Yesterday saw the launch of an interesting new campaign Inspired by Muhammad check it out it presents a contemporary easily accesible understanding of Islam for the contemporary worldThe organisers say:
The Inspired by Muhammad campaign is designed to improve the public understanding of Islam and Muslims. It showcases Britons demonstrating how Muhammad inspires them to contribute to society, with a focus on women’s rights, social justice and the environment. The campaign coincides with a national poll conducted by YouGov which shows that the 69% of people believe that Islam encourages the oppression of women, that just 6% of people associate Islam with justice and that just 6% believe that Islam promotes active measures to protect the environment. Overall, nearly half of all people in the UK believe that Islam does not have a positive impact on British society.
Muslims have been forced by the rising tide of Islamophobia and media misrepresentation to consider creative and interesting ways of presenting their faith in the public sphere. This isn't so much a campaign attempting to recruit people to Islam as an attemopt to present to the wider community a positive and contemporary understanding of Islam in line with the Sunnah (way) of the Prophet.
It provokes me to consider - how do we as Christians present ourselves to the wider community? What would an 'inspired by Christ' campaign look like that wasn't overtly seeking to evangelise but simply to share our stories and our love for the way of the messiah/servant of God whom we call Christ and the imapct that he has on our lives - not assuming any knowledge -not bemoaning the end of so called 'Christian heritage', but freshly and vibrantly articulating the way of Jesus to issues of contemporary relevance.
This campaign also makes me consider what would a poll reveal of what the vast majority of people believe Christians are about?!
