Media reports keep emphasizing the brutality of the Syrian repression, despite the regime’s repeated promises of reforms. What is more, the Alawi ruling elite has carried out attacks against both the Sunni majority and the small Christian population. Recently in an address to the Religious Summit of the G8 , the Syrian Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo, Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, appealed to the worldwide church and the wider religious community to support a peaceful resolution to the Syrian conflict.

One of the most damaging ways the sacred-secular dichotomy demonstrates itself is in the clergy-laity split. For example, the phrase “full time Christian service” often implies a superior quality inherent in clerical or missionary work. Let’s see what the Apostle Peter says about this.

"Pastors are spiritual. Businessmen aren’t. Prayer is spiritual. Work isn’t. The physical world is bad. The unseen heavenly realm is good." This sacred-secular dichotomy has plagued the church from the beginning.

If Jesus gives us freedom of choice, freedom to choose or reject him, then certainly we must promote and protect freedom of religion for others.

I am writing from Yale University in New Haven, CT where I am preparing for the upcoming Building Hope conference (June 13-22, 2011). I am consulting with the Reconciliation Program directed by Joseph Cumming. The Reconciliation Program is part of Yale’s Center for Faith & Culture, directed by Miroslav Volf. 

A close friend of mine was sharing his heart with me. “Rick, I was talking about the Seven Resolutions Against Prejudice, Hatred & Discrimination with a well-known pastor. The pastor dismissed the document without even reading it, saying, ‘I don’t do interfaith stuff!’ How do I respond to this?”

In his short series on the subject of jihad, Dr. David Johnston now explains the concepts of the “greater” and “lesser jihad”, as found in the Quran. You may be surprised at the conclusion!

I ended the first half of this blog arguing that Sayyid Qutb’s definition of jihad, as total and permanent war until Islam reigns supreme in the world, was a throwback to the consensus of Muslim jurists and theologians in the classical period and a vigorous push back against the modern Islamic consensus that military jihad can only be justified in the case of foreign invasion. Let me unpack that here.

Thanks to Osama bin Laden and others like him, “jihad” has become a byword for terrorism and oppression and the source of much societal Islamophobia in recent days. Could the concept of jihad ever be a peaceful one? Guest blogger Dr. David Johnston opens up the issue, discusses the "sword verses" found in the Quran, and explains the actual history behind the idea of jihad.