Apologies for Apologetics

'What a shame, another Muslim child is to born'. He meant born into a Muslim family rather then a Christian one. Still I was shocked. In fact it's taken me a whole week to actually believe that's what he said. A colleague, an eminent local cardiologist. I've kept telling myself I must have heard it out of context or incorrectly. I really hope I did.

Last Saturday morning was the second meeting of the 'Apologetics' group. According to Wikipedia 'Apologetics (from Greek απολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (usually religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers (c. 120-220) who defended their faith against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called apologists...Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views. Christian apologetics have taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul of Tarsus, including writers such as such as Origen and Augustine of Hippo, and continuing currently with the modern Christian community, through the efforts of many authors in various Christian traditions such as C.S. Lewis. Apologists have based their defense of Christianity on historical evidence, philosophical arguments, scientific investigation, and other disciplines.'

So that's where I was last Saturday, intrigued by the title. I have always wanted to find out more about Islam. It has seemed to me to be so close to Christianity and Judeism, that I have wanted to understand the differences. I can't claim a full understanding but I have become convinced that we all worship exactly the same God. We believe the final revelation was delivered by different people, for sure, but they pray to God and so do we. Same God.

The problem with this meeting, and again it started OK, the problem is, the premise was that we need to convert Muslims to Christianity. Starting from that position it is difficult to get very far, since they believe just as passionately that theirs is the true and final revelation.

What I did learn was the the Qur'an, the word of God revealed through his servant Muhammad (died 632AD age 62yrs), recognises the books of Moses and the Gospels as Holy texts. It refers to Mary, the most revered woman in the Koran, and to Jesus as a mighty prophet, but not God incarnate. They believe Jesus foretold the coming of Muhammad, incorrectly as our speaker demonstrated triumphantly. They also claim that the Bible has been altered at Nicaea (325 AD), which it was of course.

So there's plenty actually to argue about. Disappointingly again I didn't feel I could join in the arguments, as I had thought was the point of Apologetics. So I kept quiet. I didn't want another 'serpent' incident, but I really wanted to ask a question.

I really wanted to ask these Christian bigots 'Which God do they think Muslims are praying to, and do they believe He answers their prayers too?' So why do they need to believe in Jesus? CS Lewis, the greatest of modern Christian Apologists said that we are all sons and daughters of Adam, even those white middle class brats of the Narnia stories.

Why, JC himself said 'Love the Lord your God, and your neighbour as yourself' He also said we are all children of God, including, presumably, Muslim children.