Using faith to unite a community
Remember Terry Jones?
He was the Gainesville pastor with a white horseshoe mustache who, in 2010, threatened to burn a Koran — the Muslim holy book — on the 9⁄11 anniversary.
The threat from a single pastor leading a tiny flock prompted an outsized reaction, with national leaders urging restraint as they feared a backlash in the Muslim world.
A local Islamic leader, Muhammad Musri, intervened and temporarily talked him out of it. But Jones went ahead with the stunt the following March, which led to rioting in Afghanistan.
Musri talked about Jones with his longtime friends, the Rev. Bryan Fulwider and Rabbi Steven Engel. The trio regularly had lunch together, talking of tumult and intolerance and the role religion played, for good and bad.
They knew each other and their families. They did programs together at synagogues, mosques and churches, trying to create a better understanding of other faiths. Their congregations visited other places of worship.
“It was very enlightening,” Engel said. “Jews that had never been in a mosque or a church, Muslims who had never been in a synagogue or a church.”
An idea began to take shape: Why not take that message of understanding to a larger audience through radio?
So they recorded a pilot for WMFE, Orlando’s public radio station, and on April Fool’s Day in 2012, “Friends Talking Faith” went live.
They’ve spent nearly the last seven years talking about faith and how it can bring people together rather than divide them.
Because of their attempts to use faith to unite the community, The Three Wise Guys, as they call themselves, are among the finalists for the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Floridian of the Year award.
In an interview, the Wise Guys noted that while they thought the nation was torn when they started the show, they had no idea the divisions would deepen.
Back then, President Obama was facing a backlash from Congress. The Tea Party was emerging. States like Arizona were requiring police to demand identification from people to determine their immigration status. And people like Jones were vilifying Muslims.
“We felt back then that to be more relevant we actually had to moderate these conversations and bring civility, not knowing it was going to get worse,” said Musri.
“We may have different opinions in things, and religion often has very sharp edges, but we can do that within the limits of civility,” Musri said. “We are still friends and we’re still sharing the same community.”
Their topics range from gun control to immigration to health care to local tragedies, like the Pulse shootings.
The three use their different faiths — which share some common beliefs — to try and make sense of issues and tragedy.
The shows are low key. They don’t yell at each other. They don’t interrupt. They don’t demean different faiths.
“We believe in the idea that every person should be treated with dignity and quality because every person was created int he image of God,” said Engel. “No matter what color of their skin or what language they speak or where they’re from.”
That’s an example of what they call “good religion.”
They contrast that with “bad religion,” characterized by an eagerness to judge and condemn.
That’s what people do when “they have the role of being God and judging people,” Musri said.
“When we think of what Moses, Jesus and Muhammad taught, at the core it was mercy, love, and compassion, not to go out and judge people and say, ‘Oh, you’re going to hell.’”
In the coming year, the Wise Guys say, they plan to talk more about opioid addiction and the toll it’s taking on the community.
“This is pain and sorrow and suffering,” Fulwider said, “and religion is at its best when it’s helping people move through that in ways that give comfort and help people find meaning and help people find significance in their life in how they’re helping others.”
Bryan Fulwider is a pastor and founding president and CEO of the nonprofit Building US. Steven Engel is rabbi of Congregation of Reform Judaism in Orlando. Muhammad Musri is founder and president of Islam Inc., and president and senior imam of the Islamic Society of Central Florida. “Friends Talking Faith” airs each Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on WMFE-90.7.