Both of the pastors allowing Muslim worship on their property appeal to the love required of Christians as an authoritative guide for their decision-making. But it is not self-evident that this duty requires us to provide property for false worship.

As professional religion reporters looked back on 2010, they ranked the debate over an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero—along with a pastor’s threat to burn the Qur’an—as the year’s top story. The threat of Qur’an burning has dropped out of the headlines. But loud opposition to construction of Islamic centers continues across the country…

Meanwhile, some churches have modeled a much more welcoming approach. At Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tennessee, Steve Stone and his congregants put out a sign welcoming incoming neighbors at the Memphis Islamic Center. The church then allowed these Muslim neighbors to use their sanctuary as a makeshift mosque throughout Ramadan while the Islamic Center was under construction. Stone and Heartsong received extensive nationalmediacoverage for their efforts.

For Stone, allowing Muslims to worship on his church’s property was a matter of “What would Jesus do?”—a matter of his United Methodist congregation modeling the love of Jesus to strangers, just as Jesus had welcomed them.

Another United Methodist pastor 900 miles away came to a similar conclusion when a neighboring Islamic congregation asked to use his church’s space for five months of Friday prayers. Jason Micheli, pastor of Aldersgate Methodist in Arlington, Virginia, shares part of his theological reasoning in a sermon published at Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog.

Read More: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/januaryweb-only/muslimsevangelical.html
Jason B. Hood is Scholar-In-Residence at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis and blogs at The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology.