24AR29-20
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AR 29:20 - Science vs. Multiculturalism
In this issue:
ISLAM - "how the Qur'an does not teach what Muslim leaders claim"
SCIENCE - efforts to demonstrate the Biden administration's multicultural bona fides
Apologia Report 29:20 (1,661)
June 6, 2024
ISLAM
"Understanding and Answering Islamic Criticisms of the Bible" by Samuel Green (TGC Australia, Feb 15 '24) -- for Islamic leaders who teach Muslims "the most common view is that the Bible has been corrupted and replaced by the Qur'an which has been perfectly preserved. In this article we will look at what the Qur'an says about the Bible, why Islamic leaders teach that the Bible is corrupted, and how we can move forward."
Muhammad's observations of Jewish and Christian scriptures "are a major theme in the Qur'an. He mentions by name the Torah and Gospel (Qur'an 3:3, 5:68, 53:36); the Psalms (4:163, 17:55, 21:105); and in a general way, the 'books of the prophets' ... and the 'Scriptures of Moses.'
"The Qur'an views itself [Qur'an 2:136] as another one of these Scriptures, and says, in a creedal form, that no distinction is to be made between any of them. ...
"The Christian Scriptures are still valid and Christians are commanded: 'Let the people of the Gospel judge by what God has sent down in it' (Qur'an 5:47). Therefore, according to the Qur'an, Muslims are meant to defend the Bible. Why then do Islamic leaders attack it? The answer is because of what the Qur'an claims about the Bible. ...
"Muhammad claimed ... that Jews and Christians can know he is a true prophet because the Qur'an confirms the teaching of the Bible: 'O you People of the Book! Believe in what We have revealed [the Qur'an], confirming what is with you [the Bible]' (Qur'an 4:47).
"The problem is, the Qur'an does not confirm the teaching of the Bible, even in the most general sense...." (Green provides a simple table to outline this.)
"This creates a problem for Islamic leaders: Why does the Qur'an not confirm the Bible as it claims to do?
"The second way that Muhammad appealed to the Bible was by saying it foretold his coming: 'Those who follow the messenger [Muhammad], the prophet of his community, whom they will find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel in their possession. (Qur'an 7:157)'
"However, the Bible does not foretell Muhammad's coming as a true prophet. Again, this is a problem for Islamic leaders.
"Their solution to these two problems is to blame Christians and Jews for changing their Scriptures. Rather than entertain the possibility that Muhammad may be wrong, they instead blame the other - Christians and Jews. This is the fundamental reason why the Islamic world attacks the Bible rather than supporting and defending it as the Qur'an instructs them to do."
How can a Christian respond? First, by denying their accusation. "It is false to say the Bible has been changed and lost its original message. We have ancient copies, ancient translations, and ancient quotes that are used to confirm the text of the Bible. Yes, there are variant readings among these, but with the abundance of evidence, copying errors can be identified. The critical editions of the New Testament list 1438 meaningful variants which works out to be 1% of the text. This is excellent preservation for an ancient document.
"[I]n addition to criticising the preservation of the biblical text, Islamic teachers claim that there is one perfect Qur'an to replace the Bible. But just as their claims about the Bible are false, so too are their claims about the Qur'an. There is no autograph of the Qur'an from Muhammad; instead his companions made various collections. These different collections caused problems and so a standard version was made, and the other collections destroyed. Even today there are ten different authorised Arabic versions of the Qur'an. Most Muslims are unaware of these different Qur'ans, so showing them helps to create a level playing field and to lower their dismissive attitude towards the Bible.
