Latest Offense: NAE, YWAM Pray for Muslims

The AP is reporting this morning on Islamic reaction to a campaign initiated by Youth With a Mission and taken up by the National Association of Evangelicals to encourage Christians to pray for Muslims during Ramadan.

Predictably, the AP is noting that some Muslims are meeting the campaign with equanimity:

Jamal Badawi, an Islamic scholar and professor emeritus at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said he cannot deny Christians the right to pray for him, since he also prays that they embrace Islam.

But just as predictably, the bulk of reaction is reported to be negative:

Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, said he believes that true followers of Jesus would not pray for conversion, but would instead demonstrate their faith through good works.

Kudos to AP reporter Rachel Zoll for making this important observation:

Like Christianity, Islam is a missionary faith, teaching that Muslims are following the true path and directing them to introduce others to their beliefs.

Of course, Muslims are not the only ones to express ironic objections to Christian missionary efforts. Just about all non-Christian groups do. Christianity is so essentially missionary, absolutist (cf. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, Christ Jesus, himself human") and imperialistic (cf. "kingdom of God") that anything not manifesting those offensive characteristics is not Christianity, or at least isn't for very long.

But here's the irony about all objections to Christian missionary efforts, not just those offered by religious adherents who are also intent on converting the world. Let's say you don't believe in the Christian gospel. Maybe you're some kind of theist, maybe not. If not, you shouldn't think that there's anything persuasive about a god-message and certainly nothing effective about prayer. If you've got a god in your system, you still don't think that the Jesus-message is persuasive, and you certainly don't think that any god will listen to a prayer offered on Jesus' authority.

This, of course, is why Christian narratives are very glad to note the fearful responses offered by persistent unbelievers to Christian "proselytizing" (e.g. here and here). There's no need to fear something that has no power. The presence of fear is evidence of some belief in the power of the object of fear.

And so it is for offense as well. Especially when it comes from an adherent of a differently situated monotheistic, imperialistic, absolutist faith.

Christian readers should note well that this observation carries with it the corollary that the Christian faith provides a perpetual "fear not" for its adherents.