I say this not because I fear Muslim reprisals (though we may get some) or even because he is an embarrassment to the Christian Faith (though he is).  I say it because burning the Koran is a waste of a perfectly good evangelistic tool.

What we ought to be urging people to do is read the Koran.  Seriously.  Read it and be more glad than ever before that you are a Christian!  If you are not a believer, read the Koran and the Bible side by side and then ask yourself which book is more likely to be the Word of the God who made all things good and who loves His children as their heavenly Father.  Read them side by side and then ask yourself which believing community is not afraid to have you look into the textual history and historical claims of its document.  Read them side by side and then ask yourself which God, Allah or the Christian Trinity, is more likely to be the source of this universe of unity and diversity, and of non-arbitrary rational laws of logic, nature, and morality.  Read them side by side and then ask yourself which has the more profound diagnosis of the human problem and the more radical solution to it.  Read them side by side and then ask yourself which God has acted in space, time, and history to back up his claim–that Allah is merciful (really?  shown how?) or that Jahweh is love: “For God commendeth his love to us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

If we are afraid to ask people to do this, then we have admitted that our pretense of having faith in Christ and believing that the Bible is God’s Word is just that: a pretense, a complete fraud.  We have admitted that we do not truly believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that it can withstand whatever scrutiny we might give it.  We have in effect admitted that we have no more of a leg to stand on than Islam does.  We have just admitted that Jesus has no better claim not to be a false prophet than Muhammad.  John Milton said, “Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting [or burning] to misdoubt her strength.”

Milton was right.  To burn the Koran is to “misdoubt” the “strength” of the Bible.  Let such a thing never be said of true followers of Christ!

Dr. Williams’s most recent book is Deeper Magic: The Theology behind the Writings of C. S. Lewis (Baltimore: Square Halo Press, 2016).  Order ($16.99 + shipping) from Amazon or from the publisher.