January 20, 2003
Missionaries plead with stateside Baptists to temper talk on Islam
___By Tony Cartledge
___North Carolina Biblical Recorder
___WAKE FOREST, N.C.--A group of missionaries working through the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board in 10 predominantly Muslim countries has asked Baptists to exercise restraint in making negative comments about Islam and its founder, Mohammed.
___George Braswell, distinguished professor of missions and world religions at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, released their letter after his return from teaching a seminar on Islam at a location in the Middle East.
___More than two dozen missionaries met with Braswell. Most of them have been on the field for almost two years and hope to continue as career missionaries. They currently serve in the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa and South Asia.
Read the full text of the missionaries' letter here.
___Because of security concerns, the missionaries and their exact locations of service cannot be published.
___Negative statements about Islam by high-profile Southern Baptists Jerry Vines, Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham made headlines throughout the Muslim world last year. To express their concern, the missionaries jointly composed a letter and voted unanimously to affirm the letter and ask Braswell to help distribute it in Baptist circles.
___The missionaries write about "an issue that concerns us and our families." They note that comments by Western Christians about Islam and Mohammed are highly publicized on local radio, television and print sources in their places of service.
___Such publicity increases enmity toward Christians and impacts both their work and personal safety, the missionaries said.
___"These types of comments have and can further the already heightened animosity toward Christians, more so toward evangelicals, and even more so toward Baptists," the missionaries said. "We are not sure if you are aware of the ramifications that comments that malign Islam and Mohammed have not only on the message of the gospel but also upon the lives of our families as we are living in the midst of already tense times."
___The missionaries said they have found it more beneficial to focus on sharing Christ in love and concentrating on the message of the gospel with their Muslim friends, rather than speaking in a degrading manner about their religion or prophet.
___They appeal to other Baptists to do the same.
___"We prayerfully ask you, as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, to focus public comments about Muslims on their need for salvation that is found only by faith in Jesus Christ. We encourage you to make comments and to live your lives in a way that will contribute positively toward the preaching of the gospel in the lives of over a billion people who hold the religion of Islam and its prophet dearly."
___Calling upon the example of Christ, the missionaries conclude, "We encourage you all to reach out to the people of Islam in love and in a fashion that is consistent with the life of our Lord Jesus Christ."
___"We are not sure if you are aware of the ramifications that comments that malign Islam and Mohammed have not only on the message of the gospel but also upon the lives of our families as we are living in the midst of already tense times."
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