Christians have always had much more in common with Jews and Muslims than they’ve ever had with secularists, including segregation and dress codes for worship.
It was mandated in the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Canon 1262 states:
1. It is desirable that, consistent with ancient discipline, women be separated from men in church.
2. Men, in a church or outside a church, while they are assisting at sacred rites, shall be bare-headed, unless the approved mores of the people or peculiar circumstances of things determine otherwise; women, however, shall have a covered head and be modestly dressed, especially when they approach the table of the Lord. [Source: Catholic.com]
Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Islam
Blogging Theology 
I agree with this.
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Instead of arguing for polemical points all day long, Muslims, Christians, should find common ground and work together in defense of common morals and values. However, the few Islamophobes, and pro-zionist fundamentalists and their constant demonization of Muslims acts as a constant barrier to improving relations between the two faiths. I pray for the day when Christians will stop seeing Islam as an enemy, bodeyman, and scapegoat, and start seeing Islam as an strong friend and embrace Muslims as allies in the culture wars. We have much in common that we can build upon.
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Nope. Christians and atheists both believe islam is a cancer on humanity.
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See, there is so much unnecessary fighting on this blog. Yes, Christianity and Islam have similarities and differences. When discussing differences we cannot be dishonest and minimize them but this blog has way too much fighting.
On the Luther post, we were having a good discussion about what extent his writings and teachings may have influenced the holocaust. It was a good discussion where both sides gave points. Someone then threw a cheap shot then the discussion ended and the bomb throwing began. Both sides are guilty. Can’t both religions(and any others) who comment on this blog act with civility?
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Fair point Allan.
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Allan.
Have a look at the comment above. A Muslim blames Christians for any lack of cohesive joining of forces. How do you propose one moves forward when such thinking plagues Islam and the masjid. Paul and Yahya even liked the comment.
Even now in Australia Muslim leaders are calling Christians the enemies because their perception of islamophobia (i.e criticism of Islam)
If working together requires Christians not to critical analyse Islam, then no progress will be made
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Obviously I disagree with much of what he says. He criticized my faith. Fine. He didn’t throw bombs in his post. There is so much bomb throwing on this blog. You should respond with reason. If you just say Christians and atheists agree that its a cancer like achilles did, he’ll never change his views. I even encouraged him to read certain Christian books. I hope that he’s done it.
You said:
“Even now in Australia Muslim leaders are calling Christians the enemies because their perception of islamophobia (i.e criticism of Islam)”
This is such a vague accusation. I have nothing to work with here. If you bring up a specific comment by a certain Muslim, it can be discussed.
“If working together requires Christians not to critical analyse Islam, then no progress will be made”
I never said that we should work together. I didn’t say we shouldn’t either. Ibn Issam suggested that. It’s something we should debate with civility.
Obviously I think we should critically examine Islam. I do this on allanruhl.com all the time. We should also be very careful of the arguments that we use against Islam. I’m also not afraid. Our apologetics is far more advanced than theirs and we beat them on every front. Regardless, they’re not going to be won over with uncivilized and childish behaviour. They’ll just conclude that you’re an ignorant Westerner and be more reassured in their Islamic faith.
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Allan Ruhl, your website is among my favourite ones, nice articles by the way…
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“Our apologetics is far more advanced than theirs and we beat them on every front”
It’s not opposite day Allan. Get your facts straight.
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yahyah
Those are somewhat trite foundations upon which to claim commonality between christianity and islam.
A deeper connection would be to allow christians to enter the masjid and set up crosses for sunday mass – just as some christians have allowed muslims to enter our churches to recite their prayers.
Could we come together on those terms?
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Thank you for the kind words Shaad.
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Allan,
I agree with much of what you said and that there is much unnecessary fighting on this blog, and you are right both sides are guilty.
I am also especially upset as well when I see some Muslim brothers using foul language in their comments, and I would ask them to stop this behavior since there is no need for it, and our Nabi (sws) called on us to discourse “in the best of manners.” Our arguments are more convincing without all the cursing. I pray that the some of Muslims on this site and elsewhere will hold themselves to a higher standard, and try to set a good example for others.
In regard to similarities and differences I too would prefer to discuss in a civil manner. I like the James White/Yasir Qadhi dialogue.
