Condemning burning the Koran

Some 47 year ago as God broke into my life I was happy to define myself as “evangelical”.  Now, though my core beliefs have not changed it is not a label I feel comfortable with.  Among the factors that have caused that change is people who are bigoted, like Terry Jones, the pastor of a small church in the USA whose offensive attitude has won him a spotlight over the last few days.

I have no hesitation in condemning what he proposes to do on September 11^th and stating that, in my view, he presents a distorted understanding of Christianity as set out within the Scriptures.  And that is the irony for by defining himself and his local church as “evangelical” he takes a position that affirms that the Bible is authoritative, and the guide for what he believes and how he behaves.  It makes me wonder whether he has read it carefully recently.  A further irony is that what he seeks to condemn by burning copies of the Koran is to condemn what most Islamic scholars would define as actions informed by a distorted understanding of the content of the Koran.

An Anglican bishop I knew once said that if the Carpenter of Nazareth would seem strangely out of place in the midst of all you plan to do, then all you plan to do has got nothing to do with God. 

Towards the end of the eighties Doreen and I made my first journey to Turkey.  This was my first engagement with Muslims.  I found them kind, generous, and very open.  From the start and over the passing years I have engaged in conversations about the Christian faith, often at their initiative.  I have even been invited into a mosque by the Imam to talk with children about Jesus Christ.  One school I had visited to assist with English lessons once asked me to provide an example of a Christian song we used in worship.  The following year as I walked through the gates of the school scholars greeted me by singing that song!

Our contemporary culture has benefited historically from Islam, as many Islamic countries have benefited from some aspects of Christianity.  In the UK today almost all of us enjoy good relationships and can engage in a healthy dialogue without compromising our beliefs in any way.  Throughout the Muslim world (most of which is moderate) there are indigenous Christians and indigenous Christian churches.  A few years ago in one such country Christians were invited onto a TV programme to talk about their faith.  That day an American website stupidly, wrongly and offensively put an image of that country’s flag with the Islamic crescent changed to a Christian cross.  That one act seriously set back the gospel and impacted on the lives of thousands of Christians.  My fear is that Terry Jones is seriously undoing years of patient progress in his blind ignorance.

I hope that Terry might discover – or rediscover – the Jesus of Scripture and become a true disciple.  If he does he will renounce his intentions.