How would representatives of World Christianity respond to the key issue which Dana Robert has posed? Allow me to speak as one such representative, and whose view is probably shared by a substantial majority from the Global South.

It is generally claimed by Muslims that Islam provides the best safeguards for the freedom and rights of non-Muslim minorities living in Muslim states. But there appears to be serious contradictions between claim and reality both past and present. The evidence shows that these contradictions arise out of both the very nature of Islam in its classical formulations and their abuse by some Muslims. Some proposals are made as to how Christians can help protect the freedom and rights of both (...) Muslims or non-Muslims world-wide and ensure the survival and growth of the Church under Islam today. (shrink)

Almost everywhere throughout the Majority World, that is Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa, Christianity used to be called the ‘white-man's religion’. But that is the case no more—the church has exploded all over the MW. In this paper I would like to look at this shift in Christianity worldwide, and what implications it has for the global church, and especially for us in Asia. My purpose here is not to highlight the weaknesses of the Western (...) church and to glorify the growth of the churches in the MW. Rather my hope is that this will help us have a clearer understanding of the challenges before us so that we can labor more fruitfully for the advance of the gospel in the Asian context. In the process I will also raise questions which hopefully will help point the way forward. (shrink)