I think we should be clear that there is a difference between honest critique of Islam and flat out Islamophobia. Many of the Christian commenters and talking heads cross the line on a regular basis and never seem to miss an opportunity to unfairly attack and demonize Islam in order to bait Muslims into divisive arguments. Achillies comment above is a good case in point.
You are right, in that “uncivilized and childish behaviour” from Christian commenters is not going to win any Muslim over, and neither are antagonistic attacks, demonization, unfactual, ignorant, and agnotological revisionist arguments, misportrayals, half-truths, fabrications, lies, etc., etc. The only thing these types of arguments are successful in doing is exposing Christianity to being counter-attacked with stronger and more sound Muslim arguments in return.
I know that you are confident in your beliefs and apologetics….But so are we!
It may have been that Christian apologetics was more advance in the colonial period. However, Islamic apologetics have improved greatly and advanced quickly in short period of time. Building on the earlier works of great Da’ees like Ahmed Deedat, and modern Biblical scholarship and NT Historical criticism, Muslim scholars and thinkers have developed very strong, articulate, and sophisticated polemical and apologetical arguments. Islamic apologetics will continue to improve in the future.
If all we do is keep arguing then we will never make progress, and we will be distracted from defending the common causes that we both believe in (morals, values, etc.) Christians have spent over 2000 years unsuccessfully trying to convince and “win over” Jews, and they will be equally unsuccessful with Muslims even if they spend the next 100,000 years trying.
If that is the case, wouldn’t it be better if Christian Missionaries just learned from past mistakes and stopped trying to homogenize and assimilate the world through evangelization? The path to peace begins with respecting one another’s differences, and that includes being respectful of each others religious beliefs, and traditions. That requires Christians to stop seeing Islam as the “enemy” and commit to treating Islam kindly as the sister faith that it is, and according Muslims the respect that they deserve, so that we can all make progress in working together for the common good. If Christians did that I am sure the majority of Muslims world wide would do the same and positively respond in kind with friendship and brotherhood!!
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Joel,
Prophet Muhammad himself invited the Christians of Najran to pray in his own Mosque before meeting with them to engage in dialogue. http://www.acommonword.com/prophet-muhammads-invitation-to-christians-to-pray-in-mosques/
There have also been numerous examples of Muslims inviting Christians to the mosque for interfaith events, prayer, and allowing them to use the mosque as a refuge during natural disasters etc.
Try to give Islam and Muslims a little credit it doesn’t hurt and it lends credibility to your own dialogue. You don’t have to constantly act as if Islam has no redeeming qualities, or as if Muslims never did any good in the world in order to prove your polemical points.
Its not a zero sum game.
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A couple of interesting articles from Catholic publications related to Christian Muslim cooperation:
‘A Common Word’ 10 years on: Christians and Muslims must work together for peace. NCR. https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/common-word-10-years-christians-and-muslims-must-work-together-peace
Resisting Islamophobia is the Catholic thing to do. U.S. Catholic. http://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201709/islamophobia-31154
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Yet, here we are, Christians are now following the atheistic dress code and forgetting about the Biblical dress code, and on top of that they accuse Muslims of oppressing women with the hijab.
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Yet,
Valid points. But I think Yahya’s post was meant to remind that in spite of what is happening today, traditionally speaking, Christians really have more in common with Muslims than with atheists.
Therefore it would be wise for Christians to get back to some of the basics in their religion which are also in common with Islamic values as well, otherwise, the modern nihilistic atheistic secularist ideologies will continue to erode Christian values in the future.
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Not generally
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In my experience this is true having spoken to many muslims and christians of various denominations over the years and it is a good thing to remember what both communities have in common so as to hopefully come together and combat fundamentalists on both sides who would seek to turn one against the other.
But it is also important to point out as Ibn Issam has done already that this peaceful coexistence and cooperation is a reality in the ‘real world’. I myself have been known imams and sheikhs who have opened the doors of the mosque to people of all religions and none for interefaith gatherings, one including the birthday of muhammad when a priest from the local church and a rabbi spoke about muhammad and it was a very pleasant exchange of mutual respect for him.
For my own part even though i am not religious myself i can think of a good number of things that i admire about both muhammad and jesus such as muhammads’ commitment to helping the poor and the uplifting of women, combatting slavery, racism, and social hierarchy. Jesus with his teaching of mercy to those society had rejected as ‘unclean’, a critic of the established leadership when they were twisting their own religion to support their prejudices, and most importantly emphasizing compassion, mercy, and love toward all not just ones own community.
