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Archbishops sends Muslim scholars reflection on A Common Word

Posted: Wednesday, July 16, 2008, 11:28 (BST)

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He reflected on what he calls "the hospitable and friendly spirit" of the original letter, acknowledging it as a timely initiative "given the growing awareness that peace throughout the world is deeply entwined with the ability of all people of faith everywhere to live together in peace, justice, mutual respect and love".

The Archbishop went on to explore how the Christian understanding of love of God and love of neighbour - seen as a response to God's love for humankind and his creation - provide the basis on which Christians and Muslims can take practical steps together for a "radical, transforming, non-violent engagement with the deepest needs of our world and our common humanity".

The Archbishop's letter tackled some difficult issues: religious freedom, pluralism and religiously-inspired violence. He insisted that the "eternal God cannot need 'protection' by the tactics of human violence" and called for a vision for Christian-Muslim encounter that "breaks the current cycles of violence, to show the world that faith and faith alone can truly ground a commitment to peace which definitively abandons the tempting but lethal cycle of retaliation in which we simply imitate each other's violence".

By rejecting the notion that coercive human power is the ultimate authority and arbiter in our world, Dr Williams asserted "we can together suggest a way in which religious plurality can be seen as serving the cause of social unity and acting as a force for the common good". This is true even where truth claims may seem irreconcilable.

Dr Williams acknowledged that Christian belief in the Trinity is "difficult, sometimes offensive, to Muslims" but has said, "I believe that for the sake of open and careful dialogue it is important to try and clarify what we do and what we do not mean by it."

He began by affirming the Christian belief in the unity of God. The Archbishop then explained that, "God is at once the source of divine life, the expression of that life and the active power that communicates that life...in human language, in the light of what [Christian] scripture says, we speak of 'Father, Son and Holy Spirit'."

He showed how it is that Christians see this Trinity as explaining why they say that God is love, not only that he shows love. Dr Williams added that "by understanding God as a unity of love we see ourselves intensifying and enriching our belief in the unity of God".

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The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.

Added: Sunday, July 20, 2008, 23:59 (BST)

Dr Williams acknowledged that Christian belief in the Trinity is "difficult, sometimes offensive, to Muslims". Offensive? Why is the Archbishop so concerned about what muslims find offensive about Christianity? I could point out a thousand things Christians find offensive in islam. But the Archbishop has no time for the apprehensions of Christians these days. He has been 'championing' the islamic cause and its 'concerns' of compatibility with Christian theology for some time now. The Anglican Chruch in Britian is losing members day by day and is at a point in time where the next generation has no interest in Church or Christianity. The Archbishop should be more concerned where the Church will be in the next 10-20 years, rather than continuing his futile policy of islamic appeasement.

Nick, Cochin, India

Added: Thursday, July 17, 2008, 18:09 (BST)

The Archbishop appears to have omitted one vital point in his measured response to A Common Word - that the heart and uniqueness of Christianity is Christ. Omit the centrality of Christ and you might as well omit the rest as well. Without Christ, and all he means, Christianity simply ceases to be Christianity, since we believe that it is only by faith in Him that any man or woman can be saved. Islam, on the other hand, has no Saviour, and therefore no hope. Can there ever really be common ground between us?

Michael KEMP, Swindon, England

Added: Wednesday, July 16, 2008, 19:28 (BST)

The Archbishop is really apologising on the behalf of Christians for BEING Christians! And this to people who worship 'Allah' (Al'Llah=Dagon=BAAL), and use a bastardised form of the Torah and the New Testament to justify its beliefs. In the newspapers, it says that he apologises for the Crusades (they were started by P(e)OP(l)E(S) for their own purposes). It is, by and large, true that (Middle Eastern) people were 'forced into accepting (Catholic) Christianity at the point of a sword' - however, the Arab Nations started it when they invaded the Byzantine (Roman) Empire, at the Battle of Ajnadain, in AD634, some 400 years BEFORE the First Crusade and some 1300 years before the modern State of Israel was established! Basic facts that Islamic scholars keep quiet about, while bleating on about the injustices of the Crusades! Also, extreme Islam did invade and conquer a lot of Southern Europe, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent in the Middle Ages. Italy, the Germanic States, a lot of Russia and the UK escaped, for the most part, and experienced the Reformation, which ended the Crusades and the Knights Templars as a military force, and ushered in a relative period of stability, punctuated by internal squabbles and religious arguments! However, we must remember that the New Testament is also the New Covenant, validated by the Blood of Yeshua, God's Son, for the salvation of all mankind, something muslims do not accept, nor taught about. The Gospel is a stumbling block to many, and closed to the worldly wise. It doesn't do away with the Law but writes upon our hearts and we now live under grace. That does not give us leave to depart from God's Word; it tells us not make treaties with other nations and put their gods AS EQUAL WITH THE CREATOR GOD, EL SHADDI - that goes for 'Allah'! This is what, under Williams' leadership, the CofE is in danger of doing, and putting us (further) under God's judgement. We should not withhold the Gospel from muslims, as there are many who receive the Truth of Jesus daily, and we should give them sanctuary within our doors, but we must realise that the Qu'ran has a veneer of acceptence and equanimity overlaying the creed of violence to non-muslims. It has no redemption, no grace, mercy, salvation, propitiation for sin, it has a refusal of Jesus' divinity ( Mary bore Jesus under God's guidance, but was only a good man and prophet, nothing more), and His being made the perfect sacrifice for us all - only conditional acceptence by God through works, and that the whole world be must be made muslim, by force if necessary, and all non-muslims relegated to the status of 'dhimmis' (second class citizens - slaves, even to the muslim elite). Where is the 'Common Good' in that? Muslims don't help other muslims in need, as evidenced in the recent natural disaster - in'shalla, as they say - unlike Christianity, which reaches out to help, even under the guise of humanitarianism, in the first instance. This is just one example of practical Islam, what happens is the 'will of Allah', and dismissed. Where is the common ground in this? Finally, the Creator God of the Torah, the Father of Emannuel, the Messiah, Prince of Peace, Yeshua, the Christ, our Saviour, is NOT the distant, uninvolved, demanding, punishment-advocating, death-dealing god of the Qu'ran. YHWH may have needed to be strict, as recorded in the OT, dicsiplining and correcting His children as a father does, but His demand that our sin be paid for was met by His Son, the second aspect of the Triune God, the third being the Holy Spirit, The god of the Qu'ran has not done or been this - nor will he. There is no, spiritually speaking, common ground.

Chris Maguire, Ventnor, IoW