While that’s not the only thing on the subject that matters, it does matter.
Hence, I am praying for Islamists and other Muslims around the world. I am praying the hatred in their hearts, the blinders from their religious ideology and the hardness of their hearts will be removed.
And I also know God has ordained governments that will oppose the violent efforts of these radial Islamists—and I am also praying for them.
I am praying my nation, and others nations, will move beyond the naivety and speak to what this reality is—and to publicly acknowledge we are in a multi-decadal war with radical Islamists.
I have even prayed that President Obama will join with France’s Prime Minister and call this what it is, a war with radical Islam. And even if President Obama won’t acknowledge we are at war with radical Islamists, they are still at war with us.
Islamism, and that’s a technical term and related to a view of Islam and how it governs a society, can be (and often has been) combined with radicalism. The result is a globally dangerous and far too prevalent reality. Not all Muslims are Islamists, but Islamists are Muslims and are too often radicalized.
The percent of Muslims who are Islamists is debated (here’s a long list), but though it is a minority, that minority includes many millions of people. Also, although there are radical Muslims who are not Islamists, both al-Qaeda and ISIS are radical Islamist groups.
So, I pray for all Muslims, love those who are my neighbors and those who are my enemies, but I also pray for the wisdom of our leaders to have the courage, will and wisdom to respond to this generational war with radical Islamism.
Third, we must recognize that major religious liberty and violence concerns are overwhelmingly concentrated in majority Muslim countries.
In a cover story I wrote for Christianity Today, I advocated for the rights of all people, including those of other faiths, to share their faith—to proselytize. Yet, that right is indeed restricted in so many Muslim countries, as is illustrated in this graphic from Pew. (Apostasy generally means leaving Islam.)
This is why, perhaps, about half of Americans see Islam as a threat to religious freedom, both in the United States and around the world.
As I wrote in the article for CT, based on a speech I gave in front of Christian pastors, Jewish rabbis and Muslim Imams:
In the spirit of mutual respect and tolerance, Muslims should be free to build a masjid where they live, and Christians should defend their religious freedom to do so. At the same time, Christians should be free to plant churches in places like Bhutan, the Maldives, Brunei and Saudi Arabia. No matter where we live or what religion we follow, we should not demand for ourselves that which we are unwilling to grant others—freedom from compulsion, freedom from discrimination on the basis of creed and freedom of conscience.
I pray for religious freedom, and the right to convert, and I am well aware that freedom is prevalent where I live and much more restricted where Muslim majorities do.
The Way of Jesus
Nuance is hard, and loud pronouncements are easy, in times of anger, but as Christians, we don’t get to shout whatever rage we feel. Instead, we want the facts, and then we want to follow Jesus in light of those facts.
The fact is that radical Islamists make up a small segment of Muslims as a whole. So while, yes, there may be some connection, it’s unfair to suggest a widespread causal relationship between Islam and terrorism.
In other words, Muslims are not our enemies. But, radical Islamists are.
And, knowing that, we follow Jesus—and Jesus calls us to love and pray for Muslims, who are not our enemies, and radical Islamists, who are.
That’s what the violence in Chattanooga prompted me to do.
