William Kilkpatrick: 'See No Islam, Hear No Islam'

New Catholic title on Apologetics omits any consideration of Christian witness to Muslims, or the impact of Islam on Christians.

See No Islam, Hear No Islam

by William Kilkpatrick, Turning Point Project, November 15, 2022

A significant omission in an otherwise good book.

The New Apologetics is a collection of 41 essays by noted Catholic apologists.

It’s a valuable book for those who are interested in spreading the Christian faith in a time of secularism and relativism, as well as for those who merely wish to deepen their own faith.

However, I do have one large caveat. None of the 41 essays deals with Islam. And that, to my mind, is a major omission. Although, The New Apologetics begins with a discussion of threats to Christianity—such as atheism, moral relativism, and scientific materialism—one of the biggest threats is ignored.

For example, the first essay discusses the “nones”—those who claim no religious affiliation. This group is expanding rapidly and it is pulling most of its membership away from Christian Churches. As their numbers increase, the number of those who identify as Christians declines.

I agree that the problem of the “nones” needs to be urgently addressed, but there is another category of “nones” that is equally important, but is absent from the pages of The New Apologetics. I am referring to all those Christians who are “nones” in the sense that none of them is any longer among the living because they have been killed by Muslims in the name of Allah. For example, in Nigeria alone, 18,000 people have been killed by Islamic terrorists in just the last two years (2020-2022). If the rest of Africa is added on, it’s now possible to speak of a Christian genocide in that continent.

Presumably, [Catholic apologists] don’t want to be put in a position where they might have to contradict the notion that Islam is a fellow Abrahamic religion that reveres Jesus and embraces the same values that Christians do.

The spread of Islam is not just a threat to Africans. Many other parts of the world are under the same threat. Because of the rapid increase in the Muslim population, even Europeans are now at risk of violence.

The essay on the “nones” makes much of the fact that in the U.S. between 1970 and the present, the number of “nones” has increased from three percent to twenty-five percent. But during an even shorter time frame, the percentage of Muslims in numerous European cities has increased by approximately the same amount. In Marseille, the second largest city in France, the percentage of Muslims is closer to 40 percent.

The essay points out that almost 40 percent of those under thirty in the U.S. are “nones”. But the same holds true in many of Europe’s major cities in regard to the Muslim population. According to Giulio Meotti, Islam is now the dominant religion among children in Birmingham, Leicester, Bradford, Luton, Slough and the London boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets.

Meanwhile, “Mohamed” has been one of the most popular names for baby boys in Europe for many years. Due to the high birth rate, there are now more Muslims at Friday services than Catholics at Sunday Mass in many cities in France and England.

If Islam really were the religion of peace that Catholic prelates and professors make it out to be, then the discrepancy in birth rates between Muslims and Christians might be no great cause for alarm. But rising crime rates among Muslims in Europe suggest that Islam is not a religion of peace but of aggression.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'The Muslim Appropriation of Mary'

In this second in our series for the Nativity Season, Raymond Ibrahim shows how contemporary Islam perpetuates the blasphemous appropriation of the Ever-Virgin Mary, the Mother of God (Greek: Theotokos), first initiated by the depraved false prophet Muhammad fourteen-hundred years ago, and why it is essential for Christians to be aware of the truth behind Islam's "veneration" of Mary. 

Using the Virgin Mary "as a model of 'open borders' between religious and multicultural worlds" in an effort to reconcile Islam and Catholicism is to deny Christ and His Most Pure Mother, and reveals those behind such initiatives as full-blown apostates from the Christian Faith and self-condemned.

The Muslim Appropriation of Mary

by Raymond Ibrahim, February 21, 2021

In “Vatican: Mary is Catholic-Muslim Bridge,” Jules Gomes of Church Militant interviews me:

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI) is promoting the Blessed Virgin as a bridge reconciling Islam and Catholicism following the Abu Dhabi pact between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb.

On Thursday, the Marian academy in Rome launched a 10-week webinar series titled “Mary, a model for faith and life for Christianity and Islam” in collaboration with the Grand Mosque of Rome and the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy.

Based on his belief that Mary is “a Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman,” Fr. Gian Matteo Roggio, organizer of the Muslim-Catholic dialogue series on Our Lady, is seeking to mobilize Mary as a model of “open borders” between religious and multicultural worlds.

Mary responds “to the genetic codes of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” affirms Roggio, a member of the religious order of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, writing in the Italian liberal Catholic periodical Famiglia Cristiana.

Islamic historian Raymond Ibrahim told Church Militant that “this series is yet another attempt to try to convince Catholics that Islam is somehow similar to their Faith when, in fact, Islam appropriates the names and sacred auras of biblical figures but then recasts them with completely different attributes — ones that reaffirm Islam as the ‘true’ faith.”

Ibrahim, a prolific writer, and the author of recent bestseller Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West, explained:

For example, the series’ organizers insist that Mary was a “Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman,” which is only two-thirds true: Yes, she was a Jew by race and background, and yes, she was a Christian in that she literally birthed Christ(ianity), but she was most certainly not a Muslim — a term and religion that did not exist until 600 years after the end of her earthly life.

