Vatican Rejects Criticism Of New Prayer For Jewish Conversion
February 9, 2008
The top Vatican cardinal in charge of relations with Jews on Thursday denied that a new prayer for their conversion was offensive and said Catholics had the right to pray as they wish.
The Vatican had come under fire from Jewish groups in recent days for changing its Good Friday service to include a prayer urging God to let Jews “recognize Jesus Christ as savior of all men.”
Earlier this week, Pope Benedict ordered changes to a Latin prayer for Jews at traditionalist Good Friday services, deleting a reference to their “blindness” over Christ.
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Cardinal Walter Kasper spoke in an interview in a leading Italian newspaper a day after world Jewish leaders said the new prayer could set back inter-religious dialogue by decades.
“We think that reasonably this prayer cannot be an obstacle to dialogue because it reflects the faith of the Church and, furthermore, Jews have prayers in their liturgical texts that we Catholics don’t like,”
“I must say that I don’t understand why Jews cannot accept that we can make use of our freedom to formulate our prayers,” Kasper, a German, told the Corriere della Sera.
“One must accept and respect differences,” said the cardinal.
In a separate interview with Vatican Radio, Kasper said: “The Holy Father wanted to say ‘yes, Jesus Christ is the savior of all men, including the Jews’.”
He added: “But this does not mean we are embarking on a mission [to convert Jews]. We are giving witness to our faith.”
The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday called the revision to the prayer “cosmetic revisions,” saying that the prayer is still “deeply troubling” because of its call to convert Jews.
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Malaysia Seizes Christian Books
January 23, 2008
Malaysian authorities confiscated Christian children’s books, claiming the illustrations of prophets such as Moses and Abraham violate Islamic Shariah law.
The independent news agency Malaysakini reported the Internal Security Ministry confiscated the literature from bookstores in two cities and one small town in mid-December.
The Malaysian Embassy declined to comment on the news service’s Jan. 11 report.
The Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Malaysian Council of Churches, confirmed the report and accused the government of persecuting Christians.
“The officials have offended the sensitivities of Christians because their publications and depictions of their Biblical personalities have now become targets of unscrupulous Muslim officials bent on curtailing religious freedom in the country,” Mr. Shastri said.
Should Proselytism In West Be Prohibited
January 21, 2008
Christian proselytism is discouraged, where not outright prohibited, throughout the Muslim world and Muslims who convert to Christianity (or any other religion) are subject to death according to Sharia law. Ironically, this situation is not applicable to the Muslim communities in the West: for where Muslim clerics struggle against the Christian missionaries in Islamic countries, Muslim missionaries in the West enjoy many freedoms and may welcome new converts.
The laissez-faire Western attitude concerning Muslim missionaries must be reviewed to deal with the case in the West regarding the principle of reciprocity – whether or not one is to sanction Islamic proselytism or prohibit it depends on how Islamic institutions perceive freedom of religion.
Westerners have the right to get clear answers from Islamic organizations in the West as to (1) Muslim attitudes toward Christianity and Judaism; (2) whether it is permissible for Muslims to covert to Christianity or any other religion; and, (3) whether those who leave the Islam may go about their lives absent threats on their lives from the community to which they belong. These are questions that must be addressed to representatives of “Western” Islamic organizations.
This can be done by starting a dialogue with Islamic organizations which work within Christendom. Important preliminary knowledge can be obtained from the Koran, the holy text of Islam. Once familiar with Koranic views on religion, Westerners will then be able to engage in dialogue with “their” Islamists.
We should now review some Koranic texts that pertain to religion.
Muslim Store Clerk Refuses To Sell Bible Book To Grandmother - Calls It Unclean
January 15, 2008
A Muslim store worker at Marks & Spencer refused to serve a customer buying a childrens book on biblical stories because she said it was “unclean”.
Sally Friday, a customer at a branch of one of the famous stores, felt publicly humiliated when she tried to pay for First Bible Stories as a gift for her young grandson.
When the grandmother put the book on the counter, the assistant refused to touch it, declared it was unclean and then summoned another member of staff to deal with the purchase.
Mrs Friday was so upset that she has now complained to the stores manager.
