When the Muslim Public Affairs Council arranged to hold its annual convention at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., this Saturday, leaders of both organizations believed it would be a bold demonstration of progress in interfaith relations.
But now the organizers of the convention have had to call in the local police department and private security guards after a conservative Christian group posted an article accusing All Saints, an Episcopal church, of harboring Muslim extremists, and the church received a barrage of hate mail.
“I’ve been called names all my life from the ultraconservative reactionary position,” the church’s rector, the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon Jr., said in an interview on Thursday, “but this is a level of demeaning that I’ve not seen before. Demeaning not just of me, but of the Muslim faith, of this organization, the Prophet Muhammad and the Koran. It tells me that there’s a culture of fear in America, a perversion of Christianity which has turned it into the religion of fear, which it of course is not.”
The episode is only the latest in which American Muslims and Muslim organizations have been accused of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist social and political movement that has taken power in Egypt.
Earlier this year, four Republican members of Congress accused Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, of having connections to the Brotherhood. Ms. Abedin was defended by other legislators, including Senator John McCain, a Republican, who called the attacks “unwarranted and unfounded.” The Justice Department told the Muslim group it planned to send a videotaped message of support to the convention.
In this case, too, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and All Saints Church have used the attacks to rally support from local clergy members and legislators.
The Los Angeles Times published an editorial on Thursday calling the church’s decision to host the convention a “mitzvah,” Hebrew for a commandment of God or a moral act. The editorial noted that the council “has been fending off criticism for years,” and said:
“We don’t necessarily agree with every word its leaders have ever uttered, but the organization has generally taken moderate stances on international issues and has regularly denounced major acts of terrorism around the globe. It has consistently urged American Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement and help prevent terrorism.”
All Saints Church is a well-known liberal congregation, one of the first Episcopal churches in the country to bless same-sex unions, in 1992, Father Bacon said. He said that he had been close to the leaders of the council, an advocacy group for American Muslims, for more than 18 years and that he had no reservations about their motives.
The church’s decision to host the Muslim convention first came under fire this month by the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative group that criticizes the Episcopal Church and other historically mainline Protestant churches for what it sees as their drift to the left.
The institute’s Web site published an essay accusing the Muslim group’s founders of longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and of supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, which the United States has labeled terrorist organizations.
“Yet again, the Islamists are taking advantage of naïve Christians,” said the post, written by Ryan Mauro, who founded WorldThreats.com, writes for RadicalIslam.org and is a commentator on Fox News.
Mr. Mauro said in an interview that the institute had paid for him to write the article, which was also posted at Front Page Magazine. He said that he ws not opposed to interfaith efforts, but that he believed the council was a Brotherhood affiliate.
He said that the Islamic Center of Southern California, a large mosque in Los Angeles whose founders began the council, still promoted books written by scholars who studied with the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The council regularly works with the police and sheriff’s departments in Los Angeles, the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. Its president, Salam al-Marayati, recently returned from a State Department-sponsored trip to Warsaw.
Asked why government agencies would work with this Muslim group if it were subversive, Mr. Mauro said, “They’re either naïve or they decided that the ends justify the means, that it’s worth overlooking the group’s history to accomplish Muslim relations.”
The church is expecting about 1,000 people to attend the convention, where politicians, a rabbi and Father Bacon are among the featured speakers. Mr. Marayati has invited Mr. Mauro and other detractors to attend.
“I want to convert them — not to be Muslims, because we have more than enough Muslims, but to convert their hearts to remove the prejudice and fear,” Mr. Marayati said.