Christianity v. Islam

"...the critical political factors around the world are not decided by attitudes toward class or dialectical materialism, but rather by rival concepts of God."

Christianity vs. Islam

A worldview is hard to transform among any culture. Age-old perceptions of beliefs pass down to each generation. Phillip Jenkins writes:

At the turn of the third millennium, religious loyalties are at the root of many of the world’s ongoing civil wars and political violence, and in most cases, the critical division is the age-old battle between Christianity and Islam. However, much this would have surprised political analysts a generation or two ago, the critical political factors around the world are not decided by attitudes toward class or dialectical materialism, but rather by rival concepts of God. (Jenkins 2002:163)

The Law of Retaliation rules Christian-Muslim relations. If current trends continue, by 2050, twenty of the world’s largest nations will be predominately Christian or Muslim, which could lead to serious interfaith conflicts if the ethos held toward the other faith does not change (Jenkins 2002:166).

Western prejudice toward Islam shape their perception of history. Islam’s advance into Spain and Byzantium confirmed, for the  West, Islam’s greedy intentions to crush Christianity out in Europe. The capture of Jerusalem by Islamist prompted the Crusades. “Barbaric” Muslim pirates kidnapped European colonists forcing them to convert to Islam or serve as slaves. These examples of historical narratives reinforce Western stereotypes promoting continued retaliatory relations between Christianity and Islam. 

The Islamic worldview cannot separate Western political actions from their religious convictions. Therefore, false perceptions regarding Christianity exist within Islam. Increased secularism and syncretism within the “Christian West” support Islamic repudiation of Christianity. The Law of Retaliation will remain unchallenged as long as false-perceptions persist.

 Toward An Embracing of Retaliatory Love

Just as the transformative Worldview of the Kingdom guided the widowed women to respond to the Aucas the way they did, this Love and Ethic is also the promise of hope for Christian-Muslim relations. Through the imitation of Retaliatory Love the Christian goes out of their way to seek to understand and serve those who oppose them, thereby bringing judgment upon the predominant worldview influencing their enemies and thus defeat the Law of Retaliation. The objective of a worldview shaped by the Kingdom of God is reconciliation made possible through Retaliatory Love. The life and ministry of Jesus clearly demonstrate both Retaliatory Love and the Worldview of the Kingdom, the fruits of which are to define the character of His People.

Jenkins, Phillip

2002 The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.