Christians and Muslims Do Not Worship the Same God, Top Catholic Cardinal Says
American Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former head of the highest court at the Vatican, has said that despite what some people claim, it's not true that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
Burke explained that while Christians seek to follow the way of Jesus, the God of Islam seeks to govern countries and people's lives.
Burke, who serves as archbishop and the patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, made his remarks during a teleconference last month, the National Catholic Register reported this week, in which he said:
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"I hear people saying to me, 'Well, we're all worshiping the same God, we all believe in love.' But I say stop a minute and let's examine carefully what Islam is, and what our Christian faith teaches us both."
The church leader, who has defended conservative positions on a number of issues, explained that for Christians, Christ's law is written "on our hearts" and "we're given a Divine grace to live according to that law."
The difference with Islam, however, is that the God of the Muslims is a governor, Burke argued.
"In other words, fundamentally Islam is, Sharia is their law, and that law, which comes from Allah, must dominate every man eventually."
"And it's not a law that's founded on love," he added. "To say that we all believe in love is simply not correct."
The cardinal insisted that even if plenty of Muslims are gentle and kind, the truth of the matter is they follow a law that demands from them that they seek to govern the whole world.
"Whereas, in the Christian faith we're taught that by the development of right reason, by sound metaphysics, and then that which leads to faith and to the light and strength that's given by faith, we make our contribution to society also in terms of its governance," Burke explained.
"But the Church makes no pretense that it's to govern the world. But rather that it's to inspire and assist those who govern the world to act justly and rightly toward the citizens."
The Cardinal did not share who specifically has been arguing that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, but there has been controversy on the subject matter in America.
The Christian Post was the first to report last December that Larycia Hawkins, a former professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, had decided to wear a headscarf during the Advent season to show her solidarity with Muslims, and argued that followers of Islam and Christ "worship the same God." The statement caused great controversy for the evangelical college, which eventually led to Hawkins leaving her position.
Evangelical writers, such as Michael Brown, host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show "The Line of Fire" and president of FIRE School of Ministry, have also pointed out that even though Judaism, Christianity and Islam all believe in the existence of one eternal God, they do not worship the same figure.
"Someone could argue that both faiths represent human attempts to please and obey the Creator, but what those faiths say explicitly about that Creator is mutually exclusive," Brown argued in an op-ed published by CP.
"We do not worship the same God, which is why Muslims seek to convert Christians to Islam and Christians seek to convert Muslims to faith in Jesus," he added.
