Islam stops at the church door

{clip} … Church leaders have decided there is no place for the call to prayer, known as The Adhan, in St Paul’s Church in Paraparaumu.

But though The Adhan cannot be sung, “in a spirit of generosity and reconciliation” a recording of it will be played in the church foyer to cover the choir’s silence.

The 110 members of the combined Kapiti Chorale and Kapiti Chamber Choir are scheduled to perform The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace in the church this weekend.

The composition also includes texts from the Koran and the Hindu Mahabharata, but the church has not asked for them to banned.

Archdeacon Perris said:
“For some people the idea that another faith’s statement of belief be proclaimed inside a consecrated Christian church building is offensive. Other people hold totally opposite views. We could not ignore people coming to us, including choir members, voicing concern that it was contrary to their beliefs that a declaration of Islamic faith should be proclaimed inside our sacred space.”

Mohammad Amir, Wellington Muslim community religious adviser said:
“The nature of The Adhan is that the music does not go with it.”
… but that there was no reason The Adhan could not be performed inside an Anglican church - just that it was inappropriate for it to be accompanied by music.

I don’t feel entirely comfortable about having other religions creep into Church this way. I really do wonder why the Church should be using texts from other religions. There are plenty in Scripture to cover every situation that I can imagine.
But then, what about secular texts such as inspirational poetry? Some of that is very Christian in flavour.
Oh, and some of those hymns that get sung do have rather dubious words: “And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God on England’s pleasant pastures seen? …” (Hymn #578, BCP - “Jerusalem“)
Why allow heterodox hymns and maybe not orthodox poems? It is all just a little tricky, I guess.

I am glad that Archdeacon Perris took a stand. Knowing what I do about Islam, I think I would have taken an even stronger stand. Rather than confuse the Islamic Allah with our triune God, I would prefer to have the Adhan reserved for use in mosques where the call to prayer to Allah is not confused with prayer to Our Father God. Allah and the Judeo-Christian God are definitely not one-and-the-same, their characters being entirely different in too many respects.

Mr Amir can speak only for Islam when he says that the Adhan can be performed inside an Anglican Church - and I am perfectly happy to trust that was all he intended by his words. The Church of England needs to make the ruling on that, and I have no idea if it has or not, or what such a ruling would be. I hope such a ruling would support the decision made by Archdeacon Perris, but knowing the strong liberal voice undermining Christianity in the Church of England at present, I could not be at all confident of that.

Taking a break from the serious stuff for a few moments… (although my quilting friends are bound to take issue with that, quiltmaking being very serious stuff of course!)

Back in March I mentioned I was making a Grandmother’s Garden Quilt. It wasn’t going to be the usual kind of Grandmother’s Garden quilt, but something a little different based on the quilt featured on the cover of a quilt book by Jaynette Huff and published in 2005 by Martingale & Company, USA. It was going to take 750 fabric-covered paper hexagons and I had managed to get a whole 63 of them already done.

Well, here I am reporting in again with some progress. Since then I have done another 266. And there they are, all 329 of them spilled out into a pile on the floor for you to see. That is an average of around 5½ a night between then and now. I do think I had better get cracking and improve my nightly rate. That should surely be possible with the calibre of national TV here at present. Nothing worthwhile watching does mean I can pay better attention to what I am doing.

The words on the memorial above read as follows:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives — You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehemets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours — you, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

~ ATATURK, 1934

These are the words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 - 1938), the Founder of the Turkish Republic and its first President, on the Ari Burnu Memorial, Gallipoli. It was this same man, Lt-Col (later Colonel) Mustafa Kemal Bey (Ataturk), who commanded the Turkish forces pitted against the ANZAC troops on the Gallipoli Peninsular in 1915.

April 25 is known as ANZAC Day. This year it is the 91st anniversary of the landing of the Anzacs on the beaches of Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsular, 25 April 1915.

ANZAC is the acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the formation created in December 1914 by grouping the Australian Imperial Force and New Zealand Expeditionary Force stationed in Egypt under the command of Lieutenant-General William Birdwood. Initially the term ‘Australasian Corps’ had been mooted for this force, but Australians and New Zealanders were reluctant to lose their separate identities completely.

The Significance of Anzac Day

On 25 April 1915, eight months into the First World War, Allied soldiers landed on the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula. This was Turkish territory that formed part of Germany’s ally, the Ottoman Empire. The troops were there as part of a plan to open the Dardanelles Strait to the Allied fleets, allowing them to threaten the Ottoman capital Constantinople (now Istanbul) and, it was hoped, force a Turkish surrender. The Allied forces encountered unexpectedly strong resistance from the Turks, and both sides suffered enormous loss of life.

