has been a fixture in St. Paul for decades. Evangelical in its orientation it has provided a haven, a home, and a refuge for all who are homeless, addicted, and battered and find their way to its doors.  It has never, to my knowledge,  been a source of scandal.

I’ll be there tonight with a band of Pentecostals to assist in a group event  by playing music. Do I agree with every point of their theology. No.  Could I accept every part of the Mission’s statement of faith. Again, no.  Yet I’ve resolved to walk through any decent door that comes open to me and help any group of believers who are ministering to the poor and downtrodden based, if on nothing else, on the shared desire to fulfill the call of Matthew 25.

I’m Orthodox down to my toes and if anyone asks I’ll tell them why. Yet the truth is that the only way to be “out there” is to be out there beyond the parish walls and trying to find any good way to reach out and do what needs to be done. If my fellow travelers are not exactly like me I’ll take whatever help I can get and share whatever I can with them. We won’t be able to share the Eucharist together, that will have to wait, but for the person in prison or stuck without a home that is remarkably low on the priority list. Let’s stop the bleeding or the hunger first and then we can get on to the details.

While there are many who will get up in arms about the implications of building a mosque so close to Ground Zero in New York City, and believe me I think it is, at a minimum, poor taste, the President is right about the principle.

The freedom to believe and practice a religion is an important value regardless of the religion involved, even ones who seem to be trying to make a statement that touches a raw nerve in the public. Westboro Baptist Church, the infamous hive of protesters with the “God hates fags” signs at funerals still has a right to exist even though I find their beliefs and practices repugnant. A mosque in Manhattan has a right to exist even if its presence is offensive as well.

Of course the politicians out to prove their politically correct bonafides by slobbering all over this soon to be built mosque bother me as well. For them this may not be so much about lofty principles of constitutional law as it is being trendy at cocktail parties and their insensitivity to the feelings of people is a sign of the times. But that’s politics. Did you expect better?

That being said I think we as Christians should be careful about asking the government to be too involved in who can worship and where they can worship. Freedom works both ways and inviting the government to curb one religious group’s functions can set a principle that could one day be used against us.

Of course if you’re really upset about the way things are in the world you could always get to church, learn and share your faith, and live a holy life in the world. That’s takes more work than simply complaining but what good is a big mosque, or bar, or strip club, or Planned Parenthood clinic if the customers are gone, saved by the grace of God?