Some Christians get excited when they discover that I'm half Indian or that I studied Islam in college. They'll sometimes ask me to talk about how Christianity compares to other faiths. But I've learned that what they mean to say is: "Great, you've read books I'd never own so you can tell us how awful those other religions are, and you're brown so you won't be called a bigot!"
That's pretty much what happened a few weeks after 9/11 when I spoke to a college group at a church. When the pastor learned about my background he said he'd like to throw me a few "softball" questions about Islam at the end of my teaching time. His softball turned out to be a curve ball. He asked me, "Islam is essentially a religion of violence, right?"
"No," I responded. "Islam advocates peace, and most Muslims are very kind, peaceful people."
The pastor looked annoyed from the back of the room. He tried again. "But doesn't the Quran advocate killing Christians and Jews?"
"You might be able to find verses like that in the Quran," I said. "But you could pull verses out of context from the Old Testament to justify killing people too. And there have been very violent eras of Christian history when people did just that. It's not unique to Islam."
At this point the pastor was shaking his head at me from the back of the room. Afterward he expressed his frustration. "There were kids here who aren't sure what they believe," he said to me, "They're wondering about Christianity. And you're defending Islam?"
"Look," I said, "I'm ready and eager to talk about the uniqueness of Jesus, the wonder of the Gospel, and I'll even talk about what distinguishes Christianity from other faiths, but I'm not going to do it by smearing our neighbors and their religion with half-truths and charactatures." The pastor was not happy with me. I had been invited to teach a second week. The invitation was rescinded.
Conversations like that, as well as my work with interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims, have led some to believe that I'm an advocate for Islam -- or at least not sold out for team Christianity (a.k.a. theologically liberal). Nothing could be farther from reality. Here's the truth. First, I believe Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, including our Muslim neighbors, and we cannot love them if we are gripped by fear. The distortions and hysteria regarding Islam since 9/11 is unfair to our Muslim neighbors and preventing Christians from loving them as we are called. I simply want to help the church move past fear to a posture of faith where love becomes possible.
Second, I believe the message of Christ can stand on its own merit without having to misrepresent other religions or showcase the worst elements of other faith communities or their pasts. Heaven knows Christianity has some skeletons in its history closet, and if we want to have a showdown between the worst expressions of Islam and the worst of Christianity, count me out. I'm not interested in defending Christendom/European imperialism. I'm interested in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Yes, Pat Buchanan, there is a difference between the two.)
And third, I believe James Madison did a great favor to the Christian faith when he penned the First Amendment. Madison understood that in order for true religion to thrive, for peoples' affections to be stirred for their Creator, they needed freedom. Freedom from state coercion. Freedom of conscience. Freedom of practice. Freedom of speech. Freedom to accept religion or reject it. When religion, particularly faith in Christ, is mandated by the state, it inoculates the population from the power of the Gospel. It lulls them into thinking they are truly of Christ when in fact they are not. Madison's writings on the topic reveal that the First Amendment was his attempt at protecting the purity of religion from the coercive power of the state, not simply the other way around.
I want to live in a society where Muslims enjoy every freedom to believe, think, practice and promote their faith, because only in such a society will Christians be free to do the same. But sadly not every state promises the freedoms we have been blessed with in our country. I encourage everyone to read the cover story in the new issue of Newsweek by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (a former Muslim now atheist), titled "The War on Christians."
She reveals how the West has become increasingly sensitive to Islamophobia and the crimes committed against Muslim minorities in Europe and North America. But the media seems reluctant to publicize the horrors being suffered by Christian minorities in North Africa, the Mideast, South Asia and Indonesia. Violence against these Christian communities is on the rise with some radical groups advocating genocide. In addition, Christians are not protected by state laws and in some cases denied even the right to worship privately in their homes. Ali writes:
So let us please get our priorities straight. Yes, Western governments should protect Muslim minorities from intolerance. And of course we should ensure that they can worship, live, and work freely and without fear. It is the protection of the freedom of conscience and speech that distinguishes free societies from unfree ones. But we also need to keep perspective about the scale and severity of intolerance. Cartoons, films, and writings are one thing; knives, guns, and grenades are something else entirely.
I will continue to speak out in defense of my Muslim neighbors, and I will not stop calling the church to love them rather than fear them. But the church in the West must not forget our sisters and brothers in Christ who live in places that do not yet have the freedoms we, or Muslims in the West, enjoy. I am not interested in a cultural holy war between Christendom and Islam. The issue at hand is not world domination of one faith or a winner-take-all crusade/jihad. Rather it is human dignity and religious liberty. Followers of Christ, perhaps more than any others, should advocate that all people be free to believe, worship, think and preach without fear of persecution. Because where this freedom exists not only are religious communities more likely to coexist in peace, but I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is more likely to thrive.
