Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On June 13, 2002 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported "St. Louis clergy protest remarks on Islam made at convention." The article noted that "area religious leaders gathered at Christ Church Cathedral downtown Wednesday to call for a retraction of remarks made about Islam at the convention by the Rev. Jerry Vines, former president of the denomination. ... Local leaders of the Episcopal, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Disciples of Christ, and Baptist faiths and other community leaders joined together to condemn Vines' comments about Islam. 'When there is a hateful act or statement by anybody in this community where we live, then it is the obligation of the rest of us to speak out more loudly and more intensely,' said former Sen. John Danforth, an Episcopal priest. 'God calls us to heal our country, not fracture it.'"