Level playing field?

Church of the Virgin Mary in Tal Nasri, Syria and a Mosque in Peterborough

Two reports have caught my attention today, from the BBC's Newsbeat,What you can be flogged for in Saudi Arabia, and from ITV News,'Anti-Muslim hate is normal': research reveals impact of Islamophobic attacks.

According to the BBC report, British pensioner Karl Andree, 74, has spent more than a year in prison since being arrested by Saudi religious police. His family say they were led to believe he would avoid his punishment of 360 lashes because of his age but that is now in doubt. They believe the punishment would kill him. Mr Andree is asthmatic, has gout (a type of arthritis causing joint pain) and has survived cancer three times. His crime? He  was caught with homemade wine in Saudi Arabia. Alcohol is illegal in Saudi Arabia.  Mr Andree's daughter said her father was transporting homemade wine in his car in August 2014 when he was pulled over and arrested (here).

Some would argue that people residing in Saudi Arabia should abide by Saudi law, a strict interpretation of Sharia, where "It is illegal to evangelise Muslims; conversion to another religion is punishable by death. There are no church buildings and house churches are raided; Christians risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation and sometimes torture" (here).

It is different for Muslims in the United Kingdom. They enjoy freedom of worship along with special privileges, examples here andhere. Polygamous marriages with multiple wives are allowed for benefit purposes even though bigamy is a criminal offence in the UK.

The ITV report alleges that "Anti-Muslim hate is normal" while associating hate with "Islamophobic attacks". This is an erroneous and dangerous association designed to portray Muslims as victims and put Islamic excesses beyond criticism. There is nothing irrational about a distaste for Islamic notions of justice or of fearing Islamic attacks on innocent victims.

From the Telegraph's reportThree 'Isil-inspired jihadists planned Remembrance Day beheading in Britain': ...The men had been inspired by the ?Truly chilling? Fatwa issued by Al Adnani, a spokesman for Isil (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) - also known as Islamic State and Isis.

It called for the beheadings of the ?Crusaders? And to ?Strike their police, security and intelligence members? And to ?Slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him from a high place, or choke him or poison him?.

Such actions should be regarded as abominable by any rational human being of whatever religion or none. This is what motivates the rejection of Islam but it does not follow that all Muslims are rejected.

There is a world of difference between 'Anti-Muslim hate' and what is deemed to be Islamophobia, a construct to deflect any questioning of Islam while other religions are persecuted by Muslims. According to a Guardian report here the British Prime Minister is in danger of confusing Anti-Islam with Anti-Muslim. While reassuring Muslims that they are safe in Britian he would do well to reflect on the safety of Christians and their churches in Muslim countries.

David Cameron talking to young Muslim women at Jamia Masjid mosque in Manchester in 2013. Cameron has invited key Muslim figures

 to join a new community engagement lembaga. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/REX Shutterstock/Andrew Parsons/REX_Shutterstock. Credit: Guardian

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Archbishops favour Islam over believers in the catholic faith

The Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, listens as the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks during discussions at Lambeth Palace.  Sources: ACNS/Twitter

Writing in the New Statesman in 2009 their senior editor (politics) Mehdi Hasan wrote, "Jesus, or Isa, as he is known in Arabic, is deemed by Islam to be a Muslim prophet rather than the Son of God, or God incarnate."

Islam teaches that Jesus was not crucified so there could have been no resurrection. From 1 Corinthians, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." (15:14)

Hasan was involved in a controversy when during a sermon he quoted a verse of the Koran. Hasan said to an audience: "The kuffar, the disbelievers, the atheists who remain deaf and stubborn to the teachings of Islam, the rational message of the Koran; they are described in the Koran as “a people of no intelligence”, Allah describes them as not of no morality, not as people of no belief – people of “no intelligence” – because they’re incapable of the intellectual effort it requires to shake off those blind prejudices, to shake off those easy assumptions about this world, about the existence of God. In this respect, the Koran describes the atheists as “cattle”, as cattle of those who grow the crops and do not stop and wonder about this world."

Hasan's comments have a particular resonance when reading the ACNS articleArchbishop of Canterbury hosts Grand Imam for religious leadership talks.

It is not difficult to find references to Islam's attitude towards Jesus Christ, nor is it difficult to find Islam's views on homosexuality (a 'disease'), apostasy (a crime punishable by death) and feminism (the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man). Dr Jules Gomes writes extensively on the differences between Islam and Christianity in his 'Rebel Priest' blog.

Dr Gomes concludes, "Here?S what Welby actually said: ?Thank you Grand Imam of @AlAzharUniv for an honest and hope-filled conversation about the role of religious leaders in our world today. And thanks to our Christian and Muslim #EmergingPeacemakers for your challenging questions and inspiring contributions.?

"Could it be that Sheikh al Tayyeb has been giving Justin Welby a masterclass in taqiyyah, the Islamic practice of dissimulation, which permits Muslims to lie to infidels? Or, could it be the other way round, with the Archbishop of Canterbury giving the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar a one-to-one drill in the use of Anglican double-speak and weasel words? "

The Archbishop of Wales has been keen to defend Muslims while completely disregarding the plight of Anglicans who have become marginalised because of they remain committed to the beliefs of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The Archbishop of Wales supporting a community event arranged by the Muslim Council of Wales

on Tuesday, April 3, as a stand against the ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ campaign.      Source: CinW

A provincial press release reported that archbishop John Davies rightly described the ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ campaign as an incitement to hatred and discrimination. There can be no complaints about that. Muslims who are victims of Islamic teaching need to be brought to Christ but how can the bench justify more concern for Muslims who deny Christ crucified than for Anglicans whose belief in the catholic creeds has led to their exclusion?

The new Archbishop of Wales is following in the footsteps of his predecessor. "More of the same - but faster" What a sad commentary!

Postscript [22.07.2018]

Candidate of Imran Khan's party killed in bombing days before Pakistan election

Source: REUTERS/Stringer/Twitter

The latest from the Pakistan elections.

"A candidate from the party of Pakistan prime ministerial hopeful and former cricket star Imran Khan was killed on Sunday in a suicide attack that wounded four others, a police official said, days before Wednesday?S general elections.

"The attack in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows a series of bombings at political rallies before the election, the most devastating of which was a suicide attack this month that killed 149 people."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-election-attack/candidate-of-pakistani-political-party-killed-in-suicide-attack-at-rally-idUSKBN1KC0DM?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5b54974704d30119d1292ee4&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

What is it that is so attractive about Islam? Their blasphemy laws? Their second-class treatment of women? It can't be the burning of Christian churches and slaughtering of the innocent so it must be ignorance.

Check out Egypt and the plight of the Copts, Iran, Saudi Arabia. How much evidence do people need to convince them that Islam is a supremacist, political ideology that will use every trick in the book to gain dominance?

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