London church criticised for holding Muslim prayers
I’m going to see the positive points in this, and focus not on the silly ‘liberal’ priest who organised the prayer (and I have some sympathy for Dr Amina Wadud who has suffered herself in her attempts to lead in her own faith) but on the many and varied criticism of that is coming from within the Church of England and other denominations.
From Christianity Today and the Telegraph
A church in London has come under fire after holding Friday prayers for Muslims last week.
St John’s Waterloo held the event in partnership with the Inclusive Mosque Initiative. There are accusations that it violated canon law regarding only using authorised worship and Rev Giles Goddard, vicar of the church in Southwark, has been criticised for his closing prayers, which appeared to equate the Christian God with Allah. Do I detect that the writer at Christianity Today realises that Allah, the moon god of the ancient Arabs, one of many worshiped by them at Mecca, is not the same as our Creator?
Dozens of Muslims took part in the “Inclusive Mosque” event at St John’s church, Waterloo in central London, in what is thought to have been the first time a full Islamic prayer service has been held within the Church of England. During the service a traditional call to prayer was issued by a man before the main worship was led by a Muslim woman, Dr Amina Wadud.
The vicar, the Rev Canon Giles Goddard, a prominent liberal cleric, joined in the event, reading a passage from the Bible and inviting the congregation to give thanks to “the God that we love, Allah”.
But evangelical clerics were angered by the service which they said marked a breach with canon law which forbids any variation from the official liturgy if it contains “any departure from, the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter”.
It was also “offensive” to Christians being persecuted for their faith around the world, they said.
Canon Goddard was approached by a group called the Inclusive Mosque Initiative, which allows both women and men to lead worship, to host the event to mark International Women’s Day.
“I said ‘yes, of course, come’ not realising that this would be controversial,” he said. “We are offering a place for people to pray so it made absolutely perfect sense … we should be offering places to pray, we are the Church of England.”
He rejected claims it was a breach of canon law as the event was not officially a Church of England service.
“They could have gone to a community centre I suppose, but they loved being in a church, (I bet they did – space once islamic is forever islamic) they were just really pleased and delighted to have the welcome and it was very moving really,” he said.
Taken from youtube. As you can see the orientation towards Mecca takes them away from the altar and that nasty cross.
The Rev Stephen Kuhrt, Vicar of Christ Church, New Malden, south west London, said: “I am appalled by Islamophobia and when people whip up an anti-Muslim frenzy but the vicar of St John’s Waterloo has done something that is completely illegal, which is to allow an Islamic service to be held in his church and then he has participated as well. It is no way to handle the complex issue of how to relate to Muslims to hold an Islamic service [in a church] – that would never happen in a Mosque.”
The Rev Robin Weekes, minister of Emmanuel Church in Wimbledon, and a former missionary said: “The issue is not primarily that canon law has been broken, which it has, but that it is offensive to Christians who believe that there is only one God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is especially offensive to those who are being persecuted around the world for their faith in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.”
This, and the criticism gives me hope.