ATTENTION PARENTS!! Do you know what your children are being taught in our public schools regarding the origins and history of Islam? Are they learning the truth, or a sanitized, white-washed version of history? Are all religions treated with the same level of accuracy in history? Does it matter?

In a report issued by the American Textbook Council in 2008, several high school and middle school textbooks were reviewed concerning their treatment of Islam in history. The author, Gilbert Sewall, asks the following about these textbooks:

• How do today’s history textbooks characterize Islam’s foundations and creeds?
• What changes have occurred in textbook material written before 2001? What additions have been made?
• What do textbooks say about terrorism? What do they say about the September 11 air attack on the United States? About weapons of mass destruction?
• Do textbooks outline Islamic challenges to global security? Do they describe and explain looming dangers to the United States and world?

After reviewing these textbooks in light of the following questions, the author concludes:

• Many political and religious groups try to use the textbook process to their advantage, but the deficiencies in Islam-related lessons are uniquely disturbing. History textbooks present an incomplete and confected view of Islam that misrepresents its foundations and challenges to international security.
• Misinformation about Islam is more pronounced in junior high school textbooks than high school textbooks.
• Outright textbook errors about Islam are not the main problem. The more serious failure is the presence of disputed definitions and claims that are presented as established facts.
• Deficiencies about Islam in textbooks copyrighted before 2001 persist and in some cases have grown worse. Instead of making corrections or adjusting contested facts, publishers and editors defend misinformation and content evasions against the record. Biases persist. Silences are profound and intentional.
• Islamic activists use multiculturalism and ready-made American political movements, especially those on campus, to advance and justify the makeover of Islam-related textbook content.
• Particular fault rests with the publishing corporations, boards of directors, and executives who decide what editorial policies their companies will pursue.

You will want to read a copy of the report for yourself. It can be downloaded here.

More highlights from the report, for those who don't have time to read the full 56 pages.

Textbooks reviewed include...

Several years ago a well-known Muslim apologist, Shabir Ally, published a paper called "101 Clear Contradictions in the Bible" which has taken a life of its own. This paper was given to Jay Smith during a debate between the two. 101 Clear Contradictions has been republished on many Islamic websites. For examples, see here, here, and here.

After the debate Jay and three other friends wrote a response paper called "101 Cleared Up Contradictions in the Bible." The next time Jay saw Shabir, he handed the paper to Shabir without comment. A response to the paper by Jay an friends has never been issued by Shabir. Thus, another attempt by Muslims to mock and ridicule the Bible has soundly been put to rest.

As the authors note, all the supposed contradictions fall into a handful of general categories of mistakes: a misunderstanding of the historical context or the author's intent, or copyist errors introduced during the scribal copying process. In any case, each supposed contradiction is fully answered with detailed explanation.

I will not reproduce the authors' work here. But I will offer a download of a pdf copy of the paper Jay gave me. Here it is with his permission. Enjoy.

"Should we love those who hate us?" That is the question I posed to one of my classes recently. The answer is a resounding "Yes!" because this is what Jesus taught and lived himself as an example for us. But what if the question concerned someone who seemingly was unlovable, someone like Osama bin Laden? It's not so easy to answer now, is it? Yet, according to Jesus, the answer again would be "Yes."

It is easy to love those who in turn love us. That is what the rest of the world does. But Jesus called us to be different from the rest of the world -- to be set apart. One way we can be set apart is to love those who demonstrate hatred toward us. Hatred toward Christians can often come from atheists, skeptics, those with no interest in religion, and those from other belief systems, including Islam. In fact many Muslims worldwide have learned a hatred for both Christians and Jews based upon certain verses of the Qur'an.

Sura 5:51 instructs Muslims not to take a Jew or a Christian as a friend at the risk of becoming one of them and incurring Allah's wrath.

So although Muslims may hate Christians (and not all do, there are many kind, considerate Muslims also), we are to love them in return regardless. Jesus said in Luke 6:32, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." True disciples of Jesus are known by their love. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another" said Jesus in John 13:34.

Sadly, I have heard some within the church suggest an attitude of vengeful hatred and contempt for Muslims, even going so far as saying, "We should just nuke all of them and let God sort it out." Those suggesting anything akin to this bring shame to the title of Christian.

I want to share with you an article that was published recently in the magazine Mission Frontiers. The article is titled "Loving Bin Laden." A link to the article can be found below. Note the following quotes from the article, just to get your interest.

"Yeah, I know that Jesus said to love our enemies but... I mean, you're not suggesting that... well, you know, we should, like, love Osama bin Laden, are you?"

It's one thing to ask Western Christians to follow Jesus and point out that one of the things he clearly said, and taught, was to love our enemies. It's another thing altogether to make that teaching specific with an actual enemy. Like Bin Laden.

The question is a good one: what do we do with our actual, physical enemies (rather than our theoretical enemies), people who might want to kill us if they had the chance? We're not talking about an ideology or a religion, but a real person, like Bin Laden. What do we do with Bin Laden?

Download and read the complete article here.

I recently attended a debate at a local university between Muslim and Christian representatives.  During the Q&A after the debate one Muslim student went to the microphone to ask; "If Jesus really was God, why didn't he just say so! Where does Jesus say 'I am God, worship me.'"

This is one of many common arguments Muslims use to deny the deity of Jesus. Did Jesus ever say; "I am God?" No. There was no need.

He demonstrated He was God

Power over sickness and disease

• Healed a leper - Matthew 8: 2-3, Mark 1: 40-42, Luke 5: 12-13
• Restored a disfigured hand - Matthew 12: 9-13, Mark 3: 1-5, Luke 6:6-10
• Healed a paralytic - Matthew 9: 1-7, Mark 2: 3-12, Luke 5: 18-25
• Healed a lame man - John 5: 1-9
• Restored sight to two blind men - Matthew 9: 27-30
• Restored sight to another blind man - Mark 8:22-26
• Healed a Centurion's paralyzed servant - Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7: 2-10
• Healed many lame, deaf, lame and other illnesses - Matthew 15: 29-31
• Healed a deaf-mute man - Mark 7: 31-37
• Healed ten lepers at once - Luke 17:11-21
  Read more: Did Jesus Claim to be God?

The author of this website was persoally in Jos, Nigeria in November 2008 when Muslims attacked Christians, burned their homes and churches, and left over 700 dead and thousands more homeless.

It seems our politically correct media is downplaying the persecution of Muslim-Christian violence in Jos as an inter-sectarian struggle: Musims attack Christians, Christians then retaliate, this causes another retaliation from Muslims, and the cycle continues endlessly. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Read the following article from the Barnabas Fund:

Nigeria: Media Distortions of Anti-Christian Massacres in Jos

The world has been horrified by the bloodshed in Jos, the capital of Nigeria’s Plateau State, as reported by the international media during the last six weeks. It appears, however, that deliberate manipulation and deception at a local level have meant that international reporting has been inaccurate, and has created the false impression that Christians were the aggressors and Muslims the victims when the reality is the opposite. So Christians have become double victims, suffering not only violence but also unjust blame.