Brian McLaren Goes Muslim (or is it Episcopalian?)

Brian McLaren has announced that he is celebrating Ramadan this year. No, I am not joking.

Ramadan is the Muslim holy month of fasting for spiritual renewal and purification. It commemorates the month during which Muslims believe Mohammed received the Quran through divine revelation . . .

Perhaps the biggest fraud ever foisted on mankind. So McLaren and his oh-so emergent friends will celebrate it!

This year, I, along with a few Christian friends (and perhaps others currently unknown to us will want to join in) will be joining Muslim friends in the fast which begins August 21. We are not doing so in order to become Muslims: we are deeply committed Christians.

Oh, yes. Deeply committed . . . . We hardly know what we are committed to. And saying the Faith is actually and objectively true is something we avoid like the plague, but we are deeeeeply committed.

But as Christians, we want to come close to our Muslim neighbors and to share this important part of life with them. Just as Jesus, a devout Jew, overcame religious prejudice and learned from a Syrophonecian woman and was inspired by her faith two thousand years ago (Matthew 15:21 ff, Mark 7:24 ff), . . .

Oh yes. That Jewish bigot Jesus learned from the Syrophonecian women not to be so narrow-minded. How . . . Episcopalian.

we seek to learn from our Muslim sisters and brothers today. . .

We will seek to avoid being disrespectful or unfaithful to our own faith tradition . . .

Uh, McLaren, you’ve already blown it there even before you decided to go Muslim. But do carry on.

in our desire to be respectful to the faith tradition of our friends. For example, since the Bible teaches us the importance of fasting and being generous to the poor, we can participate as Christians in fidelity to the Bible as our Muslim friends do so in fidelity to the Quran.

Oh, I did not know the Bible encouraged joining in the worship of false gods. That’s a new one on me. Must be one of those wonderful contributions of the Emergent movement.

Our main purpose for participating will be our own spiritual growth, health, learning, and maturity . . .

So we will write off those parts of the Bible we don’t like as “metanarrative” and “story” and will participate in the worship of the biggest idol ever known to man. Sounds like a plan!

Matt Kennedy, I and others have wondered if the “Emerging Church” was just a trendy version of Libchurch and McLaren just another Liberal more hip than most.

I think we have our answer.