Another Third Way

American Journalism Center ^ | February 2, 2010 | Sheila Archambault

[bs9021]

Another Third Way

Sheila Archambault, February 2, 2010

There is a deep resistance in the Western world to take theology seriously, which is a mindset that must change, a theologian said at a Heritage Foundation lecture about the book, The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom.

The author, Mark Durie, a theologian, human rights activist and pastor of an Anglican church, said, “the West can no longer afford to lull itself to sleep by assuming religions are essentially all the same or that religion does not matter.”

“We have forgotten how to apply theological constructs to everyday life,” he added. A major goal of the book, Durie said, is to make a case that faith does matter.

The heart of the book, he said, is an analysis of the Dhimma (a term for non-Muslims) pact, which “in Sharia law is the covenant or contract under which non-Muslims were considered to be living.”

He said, “The conditions of the Dhimma covenant agreement treated non-Muslims as people whose lives would have been forfeit if Muslims had not spared them.”

“The annual jizziya, head tax, paid by Dhimmi males is described by authoritative Islamic sources, and I have consulted over 70 commentaries,” Durie said, “as a redemption paid by Dhimmis in return for their life, or as commentators put it—this [the Dhimmi tax] compensates Muslims for their duties of taking slaves, killing and plundering the infidels.”

While researching the book, Durie said, he unearthed the symbolism of the annual tax payment ritual, jizziya payment, which Dhimmi males were required to pay all over the world until the modern times....

[SuziQ]

“We have forgotten how to apply theological constructs to everyday life,”

The Anglican Church may have forgotten, Mr. Durie, but Pope Benedict XVI has not.

[Excellence]

Clinton was really into that “third way” stuff, too.

[SunkenCiv]

...about the book, The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom. The author, Mark Durie, a theologian, human rights activist and pastor of an Anglican church...

Thanks bs9021.

• Islamic think-tanks gather in Istanbul

[SunkenCiv]

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The Third Choice: Islam, dhimmitude and freedom by Mark Durie, foreword by Bat Ye'or

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