It sounds like an exceptional story of American Christians bonding with Muslims, going very much against the grain of the hostility that often greets Muslims in the United States when they seek to build a mosque.
But actually, it isn’t exceptional. The opposition to mosque construction has rarely ever come from an organized Christian church. The opposition normally comes from local people who have heard and believed tales that demonize Muslims and that preach conspiracy theories.
In fact, Christian and Jewish congregations in the United States have normally supported proposed mosques. It is part of the uniquely American system in which faith organizations routinely support the rights of other faith organizations; it is the product of the belief in freedom of religion and the consequent concept that to support “my” freedom of religion one must support “your” freedom of religion.
What is unique in Cordova is that one Christian church and one mosque sit adjacent to one another and have decided to do many things together.
The Muslim and Christian congregations now working on the joint park have similar backgrounds. Both began as tiny groups of worshippers.
Heartsong Church began in the late 1990s as 20 Methodists worshipping in another Methodist church’s chapel. Now its 800 members fill a 27-acre campus in Cordova.
The Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) began with some area Muslims meeting to pray in a nearby Baptist church. Now, it’s a mosque and community center on 31 acres, serving the spiritual needs of hundreds of Muslims in the eastern suburbs of Memphis.
Neither Dr. Bashar Shala, a local physician and MIC’s chairman, nor the Rev. Steve Stone, Heartsong’s pastor, expect something as simple as a park to change the world.
“We do hope it will make the world a little safer and a little more joyful,” said Stone, who has joined with Shala and others from Heartsong and MIC to form the Memphis Friendship Foundation.
The foundation’s first project is a park they hope will become a monument to friendship between a church and a mosque.
The Memphis Commercial-Appeal said this friendship began just before Ramadan two years ago. Stone and Heartsong welcomed Shala and MIC to their Cordova neighborhood with a big sign and an invitation to use the church’s facilities while the mosque was under construction.
The Muslims were hoping to gather for a few evening prayers in Heartsong’s little theater. Instead, Stone and his fellow church members ushered their Islamic neighbors into the 4,000-square-foot sanctuary.
Every evening during Ramadan, nearly 200 area Muslims observed their holiest month of the year under a giant cross. To thank their neighbors, folks from MIC cooked and served breakfast for Heartsong’s members on Sunday mornings.
“It’s a simple thing we have done, but God has used it in a big way,” Stone said. “We were just being nice to each other.”
In the weeks and months following a story about the relationship in The Commercial Appeal, Stone and Shala fielded calls and hosted visits from media in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, not to mention from all over America.
The media saw the story of adjacent property owners who became friends as contrasting sharply with other stories of the time. The news was dominated by the Florida preacher of a one-church faith who was threatening to burn copies of the Qoran. And some people—but no church congregations—200 miles across Tennessee in Murfreesboro were trying to block construction of a mosque there. Then there was also the loud outrage over a proposal to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City.
Stone and Shala still get calls, letters and e-mails about their neighborliness. A Turkish TV crew came by a few weeks ago to film part of a report on “Islam in the land of Uncle Sam.”
In Cordova, which abuts Memphis and uses the city’s services, city park officials have met with foundation leaders to make sure they have what they need to proceed.
“This park will be a physical example of the One Memphis that Mayor A C Wharton always talks about,” said Nika Jackson, manager of the Office of Community Affairs for the city’s Division of Parks and Neighborhoods. “It will be a symbol of the growing diversity of Memphis, which should be celebrated.”
The foundation estimates that Friendship Park will cost about $5 million and take a year or two to build. So far, the foundation has raised about $100,000. The next step is to develop more detailed plans and time lines they hope will interest corporate and nonprofit sponsors.
“ At first, we were thinking about some swing sets and a couple of grills, something both congregations could use together,” Shala said. “Then we started to dream big.”
The dream has Friendship Park sitting on nine acres that span open land between Heartsong and MIC. About half of the property is on the northern, church side of Humphrey Road, the other half on the southern, mosque side of Humphrey. The two sides would be linked by a tunnel under Humphrey Road and an archway over it.
There will be plenty of room for recreational activities, including a ropes course, obstacle course, rock-climbing wall, putting greens, children’s pools and play areas, a walking path and exercise stations. There will be space for quiet meditation — a labyrinth, a water garden and a waterfall.
There also will places for the entire community to gather — a pavilion, amphitheater, bandstand, kiosk, an international market area, and a “Friendship Center” for community activities.
“Most prejudice is a result of fear and ignorance of the other,” Shala said. “You can give all the lectures and sermons in the world about that, but if we don’t have personal interaction and don’t get to know each other, we’ll never break down those barriers.”
The church and mosque already work together on many other projects beyond the park. They hosted community picnics, blood drives and efforts to clothe and feed the homeless.