theological musings

Just to follow up on the previous entry, in case this isn't clear. The only real grounds on which Christians can say that Muslims don't believe in the same God is if they insist that the Trinitarian conception of God is the only valid conception. And let's be really clear about this: the Trinity is not a "Judeo-Christian" concept. Last I heard, Jews do not believe in the Trinity. Anybody who says that Muslims have a false religion because they don't believe in the Trinity must necessarily also be saying that Jews have a false religion because they don't believe in the Trinity. Ask these Christian Right leaders what they think of Judaism and make sure to mention that Jews don't believe in the Trinity. You might find their answer a bit hard to take, even though you don't blink at their saying the same thing about Islam. To be honest, I find it very strange for people who consider themselves monotheists to insist that the Unitarian conception of God is somehow "wrong" or "false". I don't really understand this view. I could understand it from polytheists or non-theists or atheists, but it doesn't make sense to me for monotheists to say it. Do other people find this as odd as I do? Added: Just to get it all out of my system, there was one other part of this story that really made me wonder. The president of the National Association of Evangelicals is quoted as saying: "Muhammad's central message was submission; Jesus' central message was love". Um, hello? This is comparing apples and oranges. The submission in Islam refers to the attitude of the human being towards God, that is, submission to God's will. If Rev. Haggard doesn't believe that the proper attitude of people towards God is submission to His will, what exactly does he think is the right attitude? Defiance? I doubt it. I'm sure he agrees that people should submit to God's will. And the love in Christianity that he mentions is (I assume) a reference to God's love for people. So is Haggard saying that in Islamic teaching, God doesn't love people? Does he have any basis for what he's saying or is he just talking out his orifice? C'mon. The stuff that people like him are saying doesn't even make sense! Are we not engaging in any critical thinking skills in this country anymore? In case you do need evidence that in Islam, God loves people, see here