Whether
Christians could worship in mosques and temples is not a moot point, because
Pope Francis has provided a panoramic backdrop through his worship at an
Istanbul Mosque. Since we are wired to follow our leaders, we could think that worshipping
in mosques and temples is acceptable to the God of the Bible.
Christians’
worship in mosque or temples is predicated on our visit to these sacred places.
So we should primarily clarify if Christians could visit a sacred place of
another faith.
Quite a few
Christians believe that it’s a sin to visit a temple or a mosque. This thought cannot
be blatantly dismissed.
Let’s
examine a couple of reasons cited by Christians to discourage visits to the sacred
places of other faiths:
A. Demonic
– I was once invited to a Mormon tabernacle to defend historic Christianity
with the local Mormon leadership. Friendly Christians cited the demonic
presence in the Mormon tabernacle to actively discourage me from visiting the
Mormon sanctuary.
B. Sacralization
of the Impious – Removal of shoes (or wearing a headscarf / hijab) in a sacred
place is cited as an act of reverence. Visitors are mandated to remove their
shoes and / or wear headscarf in the sacred place of other faiths. Contextually,
removal of shoes or wearing a headscarf by a Christian is considered a bad
testimony, since the act affirms the sacredness of the place. In other words,
the act reveres an unholy place.
However,
there are Christians who visit sacred places of other faiths. I visited a
mosque when I accompanied an evangelist of a distinguished Christian ministry.
Apostle
Paul could have visited the idols at Athens (cf. Acts 17: 16, 23). He was taken
to Areopagus (the hill of Greek god of war, Ares) from where he delivered his
famous ‘The Areopagus Address’ (Acts 17: 22-31).
Likewise, renowned
Christian minister D. L Moody preached at the Mormon tabernacle in 1871 and
1899. In recent times, Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias preached the gospel
at the Mormon tabernacle. Assemblies of God leader George O. Wood and Southern Baptist
leaders Richard Land and Albert Mohler have also spoken at Utah before the LDS
community.
So Pope’s
visit to an Istanbul mosque, per se, seems not an aberration.
If the
demonic is a valid reason to not visit a sacred place, then consider an open
air evangelistic meeting. Would there not be demons in a large terrain where Christian
evangelistic meetings are held? Don’t we attend such meetings?
If we argue
that demons in the terrain of an evangelistic meeting are cast out by prayer,
then why not a visit to a sacred place be accompanied by a prayer that cleanses
the place of demons or at least offers us protection?
Moreover,
demons could be at places we tend to visit (e.g. restaurants, super markets
etc.). But that does not deter us from visiting those places or even sharing
the reason for our hope in Christ to our non-christian friends in those places.
Similarly,
removal of shoes or wearing a headscarf need not necessarily subscribe to
‘sacralization of the impious.’ These are merely adherence to the rules of the
authorities.
In many
parts of the world, Christian children study in schools and colleges belonging
to non-christians. These Christian children may be required to participate in
the assembly where prayers and rituals belonging to that particular religion
are practiced.
Participation
of the Christian children in the assembly merely indicates adherence to the
rules of the institution. It certainly does not indicate a conscious acceptance
of the prayer or the ritual. Christian children remain Christians due to their
non-affirming presence during such prayer and rituals.
If a mere
visit to these places does not hurt a Christian, then, in the same manner, a
visit to a sacred place need not necessarily and adversely affect a Christian.
However, if
in doubt, Christians need not visit the sacred places of the other religions,
although such a visit need not necessarily harm the Christian.
Our focal
point, however, is Pope’s worship in the Istanbul mosque. The Vatican termed
Pope’s worship as a ‘moment of silent adoration.’1 So we ask:
1. Which
God did Pope Francis adore in the mosque?
2. Was it
necessary for the Pope to adore God while in a mosque?
Let us
presuppose that the phrase ‘silent adoration’ referred to Pope’s adoration of
God. If the context is an indicator (Pope’s presence in the mosque) and if the
Pope does not offer clarity as to which God he adored from the mosque, we could
assume that he prayed to Allah.
An act of
worship from inside the mosque is normatively directed to the native deity or
could be assumed to have been directed at the native deity. In this case, the
native deity of a mosque is Allah.
Historic
Christianity believes in the one living God. In fact, there can be only one God
or only one absolutely perfect being or one maximally great being.
The Bible
categorically rejects the presence of other gods (Isaiah 45: 5a; Exodus 20: 3) and
mandates worship of the only living God. Hence, Pope’s ‘moment of silent
adoration’ in the mosque is unnecessary and uncalled for, for it is a sin
against God, and has the potential to mislead naïve Christians.
Some may
argue that Pope prayed to the God of the Bible from the mosque. Why would Pope
Francis desire to pray to the God of the Bible from the mosque?
However, this
issue was settled through Al Jazeera’s report that Pope Francis took part in a
Muslim prayer as a mark of respect to Islam.2 So it’s quite evident
that Pope did not pray to the God of the Bible from the mosque.
To
conclude, we could show our utmost respect and love to our non-christian
brethren in more ways than one. But we need not participate in their religious
practices or worship from their sacred precincts (cf. Acts 15: 29; 1
Corinthians 10: 18-22, 28).
Pope's prayer in the mosque could lead weak Christians to do the same and be
destroyed (cf. Deuteronomy 6: 14, 8: 19, 11: 16; 1 Corinthians 8: 11). The Pope
then is responsible for the destruction of the weak Christians for he has
sinned against Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 8: 9-13).
The Bible
says that in whatever we do we are to glorify God. This essentially refers to abstinence
from participating in the religious practices of the non-christians (1
Corinthians 10: 21-23).
The Pope may
have justified himself if he had merely visited the mosque without participating
in the Islamic prayer. However, his participation in the Islamic prayer
provides us an opportunity to address this significant aspect, so that naïve
Christians do not get ambushed into destruction. Amen.
Endnotes:
1 http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-prayer-at-blue-mosque-exactly-the-same-as-benedict-xvi-21959/
2 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/11/pope-francis-prays-istanbul-blue-mosque-20141129122643736106.html
