New Mosque

In the American tradition of diversity and religious freedom, I too celebrate the opening of the King Fahd Mosque on the Westside, which adds to Southern California’s architecture and enriches the spiritual lives of the Muslim faithful in the region (July 18).

However, I censure the Islamic religious leaders in attendance for being apologists for Saudi Arabia’s rulers, who practice absolute religious discrimination and prohibit any expression of non-Islamic faiths in their land. All too often, immigrant religious leaders in the U.S. unabashedly preach the superiority of Islam, promote community and religious exclusion and reinforce the less glorious traditions of Islamic religious practice through captive ethnic and religious forums, while self-servingly embracing the protections and guarantees of the Constitution.

Negative stereotyping of Muslims in the U.S. will cease only when Islam in practice transforms globally to a more ecumenical and tolerant faith--not by the construction of lavish edifices bankrolled by royal bigots.

XAVIER SWAMIKANNU

Los Angeles