Ed Stetzer: "Freedom of Religion Has To Be Freedom For Everyone"

Ed Stetzer is the President of Lifeway Research... and a whole lot of other things. (His Twitter feed, btw, is a wonderful mix of theology, missiology, humor & ranting about the TSA.) He's a thoughtful, witty & wise leader in Southern Baptist life that makes me proud of my denominational heritage...

...and never more so than when he deals with stuff like comments from presidential candidate Herman Cain, who said yesterday that Americans "have the right" to ban mosques from being built in their communities. Ed responded in his blog:

In the spirit of mutual respect and tolerance, Muslims should be free to build a masjid where they live, and Christians should defend their religious freedom to do so. At the same time, Christians should be free to plant churches in places like Bhutan, the Maldives, Brunei, and Saudi Arabia. No matter where we live or what religion we follow, we should not demand for ourselves that which we are unwilling to grant others--freedom from compulsion, freedom from discrimination on the basis of creed, and freedom of conscience.

Read the entire blog post (including some great historical background on tolerance & other world religions), please.

BTW, the image is my choice, not Ed's. (Though it would be interesting to seeing him as the lead singer for U2.)