Seminary introduces program of religious collaboration

Saying that not all Muslims – or Christians or Jews for that matter – believe their faith is the only way to God, the United Methodist Church's Claremont School of Theology has launched a program to train leaders for the often-conflicting faiths together.

The unorthodox program was announced on the website for the school, and detailed in a statement released by school media-relations officer Claudia Pearce.

President Jerry Campbell declined to be interviewed, although a video of a news conference with him was featured on the school website.

"Christians, Muslims and Jews will now have the opportunity to take classes together to learn about each other's religious traditions, to study topics that deal specifically with interfaith issues and to build bridges through coursework that assists them, our society’s future religious leaders, to act collaboratively in response to the various issues that face our society and world," the statement said.

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The statement from Pearce said the program the school calls "the university project" isn't compromising the basic truths of Christianity.

In answer to a question concerning the reality that all three faiths have exclusive truth claims, the statement says only some of each religion's followers hold to exclusivity.

"There are a variety of beliefs regarding exclusivity in each of the traditions, and not all Christians, Jews and Muslims believe that their way is the only way," the school said.

"Some of our students and professors may hold those beliefs and others may not, and there is scholarship in each of our scriptures to support both views. We are not asking them to check their beliefs at the door, we are simply asking them to show respect, honor and love to each other in spite of their differences, in order to learn how to work together to solve the world’s problems. This fits in well with each group’s faith traditions of loving one's neighbor and practicing the Golden Rule," the statement continued.

The school believes the program will not have to ignore contradictions in doctrine and teaching. The school also believes the program that allows for open interaction between Muslims, Jews and Christians will not turn away prospective students.

"That has not been our experience so far. Although some of our students have expressed concerns, most are excited and energized by this option. They feel it will better train them on issues of diversity and intermarriage," the statement claimed.

"In fact, young people in general seem to be much more open to this idea than their elders. They are often turned off by a rigid refusal to engage with those who hold different views. We’ve had a larger group of applicants this year than usual because of the excitement surrounding the university project," the statement maintained.

The school adds that Christian professors will not try to teach Islamic students and vice versa. The school maintains that this allows the Christian professors to focus on Christian teaching.

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"Jewish rabbinical and cantorial candidates will continue to receive their degrees from the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, but now they also have the option of taking classes from (Claremont School of Theology) professors. In the same way (Claremont School of Theology) ministerial candidates will continue to receive their degrees from (Claremont School of Theology), but now they also have the option of taking classes from (Academy for Jewish Religion, California) professors," the statement said.

"Once the Center for Advanced Islamic Scholarship has begun offering classes, Muslim imam candidates will share the same arrangement," the statement said.

But Christian cultural commentator and Cross Talk America radio host Ingrid Schlueter says the Claremont program is a clear compromise of the truth of the Gospel.

"Their new spiritual-blender approach to Christian theological education is to 'teach students to recognize the legitimacy and integrity' of other religious traditions. This, by definition, cannot be Christianity," Schlueter said.

"The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, declared himself to be the exclusive way to heaven in John 14:6. The founder of Christianity further described the spiritual way to eternal life as 'narrow' in Matthew 7:14," Schlueter explained.

Schlueter said Claremont isn't forgetting that it's a theological school, it's just that Claremont's theology is wavering.

"Clearly Claremont is still teaching theology. It is not, however, Christian theology. It is the new, popular brand of universalism that rejects outright the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ in Holy Scripture and ventures into rank spiritual rebellion in the name of tolerance and cooperation. God's unchanging Word tells us that it is at the name of Jesus that every knee will bow and confess His Lordship. Not Buddha, not Krishna, not Allah or some other god cobbled together in human imagination," Schlueter said.

Claremont officials admit that mixing the students in classes to hear the views of the other religions is a departure from how seminaries have trained students in the past. However, the school maintains that teaching their students to accept as equals practitioners of the other religions isn't a compromise of Christian truth.

"On the contrary, our board and faculty have decided to take Christ’s commands
to be peacemakers and to love our neighbor as ourselves seriously," the
Claremont statement said.

WorldNetDaily columnist Jim Fletcher said that after reading about developments in the United Methodist Church, he's not surprised by Claremont's actions. He ties the decision to move closer to Islam to the church's politics.

"I was looking at the United Methodist News Service this week, and a key to this is their anti-Israel behavior. It's deeply ingrained and much, much more hostile than they present to the public," he said. "This is beyond sad. But it doesn't surprise me."

Schlueter said Claremont is not representative of the doctrine taught by Methodism's founder John Wesley.

"If John Wesley were alive today to see what his heirs were teaching, one could only imagine his anger and grief. Claremont is setting the stage for persecution of biblical Christians who refuse this apostasy. They are casting themselves as Christians, but theirs is a faith that is alien to everything Christians have lived and died for in the last 2,000 years," Schlueter said.

Claremont School of Theology is the second seminary in the U.S. to begin an interreligious program. WorldNetDaily reported in February that Hartford Seminary was beginning a program to train imams to serve in American mosques.

Schlueter said regardless of how noble the reason may be, seminaries like Hartford and Claremont are actually working against the Gospel.

"Claremont School of Theology is leading the way in inter-spirituality that is inherently hostile to biblical Christianity," Schlueter said.