The forces from New Zealand and Australia, fighting as part of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), played an important part in the Gallipoli campaign. At its beginning, people at home greeted with excitement the news that our soldiers were at last fully engaged in the war. New Zealand soldiers distinguished themselves with their courage and skill, establishing an enduring bond with the Australians they fought alongside.

The Gallipoli campaign was, however, a costly failure for the Allies, who after nine months abandoned it and evacuated their surviving troops. Almost a third of the New Zealanders taking part had been killed; the communities they came from had counted the cost in the lengthy casualty lists that appeared in their newspapers. And the sacrifice seemed to have been in vain, for the under-resourced and poorly-conducted campaign did not have any significant influence on the outcome of the war.

Although Anzac Day, the anniversary of the first day of conflict, does not mark a military triumph, it does remind us of a very important episode in New Zealand’s history. Great suffering was caused to a small country by the loss of so many of its young men. But the Gallipoli campaign showcased attitudes and attributes - bravery, tenacity, practicality, ingenuity, loyalty to King and comrades - that helped New Zealand define itself as a nation, even as it fought unquestioningly on the other side of the world in the name of the British Empire.

After Gallipoli, New Zealand had a greater confidence in its distinct identity, and a greater pride in the international contribution it could make. And the mutual respect earned during the fighting formed the basis of the close ties with Australia that continue today.

Over recent years there has been increasing interest shown by New Zealanders generally in the observance of ANZAC Day with Dawn Parades and commemorative services held at cenotaphs around the country. Many of us would like this day to replace Waitangi Day (NZ Day) to become our National Day, and it would be very fitting for it to become so, being the day in history where we were left alone by “Mother England” to cope the best we could with the botched decisions made back in Whitehall - the day we trace back to our coming of age as a nation that stood on its own feet, stood the ground, and stood with courage under terrible odds. I personally would like to see that happen.

Previous ANZAC Day entries to Judah’s Journal

Back in 1924 George Gershwin was asked to compose a jazz concerto for a Paul Whiteman concert just a few months before it was due to happen. He had never written a full score before, only tunes which other people then arranged for the orchestra. He was unconvinced that he had much to contribute. But Whiteman offered the services of his own arranger, Ferde Grofe, to help out with the orchestration, and so Gershwin agreed. He wrote down a few tunes then put the drafts to one side while he worked on other music. Just five weeks before the concert, a friend pointed out an advertisement in the newspaper - the concert in which Gershwin’s (er, as yet unwritten) jazz concerto was to feature. Talk about leaving it all to the last minute! Gershwin started writing rapidly, and so did Grofe who had the orchestration finished by 4 February. The concert was on 12 February, and with Gershwin himself playing the piano solo part - well, he had not actually written it all down and was still needing to make some of it up on the night (the price of procrastination!) - his spectacular Rhapsody in Blue was born.

Yet a little longer ago, back in the autumn of 1874, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (then aged 34) wrote his very first piano concerto. Since he hadn’t written one before he sought the advice of his friend Nikolai Rubinstein. Tchaikovsky sat down at his piano and played. What happened next was staggering. Rubinstein rubbished it. He called it “worthless, unplayable … passages were trite and awkward … as a composition it was bad and tawdry … only two or three pages could be retained, the rest would have to be completely revised”. Tchaikovsky was livid, speechless with fury, and so refused to change one single note of it - and thank goodness for that! It is now considered one of the greats of all time.

Last month our NZ Symphony Orchestra performed Gershwin with amazing pianist Kevin Cole at the keys. One could be forgiven for believing in reincarnation (although I actually don’t myself) as performance-wise this American pianist is a true George Gershwin clone. He was marvellous, being as the music was, roguish and cheeky, dreamy and thoughtful, funny and jolly, romantic and passionate, lively and teasing… he was all of those things, his facial expressions playing the part as much as his hands on the keyboard. And this month the Paris-resident Irishman, Barry Douglas, delivered the great concerto initially rubbished by Rubinstein in a rousing performance full of energy and thrills. However, methinks that Steinway Grand will need a right re-tuning before it is rolled out into centre-stage for the next performance whenever. Barry Douglas and Kevin Cole, like Gershwin and Tchaikovsky before them, are both pianists extraordinary.

