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TechnoratiOddly, UMCOR, in its publications, makes no reference to Christian teachings about charity, much less about the Author of Christianity. As a liberal Protestant relief agency, much of whose income comes from government sources, it seems to profess no particular religious objective beyond vague humanitarianism.
Timms, the British cabinet minister presiding at the London announcement, rejoiced that the two supposed “faith” groups have worked together across a divide thought to be "unbridgeable." But what exactly is the divide? Muslim Aid appears actually to believe in the truth of Islam and of the Koran. UMCOR does not advertise any particular religious preference, which perhaps explains why it is a suitable partner for an Islamic charity.
"No one should underestimate the potential for good that Christians and Muslims (working together) can do in the UK and in the rest of the world," Timms enthused. "This shows what distinctive faiths can achieve when the focus is on shared values." The British politician is assuming that UMCOR is staffed by Christians. But if so, their Christianity must be so secret as not to merit any mention.
UMCOR and Muslim Aid have already been cooperating in Sri Lanka, where they have partnered in nearly $10 million worth of projects. UMCOR’s director in Sri Lanka boasted that its association with Muslim Aid has ended the ill will and violence that previously were aimed at UMCOR workers.
"We were able to walk through villages where before people would have thrown stones at us. Now they were smiling at us," Hovey told United Methodist News Service. "We built unique relationships with faith leaders. Seeing us trusting and working with each other, people felt they could trust local faith communities.”
Muslim Aid chairman Farooq Murad explained: "We are two communities looking at the same problem: the outbreak of global poverty and inequality." He cited the Koran in urging cooperation in “in what is right and what is just."
Did any of the UMCOR officials present at the London event ever quote the Bible? If so, the United Methodist News Service story never mentioned it.
In June, Muslim Aid helped organize a rally in London before the G-8 summit in Germany, to protest “the crippling effects of debt, trade injustice and climate change.” It urged supporters to email the Western heads of state, warning them that, “We the world cannot wait.”
Supposedly Muslim Aid is non-political and relief-focused. But its publications emphasize the Iraq War and the Palestinians with obvious political overtones. During last year’s Israeli military strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, Muslim Aid’s chairman could not help himself. "It is a naked act of aggression, targeting unarmed civilians, and must be ended with immediate effect, Farooq Murad insisted. “This action is a cruelly disproportionate reaction, and cannot be justified.”
Muslim Aid will be working with liberal Protestants who do not openly profess specific religious beliefs but who almost certainly share Muslim’s Aid’s political perspective. It should be a glorious interfaith partnership.
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Mark D. Tooley directs the United Methodist committee at the Institute on Religion and Democracy.
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