“Interfaith dialogue” is ignorance repackaged as wisdom, distortion sold as tolerance, and intellectual laziness elevated to a public virtue

 What is being presented today as “interfaith dialogue” is, in reality, something far uglier and far more cynical. It is ignorance repackaged as wisdom, distortion sold as tolerance, and intellectual laziness elevated to a public virtue — all delivered by well-paid celebrities who know perfectly well that their audience will not ask the necessary questions.

When figures like Steve Harvey stand before Western audiences and speak about Islam and “Jesus,” what they are doing is not education. It is performance. A carefully curated performance built on omission, simplification, and emotional manipulation. It relies on the listener not knowing — or not daring to ask — whether the figure being discussed is even the same one they think they recognise. Because the Qur’an does not speak about “Jesus Christ يسوع المسيح”. It speaks about “Isa عيسى”. Isa is not Jesus.

This is not a matter of translation, interpretation, or theological disagreement at the margins. It is a fundamental rupture that defines two entirely different figures. In the Qur’an, Isa is not God, not divine, not the Son of God, not incarnate, not crucified, not resurrected as a redeemer, and not the foundation of salvation. Isa explicitly denies every claim that constitutes the identity of Jesus Christ in Christianity.

Jesus, as presented in the Gospel, is God incarnate, the Son of God, crucified, resurrected, and central to redemption itself. Remove these elements, and Jesus ceases to be Jesus in any meaningful Christian sense. What remains is a different character altogether — one that Christianity does not recognise.

To speak publicly about “how Islam honours Jesus” without stating, immediately and explicitly, that Isa is not Jesus is not simplification for accessibility. It is deception. Deliberate, strategic, and profitable deception. Any intellectually honest person would begin with that clarification. These speakers never do, because the moment it is said, the entire illusion collapses.

What follows is usually a string of shallow talking points designed to impress rather than inform. Claims about how often Isa is mentioned in the Qur’an are treated as if repetition equals theological agreement. This is a childish rhetorical trick, one that confuses frequency with meaning and counting with substance. Mention is not identity. Mention is not doctrine. Mention is not reverence in the Christian sense. Redefining a figure while keeping the name does not constitute respect; it constitutes replacement.

This is not ignorance being exposed. It is ignorance being sold.

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