A Key Difference Between Baptists and Muslims

The Baptist Standard has published a series about Christianity and Islam after 9/11. In an essay on Children of Abraham: Muslims view God, church & state through different lenses Ken Camp quotes Imam Yusef Kavakci of the Dallas Central Mosque and Ron Smith, professor of theology at the Logsdon School of Theology about differences between Baptists and Muslims regarding separation of church and state. Here's an excerpt:

Separation of church & state

But the Dallas imam emphasized commitment to religious tolerance is grounded in the Islamic faith -- not in separation of church and state.

"Separation of church and state is so artificial," he said, stressing that Islam is a way of life that permeates every aspect of being -- individual, family and society.

"Religion cannot be separated. . . . Islam in its rules and regulations teaches we are to allow others to practice and to live by their own faith. It is enough. We do not need another practice imposed from the outside."

Rather than dividing church from state, Muslims view the world as being divided into spheres -- dar al-Islam, the realm in which people live under God's law as revealed in the Quran; dar al-harb, the realm of war where people oppose God's will as revealed in Islam; and dar al-suhl, the realm of truce.

"Countries like the United States which provide for religious freedom are regarded in Islam as falling within the sphere of dar-al suhl, or the abode of peace, and not dar al-harb -- the abode of war," Smith from Hardin-Simmons noted.

"In those countries in which the Islamic community is a majority and Islamic law -- Shari'ah -- is the law of the land, falling within the sphere of dar al-Islam, the abode of Islam, non-Islamic communities may exist, but their religious freedom is limited."

The notion is difficult for Christians in America -- particularly Baptists who see church-state separation as an essential safeguard for religious liberty -- to grasp, he acknowledged.

"We look at the world through very different lenses, standing on different ground," he said.