This is a pretty hefty topic, so this will probably be a rather hefty article. But I didn't feel like I could keep quiet on this for much longer, and I felt I needed to write a Christian commentary on this for how Christians should respond.
The first thing I've noticed is how much hatred is being shown towards Muslims from members of the Christian faith. They may not believe as we do, but we need to have a spirit of love, tolerance and acceptance of all people, regardless of if they worship the same diety as we do. People have been quick to stereotype all Muslims as terrorists because of the actions of ISIS, but that is a major fallacy. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Less than 10,000 of those are members of Al Qaeda (0.000625%), around 36,000 of them are Taliban (0.00225%) and 80,000-100,000 of them are ISIS (0.00625%). To judge all Muslims by the actions of extremist Muslims is as silly as judging all Christians due to the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church. In fact, former Republican President George W. Bush said, "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."
In fact Paul said to avoid offending other religions in 1 Corinthians 10:31-32: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, orwhatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God." 1 Peter 2:17 says, "Show proper respect to everyone". Luke 6:31 says, "And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." The Bible is pretty clear that we are to show respect to others and treat them as we wish to be treated. This includes people who are of a different belief system than us.
People have been quick to say, "But the Qur'an is a violent book!" I think many Christians are quick to forget that our Bible is also violent, as well. There's a lot of stuff in our text about peace, as well as loving and accepting others, but there's also a lot of violence.
Deuteronomy 17:12 says to kill people who don't listen to priests. Leviticus 20:27 says to kill fortune tellers. Leviticus 20:9 says if you curse your parents, you will die. 2 Chronicles 15:12-13 says to kill nonbelievers. Deuteronomy 22:20-21 says to kill women who are not virgins on their wedding night. Exodus 31:12-15 says to kill people who work on the Sabbath. Isaiah 14:21 says to kill the sons of sinners. Exodus 32:26-29 says to kill your neighbors. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Our religious text is just as violent, but most Christians don't live like that, they practice peace, love, tolerance and acceptance. As do the mass majority of Muslims. Judging a religion based on parts of their text that they don't act upon is a fool's errand.
The part of this that astounds me the most is on refugees. I've heard more Christians than I can count saying they don't want to help refugees, or accept people into this country who are fleeing evil. This goes very firmly against Biblical teaching.
Leviticus 19:33-34 says, "When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."
Hebrews 13:16 says, "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."
Matthew 25:35-40 says, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
James 2:14-17 says, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
Proverbs 19:17 says, "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed."
John 3:17 says, "But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?"
Philippians 2:4 says, "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
The Bible is quite clear that we are to help others in need. Any attitude that is contrary to that is firmly on the opposition of Biblical teaching.
