I read with great interest Mufti Yusuf’s October response to my brief article on the Christian view of Jesus in the September Awaaz. I am grateful for many things he wrote. First, his presentation of the Islamic view of Jesus was excellent for the amount of information it conveyed in so brief an article. Second, I am very grateful for the kind and respectful attitude with which he wrote. Third, and most of all, I am grateful for his clear words that Christians and Muslims need to be a force against intolerance so that we can contribute to each others welfare and to the welfare of the entire human family.

After reading his words I came away with a question that I think we all need to consider carefully. If we are to be forces for good to each other, how should we handle it when the other person’s holy book contains words that sound to us as being very intolerant? This has been a longstanding problem between Christians and Muslims, and it happens between us and people of other faith groups and of no faith as well. How do we promote peace to each other when we are upset, or even offended by what someone else says from deep and well-intentioned religious conviction based on the clear teachings of their holy book?

What do I mean? Mufti Yusuf very simply presented the Qur’anic teaching concerning Jesus- that he was not crucified unto death, that he never rose from the dead, and that Jesus is only a man, just a prophet, that he never died for the sins of mankind, and especially, that he was never God incarnate nor God’s son in any way, and that he never claimed to be. Personally, these things which the Qur’an teaches and which Muslims proclaim cause me and many Christians great offence and come across as very intolerant. And, I suspect that when I affirm the foundational teachings of the Bible concerning Jesus being God Incarnate and the only Saviour for mankind many Muslims find the teaching of the Bible offensive, as well as my actions and words proclaiming these teachings. How can we live with this mutual offence? How do we keep these offensive things which we find in each other’s holy books from encouraging ‘hatred, vengeance, and hostility?’ By making such speech illegal defining it as a hate crime? By making any critical comments about Jesus or Muhammad or the Bible or the Qur’an illegal? I can’t help but think there must be a better way, and there is.

First of all we can do it by doing what the respected Mufti and myself are attempting to do in these articles. We are talking and sharing views while seeking a better understanding of each other in honesty before God. Second, we are choosing to hold our feelings of offence in check and not act on them out of respect and sympathy for a fellow human being. May I also suggest a third step?

I think we must take a step back and ask ourselves and each other questions like, could I be wrong? Could my religion and forefathers be wrong? Is there evidence I have not considered? One of the strengths of our society is that everyone has the freedom to ask these kinds of questions. But more than this being an issue of what a society says we can or cannot do, these are questions we must ask before God for the sake of our souls and our personal integrity of belief. We must adopt an attitude of humility, be willing to question beliefs, and be willing to change our mind if we find our beliefs are wrong. We must also graciously extend this freedom to each other. Only when we are humble and willing to allow ourselves and others the freedom to seek truth and change their minds will we be truly tolerant toward one another, at least in regard to these eternally important religious issues.

Readers, have you asked yourselves these questions? Can you grant me the room to ask them for myself, and of you? If we can do this for each other, I think we will only gain from the effort and find we have a more tolerant attitude toward one another. I also think we can agree, to our shame, that in the histories of both of our faiths there have been people and times when intolerant attitudes were held by the majority and people with sincere questions could not pursue truth. Let us work so that our time in this century is not such an era.

May we each take advantage of the opportunities God gives us to seek Truth and to live with grace and humility according to what we find.

Thank you for considering this. May God bless you.

 Keith Small, Batley Evangelical Church