By Jerry Jackson
(Originally published December 2006) Ever since the 11th of September 2001, we have been told over and again how tolerant the Islamic religion is. We are also told over and over that we must be tolerant of that religion, above all others. But, the Muslim world considers religious tolerance to be a one way street. Take, for example, some news articles that recently came to my attention. Hizb ut-Tahrir and Israel According to the August 29, 2006 issue of The Age, a Melbourne, Australia newspaper, the Islamic group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, held a lecture in Sydney entitled, “Israel is an illegal state that Muslims will never accept.” It seems that during the lecture, Israel was described as an illegal state that must be destroyed. There was a fervor of reaction to this lecture, as there should have been. Hizb ut-Tahrir responded in several ways to this unfavorable publicity: 1) They said that most Muslims thought the same, 2) the media was aiming to intimidate the Muslims by creating fear and hysteria, and 3) the attack against Hizb ut-Tahrir by both media and politicians was hypocritical, because the media and politicians were disregarding the “sacred values of freedom of speech and democracy.” Hizb ut-Tahrir is invoking freedom of speech to justify the unjust statements that were made during their lecture, and in their literature. They demand that we must be tolerant of their intolerant talk. That doesn’t make sense. The next news item makes even less sense. Muslim Vilification According to the August 23, 2006 issue of The Age, and the August 25, 2006 issue of the Herald Sun, the Islamic Council of Victoria has dragged two Pentecostal pastors to court for allegedly vilifying Muslims. They were found guilty by the Victorian and Civil Administrative Tribunal last year, and ordered to never again say these terrible things concerning Islam and to publicly apologize in full-page newspaper advertisements. This case has since been appealed to the Victoria Court of Appeals, and is awaiting a final verdict. The basis for this vilification case was a seminar, newsletter, and article, all from 2002. In the seminar, one of these two men read passages from the Koran in a way that got “a response from the audience at various times in the form of laughter.” The fact that the quotations were true and accurate was no defense for these men, according to Debbie Mortimer, SC, counsel for the Islamic Council of Victoria. She told the Victoria Court of Appeals, “Truth is not a defense, it’s irrelevant to contravention of the Act (Racial and Religious Tolerance Act).” So, her position is that people can be charged and convicted for telling the truth, if it is derogatory of the Muslim faith. The Muslims use the freedom of speech to spread their philosophy and error, but do not want to allow anyone else that same freedom. We should be wise enough to realize this truth. Although these two instances come from the nation of Australia, we cannot hide our heads in the sand, claiming that it could never happen here in the United States. This is what we have to look forward to in a very short time, I fear. We cannot combat this trend by trying to pass pro-Christian laws in our nation, or by ignoring or avoiding people of the Muslim faith. Our task is to reach the world with the Gospel, and that includes every Muslim that draws breath. We must not be intimidated by this trend that we see, but we must be busy, while we still have freedom, in reaching every Muslim that will listen to and receive the Word of Almighty God.
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About Jerry JacksonJerry has been writing for many years now. He has written tracts for several churches, as well as his ministries in Papua New Guinea and in Canada. He has had the opportunity to have many of his articles published in several Independent Baptist periodicals over the years. His main goals are to teach truth and lift up the Saviour. Archives
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