Who Is My Neighbor?

The Lord's Prayer in Arabic

How far we've come....

The American backlash against Muslims since 9-11-2001 has infected many Christians' attitudes toward the people of Islamic faith. There was a time when the Evangelical's opinion of Muslims was simply that they needed to be missionized and evangelized. We recognized the danger of some radical elements, but coercive and violent forms of persuasion were not commonly given respect in serious consideration of how to interact with Muslims.

Rather, we thought of sending missionaries and teams of evangelists, either covertly or overtly, to convey the unconditional love of Jesus. And we did so recognizing the dangers.

Lately, that love has not seemed so unconditional, at least if you gauge it by the eroding Evangelical-American attitudes that seem to becoming more hostile and widespread daily.

Love My [Muslim!] Neighbor?

I have been wondering lately what it means to love my neighbor in a world where Muslims are feared and demonized.

A good friend was kind enough to add me to an e-list that discusses this very thing in the interest of building peace between Christians and Muslims and Jews.

Often the discussion focuses on world-scale things, like foreign policies and dialogues between world leaders. But one participant blew me away with a brief list of practical things he does, as an everyday Christian, to be a peacemaker in today's ever evolving world.