Are you afraid of Muslims? Most are. For some good reasons too. The recent attempted bombing has made people nervous to fly again, not to mention, the daily bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Ask yourself these question to determine your Fear Factor (be honest):
- When you see four Muslims walking toward you on a downtown street – maybe a man with a long beard and certain dress, or a woman with her head covered – what is your first emotion?
- What do you think when you see another suicide bombing in a foreign country?
- What did you think on Christmas when you heard about the Nigerian man’s attempt to blow up the flight on the way to Detroit?
- When you hear that your friend bought a copy of the Qur’an and is reading it – and enjoying it – what is your reaction?
Prejudice is a deeply rooted emotion that is based on a certain reality, but that never leads us into freedom.
So…I might say the following truism: It seems that many who have committed acts of terrorism in the last 10 years have been Muslims. Or I might say this: Muslims have strange beliefs, and it seems to me, that some of these beliefs allow them to kill people in the name of God.
There might be a lot of truth to both of these statements – we could argue details for a long time about both sentences, but let’s just say that there is definitely some truth in them. And so much “truth” is the perception of the person uttering it – so if someone feels that “Muslim” equals “Terrorists”, then in one sense, that becomes “true” for that person.
My only question is – what do we do about this as followers of Jesus and his way? What do we do with our emotions? What do we do with the average Muslim who is clearly NOT a terrorist? And…most difficult of all, what do we do with an actual Muslim terrorist?
I have thoughts about each of those questions….stay tuned and chime in with your thoughts!
