Richard Townend comments

Richard Townend

President Barrack Obama isn't having a good time of it right now. Criticised for his handling of the leaking oil well in the Gulf, his popularity ratings have plummeted. Now, he has ignited the ire of many Americans further by voicing his approval for a huge mosque to be built near to the site of Ground Zero.

In the early days of his presidency, Obama was so popular that he may as well have been walking on water. Now he's wading through a very black sludgy oil slick. And he's sinking fast. Pilloried from every angle, one could forgive Obama if he jumped on Air Force One, and found himself a nice secluded spot on Martha's Vineyard to take cover in.

Since a New York developer announced plans to build a 13-storey Islamic community centre and mosque about two blocks from the former World Trade Centre, the majority of New Yorkers have voiced their opposition to the project. But Obama has supported the proposal. "Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in the country." he has stated.

I can understand the controversy. Three thousand people were killed just a few hundred yards away when Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Centre. But there is a vast difference between the minority of fundamentalists who cause acts of terror in the name of their religion, and the majority of Muslims, and we need to create that distinction.

I had a taxi journey in Sheffield this week, and the taxi driver, a Muslim, told me his story about being a drug addict before coming to faith, and that now his life was transformed and he was a better person. He spoke with indignation about those who defile the name of Islam with acts of terrorism, and told me that his religion was a force for good in the world.

We discussed the character of Jesus, and it was clear that this man knew all about Jesus and had a huge amount of respect for him. We disagreed on who Jesus was. The taxi driver claimed He was a prophet; I said He was the Son of God.

But there were clearly great similarities in what we hoped our faiths would achieve in the world around us.

Barrack Obama is said to be a Christian, which is another reason why some people criticise his support of the New York mosque. But I think the President may have got this one right. I have recently signed a petition for the Right to Believe campaign which calls on the UN to stand up for religious liberty. This is in the face of many Islamic countries which have proposed a bill allowing governments the power to say which religious views can and can't be expressed in their country. This bill would give the state the right to punish those who express other religious views - effectively making persecution legal.

We must ask the question, like Obama, is it for us in the western world to tell people what they can and can't believe?

And if we feel at all threatened by the perceived rise in Islam, then let's remember that the man who encourages us to turn the other cheek proclaims that "I am the way, the truth and the life." And He promises to build his church so that even the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Indeed, western ideologies such as consumerism, hedonism and secularism give us bigger battles today than traditional religions like Islam.

But the biggest battle of all is not trying to convert someone to our way of thinking; it's to show that our faith is based on a relationship rather than religion. A relationship that truly is a force for good in a broken world. Prophet, teacher, Son of God. A relationship with Jesus.