Harvard Chaplains Support Park51

The Harvard Chaplains, the umbrella organization of chaplains at the University, announced their support on Wednesday for the proposed Park51 mosque and community center—which would be built two blocks away from Ground Zero—in a statement posted on their website.

The chaplains also sent a copy of the statement to the Harvard Islamic Society, whose members said the message was well-received.

“I was appreciative and glad that the faith community at Harvard was willing to take what I think is the right stance and to support religious freedom in America, which is what I think America is all about,” said Rashid M. Yasin ’12, the  Islamic Society’s director of external relations. “It means a lot to hear so much positivity, especially for Muslims when we hear so much negativity across the nation.”

While students in the organization said they were grateful for the outreach, Andrew N. Shindi ’13—secretary of the Islamic Society— said he “didn’t expect anything different from the University,” given Harvard’s diversity.

Shindi added that the controversy surrounding the proposed Park51 mosque has been personally troubling. He grew up in New York City, and he and his family knew people killed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

He said he was surprised that people would be so opposed to the community center in a place as diverse as New York.

Several religious leaders echoed this sentiment.

“I am outraged at some of the pushback against this and how it is being linked to religious extremism,” said Reverend Robert J. Mark, a Presbyterian minister who serves as the chaplain of graduate students at Memorial Church.

The President of the Harvard Chaplains, Lutheran Reverend Donald Larsen, spoke to the political implications of the backlash against the proposed community center.

“I’m concerned about the tendency to fan fears in our society,” Larsen said. “We believe quite strongly that the right of religious people to gather and assemble is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

According to Shindi, the members of the Harvard Islamic Society want to continue to spread awareness about Islam by “combating prejudice and anger with knowledge”—teaching the Harvard community about the religion and about what it means to be Muslim in America, he said.

The Muslim community center, which received support from New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, has drawn national media attention. Many Republican candidates from across the nation have used the issue to attract voters leading into midterm elections this fall.

—Staff writer Julia R. Jeffries can be reached at juliajeffries@college.harvard.edu.