Back to the Bully Pulpit 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~