I am extremely distressed over hearing this news about an open letter from Muslim leaders around the world which will soon be presented to leaders in the global Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. In this letter, these leaders — respected names in the Islamic world — will reportedly entreat Christians to join with them to celebrate the common heritage of our respective religions and downplay our differences for the sake of peace and unity between Christians and Muslims.

Now I will shake the hand of any Muslim in a spirit of peace if he or she will do likewise. I do not support holy war, division, or hatred of any kind. If the sovereign rights of America and her allies are threatened militarily, of course, that is a separate issue — as is fighting for the protection of human rights in oppressive Islamic regimes.

No, what concerns me about this is that, while we can respect each other as human beings created in the image of God, and while we as Christians must show Christ’s love for our neighbors, the fact of the matter is that there is no common ground between Christianity and Islam. We believe that Jesus is Lord. Muslims do not. We do not believe that Muhammad is God’s prophet and that the revelation he presented to the world is of God. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation, and that only by the grace of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph Who has been revealed to be three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one divine and completely whole Person — only by His grace and the shed blood of Jesus on the cross can we enter into the Holy of Holies in Heaven and present ourselves worthy and blameless before Him. If a Muslim chooses to follow Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit, and reject the teachings of the Koran in favor of the commandments of the New Testament (and such Old Testament commandments as are applicable and appropriate), then we will worship the same God together in unity and fellowship. Barring that, there can be no religious unity, no spiritual fellowship. We do NOT worship the same god.

Any concession made by Christian leaders along these lines will not produce peace on earth, but will grieve the heart of God and will make a mockery of the millions of Christian martyrs who have died not as terrorists in pursuit of jihad but have died at the hands of terrorists in pursuit of jihad. If Muslim leaders really wanted to pursue peace, they would condemn the barbarous acts of their own religious fanatics and would repudiate the religious and political statements, teachings, and entreaties of said fanatics.

Again, I have no inherent prejudice against any Muslim. I simply recognize that there is truth, and there is untruth. I cannot deny truth in an effort to achieve some kind of interfaith “peace” that will never produce any lasting peace.