Politicians and religious leaders supported her in condemning the high street chain and it has reignited the debate over religious beliefs in the workplace.
Conservative MP Philip Davies said the refusal to serve Mrs Friday, 69, was “unacceptable” and “damaging” to community relations.
Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, described the assistants comments as “offensive” and called for Marks & Spencer to conduct an investigation.
He said: “This appears to be a very regrettable incident and the unclean remark was clearly very offensive and unacceptable.
“Many Biblical stories complement the teachings of the Koran. We hope that M&S will investigate this incident.”
Islamic Jesus Hits Iranian Movie Screens In Film Jesus The Spirit of God
January 14, 2008
An Islamic view of Jesus Christ is being portrayed by a director who shares the ideas of Iran’s hardline president in what he says it is the first film to show the “common ground” between Muslims and Christians.
Nader Talebzadeh sees his movie, “Jesus, the Spirit of God,” as an Islamic answer to Western productions like Mel Gibson’s 2004 blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ,” which he praised as admirable but quite simply “wrong”.
“Gibson’s film is a very good film. I mean that it is a well-crafted movie but the story is wrong — it was not like that,” he said, referring to two key differences: Islam sees Jesus as a prophet, not the son of God, and does not believe he was crucified.
Talebzadeh said he even went to Gibson’s mansion in Malibu, California, to show him his film. “But it was Sunday and the security at the gate received the film and the brochure and promised to deliver it,” though the Iranian never heard back.
Even in Iran, “Jesus, The Spirit of God” had a low-key reception, playing to moderate audiences in five Tehran cinemas during the holy month of Ramadan, in October.
The film, funded by state broadcasting, faded off the billboards but is far from dead, about to be recycled in a major 20 episode spin-off to be broadcast over state-run national television this year.
Talebzadeh insists it aims to bridge differences between Christianity and Islam, despite the stark divergence from Christian doctrine about Christ’s final hours on earth.
“It is fascinating for Christians to know that Islam gives such devotion to and has so much knowledge about Jesus,” Talebzadeh told AFP.
“By making this film I wanted to make a bridge between Christianity and Islam, to open the door for dialogue since there is much common ground between Islam and Christianity,” he said.
The director is also keen to emphasise the links between Jesus and one of the most important figures in Shiite Islam, the Imam Mahdi, said to have disappeared 12 centuries ago but whose “return” to earth has been a key tenet of the Ahmadinejad presidency.
Talebzadeh made his name making documentaries about Iran’s 1980-1988 war against Iraq, an important genre in the country’s post-revolutionary cinema.
But such weighty themes, and his latest film on Jesus, compete with domestic gangster thrillers and sugary boy-meets-girl love stories, the movies that continue to draw the biggest audiences in the Islamic Republic.
The bulk of “Jesus, the Spirit of God”, which won an award at the 2007 Religion Today Film Festival in Italy, faithfully follows the traditional tale of Jesus as recounted in the New Testament Gospels, a narrative reproduced in the Koran and accepted by Muslims.
But in Talebzadeh’s movie, God saves Jesus, depicted as a fair-complexioned man with long hair and a beard, from crucifixion and takes him straight to heaven.
“It is frankly said in the Koran that the person who was crucified was not Jesus” but Judas, one of the 12 Apostles and the one the Bible holds betrayed Jesus to the Romans, he said. In his film, it is Judas who is crucified.
Islam sees Jesus as one of five great prophets — others being Noah, Moses and Abraham — sent to earth to announce the coming of Mohammed, the final prophet who spread the religion of Islam. It respects Jesus’ followers as “people of the book”.
Iran has tens of thousands of its own Christians who are guaranteed religious freedoms under the constitution — mainly Armenians, though their numbers have fallen sharply since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Every Christmas, Ahmadinejad and other officials lose no time in sending greetings to Christian leaders including the pope on what they describe as the “auspicious birthday of Jesus Christ, Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH).”
In this year’s message, Ahmadinejad said that “peace, friendship and justice will be attained wherever the guidelines of Jesus Christ (PBUH) are realised in the world.”
