inter the faith

I am a member of the Christchurch Interfaith Council.

I know, I know...

I represent my church on this council

and it's filled with lovely, open hearted and open minded people

from all sorts of faiths.

Last night there was a meeting of the society,

which is the larger group of interfaith interested people.

The subject for discussion was

Pillow Talk - Interfaith Marriage.

So there were Catholics, Anglicans, Ba'hai, Unitarians,

Muslims, Jews, Hindu and I'm sure some others.

The interesting bit I learned is this.

For Muslims their marriage rules are

that a Muslim man may marry a woman of the Book

i.e. a Muslim, Jew or Christian.

But a Muslim woman may only marry an Muslim man.

Everyone else was pretty relaxed about it

even the Catholics

but to be fair we weren't talking about marrying in the Church

we were talking about two people

marrying who were of different faith traditions.

It did get a little fraught because one woman

asked a very poorly worded question

of Talib (the lovely Muslim representative)

that was a just a tad hostile but it allowed Talib to explain who

the people of the Book are

(cause that's a Jewish term).

Ok firstly Muslims believe everyone was a Muslim first

(this doesn't stack up in accepted history)

They have a point when they say that

their scriptures are unpolluted

meaning that when you read the Koran or Qu'ran

you should read it in Arabic as that is it's original language.

Unlike the Bible which started out in Aramaic,

then Hebrew,

then Greek,

then Latin

and then English.

That's why some churches still use the King James Bible

because it is the first English translation.

There are five books recognised as scripture by Islam,

so remember that Muslims see Jesus as a prophet

but not THE prophet, cause that's Mohammad.

The five books are

Psalms,

Torah,

Bible,

Can't remember

and the Koran or Qu'ran.

So if you believe in any of the above books

then you are ok by the Muslims.

Those members of Islam who are not peaceful

and a smidge warlike are not considered Muslims.

They are opting out of being a true believer

by their actions.

There is only one Islam,

so no sects like in Christianity of Judaism.

Muslims can claim this cause there is only one Qu'ran.

And you can't misconstrue it...

in principle.

And that's all for today.