As Christians, we cannot, and should not, demand that everyone share our beliefs. But we can, and should, demand that everyone share our freedom. For where this freedom exists, we can be sure that Christ will be lifted up and draw people to himself.
Follow Skye Jethani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/skye_jethani
We do need to defend the right of Muslims to exist and practice even we consider it inferior. The country allows it and Christians should defend that.
Now all people are equal in the sight of God (Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu) and should be honored with their rights to the 'pursuit of happiness" as they see it.
But only the Way of Jesus opens the door to a relationship with God and His Son and His Holy Spirit. Jesus resurrection validated this message. All other religions will eventually come up short in some fashion, but God still allows them to exist. We are to let people examine these religions, so they can make up their minds if they wish to enjoy the freedom which is offered through the Way of Jesus.
Both Jewish and Islamic Canons both refer to God with 3rd person terms such as Almighty God, The Merciful One, Everlasting One. The actual names such as Islamic "Allah" and Jewish "Elohim" come from the same Aramaic name for the God of the Bible, Elah. There are a lot of parallels between these Canons.
Jesus came to teach us to drop the estranged view of God and refer to him as "Abba" (father). Remember that the Lord's pray starts out with the phrase "Our Father who art in Heaven". This was a radical concept change. This concept change along with many others got him crucified.
Years after Jesus departure, men who wanted to control other men organized themselves and began to govern the followers of the Way of Jesus. These governments have evolved into all the different forms of Christendom with different doctrinal laws and regulations. They rarely reflect Jesus' original message.
The change from the Jewish law to Jesus' freedom was step forward for us. We are now able to enjoy God in a relational form instead of a distant 3rd person. God is our Father and will communicate with us as we navigate this cruel world.
Islam is a step back to the old Jewish concepts of God. Salman Farsi (the writer of the Koran) rejected this personally relatable God and chose to digress. Salman rejected the Nestorian version of Christianity and re-created a 3rd person God, using the old concepts of their Jewish cousins.
It is OK while Muslims are in the minority. But once in the majority, watch out. Don't believe me. Try to enter Saudia Arabia, Iran, or soon Egypt with a Bible in your hand.
Our freedom is so precious.
Neither can love.
In stark contrast, the Holy Bible declares God to be love and truth.
IMHO it was freedoms of speech, belief, and conscience that made America a great Christian nation.
Only freedom allows for true belief, true charity, true sacrifice and true worship.
Great Christian article.
Or do you just love them enough to join up with them in these unholy alliances (Ephesians 5:11) under the guise of "tolerance" while falsely accusing all truth-tellers (Exodus 20:16) of being motivated by some ficticous fear?
As someone who is not religious, but who values equal rights for all, I applaud your article and your sentiments.
"Everyone is at lest a little bit crazy. everyone has a right to be crazy, no one has a right to be dangerous crazy"
How wrong does anyone have a right to be?
One huge difference between "true" Christianity and "true" Islam can be discovered by looking at the concordance in the back of an English language Qur'an for the locations of all "hell" scriptures and reading what they tell Muslims to do. Some can be seen at this link;
http://www.truechristianityevangelism.org/koranhell.html
"true" Christianity is not a mixture of Old Testament aggressive violent acts and Christian love, "true" Christians are told to be "as innocent and as harmless as doves", Matthew 10:16, and Jesus indicated at John 8:44 & Matthew 7:22,23 that many who would be claiming to be Christians would really be following and working for His enemy Satan.
Many people think they are Christians because their parents told them they were a Christian, but is that how it works? If someone told you you were a Kerneftelum and you were a sensitive, intelligent person you would probably want to find out what one is. (don't bother looking I made it up)
Compare what this link says about the Bible's use of the word "hell" to what the Qur'an says about hell;
http://www.truechristianityevangelism.org/hell.html
If anyone does not want approval from Jesus that is their choice. I merely offer an incentive to find out what the Bible really says with a good start on one subject that is easily to follow through on.
Many people think they know what the Bible says. The world would be a much nicer place if they really did know as much as they could.
Some people claim they love Jesus. I hope they will let their love encourage them to find out how to be one of His good friends. Good enough to help Him with the truthful beliefs He ask people to seek.
In the hands of self-cetntered, power-hungry conservative churchmen, religions of whatever stripe serve the apetites of those churchmen. In the hands of humanity-loving liberals, the same religions can serve to liberate the poor, the needy and the oppressed. Liberals admit that they choose what they can relate to in their sacred scriptures and reject what they find incompatible. While Conservatives claim to decry that practice, they do exactly the same thing, except for making the opposite choices.
Compare and contrast http://LiberalslikeChrist.Org/ & http://JesusWouldBeFurious.Org/Paulvsall.html
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
Don't presume that's how everyone is, ever was, or has to be. You'd be wrong in that presumption.