Ethical Guidelines for Christian and Muslim Witness in Britain

Julian Bond from the Christian Muslim Forum kindly sent me the following ethical witness guidelines which are a very valuable contribution to our event on the same subject next Tuesday.
Read the full document HERE.


The Guidelines

1) We bear witness to, and proclaim our faith not only through words but through our attitudes, actions and lifestyles.
2) We cannot convert people, only God can do that. In our language and methods we should recognise that people’s choice of faith is primarily a matter between themselves and God.
3) Sharing our faith should never be coercive; this is especially important when working with children, young people and vulnerable adults. Everyone should have the choice to accept or reject the message we proclaim and we will accept people’s choices without resentment.
4) Whilst we might care for people in need or who are facing personal crises, we should never manipulate these situations in order to gain a convert.
5) An invitation to convert should never be linked with financial, material or other inducements. It should be a decision of the heart and mind alone.
6) We will speak of our faith without demeaning or ridiculing the faiths of others.
7) We will speak clearly and honestly about our faith, even when that is uncomfortable or controversial.
8) We will be honest about our motivations for activities and we will inform people when events will include the sharing of faith.
9) Whilst recognising that either community will naturally rejoice with and support those who have chosen to join them, we will be sensitive to the loss that others may feel.
10) Whilst we may feel hurt when someone we know and love chooses to leave our faith, we will respect their decision and will not force them to stay or harass them afterwards.

Waging peace

Jonathan Smith sent me an interesting article about an event which took place recently in Washington. It’s definitely a valuable and important contribution to the dialogue on mission and da’wah.

An unlikely blend of believers, among other interested, gathered at Georgetown University in Washington, DC June 16 and 17 for an event titled "The Global Leadership Forum 2010: Evangelicals & Muslims, Perspectives on Mission and Partnership." Four panels addressed the topics of faith and identity, mission and dawa, partnership despite "irreconcilable" theological differences, and mutual reconciliation and conflict transformation.
Read more here...

Faith journey

DurgaMata, who attended our last event at St Ethelburga's in July, asked me to make two documents available for download. The first one reflects the personal faith journey, the second is on Quakers and Sri Ramakrishna's models of God.

Dialogue is not a departure from faith…

Jonathan Smith, project manager at Campusalam (Lokahi Foundation), just sent me the following excerpt from an unpublished paper on mission and da’wah. I find it extremely interesting and very insightful on the subject of the event "Conver(sa)tion" taking place at St Ethelburga's in London on the 23rd November (see below).

Islam and Christianity share the distinction of being religions with the largest groups of followers worldwide due to the missionary efforts of their adherents. The rapid growth of these missionary religions from their points of inception in historical Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula has been the source of no small amount of conflict, which continues into these modern and post-modern times. In addition to competing for followers among other religions, Christian mission and Islamic da’wah (meaning call or invitation to Islam) remain a major point of contention in Christian-Muslim relations.

The modern age ushered in interfaith dialogue as a new approach to improving relations between faith communities. The development of an ethics of mission and da’wah has been a central issue in this ongoing conversation. A groundbreaking dialogue on this subject was held in Chambesy, Switzerland in 1976. Attended by Muslim and Christian scholars and religious leaders, this week-long dialogue session concluded with a joint statement on some ethical guidelines for mission and da’wah.[1] Further interfaith discussions on this topic have taken place, notably a session organized by the Interreligious Office of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1999 on “Religious Freedom, Community Rights and Individual Rights.” More recently, participants in the “Critical Moment in Interreligious Dialogue Conference” highlighted ethics of mission as one of the most divisive issues between religious communities.[2]

While these important dialogues have resulted in agreement on broad ethical principles of mission, such as the freedom to bear witness in a non-coercive manner, frank dialogue on the actual methods used by missionaries has been largely neglected. The Chambesy joint statement clearly denounced mission involving coercion on both sides and singled out the misuse of aid as a tool for proselytisation.[3] Yet the use of aid as a tool for mission is still a common practice among Christian missionaries, as publicly demonstrated by missionaries bringing in food and Bibles to Iraqis on the heels of the invading U.S.-led army.[4] The co-chair of the 2005 WCC conference, Imam Abdul Rashied Omar, has noted that “the deeper challenge for both Christians and Muslims committed to interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding is to go beyond mere declarations of the right of any individual to change his or her religion and decrying the use of inappropriate means to entice the person to switch his/her faith. Instead, Christian and Muslim interreligious leaders and activists need to urgently find creative ways of making such positive affirmations a key part of the modus vivendi of convivial relations between the two communities.”[5]

