This Sunday’s readings focus on the worldwide scope of God’s promise of salvation. Religious pluralism and tolerance were challenging notions in biblical times and they remain so today. The controversy over the proposed construction of an Islamic cultural center and mosque near New York’s “Ground Zero” attests to that.

The issue had been a local one for some time but gained national prominence in recent weeks when national political figures began weighing in. Republican leaders including Sarah Palin, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R.-Va.), and Newt Gingrich, among others, spoke out against the proposed location of the $100 million Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center.

Noting the project developers’ commitment to improving interfaith relations and countering the influence of radical Islam, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg forcefully defended the project and said it stood as a strong statement that the horror of 9/11 had not destroyed New York City’s and the nation’s historical commitment to religious freedom and tolerance.

At a White House meal commemorating Ramadan last Friday, President Barack Obama defended the constitutional right of project developers to construct the center near Ground Zero—though the next day he said he had not explicitly endorsed their plan.

Many Republicans have called the proposal an affront to the memory of those killed in the 2001 attacks, although a few have warned their colleagues not to turn the issue into a political football. The tone of the Republican opposition to the mosque marks a shift in the party’s posture toward Islam, observers say, from a very public tolerance after Sept. 11 to an openly aired sense of mistrust. This week, former Bush aides were among the very few Republicans siding with Obama.

Muslim leaders say, regretfully, that they also see a dramatic change. Republicans have “shifted completely away from the Bush administration line on relations with Islam and they’ve obviously made the political calculation that bashing Islam and Muslims is a winning issue for them,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who blamed the “tea party movement [for] liberating the inner bigot in people.”

Few religious groups in the U.S. have spoken in support of the proposed Islamic center. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not taken a position, and according to a spokesperson has no plans to do so. Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, however, supported the project in a blog post. Commenting on an interviewer’s question, he wrote: “I told her it is a sign of the value we have for freedom in this country, and for religious freedom in particular."

Homilists have an opportunity to discuss the issue in the context of this Sunday’s readings. Surely it was not easy for the Jewish people, “God’s chosen people,” to hear the words the prophet Isaiah spoke on behalf of the Lord: “I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory.”

Centuries later, Jews may have felt offended to hear Jesus say that “people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.” Jesus was calling his people to open their minds and hearts to a wider appreciation for God’s saving power. People outside the original covenant were invited to participate in God’s glory. That is still the case today.

Source: Articles by Michelle Boorstein for the Washington Post, Kevin Hechtkopf for CBS News, NBC News, Karen Dewitt for WNED ALBANY, Ben Smith and Maggie Haberman for Politico.com, Margaret Talev for McClatchy Newspapers, CardinalSeanBlog.org, and Daniel Trotta for Reuters