The article, by Canon Dr Gavin Ashenden, appeared in Saturday’s edition of the newspaper, under the headline ‘Muslims need to face up to the violence of the Koran’.
Mr Ashenden, who is the vicar of St Martin de Gouray Church, is a canon of Chichester Cathedral as well as a chaplain to the Queen.
In the opinion piece, Mr Ashenden compares the differences between Christianity and Islam, commenting that ‘the context of the birth of Islam was one of violence’.
‘Study of the Koran by Muslim scholars is more geared to its application than to challenging its authority, its internal coherence or its integrity,’ he writes. ‘The Reformation was a European and a Christian phenomenon. To imagine it will or should happen to Islam is nothing more than western chauvinism.’
In the comment article, Mr Ashenden continues: ‘Jesus made it very easy in the gospels when he explained what principles took priority.
‘First the adoration of God the Father and secondly the wellbeing of our neighbour. As for enemies, they were to be loved and forgiven.
‘But Islam appears to lack such clarity.
‘The Koran contains verses that are generous and conciliatory towards people of the book (Jews and Christians) on the one hand, and also verses which call for violence and retribution (often called the sword verses) on the other.
‘How do Muslims decide which verses and which principles to give precedence to?’
He adds: ‘The western media talks of “radical” or “extreme”?Islam. But this misunderstands the Islamic dilemma.
‘Islam and the Koran have two faces, one benign and one violent.
‘The violence that Isis inflicts on non-Muslims is Koranic, not radical.’
