"Historic" Meeting of Christians and Muslims at Egyptian Embassy
"The meeting was reflective of the generational changes that are happening, and everyone knew it."
(Washington, DC)—Evangelist Benny Hinn organized a top-secret gathering of Muslims and Christians at the Egyptian Embassy on July 2, according to a report in The Washington Times. (Photo: Benny Hinn)
The report stated that the luncheon gathering lasted two hours and featured ambassadors from nine Arab states plus their umbrella group, and several prominent evangelical leaders or their sons.
"They were assessing the next generation," said Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and one of the participants. "The meeting was reflective of the generational changes that are happening, and everyone knew it."
Calling the meeting "historic," the Rev. Jonathan Falwell, son of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., wrote: "One of the ambassadors mentioned that American Christians seemed always to favor Israel in all situations, even when Israel was wrong, The Egyptian ambassador [Nabil Fahmy] began by graciously saying that we should not worry about diplomacy at this meeting. He went on to emphasize that we should have an open, honest conversation about what is necessary for bridges to be built between Islam and American Christians."
Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, was quoted as saying that he informed the ambassadors that evangelicals' support for Israel was "largely nonnegotiable" but that "we would also love to build far more positive relationships with Arab nations."
According to Mr. Cizik, the entire meeting was conducted in English and overseen by Mr. Hinn, 56, a native of Jaffa, Israel, who speaks Arabic.
