The lead for this article is just too funny, and good, and revealing, to quote piecemeal, so here it is:

On a gray sunday afternoon at the famous Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, London, a turbaned man jabs his finger into the chilly air as he preaches to 200 people crowded around him. Two followers behind him clutch poles supporting a banner emblazoned with Arabic script. Its translation: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” Fifty feet away, another crowd gathers around Jay Smith, a quick-thinking, controversial evangelical known for debating Muslims. He uses chapters (surahs) from the Qur’an as his principal text. On this occasion, Smith and Beth Grove, a British grad student in theology, debate the place of women in traditional Islam, in contrast to New Testament teaching.

Above murmurs and heckles, Grove notes in surah 2:282 that one man’s testimony is equal to that of two women. Surah 4:11 allows a woman only half the inheritance a man receives. Surah 4:34 describes how a husband ought to punish his wife for disobedience: admonish her, kick her out of bed, and beat her.

Before Grove finishes, a bearded challenger named Adnan interrupts her. But Smith booms out, “Let the woman speak! See how he doesn’t want to let the woman speak!”

“Liar!” Adnan shouts back at Smith and Grove as tourists’ video cameras record the scene.

“So the Qur’an lies?” Smith asks. “You must be saying the Qur’an is lying, then.”

Adnan bends to huddle with his debate coaches, who are flipping through written notes to develop a rebuttal. “Patience!” Then he calls out, “The Bible says women are the root of all evil.” Smith asks for a scriptural reference. Adnan can’t provide one. In the crowd, a Christian quotes 1 Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

Grove closes the Qur’an and begins reading Bible verses on women. Ephesians 5:21-33 tells each man to love his wife as Christ loved the church, giving his life for her, a picture of Christ’s relationship with his people. Colossians 3:19 says a husband must love his wife and not be harsh with her.

Then Adnan calls for a debate about peacemaking and the problem of violence. But Smith refuses to allow his challenger to switch topics.

That’s Jay Smith, with the Hyde Park Christian Fellowship, “a group of London evangelicals who study Islam and Muslim communities to bring the gospel to Muslims.”  Smith says Muslims won’t even listen to him unless he’s vociferous and passionate, like the above exchange illustrates.  A fascinating look at an unorthodox approach to orthodox apologetics.