In response to a Florida pastor’s now-suspended plans to burn copies of the Koran on the nine-year anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, community members from multiple faiths gathered at Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church on Saturday to read and discuss important passages of the Muslim holy book.

Pastor Reinhard Krauss, who also teaches religion at UCLA, said in his opening remarks that the event was not intended as a demonstration, but rather as a way for people to learn about the Koran and honor Jesus’ call to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”

The attendees split into small groups and took turns reading passages aloud and discussing the readings.

Though Krauss insisted the event was not intended as a protest of the proposed Koran-burning, which has been widely condemned by media organizations and world leaders including President Obama, it was clear that the controversy, as well as the debate over plans to build an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Center, was on the minds of attendees.

Khadija Anderson has been a Muslim for seventeen years and came to the gathering with her Buddhist husband Seamus, whom she met online three years ago.

“I’ve been really upset about the anti-Islamic phobia going on, so I just thought it would be nice to come to something uplifting, which this was,” she said. “As a Muslim, I read all the millions of articles, and when you scroll down to the comments section, it’s like this massive hatred … It’s just really upsetting.”

On one wrist, Anderson sports a tattoo of the names of her husband and daughter written in Arabic. On the other, she has a tattoo of the Islamic star and crescent. She got that tatoo when, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she read that people had been calling a radio host suggesting the Muslims be should branded the way Jews were during the Holocaust.

“When it’s one-sided like that, it’s hard to remember that there are decent people out there that want to have a conversation," Anderson said.

Most of the people who came to the small church in Rolling Hills Estates on Saturday had heard about the event through local news outlets.

Torrance resident Larry Lundin had heard about the event the day before and wasn’t planning to attend, but he saw the church while he was on his routine run and decided to drop in, despite being sweaty from his workout. “I just want to see how people react,” he said.

Kamir Esmailzadeh, a local Shia Muslim who was born in Iran but has lived in the U.S. for 33 years, was glad that the event gave many people exposure to an unfamiliar belief system.

“There is so much negative propaganda against Islam and Muslims, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the pastor did such a great job of bringing everyone together … It was a time to unite. It was an opportunity to get to know each other and get exposed to other faiths," he said.

Krauss said he hopes events such as this will start more conversations between people of different faiths and backgrounds.

“It surprised me how overwhelmingly positive the response was, that people are continuing to talk right now as we speak," Krauss said.

 

 

Reach staff reporter Ryan Faughnder here.

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