PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — An Episcopal church in Southern California has received hate mail since a conservative Christian group publicized the church’s plans to host a Muslim organization‘s annual convention next weekend, the church’s leadership said Thursday.
All Saint’s Church in Pasadena held a news conference to publicize what it called the “hateful” emails it has received since the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Religion & Democracy published an article on its website last week criticizing the church’s plans to host the event for the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
The liberal-leaning church has received about 50 emails since Friday, many of them including a “hateful, vitriolic, demonization of Islam,” the Rev. Susan Russell, church spokeswoman, told the AP. One email compared Muslims with Nazis and called them “body snatchers,” while others accused church leaders of being naive pawns in MPAC’s bid to spread radical Islam.
