Islam and Christianity are under threat (2021-10-20) #

0:00:03 should god come first
0:00:05 well this is a good question actually
0:00:07 and christians and muslims are facing
0:00:10 this question of full on now and i want
0:00:13 to explain why first by reading some
0:00:15 words of
0:00:16 a london islamic scholar sir abu elia
0:00:21 who's written just written a really good
0:00:23 brief article which i want to share with
0:00:25 you and then i want to come to the
0:00:28 trials and tribulations of christian
0:00:30 leaders
0:00:31 in britain and the problems and issues
0:00:34 are pretty much the same in my view so
0:00:36 coming back to the muslim uh comment
0:00:39 first
0:00:40 he writes this is uh circular abu elio
0:00:42 writes recently be a god pleaser not a
0:00:46 praise chaser
0:00:48 being worried of what others think is a
0:00:50 blank check for mental torture or
0:00:53 torment
0:00:55 a man's reputation said john milton he's
0:00:58 a an english poet is what other people
0:01:01 think of him
0:01:02 his character is what he really is this
0:01:05 distinction there
0:01:07 it's natural to want acceptance no one
0:01:09 likes being thought ill of but it is
0:01:12 simply not possible to please everyone
0:01:15 to be liked by everyone all the time
0:01:19 someone will think something negative
0:01:21 about you and there's nothing that can
0:01:23 be done about it he writes very true
0:01:25 that's very true today more than ever
0:01:28 before too many people spend too much
0:01:30 time living under the tyranny of what
0:01:33 people think and nowhere is this more so
0:01:36 the case than on social media
0:01:39 our current narcissistic
0:01:41 selfie culture and online approval
0:01:44 seeking have significantly contributed
0:01:47 especially in the young to mass anxiety
0:01:50 and a mental health crisis is very sad
0:01:52 what he's writing sadly huge levels of
0:01:55 angst are being nurtured as people
0:01:58 anxiously anticipate crave or obsess
0:02:01 over the instagram facebook or twitter
0:02:04 likes or the lack of on their latest
0:02:07 picture post or tweet
0:02:09 throughout history people have invented
0:02:11 various ways to gauge personal approval
0:02:14 or demonstrate their social standing but
0:02:17 none have been as potent as the social
0:02:20 media like button
0:02:22 it comes however at a huge collective
0:02:24 cost
0:02:26 currently there's a form of approval
0:02:28 seeking that specifically impacts us
0:02:31 muslims
0:02:32 and this this is where the writer really
0:02:35 gets to the heart of the matter here and
0:02:36 this is where
0:02:37 christians also and other traditional
0:02:39 faith communities
0:02:41 have a problem
0:02:42 the need to fit in and find acceptance
0:02:45 in the western liberal democracies
0:02:47 wherein we live and which most of us
0:02:50 consider home
0:02:52 if the discussion about us isn't about
0:02:55 terrorism then it's usually about the
0:02:57 question of integration and whether our
0:02:59 growing numbers will weaken national
0:03:01 identity
0:03:02 the prime concern being the extent to
0:03:04 which muslims and their socially
0:03:07 conservative religious values fit into
0:03:10 an increasingly unsympathetic and
0:03:13 xenophobic xenophobic liberal society
0:03:17 this is very true
0:03:20 that and then he says the desire to fit
0:03:22 in and find acceptance can be
0:03:24 very powerful indeed and this is
0:03:28 uh for me it's a really under
0:03:30 underestimated fact actually the
0:03:33 collective pressure
0:03:34 to fit in and not to rock the boat not
0:03:38 to think outside of the box not to say
0:03:39 anything socially unacceptable
0:03:42 and he continues as demands for islam to
0:03:45 reform intensify so do the temptations
0:03:49 to water down its less palatable sacred
0:03:53 norms so as to appease the monoculture
0:03:57 and yield to its ways he doesn't
0:04:00 actually list what these sacred norms
0:04:02 are but i can imagine you know the quran
0:04:03 talks about uh mankind or human beings
0:04:06 made
0:04:07 in as male and female so there isn't
0:04:10 great diversity it's just two two
0:04:12 genders for example or the kran's
0:04:15 teaching on uh
0:04:17 certain sexual minority lifestyles shall
0:04:19 we say
0:04:21 our writer continues
0:04:22 it therefore takes a certain degree of
0:04:25 god-given wisdom and a fair share of
0:04:27 god-given courage
0:04:30 to function as healers interesting
0:04:32 choices where they're healers but only a
0:04:34 small amount of cowardice to act like
0:04:37 frightened eulogists
0:04:39 the quran says
0:04:41 whoever desires honor should know that
0:04:44 all honor belongs to god that's this
0:04:48 35th surah
0:04:50 ayah number 10
0:04:52 we are told in one hadith
0:04:55 whoever seeks god's pleasure
0:04:57 at the expense of man's displeasure
0:05:00 shall win god's pleasure and god will
0:05:03 cause men to be pleased with him it's
0:05:06 not ironic but whoever pleases men by
0:05:09 displeasing god
0:05:11 will have earned god god's displeasure
0:05:14 and god will cause men to become
0:05:17 displeased with him
0:05:19 that's ibn ibn number
0:05:23 6 276. a paradox there's if you see
0:05:25 god's pleasure at the expense of
0:05:27 popular approval you'll get god's good
0:05:30 pleasure and then god will cause men to
0:05:32 be pleased with him but if you do the
