“They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming when whoever kills you
will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me” (John 16:2).
It’s not exactly like that—not anymore. It’s not the synagogues that present us problems, but the mosques. Jesus is offering consolation in the above prediction to His immediate disciples. And indeed it had happened as He said. But in today’s world we are hunted not specifically as Christians, but as Americans.
Let’s begin with the politically correct facts. Of course, it’s not all Muslims, nearly a billion of them, most of them if not friendly to Americans at least neutral or unconcerned. But it is radical Muslims who are bent on destroying us, even programmed to do so by those who take advantage of poverty, naiveté, and misplaced zeal. And while well-meaning civilized people would draw parallels among the children of Abraham, our faiths are not similar. Except for the minority of loony white supremacists among us, no serious Christian body would try to glean from the gospels a jihad that would justify killing others for their faith, nationality or viewpoints on life. This is unique to Islam.
Christianity parts with Judaism, or more properly Zionism, a secular philosophy building on Jewish nationalism that in its extreme form would expel Arabs or at least confine them to reservations as our American forefathers did to Native Americans. Yes, it must be admitted that it was Christians who did that to the “Indians.” But they did that not as Christians, but as White supremacists, if they thought it through that far. More likely it was simply because they were more powerful than the people of color native to this continent.
To the question of why we now are so hated, and why we are the targets of killing by fanatic Muslims—at least part of the reason is that we are bent on defending the state of Israel at all costs, even when we are obviously not even-handed. Ironically America, a land for all people regardless of race, color, creed, or religion, supports a nation intolerant of non-Jews. Why? To paraphrase Shylock’s plea in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice: “Hath not an Arab eyes? Hath not an Arab hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases…if you prick them, do they not bleed?” Etc.
The Jews need land, and because they have appropriated much of the land allotted to the Arabs, then they demand even more land to make their possessions safe. And the United States stands as guarantor of those demands. It’s not difficult to understand given these facts why we are so hated and why we are the targets of terrorism in the world. Of course terrorism is wrong and must be opposed. Terrorism, hatred, killing is not Christian. But neither is bias. As the only superpower, we have a responsibility to be even-handed and just in our position of supremacy. Why are we so lopsided in the Middle East crisis? As Christians we ought to raise the issue. If our Lord said that the truth will liberate us and we Americans proclaim our right to free speech as inalienable, then we must explore the matter and get to the root of the dilemma we find ourselves in at present. Father Abraham has three sets of offspring, but one of them has the duty to bring peace to the other two.