But a word here about conductors as well. Estonian native, Olari Elts, has lots of talent - no doubt about that. He just seemed to be rather stiff down the centreline, as though his jacket was made of cardboard or excessively starched (but you don’t starch jackets, do you?) and the collar far too high. I was a little worried that he might topple domino-fashion if he tried to bend at all. But it was Yan Pascal Tortelier (ex BBC Philharmonic) who got the ovation for most entertaining conductor. He was magnificent, such an energetic soul and getting a real work-out up there on the podium. I was terrified he would step back a little too far and dance right off the stage, into the lap of the lady two seats in front of me. But by the end of a rather dreadful piece of music by an entirely different composer who should remain nameless (albeit played so well by our world class orchestra) he had so many of us laughing - including the orchestra players as well. There was a standing ovation for his antics. When he tried to pass the compliment on to the orchestra instead, our young Finnish concert master (who was laughing as well) took him by the hand and drew him to the front of the stage to take the bow for himself. Conductors can be such great performers in their own right at times. Now all that remains is to get them actually saying “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen” (or anything really) just as a polite way to start the show. So few of them speak, but I am quite sure that they can - and if only they would. **Sigh**

Oh yes, and this is my second go at writing the above. The first go was infinitely better - quite poetical, in fact. But guess what happened? Yes, you guessed. I clicked on “Save and Continue Editing” and the whole thing went away and demanded that I log in all over again! The back button did not help one bit. Somewhere between “Click and Continue Editing” and the back button, my words had been eaten. Well, I hope that geeky leprechuan has very poetical hiccoughs as a result of all that, but I guess it was a repeat lesson in the value of doing a copy-and-paste from Notepad instead.

Back again soon, very soon, most probably Tuesday (it being a special day for Kiwis).

Reading the Letters to the Editor of Wellington’s “Dominion Post” daily newspaper I am noticing an interesting phenomenon. On the subject of Islam, those letters signed by an Islamic sounding name are all for promoting the false idea that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, whereas those letters signed by European sounding names are refuting such nonsense and pointing out the reality instead. The latter have generally become better informed than those whom one would hope might know a little more about the religion they supposedly practice. It is hugely disappointing that Muslims do not acknowledge what is written in their Qur’ans and stop treating the rest of us as ignoramuses. It is very obvious to most that all through history Islam has had bloody borders, and that today terrorism is still delivered largely by Muslim hands. If anyone has any doubts about that and would like to make some comparisons, then check out the bald facts presented by the Islam: The Religion of Peace website.

However, it is apparently not obvious to everyone yet, especially our leaders, as the letter I read in yesterday’s newspaper, signed by someone with an Islamic sounding name, quoted none other than Tony Blair from an interview with Newsweek back in December 2001. Back then Mr Blair is quoted as saying “True Islam is immensely tolerant and open. Fundamentalism in Islam is no different from the Protestants who go on the streets of Belfast and shoot a Catholic, any Catholic. We’ve all had our fundamentalists.” Of course some water has flowed under the bridge since then, and the Protestants and Catholics have stopped shooting each other in Belfast, but nothing has changed regarding what is written in the Qur’an about slaughtering infidels to further the agenda of Islamic domination and universal global submission to Allah. We have since been told that Mr Blair has a copy of the Qur’an for bedtime reading, and that he has read it cover-to-cover twice over now. What is not quite so well known is that reading the Qur’an from cover-to-cover can leave you very uninformed about Islam unless you also know the chronological order in which Qur’anic surahs (chapters) were written and therefore which ones will negate contradictory earlier ones. The surahs of the Qur’an are not presented chronologically but in order of their relative lengths instead. Mr Blair has so far given no indication at all that he understands that fact, nor the results of applying that fact (nasikh - the abrogation of earlier surahs by contradictory later ones) in order to correctly understand the message of Islam.

The letter also quoted US President George W. Bush as saying: “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.” This apparently comes from somewhere on the official White House website. Clearly Mr Bush has not been properly informed either - or else he is engaging in a little taqiyya of his own - either diplomacy, cunning or outright cowardly appeasement.

The letter finishes with it’s final sentence as follows: “Anybody who doubts the integrity of Islam shouldn’t prove their own intolerance by judging something they don’t understand.”

Oh boy, now that is rich! It just so happens that maybe we who “doubt the integrity of Islam” have extremely good reason to do so, and that not only the word “intolerance” is used here according to the postmodern language revisionist’s devious definition of it’s meaning, but that we also understand far more than the writer is prepared to acknowledge. We understand the writer either does not know his own religion, or if he does, that he doesn’t want us to understand it truthfully either.

