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.