Southern Baptist Convention Supports Mosque, Draws Criticism

The Southern Baptist Convention is coming under fire for filing a legal document arguing for the construction of a mosque by an Islamic society in New Jersey.

The paper offers legal arguments in support of the local Islamic society's efforts to build a mosque in Bernards Township, New Jersey, despite the opposition of the local planning authority.

"A Muslim mosque cannot be submitted to a different land-use approval process than a Christian church simply because local protesters oppose the mosque," it says according to The Economist.

At the SBC's annual meeting last week in St. Louis, Missouri, the Ethics and Religious Liberty (ERLC) arm of the SBC came under fire for supporting the construction of the mosque.

"I move that all Southern Baptist officials or officers who support the rights of Muslims to build Islamic mosques in the United States be immediately removed from their position within the Southern Baptist Convention," said Messenger John Wofford, with Armorel Baptist Church in Arkansas.

SBC's Russell Moore defended the decision to support the building of the mosque during a meeting of the ERLC.

"What it means to be a Baptist is to support soul freedom for everybody," Moore said. "Brothers and sisters, when you have a government that says 'We can decide whether or not a house of worship can be constructed based upon the theological beliefs of that house of worship,' then there are going to be Southern Baptist churches in San Francisco and New York and throughout this country who are not going to be able to build."

The ERLC was joined in signing the amicus brief in support of the mosque by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, National Association of Evangelicals, Sikh Coalition, South Asian Bar Association of New York, and Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey.