By Bob Allen
Meeting on the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the board of directors of American Baptist International Ministries passed resolutions condemning both anti-Semitism and prejudice against Muslims.
Citing acts of anti-Semitism including a 2012 vandalism attack on Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and reaction to acts of violence committed by Islamic groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State, the resolutions affirm both American Baptists’ historic stand against anti-Semitism and advocacy for religious liberty for everyone.
“Anti-Semitism is wholly contrary to Jesus’ teaching, demeans Jesus and all people of Jewish ethnicity, disrupts and distorts our mission to be agents of God’s blessing to all the families of the earth,” the resolution on anti-Semitism proclaims.
The other resolution says prejudice against Muslims “contradicts the love of neighbor taught by Jesus and distorts our calling to be signs and agents of God’s love to the world.”