Muslims should not be barred from the US because the "presence of our Muslim neighbors doesn't threaten" the power of the gospel, Russel Moore has said.
The president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission was responding to comments made by evangelist Franklin Graham, who recently suggested that no more Muslim immigrants should be allowed to enter the US.
"We are under attack by Muslims at home and abroad," Graham wrote on Facebook in the aftermath of the Chattanooga shooting.
"Every Muslim that comes into this country has the potential to be radicalised and they do their killing to honour their religion and Muhammad."
Speaking to Religion News Service, Moore said: "I am not for deporting or barring Muslims from the United States. It is not because I believe Christianity and Islam are morally equivalent. It is because I believe in the power of the gospel, and the presence of our Muslim neighbors doesn't threaten that."
Moore went further, saying Christians should spend time with Muslims in their community, be kind to them and "share the gospel evangelistically".
"Many of the Muslim refugees in this country may well be our future brothers and sisters in Christ," he said.
In the wide-ranging interview, Moore also reaffirmed his belief that Christian business owners should be able to refuse service to gay couples. "I think the government should not coerce people with the threat of running them out of business to participate in activities that they believe to be immoral," he explained.
"There is a difference between a business selling a product and a person using his or her creative talents to participate in a ceremony that he or she believe to be immoral."
Moore holds a traditional view of marriage, but has received praise for his condemnation of anti-gay bullying and "reparative therapy" for gay people.
"The utopian idea if you come to Christ and if you go through our program, you're going to be immediately set free from attraction or anything you're struggling with, I don't think that's a Christian idea," he told journalists last year.
"Faithfulness to Christ means obedience to Christ. It does not necessarily mean that someone's attractions are going to change."
