![\"Muslims](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/03\/12390927_1002175579847325_1825201646574924037_n.jpg\")
<\/a>For me, one of the most important principles in writing about the religious beliefs of others is this one: \u00a0Those about whose religious beliefs one is writing should be able to recognize<\/em> their religious beliefs in what has been written.<\/p>\n They may say that the author has expressed one or more elements of their belief in a somewhat unaccustomed way. \u00a0That happens sometimes. \u00a0But they should be able to recognize it as their own. \u00a0One of the best compliments that I\u2019ve occasionally received from Muslims about my writings on Islam is that I\u2019ve gotten it \u201cright.\u201d<\/p>\n I would be quite unhappy if they were to have said the opposite. \u00a0If the person whose religious faith has been \u201cexplained\u201d is protesting \u201cNo! no! no! \u00a0That\u2019s not right! \u00a0It\u2019s not accurate! \u00a0We don\u2019t believe that!\u201d then the wannabe explainer hasn\u2019t done it right.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t count the number of conversations about my own religious beliefs that I\u2019ve had with others, especially with often quite exercised evangelical Protestants, in which they\u2019ve said to me \u201cYou believe x<\/em>!\u201d and I\u2019ve responded not only that, no, I don\u2019t<\/em> believe x<\/em> but that, in fact, I\u2019m unaware of anybody<\/em> in my church who believes x<\/em>. \u00a0To which the challenger then responds \u00a0\u201cBut that\u2019s what your church teaches!\u201d \u00a0To which I\u2019ve replied that, in all of my (now) many decades as a member and a missionary and a teacher and a writer and a sometime leader for my church, and as a long-time resident of Utah and a long-time professor at my church\u2019s flagship university, I\u2019ve never taught or been taught x<\/em> as Church doctrine. \u00a0\u201cWell, that\u2019s still what your church believes!\u201d answers the challenger. \u00a0And, sometimes, if the challenger is especially well-equipped, he or (very occasionally) she will present me with a decontextualized supporting quotation from Journal of Discourses<\/em> 14:234 or from an obscure 1950s book by a long forgotten member of the First Council of Seventy or a onetime Institute teacher that seems to endorse x<\/em>. \u00a0Seldom if ever, by the way, a passage that the challenger discovered on his or her own via serious research. \u00a0Instead, it\u2019s typically one that he or she came across while skimming through an anti-Mormon website.<\/p>\n Such conversations are tiresome and, in my opinion, quite without value. \u00a0And I\u2019m not much more enthusiastic about such conversations when they concern Islam, rather than my own faith.<\/p>\n Right now, one such conversation is going on elsewhere on the internet about whether Muslims worship Muhammad. \u00a0To which the answer is, simply, that they don\u2019t. \u00a0Period. \u00a0And I strongly suspect that, if the person asserting that they do<\/em> were to line up, say, a thousand practicing Muslims of reasonable intelligence and to ask them \u201cDo you worship Muhammad?\u201d he would receive one thousand resolute negatives. \u00a0Some of them perhaps a bit on the passionate side.<\/p>\n Do Muslims venerate Muhammad? \u00a0Yes. \u00a0Absolutely. \u00a0Do they call down blessings upon him and upon his family and upon his \u201ccompanions\u201d? \u00a0Yes, they commonly do. \u00a0But there is a strong, bright line between that and actually worshiping him. \u00a0To associate or join anything else with God in worship is considered shirk<\/em> (\u0634\u0650\u0631\u0652\u0643) \u2014 pronounced sheerk<\/em>: literally, \u201cassociation,\u201d but, more broadly, \u201cpolytheism\u201d \u2014 and shirk<\/em> is the worst sin, indeed the unforgivable sin, in the lexicon of Islam.<\/p>\n I have some good news and some bad news. \u00a0And they are the same<\/em> news: \u00a0A friend reports that the Orem outlet of Deseret Book is sold out of DVD and Blu-ray copies of Six Days in August<\/em>. \u00a0Which suggests that people who want to secure one or more copies of the film as Christmas gifts (or, as has been suggested over at the Peterson Obsession Board, as gag gifts for seasonal white elephant parties) may want to consider procrastinating the day of their repentance no longer. \u00a0(I don\u2019t know the state of the inventory at other Deseret Book stores.) \u00a0The film is also available, of course, from Deseret Book online.