Can Christians and Muslims Get Along?

             As I have reflected on the outbreak of violence in Northern Africa and other places, in response to a film that insults Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, I am dumbfounded by the reaction.  What makes Muslims so sensitive to provocation of this sort?  And is there a way to avoid this violence?  And the bigger question is, can Christians and Muslims get along?

There is a radical fringe among Christians, certainly, but the radical fringe among Muslims, the jihadists, is more numerous and more extreme by many degrees.  And we in the western world have a natural tendency to measure Islam by the violence we see among the extremists rather than the peace-loving Muslims, the silent majority, who rarely get media attention.

In a recent radio interview, a Muslim journalist said that there are considerable numbers of radical extremists who grow the beards, and talk the talk, not because they are devout followers of Islam, but because they have political motivations and hatred of the West.  They do not practice their faith at all, but because the radical jihadists suit their political purposes, these hypocrites align themselves with the religious extremists.  In other words, not all jihadists are religious Muslims.  And it is certain that the majority of Muslims are not jihadists.

Still, what do we do about that violent and vocal minority?

There is no simple answer.  We in the western world are angered at the loss of life at the hands of those who attacked the US Embassy in Libya, and we are dismayed at the level of violence overall.  In the Christian world, we have seen the exemplar of our faith, Jesus, insulted and impugned in many ways.  However, while there are those fringe elements who might react with threats of violence among us, most Christians have been incredibly tolerant of blasphemy.  When Andres Serrano drew attention for his photograph of a crucifix immersed in urine, he was sharply criticized, some of the museums that displayed his work drew threats, and some individuals actually have defaced Serrano’s work.  Still – no guns have been fired, no bombs have been used, and no one has been killed.

Our willingness to be tolerant makes the intolerance of some Muslims even more perplexing.  Obviously, we do not understand their sensitivities. 

          I am grateful for the military presence of Americans in the Mideast.  While I abhor war and the use of violence by anyone, some show of force helps protect the innocent from the actions of the extremists.  And while some American soldiers have been guilty of appalling actions in isolated instances here and there, the vast majority have historically shown amazing restraint in the use of force.

          The world situation is complicated.  I simply caution us not to paint all Muslims with a broad brush stroke of radicalism.  I am thinking of my acquaintance Ghassan, who is a deeply devout man of prayer and peace, and a leader in a small house of prayer among Muslims in a community where I have lived previously.  He is equally appalled by the violence of others who claim Muslim faith, as I am appalled when he recounts incidents in which some of his neighbors have threatened him or his family.

          Until the day when God reconciles all of creation, I encourage us all to pray and work for peace, and to be kind to our neighbors --- as Philo is reported to have originally said, “most people you meet are carrying a great burden.” 

                   

Belief: It's Not What You Know

          Early Christianity was not without its controversies and divisions, no less than today.  The apostle Paul’s writings to the Corinthians make this clear.  The disagreements continued into the centuries to come.  One early school of Christian thought came to be known as the “gnostics.”  Among their teachings was the notion that only a select few had access to the necessary knowledge, or “gnosis,” that would gain them salvation or escape from this physical world.

          In time, the gnostics were considered a sect that did not represent the core of Christian teaching, or “orthodoxy.”  However, there are remnants of Gnosticism that linger on.  One of the values of learning the disputes in ancient church history is the way those same issues arise among the people of God even today.  What’s new is old.

          There is a version of Christianity that suggests that you have to believe in certain precepts in order to attain salvation.  They may be the four spiritual laws, or twelve abiding principles, or seven habits, etc., but what they have in common is a presumption that agreement with these precepts leads to salvation.  Salvation becomes a head game, a matter of what you know, or what you think.  And if you don’t think like I do, or know what I know, then you are lost.

          Those last few sentences should sound familiar because they describe the practice of many contemporary Christians; and it is a modern manifestation of Gnosticism.  Almost every church has a few gnostics.  And some of them can be rather virulent. 