Shiite Muslims, the majority in Iran, believe Jesus will accompany the Imam Mahdi when he reappears in a future apocalypse to save the world.
And Talebzadeh said the TV version of his film will further explore the links between Jesus and the Mahdi — whose return Ahmadinejad has said his government, which came to power in 2005, is working to hasten.
Shiites believe the Mahdi’s reappearance will usher in a new era of peace and harmony.
“We Muslims pray for the ‘Return’ (of Imam Mahdi) and Jesus is part of the return and the end of time,” Talebzadeh said.
“Should we, as artists, stand idle until that time? Don’t we have to make an effort?”
Pope To Hold Meeting Between Catholics and Muslims
January 7, 2008
Pope Benedict has taken a bold step toward greater understanding in this world by deciding to hold a meeting for Roman Catholic and Muslim leaders this year. The Vatican announced on the weekend the conference will be held in Rome in the spring.
It is a response to an open letter that 138 Muslim scholars from around the world sent to the Pope in October. That letter urged Christians and Muslims to look for common ground and pointed out that they believe in one God.
That letter itself developed out of what might be called a misunderstanding. Pope Benedict angered Muslims in various countries when he delivered a speech on faith and reason in September 2006. He cited a medieval text that described some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhummad as evil and inhuman.
The Pope then clarified his comments. He said he was not expressing his own opinion but was quoting from a source. He also expressed regret that his speech had caused hard feelings.
The idea of a broad meeting among major religious leaders is good for both symbolic and substantive reasons. It shows that people who believe in the same God can respect the views of those whose perspectives differ in their details. At a more substantive level, this meeting will enable those with open minds to truly learn more about the views of others.
Certainly the need for greater understanding is apparent. One merely needs to read a newspaper to see that, in general, people with different religious backgrounds have clashed in recent years. The uproar over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet serves as a case in point.
The Ghosts of Atheism Past Present and Future
January 6, 2008
And lo, I awakened from a dream during this most blessed Christmas season.
Three Wise Men named Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Sam Harris (The End of Faith) and Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great) traveled from afar to announce their tidings of great joy — there is no God, no king to rule over us, there is only us.
And suddenly, there was a bright light from the East, telling a tale from the wintry north, announcing this same good news to children. There is a world beyond this one, a world where free will reigns and everyone does what is right in his or her own eyes. There is no dark, sinister authoritarian Magisterium to dictate belief, nor are we ruled by parents or religious zealots.
In this magic place, we trust our fates to an inanimate golden object, a compass called an alethiometer. It does not engage our logic but miraculously reveals the truth through the alignment of a few icons on its watch-like face. The compass is particularly useful if you are the child prophesied by the witches long ago. Such a child will throw off the rule of authority and submit only to what is revealed by the magic Golden Compass.
Such miracles in a godless world, thought I.
And then I heard the voice of Philip Pullman, the man who created the universe of The Golden Compass. He spoke of his anger at C.S. Lewis for using the Chronicles of Narnia to smuggle belief into fantasy literature. I heard him say he would do for children’s disbelief what Lewis did for their belief. I recalled his saying things in my waking hours: “I am all for the death of God,” and “My books are about killing God.” He wasn’t finished. “I am of the Devil’s party and I know it,” and “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” Is this authoritarian adult trying to control children’s thinking, I thought? Is he the new Magisterium?
Evangelical Leaders Pledge Common Cause with Islam
January 4, 2008
They apologize for the ’sins of Christians,’ leave the deity of Christ open for discussion.
An attempt by leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) to win friends and influence Muslims is alienating another group evangelical Christians.
Reactions have been negative and strong. Islam expert Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo has called it a “betrayal” and a “sellout.” Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary (Southern Baptist), termed it “naiveté that borders on dishonesty.”
Others are just beginning to hear of it. In November, NAE President Leith Anderson and NAE Vice President Richard Cizik signed onto a Christian response to an invitation to dialogue from 138 Muslim leaders around the world.
Their response — initiated by Yale Divinity School and endorsed by other liberal Christian leaders — apologized for the sins of Christians during the Crusades and for “excesses” of the global war on terror, without mentioning Muslim atrocities. It appeared to leave the fundamentals of Christianity — especially the deity of Christ — open for discussion.
