Christian minister Edward “Ted” Barham says he will not respond with hate after Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told him he was “not welcome” during a heated city council exchange over a controversial honorary street sign naming that went viral.
In a new interview with Fox News Digital, Barham said the moment has only strengthened his resolve to speak out about freedom of speech and freedom of faith.
“I did not respond to the mayor with hate. I said, God bless you,” Barham said, adding that he takes seriously Jesus’ command to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you.” He said the incident was not isolated, pointing to earlier clashes with city officials over his public ministry.
Barham objected at the Sept. 9 council meeting to street signs honoring controversial Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani.
He read from a 2022 Siblani speech that declared, “We are the Arabs who are going to lift Palestinians all the way to victory whether we are in Michigan and whether we are in Jenin. Believe me, everyone should fight within his means. They will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others fight with planes, drones, and rockets.” Barham told council members, “It sounds like he could be inciting violence in Michigan.”
Siblani has a long record of controversial remarks. In 2003 he told the Washington Post, “Mr. Bush believes Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian factions are terrorists, but we believe they are freedom fighters.”
In 2006 he told the Chicago Tribune that “if the FBI wants to come after those who support the resistance done by Hezbollah, then they better bring a fleet of buses. I, for one, would be willing to go to jail.” At a Dearborn rally in September 2024, he praised Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “hero” as the crowd cheered.
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Barham told Fox News Digital his own background gives him perspective. He was born in Africa, lived in Pakistan, Lebanon, and Israel, and ministered for years in England. He has produced Arabic-language Christian programming and holds graduate qualifications in biblical languages and theology from the University of Toronto, Oxford University, and other schools. “I do really enjoy living in this city,” Barham said of Dearborn, sharing that many of his friends are either Muslim or formerly Muslim.
“I think it is a wonderful thing that there are so many Muslim people in Western countries,” he said. “I would encourage American Christians to make the message of Christ and His love and His forgiveness and of loving His enemies very attractive to their Muslim friends and neighbors.”
Barham also pointed out a recent initiative in Dearborn where his group tested a Christian call to prayer in Arabic in public spaces to run alongside those broadcast by mosques, specifically quoting John 3:16.
He said the idea sprang from seeing how often the Islamic call to prayer is heard in neighborhoods and wanting Christian voices to have the same public presence. “One really inspiring thing about that for us is that we’re doing something here in Dearborn that our brothers and sisters and so many Muslim countries around the world are not allowed to do. And I do hand it to the city council and the mayor for allowing us to do that Christian call to prayer.”
At the same time, Barham said Muslim American leaders should use their influence to press for equal freedoms abroad. “My prayer is not just that we get more freedom here in Dearborn. My prayer is that people here in America, Muslim people, Muslim background people here in America will fight for the rights of oppressed Christian minorities in so many Muslim countries.”
He said he was shocked to hear Hammoud promise to “launch a parade” when he leaves town. “I mean, as you saw, the mayor treated me terribly last week, but I have actually, believe it or not, had some good personal interactions with him, not myself so much, but my family,” Barham added.
While Barham credited Hammoud with funding new playgrounds and recalled his son’s warm encounter with the mayor at a preschool visit, he argued there is a pattern of city leadership dismissing Christian speech. He pointed to a 2022 fight over a Christian film event where organizers were accused of “preying on children” simply for offering hot dogs and popcorn at a screening of the popular TV show “The Chosen” about the life of Jesus Christ.
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Barham says he will keep speaking anyway. “I want to stand up for a totally different message which is the message of love,” he said. “Disagreement is not hate. Faith can be expressed without fear.”
Barham’s ongoing Christian ministry in the Dearborn community can be followed on X at @DearbornDiscuss.
The Office of Mayor Abdullah Hammoud did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
