Editorial

President George W. Bush is wrong about the "Almighty" — that the God of Christianity is the same deity worshipped by Muslims. And that truth is no more clear than during this time of year when we celebrate the incarnation of God Himself in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ — the very God rejected by Muslims.

Bush’s comments last month in London at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair came in response to a reporter’s question, "Some people who share your beliefs don’t believe that Muslims worship the same Almighty." The president answered, "I believe we worship the same God."

The president’s theological musings set off a plethora of news stories and commentaries, with praise and criticism coming from across the theological spectrum — conservative evangelicals to Catholics to Muslims to political conservatives to pagan atheists chimed in on the validity of Bush’s response.

Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (and Bush appointee to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom) told multiple news outlets, "We should always remember that he is the commander-in-chief, not theologian-in-chief. And when he says that he believes Muslims and Christians worship the same God, he is simply mistaken."

Others, however, commended the president’s theological acumen.

Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography, in a commentary for the Los Angeles Times said, "Bush is, at least on this point, a better theologian than his critics." While acknowledging there are important theological differences among Christians, Muslims and Jews, Miles nevertheless asserted, "All three teach that God is the creator and God will someday end the world he created. All three say that God will show himself as a judge on the last day, and that the criterion for his judgment will not be worldly greatness but moral integrity." Miles added, Bush’s "recent remark put him squarely in the Christian mainstream."

According to Religion News Service, conservative Roman Catholic theologian Richard John Neuhaus sounded a similar note, asserting, "It is true that Bush is commander-in-chief, not theologian-in-chief, but on this question he is a better theologian than some of his evangelical critics." Neuhaus argued that all three monotheistic religions "worship the same God" although they each understand Him differently.

A Unitarian Universalist minister told RNS, "The mistake is to take any image, name or description as the literal, absolute truth" concerning God. Meanwhile, Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at the American University in Washington commended the president for his answer.

The editor of The Washington Times, Wesley Pruden, wrote that Bush was both theologically and politically correct because Christianity and Islam (as well as Judaism) all worship a single God — "The three religions approach God in different ways."

In the end, most observers affirmed the president’s answer — which, of course, means in post-Christian America that the president must be wrong!

While Muslims hold great respect for Jesus — and even regard Him as a great prophet — since one of Islam’s chief truth claims is, "Allah has no son," Christians are required to reject the notion that the god of Islam is the same as the God of the Bible.

The message of Christmastime is that God does indeed have a Son, Who became human flesh in the person of Jesus (John 1:1, 14). Immediately after Jesus asserted the exclusivity of salvation found in Himself — "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6) — He goes on to explain the relationship between the Father and Himself.

In response to Philip’s plea, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us," Jesus declares, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me" (John 14:9-11).

Scripture reports that there was massive confusion in the public opinion of His day concerning who Jesus was. Some thought that He was John the Baptist or a great prophet like Elijah or Jeremiah. Then Jesus asked His disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter responded with the fundamental confession of the Christian faith, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:13-17).

Public opinion about Jesus remains confused today. It’s no praise to Jesus to affirm Him as merely a prophet, while missing his deity. And it is wrong to assert that Muslims and Christians worship the same God in light of Islam’s wrong view of Jesus. When it comes to knowing and worshipping God, getting Jesus wrong is getting everything wrong.

This Christmas — and throughout the year — let us confess the Gospel truth that Jesus is the "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15) and that, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).