Responding to the Minto Attack

Dear Friends,

This week I co-signed a letter with all the local Anglican ministers expressing our dismay and shock at the ISIS inspired attack in Minto. The letter said:

Local Anglican Ministers Respond to Minto Attack

Like the rest of our local community we were shocked and saddened to hear of the attack that occurred in Minto on Saturday.

We love the SouthWest of Sydney with its rich mix of people from all over the world. We know that the overwhelming majority of our Muslim neighbours want nothing more than to live peaceful lives, working together with everyone else to make Australia a great place to be. We want to wish all Muslims living in our local area a wonderful Eid al-Adha as they finish their celebrations today.

Our hearts go out to the victims of this attack and to our local community as they come to terms with what has happened. We stand together in urging everyone to defeat these actions by responding in the right way.

As Christians we look to the example of Jesus Christ. When He was cruelly murdered He responded by saying, “Father forgive them, because they don’t know what they’re doing” (Luke 23:34). Jesus taught us that the most powerful answer to wrongdoing is sacrificial love.

We are confident that our local community will rise to the challenge of reaching out in love and friendship to our Muslim neighbours at this difficult time for them and we urge everyone to play their part in making sure that good comes out of this terrible act.

I signed the letter because I am convicted that as Australia comes to terms with Islam, and especially radical Islamism, Christians should be leading the way. We are among the few left in our rapidly secularising society who can genuinely understand people who are motivated by theological conviction. I also believe that we must fight jihad not with violence or fearful rejection of Muslims, but with truth and grace.

If you want to think more about how to engage with your Muslim neighbours and friends, then I suggest you read Answering Jihad: A Better way forward by Dr Nabeel Qureshi (HarperCollins) and Understanding Jesus and Muhammad: What the ancient texts say about them by Dr Bernie Power (Acorn Press)

I read a review of the books and have started delving into them with thankfulness. They are a far better resource than many of the speeches we have been hearing this week in federal parliament. One reviewer wrote: “Both books were forged in the context of real-life conversations between Muslims and Christians. This means that the ideas you find in each are not abstract theological concepts, but the ideas you will commonly run into when you speak to Muslims, or try to understand why Muslim groups, like ISIS, behave the way they do. It also means the discussions are framed in everyday language, as well as having been road tested for facilitating helpful conversations.

I commend the books to you and pray you will have many gracious conversations about our gracious Jesus with all the Muslims you know.

In Christ
Nigel