Religious leaders call for unity

It was a busy night for local faith communities Wednesday, when two internationally known religious leaders arrived in Detroit to visit with followers and reach out to other groups.

In two simultaneous but unrelated appearances, Imam W. Deen Mohammed, the most prominent African-American leader in mainline Islam, and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial head of the Unification Church, told Detroit audiences that unity among the faith groups is key to doing God's work.

About 500 people turned out at Detroit's Historic Little Rock Baptist Church to hear Moon, an 81-year-old North Korean best known for performing mass weddings. Detroit is the 25th stop for Moon, who is touring to recruit support for his organization, which preaches interfaith and interracial cooperation.

"We are all here as a family," Moon said through a Korean translator Wednesday.

A biography passed out to the audience said Moon met Jesus on a mountainside in 1935 and was told that he was chosen to complete Jesus' work.

Moon's speech was preceded by praises from pastors and church leaders, some who are members of his Unification Church. The majority of the pastors were black, a group Moon is courting on his tour.

Last week, two Detroit preachers, the Rev. Frederick Sampson of Tabernacle Baptist Church and the Rev. Eddie Edwards said they were displeased by a letter that inaccurately listed them as cosponsors of Moon's visit.

Mary Davenport, a member of the Unification Church since 1973, said problems in the community can't be solved without different religions working together.

"It's not about getting hung up on whose issue it is."

Mohammed's appearance at the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History was much more low-key, though his main theme was also about bridging religious and social divides. When he entered the museum, the small-framed leader was surrounded by attendees eager to welcome him back to the city where he was born in 1933.

During his speech, Mohammed told about 200 civic and religious leaders that he was there in part to "make you more comfortable with us.

"You can't make progress in a battlefield," Mohammed said. "You have to work with friends and not be at war."

Non-Muslim religious leaders said they like Mohammed's message. Bishop Kevin Britt of the Archdiocese of Detroit said he respected the interfaith effort and was there partly to learn more about Detroit's strong black Muslim community. "It's important for faiths in our community to know one another, to know about each other, so that we can work toward the benefit of our city," Britt said.

Mohammed, who runs the Muslim American Society out of Chicago, also wanted to reconnect with his local followers. Since his father, Elijah Muhammad, founder of the black separatist Nation of Islam, died in 1975, Mohammed has worked to move black Muslims toward mainline Islam and away from his father's nationalist legacy.

"That wasn't true Islam," Southfield resident Rasool Muhammad said of the Nation of Islam. He talked while waiting with a smile to shake the imam's hand. "Islam has been misunderstood and considered terrorist, but the religion itself means peace."

Contact ALEXA CAPELOTO at 313-223-4550 or capeloto@freepress.com.