An Update on MCT - "A Common Word Between Us and You"

In case you are wondering what other evangelical leaders are thinking about this correspondence between Muslims and Christians, I can initially pass this clip on to you from Dr. Albert Mohler Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I will provide more links and responses as I find them. Dr. Mohler clip HERE. 

(HT: Brian Fairchild)

MCT - Muslims and Christians Together - A Letter

 Recently 138 Muslim scholars from around the world drafted and signed a letter written to the Christian community at large as a request that  Muslims and Christians work together for peace. Subsequently, 138 Christians some evangelical, wrote a response entitled: "Loving God And Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to 'A Common Word Between Us and You'".

As I read through the list of signatures at the bottom of the letter I noticed at least two prominent evangelicals: Bill Hybels, Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL; and Rick Warren, Founder and Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church, and The Purpose Driven Life, Lake Forest, CA. 

I read the letter carefully, and the dominating motif is that Muslims and Christians must unite around common ground shared by our respective religions in order to preserve world peace. The grounding conviction behind these letters is that since muslims and christians make up well over half of the world's population, therefore we are the key to world peace. The rest of the letter is simply a defining of what that common ground between muslims and christians really is. Basically, love for God and man is the uniting motif. 

However, with radically different conceptions of who God is, the idea that love for God is the uniting motif between the two ceases to maintain its persuasiveness. In addition, it seems altogether naive to assume that the relationship between Christians and Muslims is the key to peace in the world; as if sin and depravity does not extend to any other facets of life or create volatile and hostile problems between various other cultures and groupings of people.  I cant help but think of all the fighting and civil war in Liberia, and other places in Africa, or relationships between Muslims and Hindu's for example, etc. Furthermore, the letter itself is full of awkward language that is potentially misleading or intentionally conciliatory at the expense of perspicuity at best and truth at worst.  Notice this line in the preamble, "Before we “shake your hand” in responding to your letter, we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world." Later in the letter the God is defined by the Muslims as "The Good and All-Merciful One". Apparently this is the only name that both Christians and Muslims can use together in some kind of "common" way. But what does it mean? Is the "Good and All-Merciful" Muslim God the same as the "All-Merciful One" of Christian theology? If not, the what is the long-term value of using the same language to cover different conceptions of God? Does this really help us long term, or is it a temporary masquerade covering fundamental differences? Many other things could be said. Not all is negative or worthy of criticism, but much of it in my opinion is and should be discussed. In leu of this, how do you feel about Bill Hybels and Rick Warren signing this document?