Why Faith Matters: Burning Quran, Ground Zero Mosque & Tony Blair – how to make sense of it all
When my wife handed me the article titled “Why Faith Matters” I didn’t know what to expect. The article was written by former Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair and discusses how we should “strive to understand one another’s beliefs and work together to build a better world.”
With recent headlines of protests and animosity surrounding a “Community Center” aka mosque, being built at Ground Zero and a Preacher (Terry Jones) organizing a burning of the Quran, it is clear that we are witnessing a resurrection of religious tensions more publicly.
Blair discusses his concern for his atheist father’s fate, telling a teacher: “I’m afraid my father doesn’t believe in God.” Amazingly the child received a healthy response: “That doesn’t matter. God believes in him. He loves him without demanding or needing love in return.”
Blair and his father, Leo, in 2001. [Photo by Matthew Polak
“…faith matters because it inspires people to act and raise their sights beyond themselves. Sadly, religion can be distorted into violent extremism. Having spiritual beliefs has never rendered a person incapable of doing wrong or evil. But far more often, faith can be a force for good.”
As the fervor surrounding the Quran burning stirred throughout the week, I discussed it with several individuals and my Pastor send me the response from the Assembly of God (my denomination) Superintendent, George O Wood:
Assemblies of God denounces burning of Qur’anIn what has become a national furor, a small non-denominational church, Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida, has announced plans to burn copies of the Qur’an on Saturday, September 11 ‹ the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
As the church has reportedly made claims of Pentecostalism, the Assemblies of God, the overall ninth largest denomination in the United States and one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States, has made it clear it has no ties with the church and has publicly objected to the burning.
“I don’t believe that [burning the Qur'an] is respectful toward the
very people we want to love into the Kingdom,” states AG General Superintendent George O. Wood. “It only drives Muslims farther away from the Lord Jesus and reinforces the false notion that followers of Jesus are crusaders from the Middle Ages.”
Just as Blair calls for find “common values to bring us together”, we need to strive to bridge gaps not divide people further.
Wood continued:
“Such actions as these only make it more difficult to effectively
witness to Muslims. Our focus should be on sharing the
amazing love of God that brought Jesus into this world to die for
our sins, not engaging in activities that only drive people farther away from Christ.”
Amen.
We get so caught up in our differences, fight for absolutes, and forget to shut up and let the Gospel be our guide.
There’s a Christian band, Casting Crowns, who wrote this in the song “What the World Needs”:
What this world needs is not another one hit wonder with an axe to grind
Another two bit politician peddling lies
Another three ring circus society
What this world needs is not another sign waving super saint that’s better than you
Another ear pleasing candy man afraid of the truth
Another prophet in an Armani suit
What this world needs is a Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love them in their time of need
A Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love
That’s what this world needs
What this world needs is for us to care more about the inside than the outside
Have we become so blind that we can’t see
God’s gotta change her heart before He changes her shirt
What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance
Blending in so well that people can’t see the difference
And it’s the difference that sets the world free
Jesus is our Savior, that’s what this world needs
Father’s arms around you, that’s what this world needs
That’s what this world needs
Bringing someone to Christ isn’t going to begin by burning their “Holy” word any more than building a mosque that close to ground zero will create tolerance.
This is NOT an official Casting Crowns music video, but it illustrates my point.
STATE OF THE NATION – ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The “State of the Nation” column by Brandon Jones began on a website called Crazed Fanboy to discuss topics that the regular media were not reporting or barely discussed. While there was a strong political tone, there were no limits to topics or arenas discussed.
As the relationship with Crazed Fanboy deteriorated, the partnership between Robert Herriman (author “Insights”) and the Brian strengthen to for the current “Desk of Brian”.
Just as we have John Does or Average Joes, we created the “Regular Guy” approach to sorting through the news, adding our own commentary and opinions, fused with contributors from all over the globe.
(SOTN banner created by Nolan B. Canova)
The Desk of Brian recommends:
Ron Brown: 'To be fired for my faith...a greater honor than...because we didn’t win enough games
Tim Tebow explains faith to NY Media at Jets press conference
Can Reading The Bible Reguarly Make You More Liberal?
Farrakhan: America will reap a major deadly earthquake as consequence of her evil and murderous w ...
Palestinian officials complain Tony Blair is ‘pro Israel’
Katie Couric Quotes (UPD: Little Mosque on the Prairie)
World Cup Official Prevents Player From Talking Faith
Change and Challenges – Rev. William Magee
I felt it was a side of Tony Blair we don’t see much, so it was worth including.
Proud to be British. Proud to pay my TV licence to fund the BBC.
Whoops: Obama’s Eid greetings incorporate Islamic revisionism
This year’s Eid greetings say, in part:
On Eid, Muslims around the world will commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, and distribute food to those less fortunate — a reminder of the shared values and the common roots of three of the world’s major religions.
Less informed Americans will read that and recall the account of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham’s son by Sarah and a Biblical patriarch of the Jewish people. On the other hand, in one of its efforts to demote Jews in its Islamic supremacist ordering of life, the universe, and everything, the Qur’an holds that the son in this account was not Isaac, but Ishmael. That’s a rather significant jab at “the common roots of three of the world’s major religions.”
Does this mean Obama is a practicing Muslim behind the White House walls and the mask is slipping? No.
But it is noteworthy in that it is sloppy. If it is intentional, it is disingenuous. If it is unintentional, it is alarmingly bumbling. In either case, it is symptomatic of a policy based on a glossing over of differences, and on lofty but false assumptions of common values, and compatible ideals of human rights and dignity. And the rest of that paragraph only continues to demonstrate all of those issues.
Great post
Thanks!
Screw Tony Blair and all of those Bush Cronies. You made this mess worse so shut the hell up