AUSTIN, Texas – Aiming to diminish anti-Muslim attitudes in America, Austin churches are taking part of a new banner campaign to show support to their Muslim neighbors and promote mutual understanding between people of different faiths.
“These banners are something simple, concrete and visible, and we hope they will lead to many, many acts of mutual understanding and compassionate work among people of different religious faiths,” the Rev. John Elford said at the late April launch party for area churches when his congregation, University United Methodist Church, unveiled its banner, My Statesman reported on Sunday, May 15.
Elford was talking about a half-dozen red and white signs raised by University of Texas-area churches, proclaiming, “We stand with our Muslim neighbors.”
The campaign, titled “The Banner Project”, is sponsored by the nonprofit Interfaith Action for Human Rights.
Raising the first banner at the Congregational Church of Austin, parishioners marched to the Nueces Mosque down the street to be sure that the Muslim community supported the project.
At the mosque, they attended an open house where they shared a meal next to rooms where Muslims wash and pray.
“We didn’t want to be presumptuous,” Rev. Tom VandeStadt, pastor at Congregational, said.
After the mosque visit, 14 other churches and synagogues have since raised signs.
The timing of the campaign was very important, coming amid increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric in presidential election primaries.
A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that 40 percent of educators are hesitant to teach about the election in class because of those messages.
“It is very clear to me that being a bystander to hatred and intolerance makes it possible for hatred and intolerance to grow,” Bonnie Tamres-Moore said.
Classes on Islam
The efforts were extended to University-area churches, including University United Methodist, which will offer classes on Islam this fall to ensure that Muslim students feel welcome and supported.
Elford said the campaign comes down to “love thy neighbor.”
“Growing up, I kind of thought that was pretty much a noncontroversial statement and that anybody would accept that,” he said.
“But you find that in the midst of all that we’re seeing around us, that we need to be reminded to love our neighbors.”
Muslims make up 1% of America’s 322 million population, according to Pew Research center.
Anti-Muslim sentiments have reached an all-time high after the rise of the so-called Islamic State, formerly known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Moreover, the Republican presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, have added to increasing anti-Muslim sentiments.
Trump’s views on immigration have sparked controversy nationwide, especially his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the US.