It is likely that this issue, central to Christian-Muslim relations, has been avoided by some because of its challenge to the idea of dialogue itself. Dialogue on conversion and mission is a bit like the elephant in the room; we know it is there and it is important, but we shy from talking about it because of the way that proclamation fundamentally challenges dialogue. Talking about conversion, especially by those who actively support mission to the other community, is almost akin to discussing a desire to annihilate the other side. It is an open admission to the fact that dialogue may result in a change of allegiances, which is highly threatening to the idea of interfaith dialogue where the “other” is a member of a different religious community.

This fundamental challenge that mission and da’wah present to dialogue largely explains the only recent adoption by evangelical Christians of an approach to dialogue with Muslims without an explicit goal of conversion. Evangelical Christians are an influential group worldwide, not least in the United States. They are the Christian group in greatest need of dialogue on the ethics of mission, as they often support the more controversial methods of evangelism. The more traditional evangelical approach can be summed up by Larson, a Christian missionary to Muslims: “Conversion must always be the ultimate aim of dialogue— never an end in itself. Christians do not primarily enter dialogue with Muslims to enrich each other’s faith— they want Muslims to be converted!”[6] From such a perspective, dialogue for other goals such as shared action or improving relations between groups could be seen as abandoning the primary calling of Christians.

The reluctant approach to evangelical dialogue with Muslims has changed in significant ways following the attacks of September 11 and the responding “war on terror”. Some western evangelicals have taken definite steps toward dialogue, notably in the Conflict Transformation project, a series of dialogues and shared action between U.S. Muslim religious leaders and academic and faculty members of the evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary. More recently the Muslim-Christian dialogue around the Common Word document has been supported by American evangelicals. In a joint statement from the latest meeting, Christian and Muslim participants affirmed that "Dialogue is not a departure from faith…[I]t is a legitimate means of expression and an essential tool in the quest for the common good."[7]

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[1]Christian Mission and Islamic Da’wah: Proceedings of the Chambesy Dialogue Consultation (Leicester, UK: Islamic Foundation, 1977).

[2]Current Dialogue (34), February 2000 (Geneva: World Council of Churches). http://www.wcc coe.org/wcc/what/interreligious/cd3419.html; for more details on the “Critical Moment in Interreligious Dialogue Conference” see http://www.oikoumene.org/interreligious.html.

[3] Christian Mission and Islamic Da’wah, p. 101.

[4]Johanna McGeary and Bobby Ghosh, “A FaithBased Initiative,” Time Magazine, April 21, 2003. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1004671,00.html

[5] A. Rashied Omar, “The Right to Religious Conversion: Between Apostasy and Proselytization” Occasional Paper #27, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies (University of Notre Dame: 2006). http://kroc.nd.edu/ocpapers/op_27_1.pdf

[6] Larson, “Critical Contextualization and Muslim Conversion,” International Journal of Frontier Missions (Vol 3:4, October to December 1996) 191.

[7] “Christian response to ‘A Common Word’ signed by 300 Christian scholars,” Official Website of “A Common Word (November 17, 2007), http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?page=media&item=527

Conver(sa)tion - An Evangelical-Muslim dialogue with Dr Chawkat Moucarry and Rashad Ali

As a follow-up event to the consultation "Interfaith Encounter from an Evangelical Perspective"  we would like to invite you to another open conversation on a controversial issue of interfaith relations. Islam and Christianity are both invitational faiths, each seeking to share their particular revelation with others, and in some ways in competition. What does this mean for the nature and purpose of inter-religious dialogue?
Dr Chawkat Moucarry and Rashad Ali will lead a participative discussion on how Christians and Muslims as adherents of missionary religions can become involved in interfaith engagement. How does Evangelism / Da'wa and dialogue relate to each other?  We also want to discuss the challenges and concerns regarding attempts to spread the Christian faith in Muslim-majority countries as well as the Muslim faith in Europe. How do we deal with converts in our faith communities?

To register for this event click HERE or visit www.stethelburgas.org. 

