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TechnoratiThe Western church’s growing tendency to blur theological differences and not uphold the absolute truth is contributing to the threat of radical Islam to the Western world, said a highly respected expert on Islam.
Patrick Sookhdeo, the director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, said churches are moving away from central doctrines that teach about separation and instead conforming to secular society’s ideology of inclusion.
“When faced with the uniqueness of Christ we become inclusive. He loves everybody so we talk about love, and hell and damnation goes out the window,” said Sookhdeo. “It becomes too embarrassing. So our church has conformed itself according to society.”
Sookhdeo – a former Muslim and advisor to British, American and NATO military officials on jihadist ideology – recently spoke to 1,500 people at Focus on the Family (FOTF)’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., about the threat of radical Islam to the Western world. The event was broadcasted in two parts by FOTF this week, the last part of which aired on Wednesday.
Christians are afraid to admit that only believers in Jesus Christ will be saved and others – Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists – are lost, because that would be arrogance in a society dominated by secular humanist ideology, Sookhdeo argued.
“If the U.S. church goes the way of Europe and embraces liberalism in its theology then it will embrace liberalism in its life,” said the British Anglican canon. “And if it embraces liberalism in its life then the church will die and not only will the church die, but society around it will also die.”
“What worries me is this,” he added. “I say this to churches in Britain. I can’t say it of the U.S. Is the Lord taking His candlestick from Britain and from Europe? Is the Lord saying: ‘I’m going to vomit you out of my mouth, because your sickness is beyond cure? You are so taken with other gods, you have prostituted yourself enough. I’m finished with you.’ It is a question and a question we must address, not just in Europe but here also.”
Islam is one of these gods which Christians are embracing, said Sookhdeo.
The Islam expert acknowledged in the beginning of the program that Muslims are diverse and emphasized that there is “chaos within Islam” where its own members kill one another.
Some Muslims live peacefully among Westerners while others like Al-Qaeda want to “blow us up to bits.” While some Muslims say our religion is one of peace, the Koran has been used throughout history to justify violence.
"How do we compute, not just the hundreds, not thousands, but the tens of thousands who are dying within a religion that claims to be unified and claims to be a religion of peace?” Sookhdeo asked.
Muslim extremism is not a single movement but multiplicity of movements with different motives – some ethnic while others purely religious – but all united by faith against the West, he explained.
The method of attack is also diverse with some choosing to enter the Western system of government to change it to their agenda, and others using money, the “petrodollar,” to buy media outlets such as television and newspapers to shape the way people think. Continue »
