Shameful Behavior By Baptists

Robert Parham has posted a story on Ethics Daily about a shameful split vote among Baptist laymen serving as Supervisors of Henrico County, Virginia that denied a Muslim congregation permission to build a mosque and community center. Parham writes:

Baptists split their vote over an issue which essentially centers on the religious majority's commitment to the religious minority's right to religious liberty, the right to build a house of worship. Religious discrimination in the United States against Muslims isn't new. Nonetheless, it is surprising and disappointing when it takes place in the southern cradle of Baptist religious liberty.

I plan on sending Richard W. Glover and James B. Donati, Jr. a copy of a good book on Baptist history. Their education on Baptist history and distinctives is woefully deficient. I'm also going to send one to Baptist bystander Virgil R. Hazelett, the manager of Henrico County, who maintained a complicit silence during the vote.

It is particularly shameful for Virginia Baptists to discriminate against religious minorities. 230 years ago, when they were the minority facing religious discrimination, Virginia Baptists were at the forefront of efforts to separate church and state and secure religious liberty for persons of every faith.