Alternative Culture: 2023 Gaza-Israel War and the responses of Christian organisations

Rockets fired from Gaza, photograph taken 7 October

Recently, Israel experienced wide-scale attacks from the neighbouring territory of Gaza. Led by the Islamic Palestinian organisation Hamas, the attackers launched operations over land, sea and air. As of 8 October 2023, about 600 Israelis have been killed and thousands wounded.

In response, Israel described this as a "war", and bombed Gaza after warning of a revenge strike,. This retaliation killed abut 370 people.

In this post, I want to briefly summarised how Christian organisations have responded in this crisis.

Responses from Christians
As with any wars, there is a tendency to be partitioned in the support. Certain Christian organisations, like Christianity Today is explicit in its support for Israel. This is unsurprising as there are calls by Muslim leaders to support Hamas based on religious brotherhood alone.

Nevertheless, majority of the Christians I see are praying for a quick end to the bloodshed, with most condemning the killing of innocents. Both the Pope and the Latin Patriarch of Jersualem (Roman Catholic leader of Jerusalem) called for descalation. The Patriarch's official statement is here.

The Archbishops of York and Canterbury have called for restraint and a quick path to peace. The Lutheran World Federation also called for international efforts for a swift ceasefire.

Despite differing attitudes with regards to the methods of peace, it is obvious that we should desire a peaceful outcome. As Jesus said,

Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.  -- Matthew 5: 7-9

With due respect: Nabeel Qureshi is not a good example of a convert

Recently, the Christian blog Pulpit and Pen criticised Christian convert Nabeel Qureshi, joining the chorus of several religious commenters. Their issues concerned the legitimacy of his conversion and whether he was truly Muslim in the first place.

While I do not know Nabeel personally, I have followed the news of his ministry from 2008. I feel compelled to write something in his defence before others continue to slander him. So let me deal with the unfair criticism.

1) Nabeel's contradictions in his conversion story

In Nabeel's conversion story, he had dreamt of a banquet hosted by Jesus that he was not allowed enter. This was one of his more potent dreams as his friend David stopped him from entering the banquet.

What was this major contradiction? In some of the stories, David was standing while in others, David was sitting.

Firstly, the whole point of the story was that Nabeel was disallowed from entering the banquet, rather than David's stance.

Secondly, a simple check of Nabeel's stories reveals that in most versions of the story, David was sitting. Nabeel's simple slip should not make us judge his character.

2) Nabeel was never really a Muslim

Nabeel never hid the fact that he was an Ahmadi Muslim. While Ahmadis are regarded as heretics by orthodox Muslims and are persecuted in some countries, Ahmadis do see themselves as Muslims. So naturally, Nabeel would introduce himself as an ex-Muslim, rather than an ex-Ahmadi as the differences would be too pedantic for most listeners.


So Nabeel was not being deceptive as introduce himself as an ex-Muslim, even if one feels that Ahmadis are not Muslims.

3) Nabeel should not participate at a conference (Together 2016)where "enemies of the cross" are also speaking

Well, I would also jump at a chance to preach the gospel even if someone invited me to speak at an atheist conference. At Together 2016, there were famous Christians like Francis Chan, Ravi Zacharias and Louie Giglio. They are hardly the sort one would call heretic Christians.

That said, we cannot expect everyone at a conference to agree with everything we are saying.


Conclusion
Pulpit and pen's editor Seth Dunn was being unfair in his judgement of Nabeel. He did apologise somewhat, but stuck to his general opinions.


For further references

Alternative culture: How theology infuenced ISIS

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, is a terrorist organisation which currently controls some Iraqi, Lebanese and Syrian territories. Claiming to be a Caliphate (a successor kingdom to the one Prophet Muhammad established), ISIS urges all Sunni Muslims to fight the decadent West and recognise its statehood.

ISIS has also claimed responsiblity for the 2015 Paris attacks and 2016 Brussels bombings.

In this post I will be exploring why the theology of ISIS is so attractive to potential recruits.

Why they are convincing
The temptation is to brush off the members of ISIS as gullible fools who were mislead into following a misguided form of a religion. Yet we have educated professionals signing up to ISIS to serve as doctors, military strategists and computer engineers. Why?

To a secular audience it may sound weird, but true religion is not just hobby people share with friends. To a true religious person, God is the most important thing in their lives. ISIS uses this fact well in its recruitment.

If all that is needed to be justified before God and enter paradise is to die for him, then ISIS is the most logical and safest bet for eternity. In the course of life, it is inevitable that one feels guilt on all the mistakes one has done in his or her life. Yet in final judgement, if God brings up one's sins, one could tell God that "I died for you", and therefore is worthy of paradise.

In the light of Christianity
However in Christianity, one could not use that reasoning. Even if we were to give our lives in following God, we do not change the fact that God (in the manhood of Jesus) had died for us. Our only hope is that God would reveal Himself to us in such a way that He chose us.

Conclusion
Any level-headed analysis of any movement must take into the account its theology.

For more information
ISIS