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The Question: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago. What are your memories of that day? What impact did it have on you? How is King relevant to you and to us today?
I vividly remember the day and the shock I felt and the fear I had for what it would do to our country. King remains one of the most significant figures in our history.
Leaving aside John McCain's relationship to televangelist Rod Parsley, whom I've never heard of, there's nothing particularly shocking about calling Islam a false religion. If I were a devout Muslim, I would believe that a Christian who believed in the substitionary atoning death of Christ on the cross and the resurrection, as I do, believed in a false religion.
The Question: Pope Benedict's recent baptism of a well-known Italian Muslim has prompted criticism in much of the Islamic world. Has Benedict done enough to build bridges to Islam?
No one in the Islamic world should bear ill will towards Pope Benedict, especially in regard to the conversion of the Italian Muslim, Magdi Cristiano Allam. From my understanding, Allam didn’t convert because he was wooed over; he had long ago turned against Islam.
The Question: In his speech to U.S. bishops last week, Pope Benedict XVI said: "Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted . . . To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul." Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Pope Benedict couldn't have said it any better. To treat religion as a purely private matter is self-refuting. Christianity as a religion seeks to explain all of life. The term logos, used to describe Jesus, in the original Greek understanding meant all truth that could ever be known.
What Islam Really Says About Violence, Rights and Other Religions
Gomaa, Fadlallah, Mubarak, Khan, Siddiqi, Ellison, others | On Faith
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