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Talking Points MemoInfluential Mosque Opponent Promotes Religious Freedom Abroad For U.S. Government
Brian Beutler | August 18, 2010, 5:07PM
As president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Dr. Richard Land is an influential opponent of the Cordoba House project in New York. But when he's not speaking on behalf of one of the most powerful religious bodies in the country, Land has a second -- some would say ironic -- ecumenical role: member of the federally created
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
In his role as a commissioner, Land's job is to press for a U.S. foreign policy that advances religious freedoms around the world. Reached by phone today, Land maintained that there is no contradiction between his service on the Commission and his efforts to see the Cordoba House Islamic cultural center project moved farther north in Manhattan.
"Our role is to make recommendations both to the executive branch and to the legislative branch on ways in which our government policies can be used to promote religious freedom overseas," Land said. "I see absolutely no tension whatsoever. We are forbidden by statute from addressing any domestic religious freedom issue."
Furthermore, Land says, religious people in many foreign countries -- the countries the commission is most concerned with -- suffer far greater opposition than do the sponsors and supporters of the Cordoba House project. "They would envy and relish the opportunity to have the peaceful debate over the mosque in the near vicinity of Ground Zero," he says.
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