He has led numerous development projects through a volunteer movement of mobilizing people to serve from one part of the world to another. He is active in multi-faith activities, as well as as an author. His most recent book is Realtime Connections.

Next week I will be in Hanoi, Vietnam with a dozen or more teachers from NorthWood Church where I pastor in Dallas, Texas as they will be working on education projects at the National University of Vietnam. I love Hanoi: the sights, smells, everything about it. I’ll hang out with lots of my Vietnamese friends: painters, educators, businessmen, humanitarians, and even government leaders.

Last week I was invited to celebrate the 15 year anniversary of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. President Clinton, Senator McCain, Senator Kerry, and Ambassador Le Cong Phung all spoke. I got a funny response from the 200 or so people there.
“Who are you with?” “I’m a pastor from Dallas.” “Why did you come?” “Our church works in Vietnam with the government.” “Really! They have religious freedom there?”

“I would say yes and that it’s growing, not without its challenges - but they are making some bold steps, and it’s better than other parts of the world that I’ve been to by a long shot!” I even gave Long, the political advisor, and Ambassador Le a Texas Belt buckle - and they loved it! Vietnam had been on a list with our government as one of the countries with the worst violations of religious freedom in the past - they are now off that list.

This week I followed in the news all the articles (pro and con) on the Muslim Community Center being built two blocks from Ground Zero. I followed links and read about Muslim institutions being challenged in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and other protests against Muslims and Muslim institutions in America. I wondered, “What would my Vietnamese friends think about this?” I’ll ask them next week.
It’s as if the shoe is on the other foot now. The reality is, Vietnam feared Christians like Christian Americans fear Islam - we don’t want our society destabilized. I heard of one man who’s going to build a Christian Center at Ground Zero in response to the Islamic Center - that’s the Jesus I’ve come to know and love! Right.

I also heard one of our top political leaders said, “When they allow churches to be built in Saudi Arabia, then they can build a mosque there”. Well, this isn’t Saudi Arabia - it’s the United States of America - and thank God we have rule of law and freedom of religion will prevail!

You might think I’m a liberal or mainline Christian. Not at all. I’m an Evangelical, a conservative Evangelical at that, and an Evangelistic Evangelical to top it all off - that means I tell everyone I can in a polite way about Jesus. I believe Jesus really is the only way to God - but that doesn’t mean I’m better than anyone else or gives me a right to be arrogant. If anything I should be humble and broken. I also believe in something called the Great Commission - simply stated that everyone should get to see and hear the Gospel at work so they can make their own call about Jesus. It’s similar to the Dawa that Muslims also believe in their message getting out. Why in the world then would I be OK with mosques being built in America?

Here’s why: I don’t believe in “Us” against “Them”. I learned the following in my experiences with Vietnam (I used to fear Vietnamese too), and I’m re-learning it with regard to Muslims.

First, theologically, I believe that God is in control and nothing happens without his approval and notice. If God is sovereign and in control, I need not fear.

Second, personally, I believe Jesus is God and is orchestrating things where the whole world can at least hear about who Jesus is. By the way, did you know the Koran talks more about Jesus than it does about the Prophet Mohammed? Did you know that the Prophet Mohammed told his followers they should learn from the Christian and Jewish books and ask Christians what they believe?

Third, morally: What we do here impacts what we are allowed to do around the globe. Everything is glocal. I can’t tell you how many Islamic leaders I’ve visited around the world who believe that religious freedom should exist in every country - even theirs. For them to say so publicly would have negative consequences for them. Now is not the time for us to reverse over 200 years of America’s tradition of religious freedom - the consequences not just for us, but the world, would be dire.

Fourth, practically, what an incredible opportunity as Americans for us to show the rest of the world how to get along with religious diversity! We have to model what we ask of others.

Fifth, philosophically, I believe my faith has the strongest case. I don’t believe the best way to keep Christians “Christian” is to isolate them from other religions. If I can’t make my case with another faith - maybe my faith isn’t a faith after all.

Sixth, relationally - I’ve come to love a lot of Muslims. Yep, most of them know I want to see them follow Jesus and baptize them (I descended from the Baptist tribe) - but not a single one of them has disrespected me or condemned me for my view. I don’t like people disrespecting my friends, whether they’re Muslims, Jews, Evangelicals or other. When are we going to learn to stop disrespecting people? Didn’t the civil rights movement teach us anything?

I don’t know the details of the Muslim Community Center in Manhattan - there may be some hanky panky I don’t know about. For me, it isn’t about that institution in particular. It’s about something America’s founders got - the best way to preserve religious freedom for any of us is to make sure it is extended to all of us.

The content of this blog reflects the views of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of either Eboo Patel or the Interfaith Youth Core.