Blog: Comments from Archdeacon Julian Dobbs...

A Response to the letter from the Rt. Rev. Mark Sisk of New York.

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:33:27 -0400

As the debate continues regarding the proposed building of a mosque and Islamic center in lower Manhattan, the Rt. Rev. Mark Sisk, bishop of New York released a letter to the people of his diocese.

The bishop begins his letter by quoting Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan who has called for “a civil, rational, loving, respectful discussion,” regarding the building of the proposed mosque and Islamic center in lower Manhattan.

I would also agree that at this juncture, respectful dialogue is critical, so that the issues surrounding the building of the proposed mosque are clearly identified and discussed.

However, Bishop Mark Sisk exposes his ignorance about the Islamic faith from this point on.

1. He says, “We must not let our emotions lead us into the error of persecuting or condemning an entire religion for the sins of its most misguided adherents. The worldwide Islamic community is no more inclined to violence that any other.”

It would be easy for us in the United States to believe that Islam is a religion of peace. By far the majority of Muslims in the US are law abiding citizens who seek to live out their lives without recourse to violence, but less than a days aircraft flight from our borders, a classical form of Islam challenges peace and defiantly rejects tolerance of other religions. Even within our borders we are witnessing a rise in honor killings and the persecution of converts. The mantra ‘Islam is peace’ is almost 1,400 years out of date. It was only for about 13 years that Islam was peace and nothing but peace. From 622 onwards it became increasingly aggressive, albeit with periods of peaceful co-existence, particularly in the colonial period, when the theology of war was not dominant.

2. The bishop says, “At the Episcopal Diocese of New York we know the leaders of this project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan. We know that they are loving, gentle people, who epitomize Islamic moderation.”

The loving, gentle Imam Rauf, in his book “What’s right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West” affirms that Muslims interpret the Quran through the Hadith. He says, "A collection of the Prophets sayings and actions, called the Hadith, is used not only as a guide for Muslims behavior but also for a primary source of Islamic Law after the Koran." It is the Hadith that promotes some of the most extreme forms of punishment in Islam, such as stoning, which were enforced in Afghanistan as recently as last week. It hardly seems appropriate to describe someone who interprets his Islamic faith using the Hadith as a man who ‘epitomizes Islamic moderation’.

Furthermore, Sufi Islam, which the bishop and many other commentators insisted is a peaceful expression of the Islamic faith, has a history of violence which is strikingly similar that that of other Islamic traditions. Author Robert Spencer says, “Sufis from al-Ghazali to the present day have taught the necessity of jihad warfare, and have participated in that warfare. And in January 2009, Iraqi representatives of the Naqshabandi Sufi order met with Khaled Mashaal of Hamas, praised his jihad, donated jewelry to him, and boasted of their own jihad attacks against Americans in Iraq.”1

3. The bishop says that the proposed Islamic Center is, “Intended in part to promote understanding and tolerance among different religions.”

The right to religious freedom, including the right of individuals to change their religion, is taken for granted by most people in the West. However, in Islam, all schools of law agree that adult male apostates from Islam should suffer the death penalty. There are many cases where zealous Islamic leaders take Sharia’ Law into their own hands and carry out their own execution of apostates or persons who are believed to have committed blasphemy against Islam. I wonder if the bishop understands that this is the type of tolerance that is expressed in the name of Islam, by religious leaders who are described as peace loving Muslims.

4. The bishops says, “We know that as Sufis, they are members of an Islamic sect that teaches a universal belief in man’s relationship to God that is not dissimilar from mystic elements in certain strains of Judaism and Christianity.”

Here the bishop exposes the agenda that he and other revisionists use to deceive their followers, that all religions lead to one God who is inclusive of all people, no matter what doctrine, holy book or belief system they choose. This doctrine creates a god in our imagine, a mix of religions, secularism and selfishness together to form a new god for a new age.

The bishop appears to look for a “solution that will strengthen, rather than divide, the human condition”. The solution the bishop is looking for is to be found only in Jesus. It is only in Jesus and through faith in Him that human beings will be reconciled to God. No other religion in the world offers the assurance of this reconciliation, except Christianity, because no other religion in the world has the life transforming, culture reshaping message of Jesus Christ.

I suggest the bishop remind himself that there already exists a ‘faith once for all entrusted to the saints.’2 We do not need any additional revelation in the form of Islam or any other post Christian faith.

The unique truth about Jesus Christ leads to salvation and without it there would be no salvation for Christians to share. This faith was entrusted to the saints by the apostles from God Himself once and for all. The canon of scripture was closed and from then on down to the present day, every claim to truth is now measured by the standard of the faith once delivered to the saints.

If it is freedom that we are looking for - ‘know the truth and the truth will make you free.’3

1. www.jihadwatch.org/2010/08/ny-times-rauf-is-a-sufi-so-ground-zero-mega-mosque-is-a-ok.html
2. Jude 3
3. John 8:32

A STATEMENT REGARDING CHRISTIANS IN AFGHANISTAN The Rev. Canon Julian M. Dobbs

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:09:10 -0400

On June 9, a group of Afghan Christians issued a statement to the global Christian community, pleading for prayer and support on behalf of the Christians in Afghanistan who are being arrested and executed in raids officially sanctioned by the government.

The increased hostility towards Afghan Christians appears to be the result of years old television footage which shows Muslim converts to Christianity being baptized. The media has called for Afghans to find more converts and report them to local authorities. On May 31, the Deputy Secretary of the Afghan Lower House of Parliament, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, called for the public execution of the Afghan Christians shown in the Television program.

