Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Anglican service includes Muslim denial of Christ's divinity

Note: Update on January 12th. You won't be surprised to see that the below video was pulled down. I can't imagine the uproar pointed towards that diocese.



(Christian Today) - Christians are familiar with the Bible texts that detail the conception and birth of Jesus to His mother, the Virgin Mary.

But they are not so used to hearing the Muslim version of the story read out in church. And especially not on Epiphany, which celebrates the incarnation of God as His son Jesus - a doctrine denied by Muslims.

Michael Nazir-Ali, a leading evangelical Christian in Britain, has now condemned the reading on a service at the Scottish Episcopal Church's Glasgow Cathedral last Friday.

The congregation at St Mary's cathedral heard the Muslim version of the Virgin Mary's conception of Jesus, from the Koran's Sura 19, sung by Madinah Javed. The passage explains how Mary gave birth after an angel told her God would give her a child.

Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, and that He was a precursor to Mohammed rather than the Son of God.

Sura 19 states that Mary was "ashamed" after she gave birth, and that the infant Jesus miraculously spoke to her from his crib and claimed he was "a servant of God".

It denies Jesus was the Son of God.

A post on the cathedral's Facebook page describes the service as a "wonderful event".

It says: "The congregation was also reminded during the service that it is not only Christians who give honour to Jesus. We were joined by friends from two local Muslim communities." The post also shares a video of the recitation.

But Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester condemned the reading and called for discipline against those involved.

"The authorities of the Scottish Episcopal Church should immediately repudiate this ill-advised invitation," he said in a statement.
He also called for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to publicly distance the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion from the event.

"Christians should know what their fellow citizens believe and this can include reading the Qur'an for themselves, whether in the original or in translation. This is not, however, the same thing as having it read in Church in the context of public worship," he said.

"It is particularly insensitive to have this passage read in Church on the Feast of the Epiphany when we celebrate not only Christ's manifestation to the gentiles but also his baptism and the divine declaration, 'you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased'."

Christian Today has contacted the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway for comment.

5 comments:

  1. Part of me is outraged, but a bigger part of me is like, "Anglicans preach heresy and water is wet."

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  2. Why blast the Anglicans? Some years back, the now-deposed Priest Kondratick expressed regrets that the OCA wasn't invited to an Ecumenical service which invoked the God of " Moses, Jesus, a nd Mohammed"
    Also, Fr. Reardon has stated quite clearly that one of his great pleasures is to pray the Psalms in Hebrew in a synagogue! Is he not telling Jews that belief in Christ is optional? I guess Canons are only for the little people.

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  3. Why blast the Anglicans? Some years back, the now-deposed Priest Kondratick expressed regrets that the OCA wasn't invited to an Ecumenical service which invoked the God of " Moses, Jesus, a nd Mohammed"
    Also, Fr. Reardon has stated quite clearly that one of his great pleasures is to pray the Psalms in Hebrew in a synagogue! Is he not telling Jews that belief in Christ is optional? I guess Canons are only for the little people.

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  4. If Muslims are coming to the West to be good Muslims then I really don't see the rationale for overseas missions.

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  5. Whatever do you mean? As you saying, as Fr. Reardon appears to be saying, that belief in Christ is optional? That as long as the Muslim believes in one God, that that is enough? The Muslims are coming to the West to be "good" Muslims, that is to convert the rest of us. The moderates are content to conquer by overpopulation. The militants are the ones who don't feel like waiting.

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