Review: The Search for Truth about Islam: A Christian Pastor Separates Fact from Fiction by Ben Daniel

Rachel Magruder at The United Methodist Reporter reviewed The Search for Truth about Islam: A Christian Pastor Separates Fact from Fiction by Ben Daniel . I have not read the book.

Book Review: Christians, Muslims and Jesus by Mona Siddiqui

Christians, Muslims, and Jesus by Mona Siddiqui

Stuart Kelly reviewed the book at Scotsman.com. Sameer Rahim reviewed it at The Telegraph.

I have not read the book.

Here is a recording of a lecture she gave at Edinburgh University in Scotland on March 11, 2013.

Urge Your Local ABC Affliate to Air "Waging Peace"

 From the National Council of Churches News:

Waging Peace will air on ABC at the discretion of local affiliated TV stations. Stations that decide to show the documentary will air it sometime between Oct. 23 and Dec. 18. Churches are encouraged to call their local ABC TV stations to urge them to air the documentary. 

1. See if when or if your affiliate is to air the documentary. 
2. If it isn't, contact your local ABC affiliate and ask it to broadcast the documentary.

WJBF, my hometown affiliate in Augusta, GA, has not yet made the decision to air the documentary. I already made my call! I also Tweeted my message to @WJBF!

Review: We Are All Moors by Anouar Majid

We Are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades against Muslims and Other Minorities by Anouar Majid is a must-read for all immigrants and civil rights activists in Europe and North America.

Common Ground Campaign

In 2008 I wrote an entry promoting the film Divided We Fall. In Augusta, GA, we were fortunate enough to have held a screening, and here are some pictures.

Valarie Kaur, the film's producer, has recently launched a new website.

In addition, her organization has launched a new campaign called Common Ground, which encourages cooperation among all people, regardless of religious affiliation.

A Common Word Statement

On October 13^th 2006, one month to the day after Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg address of September 13^th 2006, 38 Islamic authorities and scholars from around the world, representing all denominations and schools of thought, joined together to deliver an answer to the Pope in the spirit of open intellectual exchange and mutual understanding. In their Open Letter to the Pope, for the first time in recent history, Muslim scholars from every branch of Islam spoke with one voice about the true teachings of Islam. 

The A Common Word initiative is a good statement of Muslim belief. It is expressed in two commandments, love of God and love of neighbor.

4 Attacks Against Park51 and Muslims and My Response

A friend wrote a blog entry in support of the Park51 project. Someone (henceforth referred to as “the author”) responded to him at another account writing:

What people don't understand about muslims is that they traditionally build a mosque at the site they attacked to symbolize ... the "victory." What happened at Ground Zero should not be considered a victory in the United States. I don't like to use absolutes, so I'm not going to lump all Muslims together, but in general, the Muslim "religion" makes it okay to kill anyone opposed to their beliefs, and they don't have to keep their word with "infidels" (aka, those who are not muslim). This mosque, while disapproved of by approximately 70% of Americans, is a sad, sad thing - should it come to fruition.

TIME Survey Reveals that Opposition to Park51 Based Largely on Islamophobia

My hometown newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle, published an editorial which claimed that opposition to the Park51 project was not based on prejudice against Muslims.

The results from the TIME survey to which this editorial refers and which reports widespread opposition to the Park51 community center belies the claim that fear of Muslims/prejudice is not a major motivation behind this opposition.

Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam by Akbar Ahmed

Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam by Akbar Ahmed

Professor Akbar Ahmed has also produced a documentary film based on the research that went into this book.

Rafia Zakaria wrote a review of this book which was reproduced at altmuslim.com.

I have not yet read the book.

Onward, Christian Zionists

Onward, Christian Zionists is a short-film production by Alternate Focus. It does not go into as much depth as Stephen Sizer's Christian Zionists: On the Road to Armageddon, but that may make it more accessible to audiences unfamiliar with Christian doctrines and texts.

Dr. Maher Hathout Presentation of Quranic Passages Related to Peace and War

The Muslim Public Affairs Council recorded Dr. Maher Hathout's presentation on passages of war and peace on November 22, 2009. A power point presentation is available.

Film: Christian Zionists: On the Road to Armageddon by Stephen Sizer

Christian Zionists: On the Road to Armageddon. By Stephen Sizer. Distributed by Presence Media. http://www.presence.tv/dvd

2 DVDs with six 20-minute segments.

These six segments are lectures by Dr. Stephen Sizer (http://www.stephensizer.com/) which trace the historical roots, theological bases and political consequences of Christian Zionism. The DVDs come with a study guide to facilitate discussion.

The weakest part of this DVD is the section on historical roots, and I think that is primarily due to the lack of time to explain to those unfamiliar with dispensationalism the importance of this doctrine. It was shocking to me to learn that many high-ranking British politicians, including Lord Balfour, the author of the Balfour Declaration, followed this strand of Anglo-Protestantism. Another piece of news to me was that the principal editor of the version of the Bible used by American fundamentalist Protestants, Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, was a disciple of John Nelson Darby, the leading proponent of dispensationalism.

The second section, theological bases, is best suited to an audience able to understand Christian doctrines. I believed Dr. Sizer did a good job, and I felt I understand this segment, but I think it would be difficult for someone unfamiliar with Christian theological doctrines. I hope that a reader with more background in this area might add some additional comments to this blog entry concerning this section.

The third section, political consequences, is accessible to all, and it is of course the reason why this video can appeal to those who seek some peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Book Review: A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman’s Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide by Mark D. Siljander

A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman’s Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide. By Mark D. Siljander. New York: HarperCollins; 2008. pp. 260. ISBN: 978-0-06-143828-8.
Mark Siljander served his Michigan district in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1987. He came into office supporting Ronald Reagan’s, Newt Gingrich’s and Tom DeLay’s policies of economic deregulation, supply-side economics and confrontation with the Soviet Union and other communist and socialist nations. In a conversation with a trusted advisor, he revealed all he needed to know and all he wanted to know about Muslims and Islam:

… if I didn’t mind his asking, as a follower of Jesus, what was my strategy in relation to other people in my travels around the world? I replied without hesitation: it was to convert them to the Christian faith. [p. 16]