So "show what the Qur'an says about the Bible. Use the ... verses given above to show how the Qur'an does not teach what Muslim leaders claim." <www.tinyurl.com/y6j77xde>
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SCIENCE
"Understanding Team Biden’s Push for ‘Indigenous Knowledge’: The institutions of the West no longer believe in the supposition that the scientific method is the accepted methodology by which to arrive at objective conclusions about the physical world" by Stephen Soukup (American Greatness, Feb 17 '24) -- begins by reviewing the Washington Free Beacon's "fascinating story <www.tinyurl.com/mw3ke2ya> on the Biden administration’s efforts to update the 'scientific guidelines' for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
According to the story, a newly released document <www.tinyurl.com/2b6h7x9v> - a 'draft for public comment' - mandates that 'going forward, agency staff should employ "multiple forms of evidence, such as Indigenous Knowledge," when analyzing data.' The paper continues, noting that 'Indigenous knowledge' posits that native peoples possess hidden wisdom about the workings of the universe' and that all of this is part of the "agency's 'support' for 'equity, justice, and trust."' Last, the Free Beacon reports that 'the proposed guidelines are on track to be finalized this year.'"
Soukup (director, Political Forum Institute; author, The Dictatorship of Woke Capital, <www.tinyurl.com/muxjhedv> considers several possible explanations for such a "shift away from science and to pseudo-scientific superstition, none of which is especially reassuring."
First: "As our society - and the political left in particular - has moved further and further away from its traditional religious foundations, it finds itself increasingly willing to accept almost any substitute. The Enlightenment's destruction of conventional faith has not resulted in the adoption of purely secular and rationalistic thinking, as its philosophies promised, but has rather fostered the disposition to believe almost anything else that can be seen as a safeguard against traditionalism. Being non-Christian or non-European, the incorporation of 'indigenous knowledge' into 'scientific' research satisfies the post-Enlightenment desire to move beyond the traditions of Western Civilization, even as it clearly introduces new and wholly subjective religious beliefs into the process."
Second: This "confirms the observations made by the mid-20th-century political philosopher Eric Voegelin, who posited that much of the contemporary left is 'Gnostic' in its worldview. Gnosticism, both in its ancient heretical form and in its contemporary incarnation, maintains that some people possess secret, hidden wisdom that enables them - and them alone - to chart the path to salvation (temporal salvation in the contemporary version). ...
"In the Gnostic dream world … nonrecognition of reality is the first principle. As a consequence, types of action which in the real world would be considered as morally insane because of the real effects which they have will be considered moral in the dream world because they intended an entirely different effect. The gap between intended and real effect will be imputed not to the Gnostic immorality of ignoring the structure of reality but to the immorality of some other person or society that does not behave as it should behave according to the dream conception of cause and effect."
Third: Soukup sees this as "the contemporary left's philosophical predisposition to find reality itself objectionable.
"For more than a century, the West and its institutions have been overwhelmed by anti-realism, the primary premise of which is that 'truth' and 'reality' are mere constructs that can and should be manipulated to serve broader ends. Whether it's the Pragmatists and their insistence that objective truth is a myth and that the good in the world is defined by what 'works;' the Marxist revisionists and their belief that the masses are dissociated from their true consciousness by the culture and its institutions; the Critical Theorists and their fetishization of Freud and his belief that civilization suppresses the id; the post-modernists and their determination that truth and reality are linguistic concepts created and manipulated by power relationship; or any of the countless offshoots of these epistemologies, the West in the 20th and 21st centuries has been defined by an unwillingness or inability to see, much less accept reality.
"In short, the institutions of the West - academy and government, most notably - no longer believe in, much less care about, the supposition that the scientific method is the accepted methodology by which to arrive at objective conclusions about the physical world. Indeed, it no longer cares about objective conclusions about the physical world at all. For all its self-promotion as 'the party of science,' today's Democratic Party cares less about the objective validity of research conclusions than it does about the manipulation of language and power to mold a version of reality that is inclusive and affirming, hence its 'support for equity, justice, and trust.' ...
"The portion that these three leave unexplained can probably be attributed to good, old-fashioned interest-group pandering. While it is important to recognize and understand the ideological motivations of our thoroughly politicized administrative state, it is also important not to forget the influence wielded over the bureaucracy by partisan interests. As the first Democratic administration in decades to struggle to prove its dedication to and affinity for minority voters, this effort by Team Biden to adopt nontraditional pathways to knowledge is undoubtedly an effort to create a narrative by which it demonstrates its multicultural bona fides." <www.tinyurl.com/u78c7f8d>
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