Here's a posting from the Answering Muslims blog related to the Dearborn 4 incident from this summer. David makes some solid points here. Also, there is a disturbing video that I think is helpful to watch.
Answering Muslims: Does Dearborn Mayor John C. O'Reilly Approve of St...: "Our position with respect to Islam and Muslims has always been clear. We love Muslims and want the best for them. We believe in peacefully s..."
Blogging across Barriers in a Borderless World for Kingdom Transformation
Obviously I agree in general with the position of the people at Answering Muslims. But I feel like the entire dialogue on this issue has become practically meaningless. While I think that the guys at AM probably have a nuanced understanding of the diversity within Islam, whenever they start talking in this dialogue, they talk as if it's this monolithic thing. Likewise, whenever the Mayor talks about AM, he latches onto one main thing about them (that they are vocally against shari'ah law gaining ground in the West) and then he ignores all the nuances of their views. The result is that both sides claim to be talking about the same things (Islam and AM's mission), but their language indicates that they're really talking about either a subset [of Islam] or a misunderstanding [of AM]. By each one not dealing with the fact that his own language isn't quite doing justice to the reality behind it, the discussion has just become a shouting match. And I think that this is the NORM for most discussions like this. I am all for AM's goals, but I don't think they can be achieved without listening to their own words as they might sound in the ears of others.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cappy, for your comment. I think I agree with you. Although of the two parties (AM and Mr. Mayor) the latter seems to be the more ridiculous, and that by quite a margin.
ReplyDeleteThere was a post today by David Wood that regarded child brides. I thought of reposting it here because it is very helpful in some ways. However, there are some nuances to the topic that must be considered. Wood doesn't seem to come at this from a missiological perspective. He's an apologist. That's good. He does fine work. However, it isn't always the case that a woman who is married at a young age is miserable or abused. Some of the Nepalis in our community married in their early teens and are quite happy in life. There has to be more that just, Islam allow men to marry women under 18. Well, the Bible seems to have described (though not necessarily prescribed) the same thing.
Ok. back to work.