About the Fellowship
(CNN) - A handful of progressive Christian leaders are joining the mostly conservative chorus of religious leaders who are criticizing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for excluding clergy from this weekend’s 9/11 commemoration event at ground zero.
But there’s a twist.
In addition to criticizing Bloomberg, progressive religious leaders are also taking aim at prominent conservatives who’ve blasted Bloomberg in recent days, alleging that those critics are stoking division at a time that calls for national unity.
The group is planning a press conference near ground zero on Friday to stress that "religion should not be excluded from 9/11 remembrances" but to also "urge unity, not division, on 9/11," according to a Tuesday press release.
The Friday press conference, which will overlook ground zero, will feature Jim Wallis, who leads the evangelical social justice group Sojourners; the Rev. Floyd Flake, a prominent New York pastor and former Democratic congressman; and Geoff Tunnicliffe, who heads the World Evangelical Alliance.
"Mayor Bloomberg made an understandable but regrettable decision," said Tim King, communications director for Sojourners, an evangelical Christian social justice group that is helping to plan the press conference.
"Religion, and religious leaders, have caused a lot of unnecessary conflict and controversy," King wrote in an e-mail message. "But avoiding religion entirely does not get to the root of the problem."
"The answer is better religion," King continued. "And to those religious leaders who are stirring up a media controversy about this decision ... you are showing exactly why Mayor Bloomberg didn’t want you there in the first place."
Since The Wall Street Journal first reported last month that the 10th anniversary September 11 anniversary event – which will be attended by President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, among other leaders - will exclude clergy and formal prayers, conservative Christians have vented outrage.
"The clergy gag rule is being instituted to avoid ‘disagreements over which religious leaders participate.’ But since when has this been an issue?" wrote Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, in recent e-mail message to supporters.
"Plenty of clergy, including an imam, spoke at an interfaith service at Yankee Stadium after the attacks, and they managed to pull it off without a problem," he wrote. "Why would it be any different this time?"
Bloomberg’s office has defended the mayor's decision on clergy.
"The ceremony was designed in coordination with 9/11 families with a mixture of readings that are spiritual, historical and personal in nature," Evelyn Erskine, a Bloomberg spokeswoman, said in an e-mail to CNN in late August.
"It has been widely supported for the past 10 years and rather than have disagreements over which religious leaders participate we would like to keep the focus of our commemoration ceremony on the family members of those who died," she wrote.
There have been 10 ceremonies at ground zero in New York to pause and remember the events of 9/11, one six months after the attack and on September 11 each following year.
Spirituality and religion have been reserved for the moments of silence in those events.
In past ceremonies, four moments of silence were observed to mark when each tower was struck and when each tower fell.
For this year's ceremony, organizers added two additional moments of silence to recognize the strike on the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
"This year's six moments of silence allow every individual a time for personal and religious introspection," Erskine said.
Throughout the city there will be other prayer events leading up to September 11.
–CNN's Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report.
(end of article)
return to list of publications