“Worse, far from being the Eternal Virgin, as she is for 1.5 billion Christians — Catholics and Orthodox — Islam presents Mary, the Mother of Christ, as ‘married’ to and ‘copulating’ with Muhammad in paradise,” Ibrahim revealed.

In an article for Frontpage Magazine titled “Muhammad and the Virgin Mary: A Match Made in Heaven?” Ibrahim cited a hadith (Islamic canonical tradition) wherein Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, declares: “Allah will wed me in paradise to Mary, daughter of Imran.”

Far from being the Perpetual Virgin — Islam presents Mary, the Mother of Christ, as ‘married’ to and ‘copulating’ with Muhammad in paradise.Tweet

Few Christians know about this claim, but medieval Christians living under Islamic occupation were familiar with it because their Muslim conquerors regularly humiliated them with this text to refute the Church’s claim of Mary’s perpetual virginity, writes Ibrahim.

In fact, Egypt’s former deputy minister of religious endowments, Dr. Salem Abdul Galil, openly declared that among other biblical women like Moses’ sister and Pharaoh’s wife, “Our prophet Muhammad — prayers and peace be upon him — will be married to (the Virgin) Mary in paradise.”

Ibrahim obtained the Arabic video of Galil stating this on the Mahwar television network.

“Far from creating ‘commonalities,’ it should be clear that such appropriation creates conflict,” Ibrahim told Church Militant.

Mary is a Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman.  The prolific writer elaborated:

By way of analogy, imagine you have a grandfather whom you are particularly fond of, and out of the blue, a stranger says: “Hey, that’s my grandfather!” Then — lest you think this stranger is somehow trying to become your friend — he adds: “And everything you thought you knew about grandpa is wrong!” Would that endear this stranger to you?

The webinars will end during the month of Ramadan in the conference room of the Great Mosque of Rome with “Mary’s dates” — a reference to the fruit of the date palm and a verse from the Koran (Sura 19.22–26).

Ex-Muslims denounce Abu Dhabi ‘Deception', warn against Muslim practice of 'Taqiyya'

Arabic-speaking Muslim converts to Christ warn that Roman Catholic support of the Abu Dhabi Declaration "is not based on the 'Islamic theological implications of the Arabic text', and this reflects an inability to see through the 'deception' and fall for the 'fake human rights rhetoric'."

In short, these brave converts to Christ are warning against the Same God Heresy.

Embracing Deception: Pope Francis signs Abu Dhabi Declaration

Their point is well taken, and fully in keeping with the teaching of the New Testament, which warns against accepting a false gospel, a different Jesus, and a different spirit:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be anathema!” (Gal 1:6-8). 

"As we said before, so say I now again: If any preach any other gospel unto you than that which you have received, let him be anathema" (Gal 1:8-9). 

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the Faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy" (1 Tim 4:1-2). 

The indefatiguable Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch offers this warning in his post on the article:

“The chasm between Islam and Jahiliyyah [the society of unbelievers] is great, and a bridge is not to be built across it so that the people on the two sides may mix with each other, but only so that the people of Jahiliyyah may come over to Islam.” — Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, chapter 10. (Mother Mosque Foundation edition p. 140) 

It is abundantly clear from this report that the Muslim framers of the bu Dhabi declaration were following Qutb’s guidance and crafting a document designed to lead Catholics to Islam. Meanwhile, the Catholic partners in the dialogue had no idea that this was happening, and assumed that their partners were operating in good faith as they were. Their naivete will cost the lives of the Christians murdered in the lands of Islam while no one speaks up for them, for fear of harming the dialogue, much less lifts a finger to defend them.

 “Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)

Related:

• Pope signs pact with Islam declaring ‘diversity of religions’ is ‘willed by God’
• Historic 'Covenant of World Religions' sees Pope Francis openly commit Apostasy, equate Islam with Christianity

Ex-Muslims Unmask Abu Dhabi ‘Deception’

by Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, May 27, 2020:


ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – A network of Muslim converts, who face the death penalty for apostasy from Islam, are denouncing the Abu Dhabi declaration as a “deception” for “subtle but significant differences” in the Arabic text of the document.

The ex-Muslims from the Arab world are also lamenting Cdl. Gerhard Müller’s naïveté after the orthodox prelate defended the covenant on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together in the May-June issue of Communio.

Müller insists that the text focuses on “fundamental human rights” with “God as their originator and guarantor,” because “all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and “human rights are based on the dignity that God himself bestowed on every human being.”

In a preliminary analysis of the declaration shown to Church Militant on condition of anonymity, the Arab-speaking converts say that Cdl. Müller’s reading is not based on the “Islamic theological implications of the Arabic text,” and this reflects his inability to see through the “deception” and fall for the “fake human rights rhetoric.”

Apostasy in Ireland during the Coronavirus Pandemic - Catholic Priest invites Muslims to offer prayers at Mass

"A video of the Islamic prayer released on Twitter showed one of the Muslims in the pulpit cantillating the Adhan [Islamic call to prayer] in Arabic... which unambiguously asserts that God’s revelation to Muhammad has supplanted and superseded God’s prior revelations to Moses in the Old Testament and to Jesus in the New Testament.”

