Monday, June 25, 2012

Op-ed: Pig-Headed Engagement of Islam




Unfortunately, there is a group of Christians who use confrontational methods in relation to other religious group, including holding up signs which attack religious leaders and sacred elements of religious cultures. This can be seen twice each year in Salt Lake City among Mormons attending General Conference, and among Muslims at places like Dearborn, Michigan as they attend an Arab American festival. A recent clash between Christians and Muslims took place in Dearborn (an example of this can be seen on the video clip below), and in response I co-authored an op-ed with Paul Louis Metzger that has been published by Aslan Media. In the essay, after describing the clash, and the current survey data on perceptions of Islam by Americans and evangelicals we ask:

Is engaging others in this manner the best way to express one's faith community's convictions? Who's listening? And if they are listening, isn't the result often more turmoil and more fighting? How ironic it is that those who are concerned most about Muslim acts that disregard human life are also reportedly perpetrating demeaning acts themselves.

The essay is titled "On the Dearborn Drama: Pig-Headed Engagement of Islam" which can be read here.


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