Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Evangelical right reveals itself

Effort to reach out to Muslims stirs outcry (OC Reg)

     An outreach effort to Muslims initiated by Saddleback Church in Lake Forest has sparked a national uproar among evangelical Christians, with some accusing the Rev. Rick Warren, Saddleback's pastor, of betraying core Christian principles and Warren responding that his beliefs and intentions have been misrepresented.
     Since an Orange County Register article published Feb. 26 detailed the outreach effort, evangelicals across the country have taken to blogs, social media and Christian news outlets to debate whether and how Christians should forge relationships with people of other faiths.
     Longtime critics of Warren have published lengthy online accusations that the influential pastor, who delivered the invocation at President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration, has gone too far in seeking theological common ground with Muslims.
"Our God is Jesus, not Allah"
     In a series of phone conversations Feb. 27, David Chrzan, Warren's chief of staff, told this reporter and a Register editor that the story was factually correct except in its statement that Warren believes Christians and Muslims worship the same God. It would be more accurate to state that Christians and Muslims both believe in one God, Chrzan said.
. . .
     Warren said he does not believe Muslims and Christians worship the same God. "We worship Jesus as God. Muslims don't," he wrote. "Our God is Jesus, not Allah."
. . .
     On Saturday, Saddleback emailed to church members a statement from Warren entitled "On Responding to False Accusations." The statement summarized what it called "many errors and false assumptions" in the Register's Feb. 26 story.
Damage control out of control
     The statement said Saddleback has not entered into a partnership with any local mosque, has not agreed not to evangelize Muslims and has not entered into any theological agreement with Muslims.
. . .
     David Mitchell, senior pastor at Calvary Church in Santa Ana, said he also was confused about the outreach effort's intentions after reading about it in online publications.
     Told about the King's Way Agreement's claim that Christians and Muslims "believe in one God," Mitchell replied: "I would not sign my name to that or support that. It implies that Muslims and Christians have the same beliefs. ... To say Muslims and Christians believe in one God could lead to an incomplete or false view of the God of the Scriptures."….

4 comments:

Mr. Otis said...

You made this up, right?

I fear no fish said...

I thought this article was really weird! Not because there are Christians who think just saying the word "Allah" makes you a terrorist, but because it seemed the theology was all confused.

"Our God is Jesus." Huh? I'm no theologian, but that doesn't seem to be the message where I go to church.

It seems to me that "Allah" is the same as the Christian "God the Father" or the God of the Old Testament. Or the God of the Jews, which I'm sure Warren's parishioners are ok with.

The word "allah" is the Arabic word for god. If, for example, you were teaching in Arabic about the multiple gods of Roman times you'd use the word "allah."

Roy Bauer said...

Ah, yes. Arab Christians speak of "Allah" as well.

Anonymous said...

I still prefer the giant pink gopher. Less unpleasant and somewhat more believable.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...