You, Reading the Title? Yeah, I’m Judging You Right Now.

One of the worst things that one could do is make sweeping assumptions about people based on their identity. It makes a person that comes off as hateful and stubborn. But stereotypes permeate our society, and we make snap judgements based on them all the time. From the very moment we meet someone we’re judging them–their clothes, their hair, their body–we can’t help it.

One of the things that most often gets stereotyped is religion. Take a moment and search “why are Christians so” in Google. The results are…not fun to read. Being judgmental and irritating seem to be unfortunate and malicious stereotypes that often mar the Christian faith, at least in America. Seeing the results can make us cry foul–we aren’t bad people, that’s the opposite of what I, as a Christian, am–but this exercise is twofold.

Like it or not, stereotypes are based in truth. And how often do we find ourselves at odds with entire groups of people? Members of other religions, of a different political party, even of a different branch of Christianity…we judge and dislike them. I’m not innocent of it, and you probably aren’t either. People assume Christian=judgmental jerk because that’s how we can come off. We do the exact same thing that they are doing to us.

But the other point I make with this is to demonstrate that religious stereotyping is a thing. One of the most common victims of this is the religion of Islam. People sometimes assume that Muslims are violent terrorists…because unfortunately there’s a fair amount out East that are. But like the judgmental Christian, it is foolish to paint any one group of people with a single brush.

There seem to be warring factions when it comes to the religion of Islam: that it is a religion of peace, and that it is a religion that will always be based in violence. Often, those who would say Islam is violent turn around and claim Christianity is a religion of peace. So why not put both under the microscope? Let’s compare the two based on their holy texts.

Right away, it is striking how similar the language in the two (the Bible and the Quran) can be. The sometimes flowery words used to describe God, and the discussions of grace–a novice in both might think they are the same book. But what do they say about peace? Looking at both the Bible and the Quran, they seem to contradict. There are some points in the Quran that talk about peace, and how Muslims should simply ignore those who do not agree with them. There is a passage about how other monotheistic religions are “people of the book” and should be left alone. But other passages talk about how unbelievers should meet the sword–they that are called infidels.

The same can be found in the Bible. The Old Testament, frankly, is something of a bloodbath. The Israelites kill their enemies on the command of God, and God is frequently described as jealous. On the flipside, it is also often remarked about how God has an unconditional love for all. Jesus himself came to bring a message of peace. The answer to this contradiction is fairly simple: the Old Testament, Christians claim, is “outdated”. The New Testament is like an update, and the Old Testament is just to show where we came from. This is a perfectly legitimate interpretation and response, and is widely accepted by Christians. Could you make the same context argument for Islam? Of course you could–you could say that the passages are a product of the times and nowadays only the peaceful ones “apply”. This, along with a Christian’s view on peace, are entirely based on a personal interpretation of the text we have.

So are these religions based on peace? The result of examination brings up no clear answer. You could argue based on history–of which both religions possess a violent one. The Muslim conquest of Europe and the Crusades will not be forgotten anytime soon. You could argue based on a stark reading of the texts–which will bring up contradicting answers. You could argue based on interpretations of the text–which opens up a flowchart of possibilities. There’s no satisfying answer to this question and it will vary based on who you ask.

What do these differences among members of the same factions show us? It brings us right back to the beginning of this post: don’t judge someone based on a single fact about them. We could all really get along much better, right?