WASHINGTON, April 15: Muslims at the Pentagon are incensed by what they say is an insensitive invitation to evangelist Rev. Franklin Graham, who has often profaned Islam, to preach on Good Friday at the Defence Department.
In letters to the Pentagon chaplain’s office this week, Muslim office workers complained strongly about Graham’s plans to lead prayers on Friday, one of the most religious days in the Christian calendar.
The letters urged officials to find a “more inclusive and honorable” religious leader to take his place.
IRAQ RELIEF PLANS ALSO CRITICIZED: Graham angered Muslims after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks when he called Islam a “very evil and wicked religion”.
He has also ignited controversy over plans for his relief organization, Samaritan’s Purse, to go into Iraq to deliver aid, a move the Arab community says is aimed at trying to convert followers of Islam rather than helping Iraqis in need.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said inviting Graham to the Pentagon prayer service “sends entirely the wrong message to the Muslim and Arab world that the Pentagon will host someone who has such Islamophobic views.”—Reuters
