Patrick Sookhdeo.

Patrick Sookhdeo heads up a couple of Christian organisations
and has the ear of some of the leading lights of the evangelical
church in the UK. He has had some quite extensive exposure
in the evangelical press in this country - but I have a problem
with him.

It seems to me that while he consistently talks up the threat
presented by Islam in the UK he does not offer a genuinely
Christian analysis of that problem. He presents Islam as a
terrible threat and leaves it at that. This -it seems to me- is
woefully inadequate. As a Christian I need to know how to
respond Christianly to this issue and that is something
Sookhdeo consistently fails to give a lead on. What strikes
me about his writing is the gracelessness of it all....as if
the Gospel has nothing to say about how Christians should
respond to these sorts of challenges. I do not deny that
there is a challenge - that is not the point at issue here -
the lack of guidance is the issue I have with Sookhdeo.

In last December's issue of the Barnabas Fund's magazine
was an insert requesting information from churches in the
UK about Muslim attacks on believers here. First up; if such
attacks do occur I will deplore them, but I do not have
sufficient confidence in Sookhdeo to collate such information.
It seems to me that he is only too willing to talk up the threat
level rather than dispassionately sift the evidence. What
standard of proof is he looking for? Beyond reasonable doubt?
Balance of probability? Reasonable suspicion? What if some
church premises are vandalised or a white happens to be
mugged by an asian looking guy - will these events be
classified as Muslims persecuting Christians?

A couple of years ago a friend of mine (who happens to be an
elder of an inner city church) was threatened by a gang of
asian youths. The fact that this was a drug gang resisting the
influence of the local church may not register as such with
Sookhdeo. Will this be clocked up as a Muslim attack? Will
he be that picky?

Reviewing his articles in the Evangelical press in 2005 the
striking feature is that they could be lifted and reprinted
in publications of the far right. They wouldn't even need to
edit out the Gospel because it's not there. That is what
troubles me about his message.........it is not authentically
Christian.