It even seemed to acknowledge Allah as the God of the Bible. “Before we ‘shake your hand’ in responding to your letter,” it stated, “we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world.”
The very name of the Muslim communiqué — A Common Word between Us and You — is from a verse in the Quran that condemns “people of the Scripture” (Christians) for alleged polytheism (the doctrine of the Trinity).
Mohler said the agreement “sends the wrong signal” and contains basic theological problems, especially in “marginalizing” Jesus Christ. He also condemned the apology for the Crusades.
“I just have to wonder how intellectually honest this is,” he said. “Are these people suggesting that they wish the military conflict with Islam had ended differently — that Islam had conquered Europe?”
Neither Anderson nor Cizik could be reached for comment. On the NAE Web site, Anderson asserts he signed the letter as a private individual, although he is identified as NAE president. He also seems to acknowledge problems with the statement.
Christianity’s Edge over Islam in Holy Book War
January 1, 2008
Believers of Christianity and Islam are competing to spread their respective holy book around the world, but distributors of the Bible have some advantages over the Koran.
The Bible is translated into 2,426 languages (complete or in part) and counting, including 900 English versions ranging from street slang to comic book-like translations, according to The Economist. On the other hand, the Koran is disadvantaged by the belief by some that the word of God must not be changed, even translation-wise.
Although most Muslims now accept translation of the Koran, it is still widely held that reading and memorizing the Koran in Arabic is superior. There are only 20 English versions of the Koran compared to the nearly 1,000 versions of the Bible in the same language.
Another advantage of the Bible is the sheer larger quantity of Bibles distributed compared to the Koran. Over 100 million copies of the Bibles are sold or given away each year.
In comparison, oil-rich Saudi Arabia, the main player in the printing and distribution of the Koran and Islamic teaching materials, gives away some 30 million Korans a year around the world through the Muslim World League or wealthy individuals.
Bible distribution is helped by Christian missionaries who work to spread the Gospel to every tribe and tongue. Through the missionaries, the Word of God has reached even the most remote jungles in the world.
The New Atheism
December 30, 2007
Written by an Atheist, this is an interesting read on the “new atheism movement”.
“New atheism” was the surprise political hit of 2007. God-bashing books by Hitchens, Dawkins and other thinkers who come out in a rash when they hear the word “religion” flew out of the bookshops. Philip Pullman’s anti-divine Golden Compass hit the big screen. Everywhere, God was exposed as a fraud and God botherers were given an intellectual lashing.
I am as atheistic as it gets. But I will not be signing up to this shrill hectoring of the religious. The new atheists have given atheism a bad name. History’s greatest atheists, or the “old atheists” as we are now forced to call them, were humanistic and progressive, critical of religion because it expressed man’s sense of higher moral purpose in a deeply flawed fashion. The new atheists are screechy and intolerant; they see religion merely as an expression of mass ignorance and delusion. Their aim seems to be, not only to bring God crashing back down to earth, but also to downgrade mankind itself.
There’s something bitterly ironic in the fact that the new atheists pose as the successors to Darwin. Darwin himself had little interest in baiting the devout. In the early 1880s, he was asked by the radical atheist Edward Aveling to endorse a new book on evolutionary theory. Darwin, caring little for Aveling’s “anti-religious militancy”, refused. He wrote to Aveling: “It appears to me … that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion … ”
Marx, too, believed that direct assaults on religion were pointless. He argued (pdf) that religion existed as spiritual compensation for social alienation, and believed that once the true nature of religion as a comfort blanket in an alienated society had been revealed, it would become clear that religion is merely a secondary phenomenon dependent for its existence on socioeconomic circumstances. Radical critics should focus their intellectual ire on the degraded society that sustains religion rather than on attacking religion itself: “The criticism of heaven turns into the criticism of earth, the criticism of religion into the criticism of law, and the criticism of theology into the criticism of politics.”
Old atheists sought to “illuminate men’s minds”, through advancing science or deepening our understanding of capitalist society. New atheists take exactly the opposite approach. They expend all of their energy on attacking the institution of religion and its ridiculous adherents.
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