{"id":6198,"date":"2017-09-27T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T16:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsincerity.us\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2023-05-20T05:38:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T05:38:36","slug":"big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When the Memphis Islamic Center<\/a> (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone — lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church — had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length. A quick look to the Gospels reinforced his instinct — he strung up a banner and warmly welcomed them to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The MIC hadn\u2019t finished building in time to host their Ramadan festivities. Steve invited them to worship at Heartsong Church<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two religions worshiping under one roof. As friends.<\/p>\n

Today, MIC and Heartsong host interfaith discussions and tag-team community projects like blood drives and Thanksgiving dinner. And every Spring, MIC throws a block party for families of both sides of the street to eat, play, and talk together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"PASTOR
Pastor Steve Stone and Dr. Bashar A. Shala on a walk (Photo by Jessey Dearing for Starbucks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Steve says: \u201cThe biggest surprise to me is that now my life is so very changed. [These are] the biggest friendships I can\u2019t imagine having missed out on.\u201d<\/div>\n

\nDoes it get any better than that? Yes! People from different religions around the world are following suit, asking \u201cHow can we hate these people? How can we kill these people who love us?\u201d<\/span><\/span>Maybe the trick is simply celebrating what we all have in common. You know, good stuff like generosity, acceptance, and the propensity for a good party.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone — lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church — had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length. A quick look to the Gospels reinforced his instinct — he strung up a banner and warmly welcomed them to the neighborhood. The MIC hadn\u2019t\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6],"tags":[762,763,272,219,726,32,764],"class_list":["post-6198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-resilience","category-borderless","category-breaking-bread","tag-heartsong-church","tag-memphis-islamic-center","tag-muslim","tag-muslim-american","tag-religious-tolerance","tag-the-south","tag-worship-together"],"yoast_head":"\nMuslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bravely putting humanity first at Muslims and Christians worship together in the American South. Two religions worshiping under one roof. As friends. When the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone \u2014 lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church \u2014 had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bravely putting humanity first at Muslims and Christians worship together in the American South. Two religions worshiping under one roof. As friends. When the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone \u2014 lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church \u2014 had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"New Sincerity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-27T16:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-20T05:38:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Heartsong.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1568\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/person\/3a9708e76c62dfc591fddf96d6439c1f\"},\"headline\":\"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-27T16:00:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-20T05:38:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/\"},\"wordCount\":250,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"heartsong church\",\"memphis islamic center\",\"muslim\",\"muslim-american\",\"religious tolerance\",\"the south\",\"Worship Together\"],\"articleSection\":[\"American Resilience\",\"Borderless\",\"Breaking Bread\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/\",\"name\":\"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-27T16:00:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-20T05:38:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"Bravely putting humanity first at Muslims and Christians worship together in the American South. Two religions worshiping under one roof. As friends. When the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone \u2014 lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church \u2014 had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/\",\"name\":\"New Sincerity\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#organization\",\"name\":\"New Sincerity\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/logo-white-pink-ds-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/logo-white-pink-ds-logo.png\",\"width\":454,\"height\":40,\"caption\":\"New Sincerity\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/person\/3a9708e76c62dfc591fddf96d6439c1f\",\"name\":\"Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee36be45103dd08f1b38c2c3b6a7ccaf542996f328c2754bad8c9e1c84c1c73d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee36be45103dd08f1b38c2c3b6a7ccaf542996f328c2754bad8c9e1c84c1c73d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South","description":"Bravely putting humanity first at Muslims and Christians worship together in the American South. Two religions worshiping under one roof. As friends. When the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone \u2014 lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church \u2014 had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South","og_description":"Bravely putting humanity first at Muslims and Christians worship together in the American South. Two religions worshiping under one roof. As friends. When the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone \u2014 lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church \u2014 had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/","og_site_name":"New Sincerity","article_published_time":"2017-09-27T16:00:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-20T05:38:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2500,"height":1568,"url":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Heartsong.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/person\/3a9708e76c62dfc591fddf96d6439c1f"},"headline":"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South","datePublished":"2017-09-27T16:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-20T05:38:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/"},"wordCount":250,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#organization"},"keywords":["heartsong church","memphis islamic center","muslim","muslim-american","religious tolerance","the south","Worship Together"],"articleSection":["American Resilience","Borderless","Breaking Bread"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/","name":"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-27T16:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-20T05:38:36+00:00","description":"Bravely putting humanity first at Muslims and Christians worship together in the American South. Two religions worshiping under one roof. As friends. When the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC) moved in across the street, Steve Stone \u2014 lead pastor of Heartsong Methodist Church \u2014 had a choice: Embrace his new Muslim neighbors or hold them at arm\u2019s length.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/big-love-bible-belt-two-religions-one-roof\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Muslims and Christians Worship Together in the American South"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/","name":"New Sincerity","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#organization","name":"New Sincerity","url":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/logo-white-pink-ds-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/logo-white-pink-ds-logo.png","width":454,"height":40,"caption":"New Sincerity"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/person\/3a9708e76c62dfc591fddf96d6439c1f","name":"Michael","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee36be45103dd08f1b38c2c3b6a7ccaf542996f328c2754bad8c9e1c84c1c73d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee36be45103dd08f1b38c2c3b6a7ccaf542996f328c2754bad8c9e1c84c1c73d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity"],"url":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7010,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198\/revisions\/7010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kilde.org\/new-sincerity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}