The United Church of Canada has produced an astounding piece of institutional suicide called "That We May Know Each Other: United Church – Muslim Relations Today." You can find a pdf of it here. (Thanks to Mentat_99.)
This document reveals a Christian church in profound confusion about its own identity and mission, adopting a posture of the most cringing dhimmitude toward Canada's rapidly increasing Muslim population. A few highlights:
"The lesser jihad is the defence of Islam, or of a Muslim country or community against aggression. It may be a jihad of the pen or of the tongue. If it involves conflict, it is strictly regulated, and can only be defensive." (p. 17)
The document's authors show no sign of being aware of the broad doctrine within Islamic theology, law, and history of offensive jihad, as summed up as recently as 1994 by a Shafi'i Muslim legal manual bearing the approval of Cairo's venerable and respected Al-Azhar University. This manual stipulates that the Muslim community must make "war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians . . . until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax" ('Umdat al-Salik, o9.8).
The UCC document also states:
"Issues of human rights violations associated with Shari’ah in the press are often simply a failure to distinguish Shari’ah from issues of local custom." (p. 22)
Yes, but often they aren't. The Sharia's denial of equality of rights to women and non-Muslims, as well as its draconian punishments and outrageous evidentiary requirements, are well documented. I explore these matters from Islamic sources, examining them from the standpoint of human rights in both Islam Unveiled and Onward Muslim Soldiers. That the Sharia raises human rights questions has been noted by many Muslims also, including the Iranian Sufi Sheikh Tabandeh, who wrote an Islamic critique of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
And here is the most egregious passage of the UCC document:
“We also believe it is a possible, though major, step forward in Muslim-Christian relationships for Christians to acknowledge Muhammad as a prophet of God. . . . Therefore it is necessary, in affirming this, to also invite the possibility within the Christian community of a recognition of the Qur'an as an inspired word from God . . .” (pp. 32-3)
Although the document throws up nuance after nuance about what exactly this would mean, it seems oblivious to the probability that its nuances would be ignored by the other party in this dialogue, which would see any acknowledgement of Muhammad as a prophet as an avowal of, or at least a first step toward, the acceptance of Islam and abandonment of Christianity. Because however much New Age irenicists may dislike the fact, the New Testament and the Qur'an contradict each other; thus they cannot both be true. Christians cannot accept Muhammad as a prophet without accepting his message, which would require that they cease to be Christian. Thus by making these suggestions, the UCC is toying with suicide.
Or maybe it will become the first Christian-Islamic dhimmi sect of the new age.
The Koran specifically denies that Jesus was God, and also states that Christians and Jews tampered with their scriptures to destroy all "Islamic" content within them.
A Christian who accepts Muhammad as a "prophet of God" must needs also replace the Bible with the Koran.
This sounds like an attempt to have it both ways, which of course, is impossible.
What is sad is that this will sound like a good idea to a lot of nominally Christian, fuzzy thinkers who don't know the first thing about Islam.
Damn their cultural imperialism! Must the whole world bow before their crazy old murdering pirate and warlord?
I read the summary and chapter titles and started feeling sick. The United Church is pitiful.
I had a look at there web site. They claim to be the largest protestant church in Canada. I'm the wrong side of the pond to do much.
Do any people who frequent these pages know members. If so educate them urgently, and get them to write in to the addrees on their web site condemming this surrender. As that is all it can be.
On the site it says, "Congregations and other United Church groups are then invited to respond to the proposed Muslim-United Church relations statement, offering final responses by May 1, 2005. Feedback on the study document is also welcome."
Turn this disaster into an opportunity. Make sure decision makers in this church are confronted with what islam was and is.
Peter are you in the UK? If so I wouldn't put it past the current Anglican hierarchy to engage in the same type of shenanigans. This would be right up Rowan Williams' line.
Almost all mainstream churches seemed to have been taken over by these trendy-lefty people who want to dismantle our entire culture, including religion, willy nilly, however best they can accomplish it. If it means seeling us out to the totalitarian monoculture of Islam, they really don't care; what's important to them is that our culture, our religion, our history and our political traditions be destroyed by any and all means.
These are the heirs of the same people who march through our college campuses shrieking: "Hey Hey Ho Ho, Western culture has got to go."
Yes i'm in England, but i'm part of a previous wave of immigration, the Catholics who came to England during the Irish Famine.
If you need to explain Dhimmi to someone from ireland, compare it to the civil rights of the catholics under the presbyterians prior to the 1960's.
So I'm not Anglican. I built my house on rock not sand. At least that's what I thought till that well meaning man JPII goes and kisses the koran in attempt to reach 'dialogue at all costs'.
There seems to be a shift over the last few months though, since the publication of this article.
http://213.92.16.98/ESW_articolo/0,2393,41931,00.html
Myabe there's still some hope that the biilion adherants of Catholicism can be woken up.
Sura IV:157. That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
It is evident that a lot of misguided Christians are keeping faith to what Marx said about the capitalists: "they themselves will eventually hand you the rope to hang them". Surprisingly, despiting all that it is happening nowadays in the world, there is still a lot of ignorance about what the Quran says and what Islam is really about. Christians delude themselves in organizing everywhere councils for "the dialog between Christians and Muslims" and they don't know or pretend not to know that for the Muslim religion there can never be a "dialog" with other religions, which are considered inferior and destined to be destroyed. Mohammad in the Hadiths says that not only all infidels must be converted, and if they refuse to convert they must be killed, but even after conversion all their former religious symbols and cultural heritage must be obliterated so that any memory of their past be deleted. This is not according to the so called integralist "interpretation" of the Quran but it is the very and only essence of Islam. Remember the famous Budddha statues in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban? To arrive to the foolish assertions of the United Church of Canada or the indecent boot licking to the Arabs of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is not only suicidal but is also a sign of true dementia. To have a good understanding of the Quran and Islam I strongly recommend reading the excellent book by the scholar of Islam, Serge Trifkovic, "The Sword of the Prophet" which can be easily bought from Amazon.com.
The United church of Canada was my 'born-in-the cradle' church. Happily, God moved me on --- to the Anglican Church of Canada. Now? A lot of prayer.
What else would you expect from a church(?) who, last year agrees to marry people (That's right kids, not even bless unions, but clerically marry) of the same gender, but struck down, with a healthy majority a movement to try to re-include Christ into Christ-mass. The reason stated for the striking down of the movement was that they felt such a thing (as putting Jesus back into Christmas) might (and I quote) "offend our interfaith colleagues".
No wonder Jesus said of the Laodecian Church "Because thou art so lukewarm I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth" Rev 3,16
Let us not forget to pray for them and their people. I know of many good people in the Church itself who are also appalled by what a totally leftist hierarchy have done to their, once decent Church.