Are You a Christian "Hater"?

“Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization.”

– Newt Gingrich, Southern Baptist converted to Catholicism

Are you a Christian? And, if you are, are you a Christian who, in the name of your beliefs, justifies hatred? For example, I have read so many religious views that condemn Sharia, or Islamic religious law, as a growing threat to the United States. Those who adopt this view think this is a strategy Muslims now use to transform the United States into an Islamic state. Even though most know this stand is a most extreme interpretation of Sharia, these same people argue all Muslims are enemies to Christianity.

Contrary to the right-wing portrayal, sharia does not presume to replace American law. It agrees with its underlying values and promotes them. The commonly held stereotypes about Sharia are illusions of misunderstandings and half-truths. These illusions lead to hatred.

Christians are explicitly called to love their neighbors – people like themselves and people who are not. Jesus’ example prioritizes the margins of society and reaches out to those who are deeply hurting. Christians are not to bear false witness against others, a tenet that should prompt believers to stand against falsehoods being spread about a different group of people.

One of the most famous verses in the Bible is Galatians 3:28, which highlights how Christianity is supposed to transcend barriers of race, class, wealth, and nationality:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

To honor their beliefs, Christians should acknowledge how they have contributed to Islamophobia and work to transform their repentance into collective action.

According to recent Pew survey data (2017), Republicans, white evangelicals, and those with less education express most reservations about Muslims. In January 2018, a Washington Post/ABC poll found that a staggering 75 percent of white evangelicals in the US described “the federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants” as a positive thing, compared to just 46 percent of Americans overall. And according to a Pew Research Center poll in May 2018, 68 percent of white evangelicals say that America has no responsibility to house refugees, a full 25 points over the national average.  

White evangelicals are the only Christian group to express this level of hostility toward refugees. Meanwhile, according to another July 2018 poll by the Public Religion Research Initiative (PRRI), more than half of white evangelicals report feeling concerned about America’s declining white population.

So, what accounts for this seeming discrepancy between biblical theology and its frequent exhortations to care for the poor and marginalized? Diana Butler Bass, an American church historian and scholar who focuses on the history of the American church, says …

“The easy answer would be that it really shows how secularized the [white evangelical] community has become, and how it functions as an arm of the Republican Party ... taking talking points and marching orders from the people who have the loudest voices in the Republican Party.”

The God's Truth

Sharia does not presume to replace American law. It agrees with its underlying values and promotes them. America has understood this since its inception. No less than the U.S Supreme Court affirms this. A frieze that decorates one of the interior halls celebrates the great lawgivers of the world. These include Moses, the Christian Emperor Justinian (483-565), John Marshall (1755-1835, fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court) and, yes, Muhammad the Prophet. All their teachings inform the founding documents of the American Republic.

Hate crimes are increasing in America at an alarming rate, and this rise corresponds with the burgeoning white Christian nationalist movement in America – a movement that has been emboldened by the anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, xenophobic rhetoric coming from President Donald Trump and some of his advisers.

According to the FBI, hate crimes overall were up 17 percent in 2017, rising for the third consecutive year, and religion-based hate crimes increased 23 percent. The 1,564 crimes reported in 2017 was the second highest number of religion-based crimes ever, surpassed only by the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. One out of every five hate crimes in 2017 targeted someone because of their religion, and three out of five targets were due to race or ethnicity.

The Southern Poverty Law Center helps explain the current rise in religious resentment against diversity…

“During the 1980s and 1990s, right-wing extremists were galvanized by several national issues such as the perceived erosion of parental rights and authority through court rulings, expanding multiculturalism, abortion rights and the decline of the American family farm – all perceived as an attack on their Judeo-Christian beliefs which right-wing extremists view as a key component to America’s founding).

“These issues were magnified because of the far-right’s perception of a changing political climate which favored expanding benefits and equal opportunities to ethnic minorities, immigrants and other diversity groups. So it was no surprise that religious concepts and scriptural interpretation played a role in the armed confrontations between right-wing extremists and the U.S. government during this time period — specifically, at the Covenant, Sword, Arm of the Lord (CSA) compound in 1985, Ruby Ridge in 1992, and Waco in 1993.

“These standoffs not only showed extremists rebelling against the U.S. government and its laws, but also asserted what they believed were their divine religious and Constitutional rights. These events served as radicalization and recruitment nodes to boost the ranks of white supremacists, militia extremists sovereign citizens, and other radical anti-government adherents who viewed the government’s response to these standoffs as tyrannical and overreaching”

(Daryl Johnson. “Hate in God's Name.” Southern Poverty Law Center.

September 25, 2017.)

Conclusions

Perverted religion – beliefs against core teachings – can be used to justify hatred and violence. To be fair, it is not just one religion that justifies ill will. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and others have long invoked violence in the name of religion. It usually arises when the core beliefs that define a group’s identity are fundamentally challenged.

Anti-Muslim hate is deeply intertwined with white supremacy and racial bias. Persistent calls for patience, tolerance, understanding, face-to-face dialogue and reconciliation are more important than ever given today’s spiraling polarization and the dangerous anonymity provided by social media. The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding's research reveals perceived Muslim perpetrators of violence are subject to more severe legal charges, up to three times the prison sentence, and more than seven times the media coverage compared to non-Muslim perpetrators.

Consider popular religious leaders who hate. In 2002, the Reverend Jerry Falwell declared the prophet Mohammad a “demon-possessed pedophile.” In 2007, Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have to recognize that Islam is not a religion. It is a worldwide political movement meant on domination of the world. And it is meant to subjugate all people under Islamic law.” In 2010, former Lt. General Jerry Boykin, then the executive vice president of the Family Research Council, stated that Islam “should not be protected under the First Amendment, particularly given that those following the dictates of the Quran are under an obligation to destroy our Constitution and replace it with Sharia law.”

“Yes, I hate Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and all terrorist organizations. I will fight for your freedom to be ignorant and hateful to your fellow Americans because I love America and everything she stands for even when her own turn against her.”

– Ted Cruz, Texas senator

I believe my initial question is valid. “Are you a Christian who, in the name of your beliefs, justifies hatred?”

If you answer “no,” but still cling to Islamophobia in the light of highly suspect Judeo-Christian understandings, to me, you deny that acknowledging the very existence of different religions is the spiritual human realm.

Mr. and Ms. American, you don't do that, do you? Are you also Buddhism-phobia and/or Hinduism-phobia? I doubt that. Instead, I believe you fear that one religion – Islam – will seize control of “your” nation. You likely base that fear on terrorists who committed unspeakable violence on 9/11 and on the religious idea that Muhammad is a false prophet. And, I believe those tenets are highly, highly suspect when employed to foster hate for Muslims, about 1.8 billion people in the world – the world's second largest religion after Christianity – together, making up nearly one-fourth of the world's population.