Dr. Chawkat Moucarry - Director of Inter-faith Relations, World Vision U.K.
Chawkat Moucarry was born in Aleppo (Syria) and grew up in a Catholic home. He lived in Paris for twenty years. In 1994 he moved to England where he taught Islamic and Middle-Eastern Studies at All Nations Christian College. In September 2006 he joined World Vision International, a Christian Development, Relief and Advocacy organization, as the director of inter-faith relations. He is fluent in Arabic (mother tongue), French and English. Chawkat has a Masters degree in Christian theology and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the Sorbonne University (Paris). He wrote several articles and books including Faith to Faith. Christianity & Islam in dialogue (IVP: 2001), The Search for Forgiveness. Pardon and Punishment in Islam and Christianity (IVP, 2004) and Two Prayers for Today. The Lord’s Prayer and The Fatiha (CSS Books: Tiruvalla, 2007).

Rashad Ali - A reader in comparative religion and Islamic Studies in particular - Comparative Theology and Law.
Has researched, lectured and taught as well as devised programmes for instruction on Islam, modernity and various aspects of Islamic Law.
Has taught widely across Medina and Jeddah Universities and been involved with research and faith related awareness with various think tanks and bodies in the UK and abroad.
He has currently co-authored a theological critique on Islamist separatists regarding Political Participation. He has written for The Telegraph, The Observer, The Independent and regularly comments and takes part in productions for the BBC Radio 4 show, 'Beyond Belief' and appears on TV discussion programmes.
He is currently director of CENTRI - www.centri.org.uk

A Plea for Dialogue Between Christians and Muslims

The following is an extract from an article by Dr Chawkat Moucarry written for the Lausanne Global Conversation.

I have never understood why some people look at dialogue and mission in either-or terms. In my experience, these words belong so much to each other that they should never be divorced. Evangelical Christians (whose theology I share) have shown an unwarranted suspicion of dialogue, simply because some have used it as a substitute for mission. Not only are the two words compatible, but they must shape each other.

…

What is dialogue? 

I take dialogue to mean a deliberate effort to engage genuinely and respectfully with each other; a willingness to listen and understand; a readiness to learn and be challenged. It is also a desire to relate to, communicate with, and be understood by one another. Christian-Muslim dialogue focuses on the two faiths and their implications for individuals and communities in this life and the next.

For many centuries, Christians in the Western world have either ignored or confronted the Muslim world. Ignoring Muslims is no longer an option in our "global village," where Muslims and Christians live next to each other. Some Christians relate to Muslims in a confrontational way. They consider polemics a perfectly legitimate way to approach Islam. Polemics, as its derivation from the Greek (polemik&243;s, "of war") suggests, is about waging a war of words against Muslims by attacking their religion. This approach is counterproductive. It usually provokes a defensive response—Muslims becoming more radical in their beliefs—and often an offensive reaction too—Muslims attacking Christianity even more vehemently. A polemical engagement with Islam produces more heat than light, and is incompatible with "the gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15), which is about reconciliation, love, and forgiveness.

Welcome and witness 

We often think of dialogue as verbal engagement, but this is a very narrow view. Dialogue is first of all about an open attitude toward others, a disposition that reaches out and welcomes people who are different or even antagonistic. Dialogue is a way of life. Understood this way, Christian-Muslim dialogue is an encounter at three distinct and interrelated levels. Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-26) is paradigmatic.

First, Christians and Muslims meet each other as human beings. They have much in common—physical and emotional needs, human and spiritual aspirations, joys and sorrows, hopes and struggles.

Second, they meet as monotheistic believers who share many beliefs (for example, creation, human stewardship, divine guidance, sin, forgiveness, final judgment) and ethical values (for example, moral standards, the sacredness of human life, sexual fidelity, a commitment to the poor), even though the way they think of these is not exactly the same.

Finally, Christians and Muslims claim to be God's witnesses on earth. Christians and Muslims have huge misunderstandings about each other's faith. Removing the misunderstandings is an integral part of dialogue. As we explain our faiths to one another, each community bears witness to the Creator according to its own perspective. 

We can measure a fruitful dialogue by its outcomes. 

It should result in a better understanding of each other's faith and of one's own. 

Dialogue should lead to better relationships between the two communities and strengthen their social commitments.

Dialogue is also an excellent school for tolerance. It helps us overcome our ignorance, our prejudice, our self-centeredness, our fanaticism, and our spiritual pride.

