Six years after inheriting the throne, Jordan's King Abdullah II has picked up his father's mantle as a leading voice of moderate Islam, calling for the "quiet majority" of Muslims to "take back our religion from the vocal, violent and ignorant extremists," in a speech yesterday at Catholic University.
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington told the king that "you have said things that we have looked forward to hearing from major Muslim leaders" and, in a reciprocal gesture, offered a concluding prayer "in the name of Allah, the merciful and compassionate."
In the article, Abdullah went on to say:
Quoting from the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Gospels and the Koran, Abdullah said all three faiths teach "devotion to the One God and love for our fellow human beings." He called for a "dialogue of deeds as well as words" and said that the "road of moderation, and respect for others, is not one for Muslims alone. All humanity today needs to meet this challenge. That means more than just 'tolerating' each other; it means real acceptance, based on human equality and fellowship."This acceptance is based on human equality and fellowship. I note that he says nothing about basing this acceptance on Holy Scripture (whether it is what he calls holy - the Koran - or what Christians know to be holy - the Bible). That is because both books call for separation from non-believers.
In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul writes:
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?All this leads me to ask: Whose idea was it to have a Muslim - even a peace-loving moderate Muslim - to be the keynote speaker at an evangelical prayer breakfast?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
1 comment:
I don't speak from an informed position - informed, that is, about the history of the National Prayer Breakfast - but I highly suspect that it is little more than a political opportunity. The fact that earnest evangelicals are typically involved brings to mind the power of deceit indicated in Mat 24:24 that would affect even the elect if it were possible. After all, what good minister could turn down a prayer breakfast?
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