[codespokerbonus]

I think there are a variety of ways of evangelizing and going about apologetics. At times it might be best to simple let your actions do the talking and let your "light shine " that way. At other times it might be best to point out similarities and areas of agreement with other religions - " your religion teaches x which is a great truth which can also be found in the Bible... etc" , but at times I do think the "fiery prophet" way is called for - " To teach that Christ is merely a man is blasphemy , repent and renounce Islam...etc." . If you look to the example of the prophets , the saints and even Christ Himself you will find times in which they acted as "trouble makers" and openly attacked other religious ideas. Like with the priests of Baal , Christ calling the Pharisees a brood of serpents, or openly telling people that they are fools for worshiping idols that are deaf dumb and senseless (or even destroying Idols without permission ) and such.

Please note I'm certainly not saying all forms of Islam are as bad as Baal worship or that the Islamic people in general are as bad as Pharisees. I mean I wouldnt put Rumi or the great Islamic philosophers such as Surawardhi, Ibn Sina, etc and such in that category. But the form of Islam that teaches that Christian evangelism should be illegal and that conversion from Islam should be punished with jail or often death (as in nearly all majority islamic nations) and certainly the form that gives rise to Hamas and the violent terrorist* mentality are just as bad. And even in the best forms of Islam the teachings on the nature of Christ are very far of mark.

I also understand that being critical of Islam can work to incite already violence prone Muslims to attack Christians. Basically I think it comes down to a matter of which tactic is more useful at which time and which tactic God is laying on your heart to use.

* I've seen some very scarey polls regarding that topic in Muslim nations that seem to imply that literally millions of Muslims support terrorism or terrorist organizations to some degree or other. In Pakistan Osama Bin Ladin is more supported then Geroge Bush (I'm not a big fan of Bush mind you but to like Osama better is just sad). And even the mainstream schools and midrasas (spelling ?) teach that the world is separated into two categories the abode of Islam and the abode of war and that the whole world should be subjected to Sharia law and that everyone must either convert, submit (and become second class citizens) or die. I was just listening to Catholic radio and the topic of Christian persecution in Turky (one of the more "secular" Islamic nations) and even there Christians as a corporate body are discriminated against and the state uses any loophole possible to prevent Christians from buying new property for schools, churches and such and is constantly using the law to take what little land the Christians already have

BTW there is an interesting book on Christianity and Sufi Islam out called " Paths of the Heart" and Bishop Kallistos Ware has a very good article in it. It discusses some of the areas of similiarty in ascetism and prayer and such as well as some of the differnces.