With Pope Francis' ongoing initiative towards Islam, we can expect to see many more such instances of open apostasy in Roman Catholic churches. 

Inviting Muslims to speak at or pray at Christian gatherings is one of the most blasphemous manifestations of the Same God Heresy. Bishops, priests and clergy who do so have openly sealed their apostasy, and should be excommunicated. And Orthodox Christian Churches, Seminaries and institutions who are in dialogue with Christian bodies who perform such scandalous acts should immediately break off their relations with them until they repent.

In related news, the Coronavirus is also being used as an opportunity to spread the virus of ecumenism in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese:

Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America of the Patriarchate of Constantinople led an ecumenical prayer service with the Catholic Cardinal and Evangelical Lutheran bishop of Chicago. 

Previously, on March 14, he issued a directive ordering the immediate suspension of “all liturgical services in parishes of the Holy Metropolis of Chicago.”

Muslim Declares Muhammad’s Supremacy Over Jesus at Catholic Mass 

by Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, April 3, 2020:


COUNTY MAYO, Ireland (ChurchMilitant.com) Muslims, invited by a Catholic priest in Ireland to pray alongside him during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, prayed the Adhan — the Islamic call to prayer that categorically proclaims Islam’s supremacy over its forebears — Judaism and Christianity.

Father Stephen Farragher, parish priest of St. Patrick’s Church in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, invited two Muslims to “pray in solidarity” with him “the final blessing and prayer” at the 10 a.m. Friday Mass to be broadcast on radio, Midwest Radio Irelandreported.

Mohammed Cherbatji and Mohammed Rahmani joined Fr. Farragher to seek a blessing on all frontline health care workers and frontline workers during the pandemic and pray for the eradication of the Wuhan virus. The church was reportedly empty because of the Wuhan virus restrictions.

However, a video of the Islamic prayer released on Twitter showed one of the Muslims in the pulpit cantillating the Adhan in Arabic.

Church Militant contacted a scholar in Islamic jurisprudence and Arabic expert who confirmed that the prayer was not a blessing for health care workers but the “Islamic call to prayer, which conclusively and unambiguously asserts that God’s revelation to Muhammad has supplanted and superseded God’s prior revelations to Moses in the Old Testament and to Jesus in the New Testament.”

The Adhan asserts: “Allah is the greatest. I bear witness that there is no god except Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Come to prayer. Come to salvation.” These affirmations are repeated twice.

Father Seraphim Rose on Islam - Revisiting a Key Post on this Blog

This early article, posted just eighteen months after the launch of the Facing Islam Blog in April 2011, holds up as a critically important document, reminding us of what one of the Orthodox Church's most significant figures and writers had to say about the false religion of Islam, and what more he might have said had his life not ended at so young an age (48) in 1982.

I had linked to this article in my recent posting of a new Russian documentary on the Life and Teachings of Father Seraphim, but this article stirred me so deeply as I re-read it, that I decided to re-post it as a reminder and encouragement to us all.

I have added a couple of insertions in brackets [...], and have improved the formatting for one paragraph, which benefits from being converted to a bulleted list. Otherwise, this is the original post, unaltered.


Fr Seraphim Rose on Islam

(Originally posted September 2, 2012.)

Today (September 2, 2012) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the repose of Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) of Platina. While many articles have been written to mark this significant anniversary (see here and here) it seemed appropriate for this blog to look at what Fr Seraphim had to say about Islam.

Actually, Father Seraphim wrote very little on the subject of Islam. His book, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, treats Islam along with Judaism in the chapter on The Monotheistic Religions. Fr. Seraphim is clear in his position that the "god" of Islam is not the True God, and in citing the essay by Fr. Basile Stakkas, implicitly refutes Islam's doctrine of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), in large measure by explicitly refuting its claim to be an Abrahamic faith. Abraham worshipped the One God in Trinity, as is clear from the Old Testament account (And the LORD appeared unto him at the Oaks of Mamre... Three men were standing by him, and he bowed himself toward the ground... Gen. 18:1-2), as is seen in the icon called The Hospitality of Abraham, the quintessential depiction of the Holy Trinity in the Old Testament.

In my correspondence with two of Fr Seraphim's spiritual children, we have wrestled with the question of "why" Fr Seraphim did not write more about Islam, and why he did not expend more energy and ink refuting Islam's theological jihad against Orthodox Christianity. After all, Fr Seraphim is certainly something of a prophetic figure in modern Orthodoxy; how could he not see the ascendency of Islam?

Simply put, perhaps that was not the message or vision granted to him. Fr Seraphim came of age in a vastly different time. Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Meditation techniques, the New Age movement, Eastern mystical traditions and other occult phenomena were very much in the air, and had been gathering momentum for quite some time, waging a serious assault against Christianity since the late 19th century. Those were some of the signs of his time of the Age of Apostasy into which we were then entering.

