Yes I think we are mainly singing from the same song sheet. The only point I would challenge is the idea that Islamic militants make up only 1-2 per cent of all Muslims. While exact figures are hard to come by, most experts put the Islamists (militants, jihadists, etc) at 15 per cent. Now with a billion Muslims in the world, that is a lot of militants. So this is a very real threat indeed, one which we should never minimise or ignore. But thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

The question all comes down to what the correct response should be (or perhaps where the emphasis should be in terms of response, as a response on both fronts is necessary – maintain activism in the political sphere in order to protect existing rights and freedoms, as well as reach out in creative ways to win Muslims to Jesus). Your final point (in the original post) about vigilance is well made. I only sought to add that reaching out is at least as important as political/social vigilance and is worthy of at least as many column-inches and books published, but it’s strange how it never seems to get that much attention. We seem to have a fetish for bhaad news.

Turning now to points raised by Dunstan and Barry. We need to remain keenly aware of one thing Bill pointed out, and that is that there is only a tiny minority of Muslim immigrants that are seeking anything other than a better life in a freer society than the one they have emigrated or fled from. The vast majority, if engaged by us (and particularly by churches) in the right way will make a positive contribution to society, and will embrace and enjoy the freedoms that western society offers. (And a note here, seeing all Muslim immigrants as dangerous tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy – by isolating them you radicalise them.) Indeed, Philip Jenkins points out that more than 50% of Arab immigrants to the USA are Christian Arabs who are fleeing oppression in their home country! (Philip Jenkins, “The Next Christendom” p. 123) And you want to sound the alarm on immigrants from these countries being a threat? Would that 50% of the immigrants from New Zealand to this country were Christian! (No offense to my kiwi bro’s and sisters, I just picked the country that most migrants come here from).

So lets be careful about making that distinction, as our response will be shaped by this. If even as few as 95% of Muslim immigrants are non-militant and open to the Gospel, I welcome all of them for the sake of receiving the 95-98% that we can reach. As for the other 1 or 2 percent that are militant activists, please see my earlier post – God has often brought non-Christians into nominally Christian countries as it is the best opportunity for them to come to the truth. He is not willing that any should perish, and neither am I. We should also remember that Paul the Apostle was a radical militant anti-Christian before his conversion. When was the last time you prayed for a radical muslim leader, by name, to come to Christ?

As for getting eaten up like a piece of cake, I happen to believe the Scriptures when they say that He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world, and that includes any spirit of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, Communism, or anything else.

You might be aware that the largest Muslim nation on earth, Indonesia, is officially 15% Christian and unofficially over 25% Christian, or that more Muslims have come to Christ in Iran in the last 10 years than in the previous 1000 years combined. Or we could talk about Ralph Winter’s statistics on the growth of Christianity from AD100 to now, or David Barrett’s figures from the World Christian Encyclopedia. You may find it enlightening to read Jensen’s book which I quote above as he points out some very interesting historical realities on the expansion of Islam which were quite different from what I learned in Church History classes.

So what am I saying? That as Christians we need to:

Reach out in culturally relevant ways to Muslims that live amongst us, and support programs that promote this kind of outreach;

Support missions to the Muslim world overseas (contact me if you’re interested, I know personally a number of Chinese Christians who are in Middle Eastern countries right now and could really use some support and encouragement);

Engage effectively in the political arena to ensure that our freedoms are protected not just from militant Islamists but also militant leftists, liberals, etc. This includes all the actions that Bill has outlined above and in many other posts;

But there is no need in my view to oppose immigration from majority Muslim nations – just get busy with the above three, there’s enough to do there!

Mark Burnard

Islam is indeed a threat – but it is an opportunity as well, as I have written elsewhere on this site. So in many respects I agree with you. The truth is, we are citizens of two kingdoms and have responsibilities to both – this world and the next.

In this world we need to be vigilant and seek to protect God-given freedoms where possible. Governments do have a divine mandate to promote what is good, defend justice, and deal with evil (Romans 7, eg.). Not all forms of government are equal, and some are clearly better than others, at least in a fallen world. Western democracies on the whole are superior to Islamic theocracies.

Having said that, yes by all means, we have obligations to reach everyone with the Gospel – Muslims included. And yes, it is hard to get into many Muslim nations to share the Good News, so I believe God has sovereignly been bringing Muslims to the West. But if we do not evangelise them, remember, they too are an evangelistic religion, and they will evangelise us.

So it is fine to say that God has brought Muslims here to be evangelised. I believe that. But the real worry is – is the church in fact doing its job, or is Islam on the ascendency in the West, including all the downsides – the imposition of sharia law, the destruction of freedom and democracy, and so on? How we respond to the huge influx of Muslims is the real question, as you also mention. Either we capitalise on this God-given opportunity, or we become victims of this very real threat. In many ways the choice is up to us.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

By various means (including the kidnapping of slaves who were Christians) this invasion exposed the scandanavian lands to the Gospel, to the extent that within a few generations those parts had been largely exposed to the Gospel. Winter calls this evangelism by invasion.

Fast forward to the time and issue we are considering here, and consider that less that 0.1% of finances given to Christian causes go towards reaching the unreached (even less to reaching the Muslim world) and that, while there is 1 missionary per 1000 people in Israel (as an example) there are fewer than 1 missionary per 100,000 people in the Middle East and North Africa.

I don’t see Muslim immigration as a threat, I see it as an opportunity to reach large numbers of people with the Gospel in ways that would be extremely costly and often not possible in their home lands. Muslim immigration? Bring it on! The church just needs to awaken to the reality of the opportunity before us, and put some effort into consistent, culturally sensitive and relevant ways of reaching Muslim neighbours with the Gospel.

Bill I hear what you’re saying and I don’t disagree entirely, but the emphasis is in the wrong place. Are we that scared that Muslims are going to transform our society as a vocal an militant group making up less that 3% of the population? They could, but only if the church stands idly by in the face of an extraordinary opportunity to reach Muslims for Christ.

What happened to the God who gave us a Spirit of love, power and a sound mind?

Mark Burnard

It is always interesting when a commentator comes along and nicely exemplifies the very thing I have been talking about. Here we go again with more moral equivalence. ‘Yes those nasty terrorists are bad news, but so too is (insert your enemy of the week: the US, Bush, the West, etc).’ Sorry I am just not buying this moral equivalence. Nor am I buying this foolishness that Islamic terrorists are basically nice chaps who have been driven to murder and terror because of those nasty Americans. They already have an ideology and belief system of hate which sees the West – and all unbelievers – as the enemy.

Thus you miss the point altogether – Muslim terrorists are killing in the name of their religion. They are killing because of their religion, not in spite of it. That is exactly the problem. They would certainly not regard themselves as being aberrational, but in fulfilling their faith to a T. Indeed, they can find full justification for doing what they do by the life and teachings of Muhammad, Islamic history, and the hadith. Making excuses for terrorism helps no one here.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch