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AR 25:38 - What atheism can't deliver
In this issue:
ATHEISM - advancing claims that are neither rationally defensible nor realistic
ISLAM - "the world's largest Muslim organization" seeks to "foster peace"
PENTECOSTALISM - extrabiblical revelation as stumbling block
Apologia Report 25:38 (1,495)
September 23, 2020
ATHEISM
Atheist Overreach: What Atheism Can't Deliver, by Christian Smith [1] (William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame) -- we first took notice of this title <www.bit.ly/2Zv5zfo> thanks to Tim Keller's recommendation. We wanted to add that it addresses popular atheist claims such as "a morality requiring benevolence towards all and universal human rights need not be grounded in religion," "that modern science disproves the existence of God," and that "there is nothing innately religious about human beings." Smith also "takes a look at the evidence and arguments, and explains why we ought to be skeptical of these atheists' claims about morality, science, and human nature. He does not argue that atheism is necessarily wrong, but rather that its advocates are advancing crucial claims that are neither rationally defensible nor realistic. Their committed worldview feeds unhelpful arguments and contributes to the increasing polarization of today's political landscape." The Amazon promo adds: "What makes [Smith's] book stand out from the crowd is that he is writing for the general reader...."
Publishers Weekly (Oct 8 '18) helpfully notes that Smith "specifically targets the naturalism of atheism as a hindrance for supporting universal human rights, as bare evolution would only encourage concern with those closest to an individual (such as family or clan)." [2]
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ISLAM
"Responding to a Fundamental Crisis Within Islam Itself" by Yahya Cholil Staquf, General Secretary of Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) - "the world's largest Muslim organization, <www.bit.ly/3hlY9kI> with over 90 million followers and 14,000 madrasahs" -- proposes that "people of all faiths must work together to prevent the political weaponization of fundamentalist Islam. We should learn from the unique heritage of Muslims on the Indonesian island of Java...." Staquf opposes the "supremacist, ultraconservative interpretation of Islam that has been widely propagated in recent decades by Middle East states, including long-time US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar [perpetuating the] long and tragic history of religious persecution in the Muslim world."
He traces the problem to "specific tenets of orthodox, authoritative Islam and its historic practice, including those portions of fiqh (classical Islamic law, also known as shari'ah) that enjoin Islamic supremacy, encourage enmity toward non-Muslims, and require the establishment of a universal Islamic state, or caliphate." For example, this is seen in "enforcing a wide range of orthodox Islamic tenets that govern the treatment of conquered non-Muslims, or dhimmiyun, as did other Sunni and Shi'ite rulers throughout the Islamic world, with the exception of Nusantara (the Malay Archipelago) and of Java in particular.
"While the Ottoman Caliphate collapsed nearly a century ago, its operational assumptions and the classical corpus of Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh, through which it was governed have remained deeply embedded within Muslim societies. As a result, obsolete and problematic elements of fiqh are still taught by most orthodox Sunni and Shi'ite institutions worldwide as authoritative and correct. These teachings, even when not enshrined in statutory law, nonetheless retain considerable religious authority and social legitimacy among Muslims, forming part of what Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama ... has termed the 'prevailing Muslim mindset.'"
For Staquf, "the competition for power in the Islamic world [among] Iran, Saudi Arabia, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban and Pakistan - cynically manipulate religious sentiment in their struggle to maintain or acquire political, economic and military power, and to destroy their enemies. They do so by drawing upon key elements of classical Islamic law (fiqh)....
"According to the dictates of this legal system, non-Muslims have no rights independent of those granted to them by the Imam, who is responsible for preserving order. In the absence of an Imam, 'infidels' are in danger of losing their protected status. ...
"The truth is that there is a fundamental crisis within Islam itself, and if this crisis is not acknowledged, addressed, and fixed then there can be no future for Christians or any other form of religious plurality in the Middle East. ...
"At the root of all of this we must be straightforward about the reality of the teachings of Jihad, which are the justification for all these acts of violence. Apologists for the history of the last 1,400 years of oppression against Christians will point to the various periods of Muslim tolerance regarding Christians.... It is never, and has never, ever, been a question of equality." And in Iraq, all Christian existence is facing "the point of extinction."
"Far from the Islamic 'heartland' of the ... Middle East, Indonesia has never been a part of any of that region's historic caliphates. This separation has enabled the Nusantara ('East Indies') civilization to develop a spiritual view of Islam that tends to view shari'ah as a set of universal principles that all religions recognize and acknowledge, rather than an inflexible set of rules developed by classical Muslim jurists for running a pre-modern state.
"This unique civilizational heritage enabled Muslims on the island of Java ... to defeat Muslim extremists in the sixteenth century, and restore freedom of religion for all Javanese.... It was this 'civilizational wisdom' that inspired the creation of Indonesia as a multi-religious and pluralistic nation state in 1945 - to transform it into the world's third largest democracy....
"So long as obsolete, medieval tenets within Islamic orthodoxy remain the dominant source of religious authority throughout the Muslim world, Indonesian Islamists will continue to draw power and sustenance from developments in the world at large. ...
"These considerations have led key figures within the NU ... to conclude that it would be impossible to permanently resolve the tension that is inherent between Islamic orthodoxy and NKRI/UUD-45 (the Indonesian nation state and its constitution), so long as we confine our efforts to the domestic, or purely Indonesian, context of the perennial Islamist threat.
"Preserving Indonesia's unique civilizational heritage - which gave birth to NKRI as a multi religious and pluralistic nation-state - requires the successful implementation of a global strategy to develop a new Islamic orthodoxy that reflects the actual circumstances of the modern world in which Muslims must live and practice their faith.
"This global effort, already launched by key elements of the NU ... is not just an inevitable corollary of efforts to defeat Islamist subversion of Indonesia. It is vital to the well-being and preservation of virtually every other nation in the world....
"The spiritual leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama is working to ensure that the world's largest Muslim organization plays its part in this tremendous undertaking, by dismantling and replacing the theology that underlies and animates Islamist violence. In 2019, the NU Central Board published fiqh rulings based on a gathering of nearly 20,000 Muslim religious scholars [the '2019 Munas'] decreed <www.bit.ly/3cpdq3e> that Muslims must obey the laws of any modern nation-state in which they dwell, and affirmed that Muslims have a religious obligation to foster peace....
"A central feature of these 2019 Munas rulings is the abolition of the legal category of infidel (kafir) within Islamic law (fiqh), so that non-Muslims may enjoy full equality...." The Public Discourse, Jul 11 '20, <www.bit.ly/3iibU5j>
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PENTECOSTALISM
"How to View Claims About Dreams and Visions" by Costi W. Hinn <www.bit.ly/3inWWLb> -- advice on approaching challenges to sound doctrine. The example is given of Redding, California's Bethel Church Youth Leader, Seth Dahl, saying <www.bit.ly/3mGVrKx> Jesus asked him for forgiveness.
Other considerations include how to be sensitive to new believers and their experiences; the need to be discerning "because a lot of people make things up," (in which Hinn mentions this experience: "one next-generation family member who is now running with the New Apostolic Reformation told me that we have freedom in Christ to make things up sometimes if it builds people's faith"); and the need to "Be willing to confront glaring inconsistencies with Scripture" while saying "I don't know what you experienced." For the Gospel, Jul 1 '20, <www.bit.ly/3kcFbPA>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Atheist Overreach: What Atheism Can't Deliver, by Christian Smith (Oxford Univ Prs, 2018, hardcover, 168 pages) <www.amzn.to/2szqb9a>
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