By contrast, the Muslim world was highly westernized in the 1950s through 1979 (the year of the Islamic revolution in Iran). The Ottoman Empire had been dismantled after World War I; Kemal Ataturk reestablished Turkey as a modern, secular republic, and abolished the Islamic caliphate in 1924, effectively neutering the pan-Muslim movement for nearly the next eighty years. Although the Muslim Brotherhood was born in the 1920s as a response to the apostasy of secularism, Western culture and mores were widespread throughout Egypt, Lebanon, and the Middle East in general, and the Muslim Brotherhood itself was outlawed. To take but one example, one cannot find a woman wearing a hijab in college class photos from Cairo in the 1950s and 1960s.

As a result, Islam was not especially on Fr Seraphim's radar screen. Or rather, it was eclipsed by the Eastern religious movements.

So then, what might Fr Seraphim have to say about Islam now, as we approach the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks?

Leo Hohmann: 'The coming convergence of Islam and apostate Christianity'

"Some of the world’s most prominent Muslims are working on a plan that they hope will offer the secular elites in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Australia-New Zealand some relief. Give them a 'third way' that will lead to peace and security for all... a new 'convergence' of Islam with Christianity."

Sobering, even prophetic, insights from Christian journalist Leo Hohmann. Read and share.


The coming convergence of Islam and apostate Christianity

By Leo Hohmann, April 16, 2019

With astonishing speed and amazing efficiency, the French government declared early Tuesday morning that the fire which had largely consumed the magnificent, 850-year-old Cathedral of Notre Dame was a mere “accident.”

That’s right: Before investigators had even been cleared to enter the smoldering ruins of the Western World’s most iconic Christian symbol, they had already ruled out the possibility of arson.

I am not saying that any person or group should be blamed for this fire without proof. What I am saying, is that the French government’s absurdly quick action in determining the fire’s non-cause makes a mockery of the concept of an honest investigation. Such malfeasance in carrying out due diligence could easily backfire.

Without an honest and transparent investigation, people will always look at the burning of Notre Dame as a monumental conspiracy. Fill in the blank as to who you want to make responsible for the devastation because the French eliminated certain possibilities from consideration before even the most basic investigative procedures were employed.

It begs the question: Why were the French so eager to sweep this fire under the rug of history?

Well, for the sake of argument, let’s say that a real investigation gets underway and turns up proof of a Muslim plot to burn down the nation’s most famous Christian shrine. [And there has been a disturbing pattern of arsonists targeting hundreds of Christian churches across France over the last few years, including 10 in a one-week period last month].

With nearly 10 percent of its population now Muslim, France would quickly devolve into chaos. Police would launch a nationwide manhunt for the Muslim arsonists. Muslims would be out in the streets, burning and defacing more churches, cemeteries, anything that stands as a symbol of Christian France. Priests and pastors might be kidnapped and killed. Regular Frenchmen, feeling threatened, might strike back, possibly burning down mosques in retaliation.

The last thing President Macron wants is to take a chance that a thorough forensic investigation could spark a civil war. You can hardly blame him. But show me a nation that has lost the will, for whatever reason, to enforce the rule of law and lost faith in its ability to blindly apply justice, and I will show you a nation that has already been conquered.

And it’s not just France.

Most of the Western elites who control the governments across Europe and North America find themselves flailing about in the same murky waters. After decades of importing Muslim migrants to replace the millions of children who were never born because of abortion and “family planning,” these Western nations face a problem of their own making and it’s called Islamic immigration.

Their native populations are getting restless as they discover that their globalist leaders have been lying to them all these years. Islam is not content with its role of being the new “work force” that props up the economies of Germany, France, Belgium and Britain. The nature of Islam is to politically dominate wherever it is given a foothold.

Yet, the Western political class are reticent to confront Islam when its violent side spills out into the open. This is why France, the U.K., Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany have all become increasingly anti-Israel in recent years. They don’t want to offend their growing Muslim populations. They must bow to this foreign religious ideology, or risk violence in the streets.

The elites need a way out of this dilemma because right-wing parties are quickly gaining strength, and before long these European countries will all have their own versions of Donald Trump to contend with. That’s the last thing they want. They need an out, a way to save face with native European voters while somehow also giving their new Muslim citizens the feeling that they have a seat at the table of political power.

They can’t go on indefinitely with Muslims and Christians [even if most are Christian in name only], representing opposing cultural values and worldviews, living in the same cities and growing further apart by the day. The current model is not sustainable.

Arise, a new inter-religious community

That’s where the interfaith movement comes into play.

Some of the world’s most prominent Muslims are working on a plan that they hope will offer the secular elites in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Australia-New Zealand some relief. Give them a “third way” that will lead to peace and security for all.

The hope is that this third way provides Western elites with an opportunity to stave off a complete Islamic takeover while accepting the most basic tenets of Islamic Sharia. This includes, first and foremost, an end to all Christian proselytizing of Muslims, and secondly, a silencing of all anti-Islam rhetoric in the public space. Any Christian who insists on pointing out the dark side of Islam will be silenced. That’s pretty much already been accomplished, to varying degrees, in the post-Christian, formerly-free Western nations. But Muslim leaders still put forth the “Islamophobia” meme in hopes of getting more out of the deal.

Apostate Pope advocates for Islam, forces Dhimmitude on Moroccan Christians

Pope Francis has for some time now been openly teaching an explicitly false Gospel, what I have termed the "Same God Heresy". This is one of the greatest heresies and scandals of our age, and many Christians are falling all over themselves to endorse it.

