raleighmann

Raleigh Mann

This is Raleigh Mann.

There’s a church in Chapel Hill that welcomes followers of Islam to worship in its building, which they have done for years. I have been in that building at some of those times and never felt threatened there.

There’s a house next door to ours that a group of Muslims is converting into a place of prayer. Getting to know these people has been wonderful. They have shown me what it’s like to practice the teachings of one’s faith. I wish everyone could be as peace-loving, kind and generous as these neighbors are.

I was raised a Methodist and have worshipped on occasion in Duke Chapel, and also have been privileged to sing religious music in concerts there with a chorus whose members represent a variety of faith traditions. Duke has a proud history of welcoming everyone to its chapel, labs, classrooms, offices, everywhere.

A growing group of Muslims has been meeting for prayer in the Duke Chapel basement, but when the university agreed to let them issue their weekly calls to prayer from the chapel’s belfry, voices of anti-Islam bigotry rose up to say no. 224 miles away, Franklin Graham, son of the peace-loving evangelist Billy Graham, went ballistic. It’s a Christian chapel, he insisted. Muslims shouldn’t be using it. It’s fair to say that Graham has a history of hating Islam. He calls it a false religion, guided by treacherous deceit. Quoting now, he has said, “The blinding lies of Satan himself are the dark and sinister force ultimately behind any false religion. It is impossible for a false religion to be a true religion of peace.”

Graham was not alone. Threats were made; ugly things were said. Duke’s leaders, citing concerns about security, backed down. There will be no calls to prayer from the chapel tower.

The Rev. Luke Powery, dean of the chapel, said the university did not cave in to pressure.

Oh, really?

Imam Adeel Zeb, the university’s chaplain to Muslims, has graciously expressed his gratitude for Duke’s support of Muslim students on campus, but he is disappointed in the reversal, he said.

So are hundreds of supportive students and others, both on the Duke campus and well beyond it. So am I.