So-called evangelical pastors have no interest in witnessing the Gospel to Muslims, but rather are eager to maintain relations, such as regular meals with imams affiliated with the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"When Christians sit down with Muslims to have an interfaith dialogue, typically what happens is that Christians stand up and say wonderful things about Islam. Then Muslims stand up and say wonderful things about Islam so there's really no interfaith dialogue taking place."
-- From "Evangelicals extend a hand to Muslims" by Janet I. Tu, Seattle Times staff reporter 9/6/10
Michael Ly, a young, self-described Chinese Cambodian American evangelical Christian . . . is a pastor at Soma — Renton, a nondenominational church formerly called Harambee Church. An accountant by day, his aim to build better understanding between evangelical Christians and Muslims is purely a grass-roots effort.
And it's an effort he thinks is growing nationwide, especially among those his age and younger.
Ly's next big project is to work with the director of the local Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to organize a dinner this fall, inviting 20 imams and other Muslim leaders, and 20 pastors and other Christian leaders mainly from conservative evangelical churches.
There's the theological barrier: Many evangelicals view Muslims as people who have rejected the teachings and messages of Jesus. Some also believe Muhammad was a false prophet and that Islam is therefore based on a false premise. Or they feel Islam is antagonistic toward Christianity.
. . . Lead Pastor John Prince of Soma — Renton . . . says [proselytizing is] not his goal. And Ly believes it's up to God whether people change their faith.
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From "Seattle church invites Muslims to dinner" by Michael Carl © 2010 WorldNetDaily 9/24/10
. . . Crosstalk radio host and cultural analyst Ingrid Schlueter believes the effort is outrageous.
"There is a two-pronged outrage. The first outrage is that we have an evangelical pastor once again giving aid, promotion and legitimacy to a group [CAIR] that has been called unindicted co-conspirators," Schlueter stated.
"The second outrage is that the pastor of this church apparently believes that conducting potlucks and hosting tours of mosques for Christians and churches for Muslims is going to somehow fulfill Christ's command to preach repentance and remission of sins," Schlueter added.
"All the good intentions and all the group hugs in Seattle are not going to accomplish the commission that Christ gave us to preach the Gospel to every nation," Schlueter stated.
Ly said that Washington State CAIR chapter president Arsalan Bukhari introduced him to the Muslim Association of the Puget Sound Redmond leader and "helped us get the Qurans we used."
"When you are promoting CAIR, that has a proven track record of defending evil, you are serving as a tool of the enemies of Christ, the enemies of Israel and the enemies of freedom," Schlueter asserted.
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