Catholic news site Gloria.tv reports:

On the eve of his visit to Morocco (March 30-31), Pope Francis said in a video message on VaticanNews.va that “as Christians and Muslims we believe in God, the Creator and Merciful”... 

This message repeats Francis heretical Abu Dhabi declaration according to which the diversity of religions that contradict each other and religions which deny the Trinity and Incarnation are willed by God.

Of course, there are also some Orthodox Christian bishops (e.g., Met. Georges Khodr) who preach religious syncretism, pan-ecumenism, dhimmitude and submission to Islam, but when the Pope of Rome does this on the global stage, cue the "Last Pope Prophecies" trailers. The Apostate Pope's heretical teachings are clearly a sign of the age.

Traditional, orthodox-minded Roman Catholics, come to Orthodoxy. We are waiting for you with open arms!

"Come out of her, My people..." (Rev. 18:4)

Pope Francis offers more doves to be attacked by crows.

The Pope to the Christians of Morocco: Please do not need to preach

BBC Middle East, March 31, 2019 (Google Translate from Arabic)
Thanks to Timothy R. Furnish.


The Pope, Francis, told members of the small Catholic community in Morocco that the role of community members in the country is not to try to make their neighbors convert to Christianity, but to live in brotherhood with other religions.

The Pope took the two-day trip to emphasize interreligious dialogue, while supporting King Mohammed VI's efforts to promote religious moderation in order to promote interfaith dialogue and renounce violence in the name of religion.

Roman Catholic Christians in Morocco represent less than one percent of Morocco's 35 million population, while there are 23,000 Christians, mostly immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and those from Europe, particularly France.

"Christians are a small minority in this country, and I see that this is not a problem, although I realize that this may be difficult for some of you," he said during a meeting with community leaders in a Rabat cathedral.

Apostasy in the UK: 'Church' holds joint birthday celebration for 'Prophet Muhammad' and Jesus

The apostasy of "Christian" churches in the West continues to accelerate, as these flaming heretics seek to outdo one another in affirming Muhammad and Islam, while at the same time showing they are ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ by openly denying Him. With each such blasphemous interfaith escapade, they further cut themselves off from the True Vine, and are in danger of being burned.

So many such reports come out of the United Kingdom these days (some noted below), that it is clear that Britain has rejected Christ and is in a terminal phase of post-Christian collapse, with the shadow of the black flag of Islam looming over the once sanctified Isles. Small pockets of Orthodox Christianity are persevering, but apart from a miracle, the country itself seems doomed.

I have inverted the original order of Robert Spencer's post on Jihad Watch, by placing his introduction, comprised of Qur'anic texts denying the foundations of the Christian Faith, below the incisive report on this pathetic sign of the times:

Advent-cum-Mawlid: church holds joint birthday celebration for Mohammed and Jesus

Archbishop Cranmer, December 4, 2017 (thanks to David):

Mawlid (or Milad) is the Islamic festival commemorating the birthday of Mohammed. The only thing it has in common with Christmas is that it isn’t actually the day the celebrated baby was born. Yet All Saints Church in Kingtson upon Thames thinks there’s an interfaith syncretised opportunity to be found in holding a joint birthday celebration for both Mohammed and Jesus – so they put the flags out for both, rejoicing in both, eulogising both, solemnising both, glorifying both, honouring both…

But note how this event is “Marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammed”, but not looking forward to the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mohammed gets his prophethood, while Jesus gets neither his prophethood nor his priesthood; neither his kingship nor his messiahship. It’s the exalted Prophet Mohammed along with plain old Jesus, because to have added any of his claims to divinity would, of course, have alienated many Muslims (if they hadn’t already been alienated by the haram celebration), which wouldn’t have been very interfaith or sensitively missional, would it?

Do all Religions have the same Heavenly Father?

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew asserts so, and quite a bit more along with it, as in these pronouncements:

“We are all created by God and as such we are all brothers and sisters. We have the same heavenly Father, whatever we call him.” 

“God is but one, independently of the name we give him, Allah or Yahweh, and so on. God is one and we are his children.”

In addition to these recent deceptive remarks, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has absurdly written (without any trace of irony) of a “dialogue of loving truth” with Islam, of Orthodoxy having for centuries “coexisted peacefully” with Islam. He also projects the chimera of an “interfaith commitment... still felt and lived by Greeks [and] Turks” (Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Encountering the Mystery, Doubleday, 2008, pp xxxvii, 196, 174).

As students of history know, Islam has no history of dialoguing or coexisting peacefully with any non-Muslim peoples, and has waged relentless warfare against the Christian world since the very time of Muhammad, slaughtering, enslaving and subjugating millions over the centuries, right up to our own day. Islam offers peace only at the blade of the scimitar, as Allah commands in the Koran:

Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Q 9:29)

Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. (Q 9:5) 

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes. (Q 8:12)

Bartholomew is not the first Ecumenical Patriarch to preach the heresy of ecumenism and openly defend Islam and Muhammad (why would a Christian bishop do such a thing?):

"The Prophet Muhammad is an apostle, He is a man of God, who worked for the Kingdom of God... When I speak against Islam, then I am not found in agreement with God" (Patriarch Parthenius of Alexandria, Orthodoxos Typos 854, May 1982).