Values that these great men both taught are, i feel, are the solutions to these problems.
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Good comment and agreed. I think that when we get wrapped up in debate and argument on this blog (and elsewhere) we get entrenched in our positions, and we forget about the commonalities, and the positive things that are in each of our respective religions and the teachings of our Prophets that can and should bring us together in friendship. I would much rather engage in friendly dialogue, interfaith work, and cooperation rather than constantly bickering back and forth, just to score points.
I enjoy this blog and seeing different perspectives, and learning new things, but the fighting does get out of hand at times.
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“Jesus with his teaching of mercy to those society had rejected as ‘unclean’,…”
are you referring to ill and disabled people ? we see ill and disabled in the synagogue luke 13: 10-17
luke 6-1-6, luke 4:33-36 all in synaguge
these people were not ejected from the jewish community. jewish people did not reject these people .
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Mr. Heathcliff,
Thanks for the clarification. I think Patrobin was just making a general point about the positive teachings of both Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad.
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Mr Heathcliff
I was simply trying to say that both Islam and Christianity contain positive teachings that can inspire us all to treat each other with respect even when we disagree on theology.
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Indeed this is very true. However, in this very point the hypocrisy of christians reaches at its zenith.
Most of christians’ accusations agianst Islam if they are not all are just aimed from a secular perspective while these accusations can be found easily in the bible and the history of christianity. This indicates that christian missionaries are so desperate, and they are not the true match to the powerful message of Islam. Therefore, they have adopted this very stupid strategy. The goal of christian missionaries seemingly is just to expel muslims from the circle of Islam not to get muslims embrace christianity.
If I’m not mistaken as I’ve heard that the American missionary, Samuel Zwemer, was from this type. Also, the clown and his team are from this type. Also, many individuals in paltalk debates with atheists, we discover that the opponent is a christian one not an atheist. Nevertheless, this just shows how weak christians are. It’s very shameful from their side.
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Abdullah1423,
I agree in that it would seem to behoove Christians to recognize that most of the accusations they make against Islam can also be made against the Bible and Christianity, therefore it would make sense to refrain from such attacks, as they will boomerang and end up damaging Christian faith as well. It is truly a desperate strategy.
I think that the goal of many Christian Missionaries is not to expel Muslims from Islam, nor is it really to convert them but the goal is to simply tear down Islam as a valid religion in order to eliminate the #1 rival competitor religion in the world.
Christianity has been utterly decimated by NT Historical Criticism and many traditional Christians are leaving the religion in droves (look at Europe).
In order for Christianity to maintain its image as a valid religious option, it is forced to try and level the playing ground by attacking other religions and dragging them down to the same debased level as Christianity now occupies.
However this is not easy to do as not all religions developed in the same way that Christianity did, and this is especially true of Fortress Islam which is built upon strong foundations and which will weather any storm that its enemies can throw at it!!!!
What Christians today need to understand is that the threat to Christianity is not an external threat from Islam, it is an internal threat from the New Apostolic Reformation which is growing day by day and seeks to reshape Christianity by eliminating all other denominations and sects and reinterpreting traditional doctrines or introducing new innovated unorthodoxies. Of course the other real threat to Christianity is atheistic messianism and modern nihilistic ideologies.
So while Christians are busy fighting against the Islamic bogey man, their real enemies are quietly working undercover from the inside to destroy traditional Christianity as we know it.
Again these are all good reasons for Christians to drop their foolish preoccupation with attacking Islam, and start working in cooperation with Muslims to defend the traditional beliefs, values and commonalities of BOTH faiths.
If Muslims and Christians were united in purpose, and working for the same good and holy causes they would be an unstoppable force. It is plain to see why the opponents of both faiths would prefer to keep and maintain the divisive status quo.
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After all these comments there is still not a single person who has put any of the *blame* onto Muslims or Islam. I use that word for lack of a better term.
If Muslims consistently blame Christians, how can you honestly expect to work together in the culture wars?
You can’t tell me that this phenomenon has nothing to do with the teaching inside the masjid?
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I clearly stated in my comment to Allan that I agreed “both sides are guilty” if adding the word “blame” makes you feel happier then – fine. There is plenty of blame to go around.
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Exactly, both sides are guilty…
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