The Germans may have buried their sense of humor, but humor cries out from the grave and will be avenged. A recent release from the Evangelical Press Service was intended to be serious, but it follows the classic three-part form of a joke, and has a wicked punch line. I translate:
Christians and Muslims should talk more about how to live together thana bout theology, according to the former president of the Hessen-Nassau Evangelical Church, Peter Steinacker. There can be no agreement about the different understandings of God in Islam and Christianity, he said. “We just aren’t going to agree about this,” the evangelical theologian explained at a symposium sponsored by the City of Bonn and the churches as well as the Muslim Council...
The Catholic theologian and Islamologist Christian Troll advised Christians to take an interest in people of other faiths, who want to serve God after their own fashion. “The challenge today is to live together with Muslims in a society that in its majority does not believe at all.”
...German society should not let itself be influenced by fear of Islam, in the view of the Muslim theologian Hamideh Mohagheghi. Such fears are hyped up by politics and the media, said the Iranian-born theologian. When a Muslim becomes federal chancellor one day, she added, he should be judged by his qualifications and not by his faith.
This is marvelous: Protestants and Catholics talk about mutual understanding, and the Muslim panelist talks about taking over. You can’t make this sort of thing up.