I have written about this deplorable trend among recent Ecumenical Patriarchs in my book, Facing Islam, warning about Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's absolutely bizarre, obsequious, and anti-Christian statements about Islam, in which he blunders into the Same God Heresy:

"As with some recent Ecumenical Patriarchs, Bartholomew eventually ventures too far, as when he calls for the tearing down of 'the wall of separation between East and West, between Muslims and Christians, between all religions of the world,' and when he writes warmly, 'One who achieves the state of inner peace in relation to God is a true Muslim' (Encountering the Mystery, pp 205, 209). 

"This meme concerning Islam (and world religions) is not unique; it springs not from Christian tradition, but directly from the pan-ecumenist movement, and it resonates with the spirit of our times..." (Facing Islam, xxxi)

In the below article, Orthodox priest and author Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis shines the bright light of Truth, the Light of Jesus Christ, on EP Bartholomew's false and fuzzy theology.

Do all Religions have the same Heavenly Father?

by Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis, Over The Rooftops, June 15, 2014:

"WE ARE ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS" Are we? First in Jerusalem (May 27, 2014), and more recently in Rome (June 8, 2014), Patriarch Bartholomew hammers the message of universal brotherhood with intra-Christian and interfaith prayer services (which according to the canons of the Orthodox Church are prohibited) and with statements and declarations to that effect.

Back on Nov. 2, 2009 in an interview Patriarch Bartholomew had given to Charlie Rose he had stated: “We are all created by God and as such we are all brothers and sisters. We have the same heavenly Father, whatever we call him.” Charlie interrupted the Patriarch: “All religions have the same heavenly Father?” “Of course,” was the Patriarch’s reply, adding: “God is but one, independently of the name we give him, Allah or Yahweh, and so on. God is one and we are his children.”

Although the two statements (everyone believes in the same God; and, we are all his children) appear to be self-proclaimed truths, for us Orthodox Christians (and to me, as I understand my faith), they are erroneous, outrageous and totally unacceptable. If the Patriarch is correct what meaning do the words, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no Savior” (Is. 43:10b-11)? 

Worshipping with Muslims?

"Our ultimate goal and divine mandate is not co-existence with Muslims but their conversion—as it is for all the children of men." —Fr. Lawrence Farley

In the below outstanding essay — which may have been prompted in part by the recent Presbyterian Church USA's (PCUSA) General Assembly, at which a Muslim Imam was invited to offer a prayer in which he denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and denigrated Christians — Fr. Lawrence Farley presents in a very gracious way the message I have been stumbling to articulate for the past seven years through my book, Facing Islam, and since early 2011 with this blog.

Fr. Lawrence's essay is one of the most clearly written pieces on Islam and Muslims from a Christian perspective I have yet encountered, and is a welcome antidote to the deeply misleading writings of Metropolitan George Khodr of Lebanon and others who promulgate the "Same God Heresy". Met. George Khodr has written:

I am completely sure that if you are a Christian and you know a lot about Islam and love what you know, your heart will embrace the Muslims around you and if you are educated, you will hold in esteem much from their religion and openly recognize the truth that is in their religion.

Alas, there is not much truth in Islam, the Muslim religion, because Allah himself and Muhammad explicitly reject the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus Christ, rejecting the Divinity of Christ, denying that he was even crucified and resurrected, even claiming the New Testament was corrupted to obscure the true teachings of Islam which Jesus brought (!). The Koran repeatedly calls for jihad against Christians who do not convert to Islam or at least submit to its rule. To take but one example:

Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Koran 9:29)

Met. George Khodr has reversed everything with his confused theology, and is extolling the "truth" of Islam as the reason for Christians to love their Muslim neighbor. This is the complete opposite of the Gospel, and is a form of "soft apostasy." It is merely a more ornately worded version of the PCUSA's simplistic "Same God Heresy."

Rather, as Fr. Lawrence Farley makes clear, Christians are called to love all people, Muslims included, because God loves them. Christ commanded us to love our neighbor, to love even our enemies. We know that God "desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." And as we know from the Gospel, the truth is not a book or a set of dogmas or teachings. Rather, the Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ. To the extent that we abide in Him, we will seek to share that Truth with others — including and perhaps especially with Muslims.

We do not love Muslims because we venerate their religion and long to find the beauty and truth in it. Rather, we love them because God loves them and we long to be like God. We love them because they are created in the image of God just like we are. We love them in spite of their false, pagan religion and its blatantly evil commands and beliefs. 

And how do we show our love for Muslims? By sharing the Gospel with them, by our deeds, and by our words. May the Lord deliver them from the spiritual deception and delusion inherent in Muhammad and the Koran, and lead them into the freedom and light of Jesus Christ.

Worshipping with Muslims
by Fr. Lawrence Farley, No Other Foundation, July 8, 2016:

In the current cultural debate over Islam, we sometimes meet people who rush to defend Islam and assert that Muslims and Christians both worship the same God. Sometimes they give liturgical expression to this assertion, and participate in joint Muslim-Christian worship services, in which both the Qur’an and the Bible are read. 

