Love Your Muslim as Yourself

This article, "Love Your Muslim as Yourself", is one of the best Christian articles I have read about the situation in the Middle East. Most Christians (including myself) are woeful ignorant of what is really going on and what is motivating all of the violence. If we are going to love our neighbor as ourselves, we need to spend more time getting to know our neighbor. You can’t love someone you don’t understand, and we need to deepen our understanding of the world’s second-largest religion.

Here are a few quotes that I found convicting and helpful:

One reason is that Middle East conflicts are complex. In a press conference, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the violence in Iraq cannot be described as a civil war. “I think that the words civil war oversimplify a very complex situation in Iraq,” he said. “I believe that there are essentially four wars going on in Iraq. “One is Shi'a on Shi'a, principally in the south; second is sectarian conflict, principally in Baghdad, but not solely; third is the insurgency; and fourth is al Qaeda, and al Qaeda is attacking, at times, all of those targets.” And that's just Iraq. Equally complex conflict characterizes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, and, of course, Israel and Palestine. While few would argue that Middle East issues are solely religious, there are strong religious dimensions to which our military and diplomatic efforts must pay attention.

“We have little, if any, ability to deal with religious differences in a hostile setting,” Johnston says. To be clear: It's not that Sunnis and Shi'as are killing each other over doctrine or worship practices—politics, revenge, culture, religion, and ethnicity have all come together to create an explosive, hate-filled atmosphere. But knowing more about Islam can provide the basic understanding needed to begin addressing such issues.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that evangelicals hold as many stereotypes and misunderstandings about Muslims as does our broader culture. We need to use Sunday school classes and sermons to communicate more about who Muslims really are and how we can love them as ourselves.


You can read the article at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/april/11.27.html