REACTIONS BY FELLOW FUNDAMENTALISTS AND OTHER EVANGELICALS TO VERBAL ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS

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A group of Fundamentalist Christian religious leaders and columnists verbally criticized Islam in the aftermath to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. After a delay of over a year, some Fundamentalist and other Evangelical religious leaders responded to the criticisms:

Reaction by Southern Baptist missionaries to the verbal attacks:

A group of over two dozen Southern Baptist missionaries who are attempting to spread conservative Christianity in countries with a large Muslim majority in the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa and South Asia have issued a letter asking their fellow Baptists in America to refrain from verbally attacking Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. It said, in part: "Comments by Christians in the West about Islam and Muhammad can and do receive much attention in our cities and communities on local radio, television and print sources....These types of comments...can further the already heightened animosity toward Christians, more so toward evangelicals, and even more so toward Baptists. We have found it more beneficial with our Muslim friends to concentrate on sharing Christ in love and concentrating on the message of the gospel, instead of speaking in a degrading manner about their religion or prophet." The letter was brought from the Middle East to the U.S. by a professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. The Biblical Recorder, a news journal for North Carolina Baptists, first published it. ₁

Evangelical Christians discuss verbal attacks on Islam:

The National Association of Evangelicals [NAE], which represents more than 43,000 conservative Protestant denominations, helped organize a meeting on 2003-MAY-7 to deal with attacks by leading Fundamentalist religious leaders on Islam. The Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative Christian group in Washington that often critiques mainline Protestantism, co-sponsored the meeting. Among the most hate-filled original comments were those by:

At the meeting, concern was express that the verbal attacks on Islam by Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart and others fed the widespread perception  in the Middle East that the war on terrorism is really a Christian crusade against Islam. "The [40] evangelical leaders...issued what one of them called a 'loving rebuke' to their colleagues for remarks that they said tarnished American Christians and jeopardized the safety of missionaries and indigenous Christians in predominantly Muslim countries." ₂

Beliefnet posted the Associated Press report and encouraged its visitors to offer comments about the meeting. A common response was that the meeting attendees were not primarily concerned about the accuracy of the attacks on Islam; they were worried about the danger that their missionaries face. ₄

References:

1. "Baptist Group Urges Respect for Islam," Washington Post, 2003-JAN-18, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
2. Laurie Goodstein, "Top Evangelicals Critical of Colleagues Over Islam," New York Times, 2003-MAY-8, at: http://www.nytimes.com/
3. Rachel Zoll, "Evangelicals condemn anti-Islam remarks," 2003-MAY-8, at: http://www.beliefnet.com/
4. "News & Society: Evangelicals condemn anti-Islam remarks," Beliefnet, at: http://www.beliefnet.com/

Copyright © 2001 & 2003 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2003-JAN-19
Latest update: 2003-MAY-9
Author: B.A. Robinson