Sojourners Planting Billboard to Support Murfreesboro Mosque

posted on: Sep 19, 2012

There’s a billboard going up in Murfreesboro that says “Love your Muslim neighbor.” A progressive Christian organization has been putting up similar signs around the country.

The first billboard went up in Joplin, Missouri near a mosque that burned down, possibly at the hands of an arsonist. The next appeared in Oak Creek, Wisconsin after a shooting at a Sikh temple. The Murfreesboro billboard is meant to rebut the hostility – much of it from Christians – that’s been shown toward a newly-finished mosque.

Timothy King is spokesman for Sojourners based in Washington.

“It’s a lot more sensational when something burns down or there’s graffiti or a lawsuit. Those voices end up sounding really loud. But I don’t think that’s where a majority of Christians are.”

With the deadly attacks at the U.S. Embassy in Libya this week, King says Christians are even more in need of a reminder to love their Muslim neighbor.

The billboard is expected to go up in the next 10 days on South Church Street in Murfreesboro. Sojourners have been trying to raise money locally to cover the $2,000 cost.

Nashville Public Radio