Christian leaders criticized for seeking 'common ground'

One News Now ^ | 11/30/2007 | Jim Brown

[fweingart]

A Lebanese-American author and activist is criticizing Christian leaders who are seeking to find "common ground" with Muslim imams. She says that six years after 9/11, these leaders "still do not understand the Islamic faith and ideology driving terrorism around the world."

Last month, 138 Muslim scholars signed a letter addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, and other religious leaders, urging them to find common ground between Islam and Christianity. The letter declared that Islam and Christianity both believe in only one God, and the commandment to love one's neighbor.

Some 200 Christian leaders have responded to the Muslim scholars with their own letter, which calls for an interfaith dialogue that will "reshape" the two communities to "genuinely reflect our common love for God and for one another." Signers of the response letter include Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Jim Wallis of the liberal advocacy group Sojourners, and evangelical pastors Bill Hybels and Rick Warren.

Brigitte Gabriel is founder of the American Congress for Truth and author of the book Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America. She says the letter displays a disturbing lack of knowledge about the Koran.

"Our terrorist enemies -- who have launched an attack against the West and against the infidels, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, atheists and everything else -- those terrorists repeated[ly] quote the Koran and many, many verses of the Koran and the Hadith," she points out. "…the accompanying books of the Koran [talk] about how Islam looks on unbelievers, or the Kafirs, as those who are condemned to go to hell."

Gabriel says the Christian community would be wiser to call Muslim imams on the carpet by urging them to tell their fellow Muslims to "stop committing acts of barbarism in the name of their religion." She is also disturbed that Hybels and Warren are suggesting that God and Allah are one.

"Islam is very different from Christianity, or Judaism, or Buddhism. The Allah of Islam is not the same God we worship," she argues. "Our God looks at all his people as equals; our God does not command us to kill anybody. I mean, our Ten Commandments, one of the top commandments, [says] 'thou shall not kill' -- regardless of if you believe with these people or not."

In a recent column, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah said the Christian theologians, ministry leaders, and pastors who signed the letter to Muslim scholars do not speak for him or for Christ.

[fweingart]

Carolyn Mancos:

I don't believe there is any commmon ground between Christians and Muslims. There is only one scriptural truth and one true God.

Christians don't force others to convert by threatening them and they are very tolerant of others beliefs even if they don't agree with them. If that were not true, the United States would not be a diverse people like it is.

I live in Michigan and in Hamtramck you can hear the Muslim prayers over the loud speaker every day. Go to Muslim countries and see if you can find any Christian churches.

If you preach the gospel of Christ over there you will be thrown in prison at the least or in most cases killed. If you don't believe me just go to the Voice of the Myrters website and see for yourself.

Weight the crimes against Christians from Muslims and see what you come up with as opposed to Christian crimes against Muslims. The United States with all it problems still allows freedom of religion can the Muslim countries say the same? I think not.

This says it all.

[GOPJ]

Gabriel says the Christian community would be wiser to call Muslim imams on the carpet by urging them to tell their fellow Muslims to "stop committing acts of barbarism in the name of their religion."

I'd like to ask Hillary how she feels about this - but since CNN sucks we won't get this one in a debate either...

[milford421]

“Our terrorist enemies — who have launched an attack against the West and against the infidels, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, atheists and everything else — those terrorists repeated[ly] quote the Koran and many, many verses of the Koran and the Hadith,” she points out. “…the accompanying books of the Koran [talk] about how Islam looks on unbelievers, or the Kafirs, as those who are condemned to go to hell.”

This too says it all. Bin Laden has never been targeted by a fatwa for perversion of the islamic faith. Don’t know when the western world will wake up. Look at the pictures of the savages ready to behead the British teacher. Our enemy has been made known to us...our tolerance and pc mentality is being used against us to our peril.

[Always Right]

Christianity = Freedom, Islam = Bondage

.....Funny, sin also equals bondage....hmmm

[mkjessup]

“I proclaim that there is no other God but Almighty Jehovah, manifested in human form as Jesus Christ, Who is the only Son of the Living God, and His Holy Spirit testifies to that Truth. Humanity can obtain salvation ONLY through the Blood of Jesus, shed upon the Cross for the redemption of sin, and Jesus said ‘No one cometh unto the Father except by Me’. Jesus said also, ‘If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father’ and ‘The Father and I are One’. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He and He alone shall determine the eternal fate of every person.”

Islam is a deceptive, satanic death cult and only a fool argues otherwise.

[Flintlock]

The only “common ground” for the Dhimmis will be their burial ground.
They will not even get crosses to mark their graves. Crosses are “not permitted”.

[proudofthesouth]

One of the two reasons why I broke with my former church was because the pastor preached to find common ground with the Muzzies. BTW this is the same church (albeit in a different city) that Obama and Oprah belong to.

The second reason I left is because they had a homosexual as an assistant pastor and encouraged other sexually active homo’s to become members of the church.

[tbpiper]

I don't believe there is any commmon ground between Christians and Muslims.

There is a bit of common ground to work from. That important piece of realestate is called 'sin'. Both Christianity and Islam deal with it, but in very different manners. One requires a reasonable faith and the other requires a couple of pound of C4.

Evangelism in this enviornment necessitates a kind of "praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" approach in that while dealing with muslims on a personal level, we share the gospel. Dealing with muslims on a group level, i.e., Iran, Al Queda, etc., we remain locked and loaded.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

The best reason to leave that church is because they do not care one bit about your soul. They are a political organization of Democrats and exist to advance socialism/communism.

Here is the list of NCC "churches".

• African Methodist Episcopal Church
• The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
• Alliance of Baptists
• American Baptist Churches in the USA
• Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
• Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
• Church of the Brethren
• The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America
• The Episcopal Church
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Friends United Meeting
• Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
• Hungarian Reformed Church in America
• International Council of Community Churches
• Korean Presbyterian Church in America
• Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
• Mar Thoma Church
• Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province
• National Baptist Convention of America
• National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.
• National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
• Orthodox Church in America
• Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA
• Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Polish National Catholic Church of America
• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
• Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
• Reformed Church in America
• Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada
• The Swedenborgian Church
• Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America
• United Church of Christ
• The United Methodist Church •

[heartwood]

All those Orthodox churches being in the NCC surprises me.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

The Antiochian Orthodox church has left the NCC.

[Biggirl]

Or it comes down to this, Christianity = God sent His Son to die for us, Islam = Allah commands believers to offer their sons up for death.

[Biggirl]

Would not suprise me if the other Orthodox churches follow suite and leave the NCC.

[Biggirl]

The best way to go.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Let’s hope and pray they do. I would NEVER attend any one of the churches on this list—NEVER!!!

[proudofthesouth]

I must also add that out of a congregation of over 200 I was one of FOUR conservatives. The way the members (one of whom was a former graduate of Annapolis and retired Navy) would praise Hitlery, the Rapist, and Obama as well as encouraging making nice with Islam finally drove me out.

BTW I was told that the late Gene Roddenberry was also a member of this Church sect. I'll have to research that further cause I just got a bio of him today from the library.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

It makes perfect sense to me that Democrats/liberals/socialists/communists should attend these "churches". They are only playing church. They are really liberal organizations existing to promote a liberal, leftist agenda. Soros is even helping support the NCC.

On the other hand, it makes NO sense for conservatives/Republicans to be attending these "churches". Conservatives hard earned money is being used to work against the very principles in which we belive.

We left the liberal ELCA 14 years ago and are now LCMS. One of the questions I asked before joining the LCMS was if they belonged to the NCC. They do not.