          There are passages in the New Testament of the Bible that seem to lean in a gnostic direction, as Paul’s words to the church at Colossae:  “I became [the church’s] servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints (Colossians 1:25).”   However, in context, the mystery that Paul is revealing is never intended for a select few but for all the world.  Paul is constantly crossing both geographical and socio-ethnic boundaries to reveal this mystery to all.  And the “mystery” is not so much a body of knowledge as it is a witness to the living presence of Christ available to every believer.

          Belief, then, is not about WHAT you know, but WHO you know.  Or rather, the assurance that you are KNOWN by a God who loves you enough to be with you in your darkest hour, even in the midst of suffering and death.  The essence of Christian belief is not a body of knowledge that sets you apart from everyone else, but the revelation that God loves the world so much that God enters into the worst aspects of the human condition in order to redeem, reconcile, and make new.

          The problem with modern versions of Gnosticism is that they still make salvation into something that believer has to do (or think).  But in orthodox Christianity, the source of salvation is always in what God has already done.  So, salvation is not about thinking the right thoughts, or even believing the right things.  Salvation is about trusting the love God has for us.  The apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church, " if I understand all mysteries and all knowledge . . . but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Cor. 13:2)."

          I am reminded of the words spoken by priest, Blackie Ryan, in a novel by Andrew Greeley.  Father Ryan says that he doesn’t believe everything the church teaches but what he does believe in, he does so with all his heart.  I invite you not so much to agree with every doctrine of the church (though don’t be so hasty to dismiss it all), but to trust with all your heart the love that God has for all humanity, and thus, for you.  It’s not what you know, it’s Who knows you.

           

Belief as Relationship

          Belief is at least one of the buzzwords of the day.  Even non-religious entities want us to believe in them.  We are encouraged to “believe” in the car we drive, or to “believe” in the store where we buy clothes.  Actually, we often get the message that it doesn’t really matter what we believe in as long as we believe in something.

          No wonder people are confused.  Over 90 % of people in the U.S. say they believe in God, but most of those don’t want to be pinned down to any particular religious tradition.  Maybe you’re one of those free spirits. I offer to you the encouragement that belief does, indeed, matter.  And that belief in something “pinned down,” matters even more. 

          As someone once said, “If we don’t believe in something then we’ll fall for anything.”  So, belief in something particular, something “pinned down,” may matter a great deal.  In Christian tradition there are two ways of talking about belief.  One of these is belief as a body of doctrine.  We find this notion in the short letter of Jude, chapter one, verse three:  “Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”

          “The faith . . . once . . . entrusted to the saints,” is a statement about belief as a list of principles to be acknowledged and accepted.  This sort of doctrinal belief is important as a teaching tool in the history of Christianity but it is not, in my opinion, the key way of expressing Christian belief.

          In the Gospel of John, Jesus is constantly exhorting his followers to believe in him, not because of the signs he performs, but because of who he is.  Jesus emphasizes this point in seven different “I am,” sayings:  I am the bread of life, I am the gate, I am the good shepherd . . .

          Belief, as Jesus speaks about it, is not about a body of doctrine to acknowledge, but a relationship to be trusted.  Belief, then, becomes something personal – a living, breathing sense of community with another, rather than head-knowledge to be dissected, explained, and instructed.

          This sense of belief is what makes Christianity unique.  Christian “faith” is not ultimately a system of rules to follow, or a body of doctrine to give assent to, but a relationship to be embraced and lived.  As Jesus says in John, chapter ten, verse ten, “I came that they may have life and have it to the full.” 

          If your life seems to be missing something, I doubt that you need more rules to follow, or more principles to give assent to.  I suspect you just need a relationship that will give your life meaning.  Jesus can do that for you in a way the world cannot.  Jesus can do that for you in a way that even Christian doctrine cannot.  The relationship is what matters.  And it is a relationship you can trust.