In his May 18 op-ed “A testing attempt for Islam’s center,” Peter Skerry, professor of political science at Boston College, appears to seek to undermine Tariq Ramadan’s appeal for an inclusive, patriotic American homegrown Islamic faith by comparing it to universalizing liberal Protestant churches in America during the Cold War.
The call by Ramadan, a professor at Oxford, for young American Muslims to work for social and economic justice for all Americans, and to help to make a better society for all Americans, is the traditional call of American religious leaders for demonstrating our faith in action through good works.
In America today many of our young people are hungry for such a challenge, and this universalizing of work for social justice for all Americans seems to me to be something to be encouraged rather than discounted based upon Cold War experiences.
These are new times, and I would be delighted for members of my congregation to find solidarity with the Islamic Center of Boston in working for social justice in inner-city Boston. We welcome loving colleagues in the work our faith calls us to do.
The Rev. Jim Sherblom
Brookline
The writer is co-minister of First Parish, Unitarian Universalist, in Brookline.