<\/a> \u00a0But I suspect that, here too, delay would not be very prudent. \u00a0Not, at least, if you\u2019re hoping to have the film in hand by or before Christmas Day.<\/p>\n Alan and Karen Ashton bestowed an inestimable gift upon Utah Valley when they created Thanksgiving Point<\/a>. \u00a0And their annual Luminaria<\/a><\/em> display of Christmas lights takes Thanksgiving Point to a whole new level. \u00a0After we visited Luminaria<\/em> last night, a five-year-old granddaughter announced that \u201cThis is the best place ever<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n Newly posted on the website of the ever-dying website of the always-about-to-expire Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0\u201cThe Temple: Past, Present and Future<\/em>: \u201cWiraqocha and the Rites of the Raqchi Temple in Peru,\u201d\u201d<\/a> written by \u00a0Van C. Evans<\/p>\n Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in The Temple: Past, Present and Future<\/em>, edited by Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw. For more information, go to https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/books\/the-temple-past-present-and-future\/<\/a>. For video and audio recording of this conference talk, go to https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/conferences\/2020-temple-on-mount-zion-conference\/videos\/evans\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the Spaniards arrived on Peruvian shores in 1532, they were mistaken for Wiraqocha, a bearded white god who had sojourned among them in ancient times. This god had travelled through the Andes on a perfect 45 degree angle of the north-south axis of the planet. They called it the Holy Path, and the ancient Andeans built temples to worship him in each of the settlements he visited along the path. In these temples they performed sacrifices, initiation, and endowment ordinances. Some of these are still performed today in their sacred vestments, including their signs and tokens.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Please note that this article is \u201cpart of our book chapter reprint series,\u201d which always appears on Thursdays. \u00a0It is not<\/em> an article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. \u00a0Journal articles, which are distinct from book chapter reprints, appear on Fridays. \u00a0And Friday is a different day than Thursday. \u00a0(Some followers of this blog have found the distinction difficult.)<\/p>\n Over the past several years, I\u2019ve written a number of Christmas-related columns for, first, the Deseret News<\/em> and, now, Meridian Magazine<\/em>. \u00a0Here are links to a few of those that I did for the Deseret News<\/em>. \u00a0I\u2019ll try to share some of the other links over the next few days. \u00a0One or two out there might perhaps find one or two of them worth a brief glance:<\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (17 December 2020): \u00a0\u201cHow the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, has survived conquerers and time\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (3 December 2020): \u00a0\u201cHow the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus are referred to in the Quran:\u00a0I offer my own translations of Christmas-related passages from a book that will be far less familiar to many\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (19 December 2019): \u00a0\u201cWhat is the appeal of Christmas beyond Christian believers? \u00a0The birth of a baby \u2014 any baby \u2014 is a moment of hope and the inauguration of virtually boundless possibilities, and Christmas powerfully reminds us of these things once more each year\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (22 December 2017, with William Hamblin): \u00a0\u201cChristmas after the Protestant Reformation\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (21 December 2017): \u00a0\u201cChristmas and Christ\u2019s \u2018mortal tabernacle'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (23 December 2016, with William J. Hamblin): \u00a0\u201cFor first time in nearly 40 years, Hanukkah and Christmas Eve are on the same day\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (22 December 2016): \u00a0\u201cChristmas and the ultimate restoration of all things\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Deseret News<\/em> (15 December 2016): \u00a0\u201cThe Book of Mormon at Christmas\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
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