This latest hostility towards the Christian community in Afghanistan is all in accordance with Shari’a law which is the foundation of the Afghan constitution. Article 3 of the Afghan constitution states, “In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.” Under Islamic Shari’a law, women are oppressed, sometimes beaten and abused. Converts to Christianity and other faiths are severely persecuted. While many Christians in the West take for granted the right to religious freedom, in Islam all schools of Islamic law agree that adult male apostates should suffer the death penalty.

On May 12, 2010, U.S. President Obama met with Afghan President Karzai. At the press conference following the White House meeting not a single question was asked regarding human rights in Afghanistan. However President Obama said, “The United States supports the efforts of the Afghan government to open the door to Taliban who cut their ties to Al-Qaeda, abandon violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including respect for human rights. I look forward to a continued dialogue with our partners on these efforts.”

On June 1, a little over two weeks after the White House meeting, a spokesman for President Karzai issued a statement regarding the television footage of Christian baptisms. He said that the president was taking a personal interest in the situation and had ordered immediate and serious action to prevent any more conversions. In the following days many Kabul homes were searched and dozens of Afghan Christians fled.

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that every individual has the right to change their religion or belief. However, some nations who were signatories to this declaration continue to openly permit the inexcusable suffering of converts from Islam. Recent fatwas [religious opinions issued by Islamic scholars] provide evidence that many leaders within Islam continue to see apostasy as a crime punishable by death.

The June 9 letter to the global Christians community is written by the Afghan Christian Community in New Delhi, India which is a small community of 150 Afghan Christian refugees and asylum seekers who left Afghanistan because they were sentenced to death on the account of their Christian faith.

In the letter the Afghan Christians request that:
1. We pray for their critical situation, pray for those who are arrested, and those who are under investigation.  
2. Make the International Community aware of the grave situation facing Afghan Christians asking our leaders to pressure the Afghan Government to stop killing, persecuting and executing Afghan Christians.
3. Speak up on behalf of the Afghan Christian Community.

I encourage American Christians to personally write to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, asking them to use their influence with the Karzai administration to call for the protection of the Afghan Christians and freedom for the people of Afghanistan to choose and change their religion without fear of reprisal. Christians from other countries are encouraged to contact their local elected representatives.

There has been a Christian presence in Afghanistan since the first century. According to Eusebius' record, the apostles Thomas and Bartholomew were assigned to Parthia, which included north western Afghanistan, and India. Now is the time for Christians around the world to speak out on behalf of their suffering and persecuted brothers and sisters in Afghanistan.

A prayer for Afghan Christians:

Living God, we petition you on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan.
Shelter those who are homeless,
Protect those who are persecuted,
Comfort those who are bereaved,
And strengthen the faith of all Afghans
who believe in you,
that your Church may radiate
with the love and light of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

To read the entire letter from the Afghan Christians, click here

To write to President Obama, click here

To write to Secretary of State Clinton, click here

Christianity and Cultural Survival (an article by William Kilpatrick

Mon, 10 May 2010 11:16:47 -0400

The rise of Islam in Europe has been linked to a decline in Christianity and to a resulting loss of population. Does that mean that the U.S., a churchgoing nation with a healthy birth rate, is relatively immune to Islamization? Are we protected by our demographics?

Click here this read this article

Why Would Anyone Want to Blow Up Times Square? (By Daniel Pipes)

Wed, 5 May 2010 16:53:03 -0400

When news comes of Muslims engaging in violence, the triad of politicians, law enforcement, and media invariably presumes that the perpetrator suffers from some mental or emotional incapacity...
To read the full article, click here

Freedom of expression and freedom of religion

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:30:42 -0400

By Samuel P. Scheibler (CANA rector of St. Edmund’s Anglican Church, Elm Grove).

Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

In a representative democracy, all elected officials must play the law of averages when it comes to pleasing their constituents. If responsible representation was measured by the expectation that a district's majority opinion on every issue will always correspond to its representatives' votes, taxes would never be raised and government bonds would seldom be issued.
Civil rights legislation became law over the vocal protests of a significant block of the electorate specifically because those entrusted with representative leadership allowed their votes to be informed by their conscience rather than opinion polls. In American democracy, discernment and wisdom in matters of conscience are part of the burden of elected office.
Perhaps no other task in American constitutional law causes as much confusion and misunderstanding as unraveling the nexus where conscience is formed by religious conviction. There are as many opinions about the scope and limitations of the separation of church and state in determining public policy as there are legal scholars debating the issue. The discussion will undoubtedly continue for as long as the Republic stands.
There is little debate, however, on the conviction that the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness upon which the nation was founded includes the right to religious expression. The American experience of the past 200 years has qualified this liberty to incorporate both sensitivity to community and tolerance for variant viewpoints in public religious discourse.
It is imperative to the nature of our democracy and our commitment to religious liberty that those to whom we entrust the responsibility of government establish a healthy, flexible and workable balance between their civic and religious lives. Just as individual religious leaders do not abdicate their responsibilities as citizens when they enter the door of a church, temple, mosque or ashram, so political leaders cannot simply leave their religious convictions on the porch of city hall or the state assembly.
In American democracy, the faith-based community is constrained by consciences and calling to follow transcendent principles while exercising the obligations and rights of secular citizenship. It is a daunting task - to be "not of this world" while remaining accountable to contribute to a just and prosperous society...
To read the entire article click here: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/91647554.html