This past weekend in New Zealand we have been blighted with reduced trading hours - nothing happening on Friday, nothing happening on Sunday. It is all a bit of a pest for those who really wanted to go shopping on Friday and Sunday, and since we are a secular society, why inflict the observance of Christian holy days upon everyone in this manner? Well, I personally am not for inflicting Christian holy days upon any unbeliever, no more so than I wish to observe Ramadan, not being a Muslim. However, I do find it interesting that many unbelievers still expect to have those days off from work as paid holidays regardless, or if worked then paid double time with a day in lieu - a bit like wanting to have your cake and eat it? Well, I guess that is only human after all.

Lots of things are only human. I thought for quite a long time that most folks were basically good and decent types, and on the surface most of them still look that way. But there is good news and bad news about folks being only human.

The good news is that most of us actually are quite decent types, pretty much honest and reliable, caring, friendly and generally law-abiding. We mow our lawns, tidy our houses sometimes, sympathize with someone having a hard time, donate to charity, and try not to let the wind blow the supermarket trolley into other cars in the car park. We don’t tell big lies (well, try not to) and only little white ones occasionally, and don’t like to hurt people’s feelings if we can help it. Mostly we are not too bad - on the whole.

The bad news is that, as much as we might sometimes like to think of ourselves this way, we are not (strictly speaking) all that good either. Very few in their most honest moments would dare to swear they are perfect. Not many at all would consider themselves to be holy - maybe possibly “self righteous” occasionally, but not in all honesty actually righteous. Afterall, it is not humanly possible to be anything like that - not really, not when you accept that humans are fallible and sometimes do wrong things. So the bad news is that we fall short of being holy and righteous, or at least the epitome of whatever that is.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

More bad news… Although it is not very popular to think of God this way, it is He who is the epitome of what is holy and righteous. Most folks are more comfortable with the idea that God is Love, and some even go as far as thinking that His unconditional love for us means that He doesn’t really mind very much if we are not quite as good as we ought to be. It is common thinking that God will overlook those little sins, the ones that make us only human but not really all that bad, and everything will be just fine regardless. This is where the bad news comes in… God doesn’t overlook anything. There is a bit of a problem. Certain things just don’t go together.

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

At some point in a person’s life, they get to make a choice. Even putting off making that choice is still making one regardless. You can not sit on the fence on this one. The choice is basically to walk in the light, or to walk in the darkness. There is no twilight in this analogy. It might be a bit more comfortable if there was, but ultimately you have to choose one thing or the other - no fence-sitting allowed.

This Easter weekend I couldn’t help thinking a lot about Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ movie. I guess those are appropriate thoughts given that Good Friday is all about remembering what happened to Jesus a couple or so decades short of 2000 years ago. That movie was terrible - it was both excellent and terrible at the very same time. I guess I had been taught the “sanitized version” from Sunday School onwards, probably because nobody really wanted to give little kids nightmares - and in a way that is quite understandable. But the sanitized version (which doesn’t have much blood showing, and you don’t feel the pain) goes nowhere near like the real thing, and the real thing is most certainly shocking and terrible. There are times that it is good to get shocked - when it brings you to your senses, helps you to appreciate the real message and so respond more appropriately to it.

There are lots of messages concerning Easter - the gen on what it is all about. To me it is pivotal to what Christianity is all about, what God is all about, and what our relationship to Him is all about. To exist and walk in the light of God, to have a restored relationship with Him (who does not overlook sin), and to become spiritually alive, we are entirely dependent upon His grace - His gift to us of new life in Him.

And here is the Good News from Golgotha…

John 3: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Lots of folk these days will scoff that the resurrection of Christ did not take place, that people just do not “rise from the dead” (or else they could not truly have been dead in the first place). It is interesting that many of the arguments against this event taking place are less credible - less logical and rational - than those supporting the account of events in Holy Scripture. Rather than get into the arguments here right now, for those who are interested there is some good reading to be found in Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ. One thing that always amazes me - that people who are only human can assert that God, the One who created the universe by His word, doesn’t have the supernatural abilities required to resurrect a dead Jesus. What makes far more sense to me is that indeed He does, and that it all works together exactly in the way that Christians have believed ever since the very first Easter weekend.

John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

2 Corinthians 5: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5: 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin [a sin offering] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

A new Category has been added to the left-hand side bar for Book Reviews. At the moment just one book is reviewed there, but I hope to add more in future.

The first book to be reviewed is one that I believe everybody should read. No, it is not the Bible but it does contain some very important information for this day and age. It is about the dawning of a new age, a dark age, one that is threatening to become worryingly real should we not do something to prevent this reversal of our enlightenment. But enough of an introduction. If you are intrigued at all, hop over there to the left, click on “Book Reviews” and all will be revealed.