What are we to think of this? Can Muslims and Christians unite in worship? Is it true that they both worship the same God?

The question is deceptively complex, and since Islam post-dates the New Testament by six centuries, the New Testament cannot be expected to provide a direct answer. But the New Testament does help answer a similar question: Do pagans and Christians worship the same God? There were differences obviously, since paganism worshipped many gods and Christianity was staunchly monotheistic. But paganism did in some way dimly acknowledge that there was a supreme god of sorts, called Zeus or Jupiter (depending upon one’s geography). Could Zeus and the God of the Christians be more or less identified?

The answer (frustratingly for those who like to scream about such things on Facebook) is: Yes and No. 

Islam and the Outer Limits of Ecumenism

This is a helpful if alarming survey of Roman Catholic outreach towards Muslims, and some of the perils associated with such interfaith dialogue. I address some of these issues in my book, Facing Islam, and argue strongly against uncritical interfaith dialogue, urging instead that we follow the example of the Apostles, martyrs and saints, sharing the Gospel with Muslims in order to help lead them out of delusion and spiritual deception, that they may come to know Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Some of the Vatican initiatives revealed below are shocking, such as this:

Lumen Gentium (1964) strikingly affirmed that “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Moslems..."

This is the sort of speculative theological apostasy which paves the way for Antichrist and the Religion of the Future. No true Christian would ever make such a statement.


Islam and the Outer Limits of Ecumenism
by Howard Kainz, Crisis Magazine, May 24, 2013:

The 1964 Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio, was quite clear: The newly launched ecumenical movement had as its sole goal, the reunification of Christians.  The appeals for reunification would be directed to baptized Christians, “those who invoke the Triune God, and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, doing this not merely as individuals but as corporate bodies.” The prime interest would be in uniting with those Christian communities that possess the Apostolic Succession and preserve all seven sacraments, such as the Orthodox churches; and also other Christian bodies, such as the Church of England, whose liturgies and other usages are similar to Roman Catholic practices.

Other Vatican II documents, however, envisioned extending the outreach (not strictly ecumenical dialogue, but “interfaith dialogue”) to non-Christian religions. Lumen Gentium (1964) strikingly affirmed that “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Moslems: these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day”; and Nostra aetate (1965), urging “mutual understanding,” emphasized that “The Church has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship  God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to men. They strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of  God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God’s plan, to whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own.”

The wording of the statement that God’s “plan of salvation” also includes Muslims, who worship the same God and “hold the faith of Abraham” seemed to “push the envelope”—as if we Christians shared a common religious heritage with Islam as well as Judaism.

William Kilpatrick: 'Was Muhammad a False Prophet?'

by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine, February 17, 2016:

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Mt. 7:15).

Would “false prophets” include Muhammad? It’s an impolitic question to ask in these politically correct times, but, thanks to political correctness these are also highly dangerous times. Since a good deal of the danger emanates from the religion Muhammad founded, it seems reasonable to ask if he was a false prophet. And if he was, does that mean that Islam is a false religion?  And if it is, why are Catholic leaders so keen on declaring their solidarity with Islam?

It’s a case of either/or. Either the New Testament account of Jesus is true or Muhammad’s account is true. Since they contradict each other, they both can’t be true.

Anglican Vicar defiles his church, commits apostasy, by holding Muslim prayer service, praising "the god that we love, Allah."

How deeply tragic is the stampede to Christian apostasy in the West.

The church in which this act happened is now defiled. If such a blasphemous act were to be performed in an Orthodox church, the priest would be immediately suspended and defrocked, and the defiled church would be closed until an exorcism could be performed and the church could be re-consecrated by the bishops.

Why so stern a reaction?

First of all, Muslims do not worship the True God; they reject Jesus Christ and the Blessed Trinity. We do not pray to the same God, how then could we pray together?

This does not mean that we hate or reject Muslims. Far from it! We invite them to "come and see," to learn about the real Jesus Christ (who is very different from the vague character of "Isa" in the Koran), and to come to know the True God through Christ. They are invited to attend Orthodox Christian services, but as inquirers or, if they are sincere in leaving their false religion and being united to the Lord Jesus Christ, they may become catechumens. Before their baptism, they will be solemnly asked three times to renounce satan. When you are embracing the Light, you must leave all darkness behind.

Secondly, the Christian church is a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore only Christian worship may be performed in it. The altar in a Christian temple is a type of the heavenly altar. Upon it, the bloodless sacrifice of the Eucharist is performed, mystically uniting the worshipping congregation into the presence of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. In light of this, how could an anti-Christian service be allowed to be conducted in a Christian temple?

Thirdly, the priest is not merely a celebrant, and is certainly not free to add, adapt or improvise services according to his fancy, but is a servant of Christ, and represents Christ to the congregation. He is the one who performs the eucharistic service, distributing the Body and Blood of Christ to the faithful. If he tries to mingle falsehood with truth, he is proving he is not a good shepherd but a hireling (perhaps even a wolf!), and self-condemned, he excommunicates himself from the life of the Church, he betrays Christ all over again.

