Piety Hill Musings

The ramblings of the Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit. Piety Hill refers to the old name for our neighborhood. The neighborhood has changed a great deal in the over 160 years we have been on this corner (but not our traditional biblical theology) and it is now known for the neighboring theatres, the professional baseball and football stadiums and new hockey/basketball arena.

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Location: Detroit, Michigan, United States

Monday, February 26, 2007

The Nation of Islam meets near St. John's

Yesterday Louis Farrakan gave what is billed as his last major speech, at Ford Field near St. John's. By the time I finally left the Church after Sunday Services, the parking lot was filling up with people going to the event - lots of African-American men in the N.O.I. signature suit and bowtie. The event was expected to fill Ford Field, and major media outlits are reporting that it nearly did despite the ice storm Sunday AM.

Today's headlines, local and AP concentrated on this part of his speech...
...(he) called for Muslim-Christian unity in a two-hour speech that many viewed as a possible farewell in a long, often contentious, public life.
"If Jesus and Muhammad were on this stage, they would embrace each other with love," Farrakhan told the crowd. "How come we ... can't embrace each other?"


A call for unity from a man whose very organization was founded on a theory of black supremacy (not equality), and whose doctrinal belief that their founder, Elijah Muhammad, was in fact "The Saviour" (a messiah type figure) puts them at odds with regular Islam itself. In fact, the founder's children broke away from the NOI to become regular Muslims, as did its most famous leader, Malcolm X (who was assasinated for it by members of the NOI).

So now he makes this ridiculous statement that he wants Unity? First of all, Islam has a false belief about Jesus to start with - that he is only a prophet (and not as great as Muhammad), so this statement is a lark. Any Muslim would say "of course they would embrace" - but not the real person of Jesus, only their false image. It is a false statement to believe that Jesus Christ is anything less than the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity! And of course the Islamic Community would welcome their members if they repented of this idea that a man born here in Detroit, born in the 1930's who founded the NOI, is The Saviour.

Oh yes, let us not forget the reason for this weekend's speech was a celebration of what they call Saviour's Day (the founder's birthday), and that itself is anathama to both muslims and Christians! This under the title of a speech One Nation under God.

I saw him speak at my college in the 1980's, and from what I saw/read about this one - nothing has really changed about his rhetoric. It isn't about Unity, it is about promoting false doctrine about race, Jesus and even the mistaken religion of Islam and the NOI's distortion of that!

I had a couple of signboards rotating for those coming to the speech, in hopes of reminding those who are Christians who were going out of curiousity or political pressure, and perhaps saving a few from heresy and damnation.

"One Nation under Jesus Christ our Lord"
"Solutions without Jesus Christ are fruitless" (the Fruit of Islam is their leadership group)
"There is only one Saviour - Jesus Christ the Son of God"