Evangelicals Moot Techniques For Muslim Converts: Paper

OHIO, May 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Evangelical Christians from several U.S. states gathered for an all-day seminar on how to court Muslims into converting to Christianity, as Muslim Americans warned the new hostility to Islam and insults to Prophet Muhammad would provoke an outcry among moderate Muslims, a leading U.S. newspaper reported Tuesday, May 27.

At the daylong seminar in the hall of Southwest Grace Brethren Church, one of the participants, an evangelical missionary from Beirut, gave tips on how to reach Muslims, The New York Times reported.

"Don't approach them in groups. Don't bring them to your church, because they will misunderstand the singing and clapping as a party. Do invite them home for a meal. Do bring them chocolate chip cookies. Do talk about how, in order to get saved, they must accept Jesus," he said.

The man, who did not want to put his name because being a missionary to Muslims put his life at risk, also exhorted his audience, who included college students, two pastors and a school secretary, to "show Muslims love, charity and hospitality."

He told them to "carry copies of the New Testament to give as gifts" to Muslims.

The missionary, who stressed the need to avoid offending Muslims, projected a PowerPoint presentation showing passages from the Qur’an that he claimed proved Islam was "regressive and violent."

Citing verses from the Muslims holy book, he claimed "Here in the Quran, it says slay them, slay the infidels!

Quickening Interest

In interviews, evangelical scholars and leaders cite several reasons for their quickening interest in Islam, the Times said.

They cited the American defeat of a major Muslim nation, Iraq, which may open it to Christian missionaries, while other Muslim nations remain closed; the 2001 terrorist attacks, which led many Americans to see Islam as a global threat; and the demise of Communism, once public enemy No. 1 for many evangelical organizations.

"Evangelicals have substituted Islam for the Soviet Union," said Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 43,000 congregations.

"The Muslims have become the modern-day equivalent of the Evil Empire," he claimed.

The American daily said in evangelical churches and seminaries across the country, lectures and books criticizing Islam and promoting strategies for Muslim conversions are gaining currency.

Arab International Ministry, the Indianapolis group that led the crash course on Islam, claims to have trained 4,500 American Christians to proselytize Muslims in the last six years, many of those since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Evangelical Christian leaders, who met in Washington on May 8, reaffirmed their commitment to proselytizing.

They castigated mainline Protestants and groups like the World Council of Churches of holding "naive" dialogue sessions with Muslims that minimized theological and political differences.

The sharp language from senior Evangelists like Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Jerry Vines has drawn rebukes from Muslims and Christian groups alike.

Falwell apologized in October 2002 for calling the Prophet Mohammed “a terrorist”, after his anti-Islamic remarks had caused an uproar throughout the world.

The National Association of Evangelicals, however, called on Christian leaders this month to temper their anti-Islam oratory, saying it had been unhelpful to interfaith relations and dangerous to Christians spreading the gospel to Muslims.

While some evangelical leaders welcomed the criticism, others bristled and alleged it was not the Christians but the Muslims who must stop the hate-speech.

Stark Contrast

The conservative evangelical approach to Islam is, however, in stark contrast with the "interfaith understanding" approach of many Orthodox, Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant churches.

Since 9/11, local churches in these denominations began inviting Muslims to explain their faith at a flurry of interfaith events and dialogue sessions.

"God calls all of us to have an open mind and an open heart," said Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, which represents many Protestant and Orthodox denominations.

"And many of the people who are part of the National Council of Churches believe that if judgment is to be made it needs to be made by God and not by those of us who have divided ourselves up around a particular ideology."

These churches acknowledge theological differences between Christianity and Islam, but stress the common roots and essential compatibility.

They teach that Muslims are monotheists, "Allah" is simply Arabic for God, and both faiths share Abraham as patriarch.

New Hostility

Akbar Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic studies department at American University, said he grew up attending Catholic and Protestant missionary schools in Pakistan, but never heard a negative word about Islam from the missionaries.

Now, he stressed, the new hostility to Islam and, in particular, the insults to Prophet Muhammad have outraged the Muslim world.

"The whole range of Muslims, from orthodox to liberal secularists, are all lined up against these attacks coming from the American evangelists," said Ahmed, the author of a new book "Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World."

The New York Times quoted him as saying that "unwittingly, these evangelists have unleashed a consolidation of sentiments for Islam. Even the most moderate Muslims have been upset by this."

The push for conversions may backfire for the evangelists, he warned, since Muslims who may have been open to the missionaries' presence feel their honor has been insulted.