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Editorial
Sunday, June 23, 2002
SOME PEOPLE who follow these things say no one should be surprised
by the anti-Muslim bigotry of a former leader of the Southern Baptist
Convention. Maybe that's right; maybe when the Rev. Jerry Vines, a
former president of the convention, called the prophet Muhammad a
"demon-possessed pedophile," we shouldn't have been shocked, only
disgusted.

What is surprising, and more than disappointing, is the White House
response. In the early days after the Sept. 11 attack, President Bush
admirably took the lead in instructing the United States, and
reassuring the world, that America was not at war with Islam or
Muslims but only against terrorist groups that wish America ill
and the governments that support them. He visited a mosque in
Washington; he called repeatedly for tolerance. Partly as a result,
opinion surveys showed that Americans' views of Muslims actually
became more positive in the weeks after the attacks, and incidents
of anti-Muslim hate crimes decreased.

Mr. Vines's remarks offered an opportunity for a similar presidential
lesson. The Southern Baptist Convention, after all, is the nation's
largest Protestant denomination; it is a coalition of 42,000 churches
with 16 million members, as The Post's Alan Cooperman reported in his
article on this matter Thursday. Mr. Vines, who won support from other
Baptist leaders for his remarks, made clear his belief that Islam is
inferior to other religions. "And I will tell you Allah is not Jehovah,
either," he said. "Jehovah's not going to turn you into a terrorist."
The very next day, Mr. Bush addressed a meeting of the Southern Baptist
Coalition by satellite and praised Baptists for their "religious
tolerance."

When questioned about the Vines remark in his Thursday briefing, Bush
spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "It's something the president definitely
disagrees with. The president said that Islam is a religion of peace."
That's good to know, but it's not enough to have Mr. Fleischer say so.
The United States is engaged not only in a police action against
murderous terrorists but also in a larger ideological campaign to
promote liberal democracy and tolerance and to thwart violent
fundamentalism. An essential part of that campaign is to convince
Muslims everywhere that Mr. Vines's bigotry does not represent
America, just as anti-Americanism and opposition to democracy should
not be seen as inherent to Islam. Mr. Bush was an effective advocate
of this message early on. He needs to return to the point again and
again, repudiating homegrown prejudice and championing the values of
tolerance and freedom that are essential to winning this war.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

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