Then there are the words of St Paul:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? [2 Corinthians 6:14-16]

That Rev. Giles Goddard has so flagrantly violated Christian dogma, scripture, and liturgical praxis and theology that he has committed nearly the grossest apostasy imaginable. He has willingly, of his own design and choice, brought into the church the "abomination which causes desolation." He has turned a church into a mosque. His very salvation is in grave danger if he does not repent of this blasphemy. He has done willingly that to which his forefathers would have preferred death.

No doubt Rev. Goddard is sincere, but he is sincerely deluded.  He believes in and worships his own wisdom in going beyond Christ. He also proves his abject ignorance regarding Islam, which is the quintessential anti-Christian heresy, as seen in the Quranic texts below.

The root word for heresy means "to choose." Giles Goddard is a heretic, as is everyone who chooses to believe and act upon the "Same God" heresy. May he be brought to repentance and united to Christ's Church.

We can't tell from the news story below if the traditionalist Anglicans are scandalized by this for the correct reasons. It is mentioned that the act was "against canon law" and "completely illegal," but is there any sense in the Anglican church as to WHY?  Or is this another symptom, along with women priestesses and bishops and same-sex marriage, of the growing apostasy of the Anglican communion?

Thankfully, there are some positive examples coming out of the Church of England as well.

Related: Having Completed the Forty Days - Apothegmata or Apostasy?

UK: Anglican vicar holds Muslim prayer service in his church, asks congregation to praise “the god that we love, Allah”

by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, March 13, 2015

When Giles Goddard painted that cross on his church building, and had one placed on his forehead, was he aware of this hadith? 

“Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims) as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya (a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government). Then there will be abundance of money and no-body will accept charitable gifts.'” (Bukhari 3.34.425)

Did the Muslim prayer service include any of these Qur’an readings?

Christians have forgotten part of the divine revelations they received: “From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message that was sent them: so we estranged them, with enmity and hatred between the one and the other, to the day of judgment. And soon will Allah show them what it is they have done.” — Qur’an 5:14 

Jesus is not the Son of God: “O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not “Three” – Cease! (it is) better for you! – Allah is only One Allah. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.” — Qur’an 4:171 

“It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” — Qur’an 19:35

London Ecumenical gathering in support of Middle East Christians fails to mention Islam

Islam and Muslims are not once mentioned in coverage of the press briefing or the statement released by the group. Only "extremist ideologies," and "an extreme religious ideology" are referenced in the statement.

But perhaps the group's deliberate omission of proper names had a larger purpose than fear over offending Muslims, as their statement demands that, "Those who promote this intolerance must be challenged." 

As anyone familiar with Islam will immediately realize, the most notable voice which promotes this "intolerance" is the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, both through his life and and sayings, and through the book he gave down, the Quran, which commands precisely what ISIS is doing. ISIS (and indeed all Muslim "extremist" groups) cites the Quran and the words and example of Muhammad to justify every action they take.

Wahhabism (another "intolerant" brand of Islam) is exported all over the world by Saudi Arabia, including in U.S. mosques. Turkey, a supposed ally of the United States, has been rapidly re-Islamizing under Erdogan, converting former churches (including the Great Church of Constantinople, Hagia Sophia) into mosques, and promoting its strain of Islamic intolerance. In supposedly modern, moderate Malaysia, intolerant Muslims riot over and sue Christians over usage of the word "Allah" for God. From Indonesia to Egypt Christians are relentlessly persecuted by intolerant Muslims. The same is true everywhere Islam has spread, including throughout Europe.

Seen in this context, the group's statement, "Those who promote this intolerance must be challenged," borders on being visionary. For if the Western world wakes up to the threat of Islam,  it will realize that all of Islam promotes the intolerance of which the atrocities committed by ISIS and Boko Haram are just the tip of the jihadi iceberg.  

Yet I do wish more Christian leaders would name Islam itself as being the problem. For ultimately, after satan, Muhammad is the one chiefly to blame for the promotion of Islam.  It is a travesty that most Christian leaders — including most Orthodox hierarchs — refuse to state this obvious fact, that Islam, in the towering words of St John of Damascus, who lived and wrote during the formative first century of Islam, is a heresy, and "a forerunner of the Antichrist."

In any case, we thank God for any attention directed to the global phenomenon of Muslim persecution of Christians, and there are many elements of the statement below which strike precisely the right tone, especially the apocalyptic closing line,

To our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, We “share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance.” (Revelation 1:9)

Middle East Church Leaders Agree on Statement

A joint statement by leaders and representatives of the Churches of the Middle East and the wider Christian Church in Britain.

AINA via Pravmir — September 4, 2014

In an unprecedented ecumenical gathering at Lambeth Palace hosted by The Most Revd Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and initiated by His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, a joint statement was agreed by leaders and representatives of the Churches of the Middle East and the wider Christian Church in Britain.

The meeting began with a round table discussion regarding the plight of Christians and minority communities in Iraq, Syria and the wider Middle East.

A joint statement was then agreed, expressing solidarity with, and advocating for, all those who continue to suffer gross violations of the fundamental right and freedom to practice their chosen faith.