0:05:34 opposite you'll displease god and you'll
0:05:37 lose men's
0:05:38 approval as well so fascinating for
0:05:41 muslims whatever we do or desire to
0:05:44 accomplish in the in life it must
0:05:46 ultimately serve the glory of god
0:05:50 as for being shaded from mental torment
0:05:54 and attaining inner peace this comes he
0:05:57 says from ignoring the judgments of
0:05:59 others
0:06:01 but this is only possible when one has
0:06:03 sound confidence in the judgments of god
0:06:07 we ask allah for safety and well-being
0:06:12 so there are that's a marvelous article
0:06:14 in with a few tweaks it could actually
0:06:16 be said by many christians i know as
0:06:19 well because the principles that he
0:06:21 enunciates can apply to people of all
0:06:24 faith and i'm reminded of of the news
0:06:26 recently just two days ago i think when
0:06:28 the former bishop of rochester in in
0:06:31 england dr michael nazir ali he was
0:06:33 originally born in pakistan
0:06:36 explained the reasons behind his
0:06:38 decision to leave the church of england
0:06:40 and become a roman catholic and he's
0:06:42 probably going to be ordained a catholic
0:06:44 priest soon
0:06:45 and writing in the daily mail i don't
0:06:47 normally quote the daily mail but it
0:06:49 seems pretty okay on this account
0:06:51 dr nazir ali said he had to leave
0:06:55 because the church of england as an
0:06:56 institution seems to be losing its way
0:07:00 and he said quote the catholic church
0:07:03 has its share of problems but the faith
0:07:05 and values are those that i also hold
0:07:08 and which i feel are being eroded in the
0:07:11 church of england
0:07:12 it might seem
0:07:14 it might have been easier at the age of
0:07:16 72 he says to have remained where i was
0:07:20 to work from inside to change the things
0:07:23 that i feel so strongly about
0:07:26 believe me i have tried and failed he
0:07:28 says
0:07:29 the church councils and synods and the
0:07:32 these are the ruling bodies of the
0:07:34 church of england he writes
0:07:36 are permeated by activists
0:07:38 who each have a single issue often
0:07:41 fattish agenda whether it be about
0:07:44 cultural correctness climate change
0:07:47 identity politics
0:07:49 multiculturalism which actually
0:07:51 encourages communities to live
0:07:53 separately
0:07:54 or critical race theory religion gender
0:07:58 a neo-marxist theory developed to create
0:08:01 conflict by dividing people into victims
0:08:04 and villains
0:08:06 end quote according to the daily mail
0:08:09 now
0:08:10 i think bless him there's a touch of
0:08:13 naivety about dr nazir ali's words
0:08:17 the truth and i i used to be a catholic
0:08:18 not any expert but the truth is that the
0:08:21 catholic church i discovered is as
0:08:23 influenced by radical activists as the
0:08:26 church of england is
0:08:28 i mean just look at the state of the
0:08:30 catholic church in germany for example
0:08:32 and this has been in the news a great
0:08:34 deal recently it almost an open schism
0:08:37 with the vatican over you know the lgbtq
0:08:40 issue and many other issues too
0:08:42 for the moment the vatican uh is holding
0:08:45 the line
0:08:46 but for how much longer so i think uh
0:08:50 the poor bishop is gonna find in reality
0:08:53 uh these same issues that he faced in
0:08:55 the church of england very much alive
0:08:58 within the roman catholic church a lot
0:09:00 of people particularly in the west
0:09:01 obviously wanting to change the church
0:09:03 uh to approve of certain things which
0:09:05 the church doesn't approve of
0:09:07 so the question is should god come first
0:09:10 well i think authentic
0:09:12 faith says yes because if religion is
0:09:16 true then it's true about everything
0:09:18 about all of our lives our politics our
0:09:21 relationships with people uh about
0:09:23 everything
0:09:25 if religion is is false then it is
0:09:27 irrelevant and we must dismiss it
0:09:30 so of course god if it if religion is
0:09:32 true god must come first and uh and by
0:09:36 by that i mean we shouldn't look
0:09:38 primarily to social approval and
0:09:40 acceptance from uh people in social
0:09:43 media or from the daily mail or the bbc
0:09:47 however uh whichever media or cultural
0:09:50 power exists in our world exerting
0:09:52 pressures on us to conform to their
0:09:56 latest agendas and these agendas as we
0:09:58 all know are constantly developing and
0:10:00 changing and evolving they're not static
0:10:03 so what is
0:10:04 required of us to believe today might be
0:10:06 very different in five years time or ten
0:10:08 years time and goodness knows what new
0:10:11 taboos to boost today
0:10:14 will be required of us to approve of
0:10:16 tomorrow or the next day
0:10:19 so if we if we uh fix our eyes on social
0:10:23 approval we we cannot be religious in my
0:10:26 view either god comes first or we just
0:10:30 give up give it all up so i i applaud um
0:10:33 the bishop the the former bishop for his
0:10:35 instincts there to hold on to truth even
0:10:37 though i may not agree with all his
0:10:38 beliefs but i think he has the right
0:10:40 intuition about religion
0:10:42 um just despite my disagreements with
0:10:44 him on on some details
0:10:46 so just wanted to share with you those
0:10:49 thoughts till next time