Justice

One Church Proved How to Properly Treat Muslims

December 14th 2015

As America battles Islamophobia and presidential candidate Donald Trump proposes to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., one Mormon church is truly setting the example by showing the world the right way to treat people of different faiths: embrace them.

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That's what happened to one Muslim man in Australia when he was asked to take a tour of the church's building and attend their Christmas program. Ali Kadri, together with a group of other local Muslims representing the Holland Park Mosque, went to the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints in Brisbane and were welcomed with open arms, according to a post on Kadri's Facebook page.


"They displayed amazing manners in taking the multiple faith groups on a tour of the church," said Kadri in a Facebook post.

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But as evening approached, the members of the church did something even more amazing.

"It was time for us to pray evening prayers and they gave us a room within the church to pray," Kadri said. "Two faiths praying to same God in a different way within a same building."

In an interview with KUTV — the American television station in Utah — the Queensland director of public affairs for the LDS church Sue Owen talked about the significance of inviting people from different religious backgrounds to their church.

"We really think that by joining together we will find peace," Owen told KUTV. "We can promote peace by finding out what we have in common, rather than what sets us apart." A sentiment that Kadri also echoed.

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"Those who divide people will be plenty," he told KUTV. "But it is those who unite humanity who will leave a legacy like Lincoln, Ghandhi and Mandela... small gestures like these should be normal and nothing special. The fact that this post has gone viral simply shows that we need to keep on doing this 'til it becomes the norm."

The church's gesture comes a year after Australia survived a "lone wolf" terrorist attack — an attack inspired by the so-called Islamic State but not directly orchestrated by the terror group — in Sydney where 17 people were taken hostage and three people died, including the gunman, CNN reports.

Although this picture of Kadri is bringing positive attention to the LDS Church, the church itself has received backlash for its treatment of the LGBT community. In November the church discussed a new policy that would essentially disown people in same-sex marriages and their children from the church, according to the Huffington Post.

The post has more than 20,000 likes and over 7,000 shares on Facebook.

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