December 10, 2001

Some conservatives back away from
Weyrich letter denouncing Muslim stamp
___By Robert Marus
___ABP Washington Bureau
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--A leader in America's Religious Right has weighed in on debate over a stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service to commemorate an Islamic holiday.
___Stamps commemorating the Muslim feast Eid al-Fitr should be withdrawn, overprinted with an image of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in terrorist attacks Sept. 11 and reissued, suggests Paul Weyrich, president of the conservative political action group Free Congress Foundation.
___"I have no doubt that a majority of Americans would find the altered stamps a more appropriate commemoration of Islam than the current cele bratory version," Weyrich wrote in a letter to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and other Republican Congressional leaders.
___Critics denounced Weyrich's suggestion as hate speech.
___The Postal Service issued the stamps honoring the feast that concludes the Muslim holy month of Ramadan after a long lobbying effort by American Muslim groups and a letter-writing campaign by Muslim school children.
___The post office has long issued commemorative stamps celebrating other religious holidays such as Christmas and Hanukkah and ethnic-group celebrations such Kwanzaa and Cinco de Mayo. The Eid stamps were the first issued to commemorate an Islamic holiday, however. They have drawn unusual attention because of the timing of their release, just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
___Weyrich was a pioneer in the development of the modern-day Religious Right and remains a prominent activist in conservative politics.
___Weyrich's attack on Islam comes on the heels of controversy over comments by evangelist Franklin Graham, who offended American Muslim groups and ignited a minor media firestorm by calling Islam "a very evil and wicked religion."
___Other conservative leaders, such as President George W. Bush, have been careful to emphasize what Bush calls the positive role Islam plays in the lives of millions of American Muslims and other moderate followers of Islam around the world.
___Conservative and liberal commentators alike have viewed comments such as Weyrich's and Graham's as uncalled-for and inflammatory in the wake of the harassment and persecution of some American Muslims after the Sept. 11 attacks.
___Southern Baptist Convention President James Merritt said in an interview he believes Weyrich's suggestion is off base. Still, he questioned whether the stamps are appropriate.
___"Quite frankly, I think we all have to say--to use an old colloquialism--what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander," Merritt said from Snellville, Ga., where he is pastor of First Baptist Church. "I couldn't really, in the spirit of religious liberty, issue a stamp for Christianity so to speak, but then say that you can't issue a stamp for Jews and Muslims."
___However, Merritt--who recently made news himself by calling on Southern Baptists to pray for the conversion of Muslims during Ramadan--stopped short of criticizing Graham's comments about Islam. "I believe Islam, as I do believe every other religion outside of Christianity, offers a false hope," he said.
___Merritt said he found it ironic that majority-Islamic countries often suppress religious liberty for religious minorities, while a majority-Christian country such as the U.S. allows complete religious freedom for Muslims.
___"I find it interesting that there's not one Muslim country that is a democracy," Merritt said. "I find it interesting that Muslims can come to America and build mosques, but that we can't go to Muslim countries and build churches."

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