Phillip E. Johnson’s Comment On Akyol

Written by Web Master on July 2nd, 2005

Phillip E. Johnson — Professor of Law (emeritus) at the University of California at Berkeley, one of the prominent contemporary Christian thinkers in the US, and the leading figure in the Intelligent Design movement — has written about Mustafa Akyol in his latest Touchstone column. Johnson mentions his friendship with Akyol as an example that can be followed other Christians and Muslims.

Here is Dr. Johnson’s comment:

I don’t know what hope there may be for a peaceful agreement, but I can tell one story. A Turkish Muslim man named Mustafa Akyol contacted me about my book The Right Questions, written just after the September 11, 2001 attack, to challenge some things I had written about Islam. I was nervous about this encounter, but as we continued, the conversation grew steadily friendlier and more mutually appreciative.
When Mustafa at last came to my home, we became dear friends, and now are hoping to work together to encourage better relations between Christians and Muslims, starting from what we have in common. I do not know if this personal coming together can be repeated by others on a larger scale, but there is a basis for hope when we consider how some other seemingly irreconcilable religious conflicts have been overcome or at least ameliorated.

The full text of Dr. Johnson’s article is available here.

 

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