Faith leaders of different religions came together Thursday afternoon inside the downtown Detroit United Methodist Church to oppose Islamophobic rhetoric that’s ramped up ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
“In the final weeks of Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, we have watched religious identity used as a weapon,” said Rev. Paul Perez, who leads the downtown Detroit church.
Perez and other faith leaders said at the press conference they weren’t endorsing a candidate, but compassion and understanding as Michigan voters decide who to send to the U.S. Senate.
Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed would be the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate. His identity is being used by supporters of Rogers’ campaign to cast doubt on his loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.
Earlier this month, El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers agreed with a social media post calling El-Sayed a terrorist.
“The charge of dual loyalty has been thrown at Jews for generations,” says Rabbi Alana Alpert, of Ferndale’s Congregation T’chiyah. “When we hear it aimed at our Muslim neighbors we recognize it. And we will not let it be used against anyone.”
At an El-Sayed event Thursday at the Wayne State Fieldhouse, an ant-Muslim activist Cam Higby interrupted his rally as El-Sayed began his remarks.
“Why do you take money from members of the Muslim Brotherhood?” Higby shouted before being escorted out of the gymnasium.
TV and digital ads echo the charge against El-Sayed that he is connected to designated terrorist organizations, which he has denied. He has disavowed and condemned Hamas, the military group controlling Gaza, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a decentralized movement with a long history in Egypt.
While tweets from his half-sister suggest she and her mother had sympathetic attitudes toward the organization, no evidence has been produced that points to El-Sayed being affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
In an interview with Michigan Chronicle, Higby said he doesn’t believe Muslims belong in America. That sentiment is often found in online replies and comments from accounts run by conservative Christians.
sd Democratic voters have also expressed skepticism about El-Sayed’s faith.
Ahead of the primary election, Farmington Hills School Board member Angie Smith caused an uproar online after she told Michigan Chronicle she wasn’t sure whether El-Sayed could represent everybody.
“Don’t come out speaking only Arabic; don’t come out with your Arabic music on; represent everyone,” Smith said.
She later apologized for the comments.
At Thursday’s press conference, Imam Steve Mustapha Elturk of Warren’s Islamic Organization of North America, shared a story about how he eventually earned the trust of new neighbors who feared his congregation was bringing Sharia law when they arrived.
“When a person’s faith is treated as evidence for disloyalty, every Muslim family hears that message. Our children hear it. They come home from school and ask, ‘Are we really American?,’” Elturk said. I want to answer them today from this pulpit surrounded by our Christian and Jewish brothers and sisters, yes, we are Americans. Yes, we are Americans. Our faith is protected by the same Constitution that protects every other faith.”
Pastor Louis Forsythe II of Detroit’s Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, said that liberation of Christians, Jewish and Muslims are tied together.
“The Black church knows what it means to have our loyalty questioned,” Forsythe said. “We know what it means to be told we are less than full citizens. We are called un-American for demanding the rights of the Constitution promised us.
“Our faith carried us through that, and it was the faith of others standing beside us that helped bend this nation toward justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from a Birmingham jail that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Based on reporting by Michigan Chronicle.
