A Christian student at an American theological seminary was repeatedly told by Muslim students that he deserved to die for being an infidel—and the school did nothing

VFR readers are familiar with Andrew Bieszad’s significant views on Islam (see this, this, and this). Now he has written an article on his experiences as a graduate student in Islamic studies at the Hartford Seminary, where he received his Master’s degree last year. The reason he pursued Islamic studies was to prepare himself to become a lay missionary. Here is an excerpt from the article, “Islamo-Correctness at Hartford Seminary,” published at the website of the National Association of Scholars:

Hartford Seminary prides itself on its large number of Muslim students, both domestic and foreign-exchange. Among my first experiences with the Muslim students there was in a class on interfaith dialogue. I had done interfaith dialogue before, so this was not a new experience for me. We were separated into groups for the dialogue, and when I was permitted to speak, I said, “I am Catholic, and I do not believe in Islam.” Following me, one of the Muslim students spoke. She said that she was Muslim, and then she addressed me directly. In a soft, Arabic accented voice, she told me, “You are an infidel because you do not accept Islam” and that “according to Islam you do not deserve to live.” A second Muslim student heartily agreed, and after repeating the first student’s comments, she added that “in Islam, the Koran and the tradition of the prophet are very clear about this” and that “you deserve to die.”

This was one of several publicly-made threatening statements and insults that I would receive from Muslim seminary classmates for my open disagreement with Islam. In another incident, I was in a class on modern Islamic thought and an American male convert to Islam informed me in front of my classmates and the professor, “You deserve to die on account of your disagreement with Islam.” Another student, an American Muslim woman of Egyptian heritage, informed me that I was “dirty” on account of being a Christian. When I tried to address these and other incidents with the HS administration, I was told directly that I was “intolerant” of Muslims and needed to show a better “understanding of Islam” as a solution. No action was ever taken by the seminary.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 03, 2011 12:26 PM | Send