Two Muslim organizations are accusing a Decatur pastor of making remarks on social media that they claim will influence voters at his church, which is a Nov. 3 polling location.
Alan Smith, who has been the pastor of The Church at Decatur Heights since 1997, has made a series of posts on a publicly available social media channel condemning Muslims running for office in the United States and vilifying those who elect them.
“No decent person should support Muslims because they are so evil and, yet, the Democrats have elected them and have more on this year’s ballot,” Smith wrote in a post on Oct. 26.
Smith has also reposted stories that criticize New York voters for electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor and others that support President Donald Trump, anti-abortion activists, and immigration enforcement.
“In Georgia, we put ice in our sweet tea,” Smith said in a post on July 24. “Apparently, we need to put some ICE in Clarkston.”
The majority of the people who responded to his posts were supportive of Smith’s stance. The church, on its website, does not reveal its religious affiliation, but it is listed as an official member of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The SBC in July officially announced that any imposition of Sharia law by courts in the United States would violate the Constitution. Sharia is the moral, ethical, and religious law of Islam that guides Muslims on how to live according to God’s will.
Muslim organizations respond
The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) and the Georgia Muslim Voter Project (GAMVP), in an emailed statement, condemned the pastor’s social media posts.
“The Pastor’s posts include disparaging commentary about Muslim religious expression, direct references to the election of Muslim candidates to public office, and calls for followers to ‘Vote Red’ to oppose what he characterizes as the growing presence of Muslims in American society,” the statement said. “CAIR-Georgia and GAMVP encourage all eligible voters to exercise their right to vote regardless of rhetoric.”
The two organizations said the remarks “go beyond an expression of personal or religious disagreement. By framing the religious expression and civic participation of Muslim Americans as something that must be stopped, Smith contributes to an atmosphere of hostility toward an entire faith community.”
“These statements are particularly concerning because the church serves as an official polling location, where every eligible voter deserves a safe, neutral, and welcoming environment,” the statement continued.
“We cannot allow bigotry to dissuade us from exercising our rights or voting according to our conscience,” said Azka Mahmood, executive director of CAIR-Georgia. “Nor should we allow prejudice to call our contributions into question, diminish our sense of belonging, or discourage our participation in civic life.”
Voters, poll watchers report business as usual
A Rough Draft reporter drove by the church, where exiting voters reported short lines and no signs of voter-suppression tactics.
The reporter talked to a poll watcher who said she was assigned to the church by Common Cause, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization “dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy.”
She was sitting just beyond the 150-foot “no-campaigning” sign on Sycamore Drive and said she observed a DeKalb Sheriff’s Office vehicle pulling into the church around 8:30 a.m., but said it left a few minutes later. She added that she had seen no incidents of malfeasance during the morning.
Rough Draft reached out to Smith, CAIR-Georgia, and GAMVP for further comment.
As of right now, we have not seen any evidence of Smith or the church attempting to influence the voters,” said Urooj Ali, the director of communications for the Georgia Muslim Voter Project. “We have a team of poll monitors on the ground, keeping an eye on the location.”
