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| Source: Photopin/Ted Swedenburg |
There’s something I’ve noticed about the way we evangelicals
talk about Muslims.
We’re terrible at it.
Okay this is the point where I state the obvious and point
out that we’re not a monolithic entity of talking-terribly-about-Muslims-ness.
Often it’s the most extreme voices shouting the loudest. But it’s enough to
make me cringe when the topic is brought up in Christian circles.
And this bothers me. It bothers me that when we talk about
the subject of Muslims there will usually be that one person who characterises
them all as jihadists. It bothers me that a viral video
posing as a VW ad defines suicide bombing as “Muslim culture” despite the fact
that suicide bombing is an incredibly
controversial topic amongst Muslims with the majority condemning it. It
bothers me that the keffiyeh,
a traditional Arab/Turkish headscarf, is often branded by those in
the Western world as “a terrorist scarf”. I’m tired of hearing that we
can’t allow more Muslims into Western countries because they’ll go all Sharia
law on us and slit our throats as soon as we let them in.[1]
Now I know what some people will already be thinking. I’m
some namby-pamby political correctness police. I’m not.[2]
Instead I want to put forth a case arguing from a logical, biblical, and
practical viewpoint as to why we need to learn to talk better about Muslims.
