I welcome the initiatives of moderate Muslims to renounce violence, even if it means re-interpreting Islam in a modern context. That said, one wonders why it needs to be re-interpreted if the Quran was written in stone before the world began: Christians well know the pitfalls of re-interpreting Scripture to accommodate modern social values, especially if the process involves simply ignoring specific passages as if they referred to an anachronistic cultural ethic rather than an ultimate one. I wonder if this is what the Muslim clerics are doing, deciding that spreading Islam by the sword was once justifiable but no more, simply to make Islam more acceptable? But in my usual ambivalence on such matters, I wonder whether a moderate and more acceptable Islam is a good thing spiritually. Muhammad initially thought that his spiritual visitations were by evil spirits, and it took his wife to convince him that it was indeed God who was trying to reach out to him. A Satan inspired religion is exactly what one would expect if we view current existence as a battle between good and evil, and while in no way judging individual Muslims, their piety, morality, or good intentions, a Christian has to view Islam with some suspicion: a religion that denies the deity of Jesus, His crucifixion, and even His death, and views Him as simply a prophet of lower rank than Muhammad, taken to heaven to one day reappear in support of the Mahdi, is one that would certainly be an invention worthy of Satan attempting to deny belief in the salvation afforded by the Crucifixion. Relief from the terrors of radical Islam would be most welcome, but if it leads to a greater acceptance of Islam and a consequent rejection of Christianity, is the battle truly won, or lost?
I welcome the initiatives of moderate Muslims to renounce violence, even if it means re-interpreting Islam in a modern context. That said, one wonders why it needs to be re-interpreted if the Quran was written in stone before the world began: Christians well know the pitfalls of re-interpreting Scripture to accommodate modern social values, especially if the process involves simply ignoring specific passages as if they referred to an anachronistic cultural ethic rather than an ultimate one. I wonder if this is what the Muslim clerics are doing, deciding that spreading Islam by the sword was once justifiable but no more, simply to make Islam more acceptable? But in my usual ambivalence on such matters, I wonder whether a moderate and more acceptable Islam is a good thing spiritually. Muhammad initially thought that his spiritual visitations were by evil spirits, and it took his wife to convince him that it was indeed God who was trying to reach out to him. A Satan inspired religion is exactly what one would expect if we view current existence as a battle between good and evil, and while in no way judging individual Muslims, their piety, morality, or good intentions, a Christian has to view Islam with some suspicion: a religion that denies the deity of Jesus, His crucifixion, and even His death, and views Him as simply a prophet of lower rank than Muhammad, taken to heaven to one day reappear in support of the Mahdi, is one that would certainly be an invention worthy of Satan attempting to deny belief in the salvation afforded by the Crucifixion. Relief from the terrors of radical Islam would be most welcome, but if it leads to a greater acceptance of Islam and a consequent rejection of Christianity, is the battle truly won, or lost?
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