The Archbishop of Canterbury says theological differences separate Islam from Christianity. Here
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, admitted yesterday that the Christian and Muslim faiths are so fundamentally different that both sides are still unable to understand each other properly.
Dr Williams, speaking at an interfaith conference in Cambridge, said that it was possible for Islam and Christianity, two of the three Abrahamic faiths, to agree around the imperatives to love God and “love your neighbour”. Muslims and Christians agree about the need to alleviate both poverty and suffering, he said.
Is anyone particularly surprised that ‘theological differences separate Islam from Christianity’? Rowan Williams appears to be struggling to find similarities – a requirement of the new style of Politically Correct Evangelism, I expect. Pretty soon he will probably be declaring that Anglicanism and Islam are essentially equivalent. That, of course, is because an Anglican can believe just about anything he likes – except that Jesus is the Son of God, rose physically from the dead and was born of a virgin: believing that make you a fundamentalist.
The process has already started: Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding, an Episcopal priest, converted to Islam over a year ago – while remaining an Episcopal priest – and apparently sees no conflict between the two belief systems.
A silly commentary on at least two fronts:
1. The preposterous utterance that believing in Our Lord’s divinity, physical resurrection and virgin birth makes one a fundamentalist is polemic, not reasoned thought. I firmly believe these things and am definitely not a “fundamentalist”.
2. Ann Holmes Redding has been given a choice: declare her loyalty to her ordination vows or be relieved of her priestly office in the Episcopal Church. It is patent nonsense to say ‘no one sees a conflict between the two belief systems’.
Reasoned commentary is one thing. Silliness is quite something else — and something we definitely do not need paraded around the blogosphere.
It is patent nonsense to say ‘no one sees a conflict between the two belief systems’.
I didn’t actually say that.
Silliness is quite something else — and something we definitely do not need paraded around the blogosphere.
So this is goodbye?