Is conversion a legitimate goal in dialogue? Yes. It is perfectly legitimate for believers who take seriously the exclusive claims of their religion to try to persuade others of the truth they proclaim. There is nothing wrong with hoping and even expecting that some people, having carefully examined these claims, will make a life-changing decision as a result of transparent and free dialogue. Unless we accept conversion as a possible outcome for dialogue, our claim to be tolerant remains unproven.

READ THE FULL DOCUMENT HERE

About the author:

Chawkat Moucarry is World Vision International's director of interfaith relations. He has written several books and articles, including The Prophet and the Messiah: An Arab Christian's Perspective on Islam and Christianity (IVP, 2001); The Search for Forgiveness: Pardon and Punishment in Islam and Christianity (IVP, 2004); and Two Prayers for Today: The Lord's Prayer and the Fatiha (CSS Books, 2007).

Hope for safe space for honest and supportive discussion

I echo Sarah’s comments below – for the hope that this blog can become a space for open and frank discussion about the effect interfaith work has on our personal faith journeys and provide encouragement for us along the way. As the ‘used-to-be-evangelical’ referred to by Sarah, I was unsure whether I was entitled to contribute to a blog for ‘Evangelicals in Interfaith’. However, having had Christoph’s blessing over a coffee last week, I am pleased to be able to take part in the discussion!

I am aware that part of the anxiety for evangelicals in getting involved with interfaith work is about the effect it may have on the faith of their fellow believers. I, in turn, am anxious that by contributing to this blog I may not help diminish those evangelical anxieties! However, I do firmly believe that a true and living faith in the creator God can only really be so if it is capable of engaging in open and honest discussion about challenging questions and experience. Furthermore, what I have found is that even though encountering interfaith has often challenged my faith so deeply that I am not sure whether I actually believe in it anymore, the flip side is that my moments of faith now are far richer and deeper than I could previously have imagined.

Possibly the closest I have come to being able to ‘reconcile’ the impact of encountering other faiths and holding onto my own Christian faith in the last few years followed on from reading a passage in Kenneth Cragg’s book where he explains the Christian view of the Trinity. The part that is relevant here is his description of the first two members of the Trinity, the Father and the Son. He explains how Jesus’ disciples would have been staunch mono-theists, in line with their Jewish tradition. Like the Muslim belief, to associate any partners to him or suggest that the one true God could become human, would have been blasphemy of the highest order.

However, the gospels tell the story of how these mono-theists were increasingly perplexed as they encountered a person who defied their assumptions about God. Who on earth is this person who forgives sins, calms the winds and the waves and gives sight to the blind? They can’t make sense of it because it is so beyond their understanding of how God works. Only after years of following him can they start to comprehend that perhaps this man could indeed be God, and they only become more assured after the resurrection. It takes decades, if not centuries, for a semblance of a doctrine about the Trinity to emerge after this. At that moment before, when this group of mono-theistic disciples stand in utter confusion about how to reconcile their Jewish belief in God with their encounter with Jesus, they can not properly explain it, but they have a deep conviction that somehow God is at work there.

And in some way this is how I have come to feel about my encounter with people of other faiths. I try to hold onto a belief that Jesus is the only full revelation of God but am confronted by stories of the integrity of the Prophet Mohammed and his claims to have received God’s final revelation. And this final revelation continues to inspire many of my Muslim friends and colleagues to devote their lives to seeking justice, serving the poor and oppressed and worshipping one God. The theological clarity of Islam and the deep spirituality of my dear Muslim friends has at times drawn me near to a place where I feel I have no choice but to embrace it as my own faith. Resisting this has often resulted in me not feeling able to have a theology which isn’t entirely pluralist, which in turn starts to undermine the faith I try to have in Jesus as I have been conditioned to believe that true Christian faith and pluralism can’t mix.

So at present, the best I can do is reflect on Cragg’s story of the first disciples and feel something of the same bewilderment; I have a tradition instilled in me that equates Christianity as the only true faith, yet I sense and observe a deep and inspiring faith and spirituality in my Muslim, and more recently Jewish, friends. Like the first disciples in the days around Jesus’ death and resurrection, I have no theological structure to understand how faith in the Christian God can coexist with the incredible spirit I see in Muslims and Jews, but my faith and hope is that somehow, beyond my current comprehension, they can and do.

Andy Pring, Cohesion Project Officer (Youth Worker) at Wandsworth Borough Council