Going through some old email to clean out my inbox and came across the following I had to share. This took place in an email exchange between myself, Tom Trento of The United West, David Wood of Answering Muslims, Dr. Bill Warner, and a few others. The following comment came from Dr. Adam Francisco of Concordia University in Irvine, CA. Some time ago, reflecting on the misplaced hope the west seems to have in moderate Islam, Mark Steyn wrote (in National Review) that the most effective strategy against a resurgence of Islam may be the oldest of all--an evangelizing Christianity. Evangelism in the context of an entrenched theological system with a history of responding to Christianity like Islam, in my mind, requires a solid apologetic--one that, as Mr. Trento suggests, is grounded in a solid epistemology. Historic Christianity has this--a confession of faith built on a solid evidential footing (a la John Warwick Montgomery, Gary Habermas, et al). But, in my experience, it seems that much of contemporary Christianity has become epistemically impotent. The same goes for its theology (e.g. see the theological nonsense of The Common Word movement). I dont know if its a result of gulping down postmodern assumptions or merely the proliferation of an anti-intellectualism and fideistic (faith in faith) epistemology, but so much of what passes for Christian witness in public space is an embarrassment--maybe even a betrayal--of the faith. It seems to me--and here Im probably preaching mostly to the choir--that our (the Christians in the bunch) struggle with Islam also requires a struggle to reclaim the soul of Christianity as primarily a confession of what God did in (real) history particularly through Jesus Christ and not some feel-good philosophy or, more formally, what some call moralistic therapeutic deistic philosophy. BACKGROUND The discussion was about how to challenge Islam without fear of being labeled racist or anti-Islam, or Islamophobic. I wrote that we challenge truth claim naturally as part of life. I wrote the following: ------ Perhaps this will help. Whenever I address a group regarding Islam, be it religious or secular, one way I avoid the label of Islam bashing is to approach the particular topic from the standpoint of testing and verifying a truth claim to see if in fact is is true. As human beings we have a built-in ability to use reason, logic, evidence, and rational thinking in order to verify whether something we are told is indeed true. Our daily lives and activities are based on verifiable truth claims: The dog will not survive without food and water; the car needs gas to run; you can drink the tap water; too much time in the sun without protection causes sunburn or worse; the likelihood of being accident prone is proportional to the amount of sleep one gets; and so on. You can use this approach with almost any topic regarding Islam. Example: Muhammad is the standard bearer of behavior for Muslims today, according to Sura 33:21. This is truth claim made by Islam, but is it true? Muhammads life and behavior is dictated by a seventh-century tribal milieu during which he lived. Islam makes the truth claim that Muhammad elevated the dignity and status of women, and today Islam honors and dignifies women. Is this true? I have written much in this regard. For religious audiences: Islam makes the claim that the Quran is the word of God. Is this true? How can we know? What evidence would we expect to find in a book written by an all-knowing God, and does the Quran contain such evidence? Islam makes the claim that Muhammad was a prophet. Is this true? What sort of evidence would one expect to see in Gods prophet, and does Muhammad exhibit such evidence? As I said, you can use this approach with almost any topic. Since we live every day on the basis of verifiable truth claims, why not use the same criteria in evaluating the truth claims of Islam? --------- Tom Trento then replied with the following, which then led to Dr. Franciscos response above. Trento wrote: To add to Joes excellent, street-level presentation of the apologetic methodology known as - hypothesis verificationalism, if you use this approach (and it is bullet-proof, once mastered) you will inevitably need to ask this essential question of your Muslim friend. It will go something like this, Mr. Muslim, help me understand how you determine.truth? Now, your Muslim friend will not quite get it, as the truth-claims of Islam are accepted, a prior, without critical analysis. In fact, it is theologically prohibited to even question Islams claims of truth, but when dealing with second generation Muslims, who do NOT speak Arabic and have some University experience, you will be able to move that persons epistemological basis to a more western framework, thus, actually making some headway!! When you get good at this approach, you can do it in two minutes (or two months) without the Muslim knowing that his life is about to change.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 14:52:37 +0000