Christian and Islamic Violence

"What's the difference between Christianity and Islam, when it comes to violence? Followers of both religions have committed heinous acts against innocent people."

"It's fundamentalism that we should decry, no matter what religion."

I've been challenged with silly comments and questions just like these a number of times--on Vox's blog, and elsewhere. Rather than making a cogent point, they just demonstrate an ignorance all to common in our society.

Actually, the one similarity between Islam and Christianity is that both are monotheistic. Beyond this, comparisons unravel faster than a ball of yarn in the deft paws of a kitten.

For the sake of brevity, I'll stick with two major differences between these belief systems.

First, Christianity has no doctrine of jihad or its equivalent; no exhortation to the masses to kill in the name of Jesus; no insistence upon subjugating, destroying, or forcibly converting the heathen. So people who call themselves Christians--yet engage in such behavior--are operating outside the bounds of Christian doctrine. Even more to the point, they actively are violating the teachings of Christ.

Not so with Islam. Conquest through the sword is historically and doctrinally a pivotal part of Islamic law. Muhammed (A.D. 570-632) spoke in favor of it, and believe me, he practiced what he preached. He ordered assassinations; he led armies into battle; he and his followers went on caravan raids --and all to the end of propagating Islam.

Second, examples such as certain episodes in the Crusades, the Salem witch-trials, the worst aspects of the Spanish Inquisition, Christian defenses of trans-Atlantic slavery, etc.--none of these represents Christian thought or behavior historically or currently. They are not indicative of Christian doctrine; in fact, they exemplify what happens when scripture is ignored completely, or severed from its greater context. An honest student of history and Christian belief cannot point to these events and say: "See, look where Christianity leads its followers--down a dark and evil path."

But what of Islam? Is jihad representative of Islamic teaching?

Absolutely. Muhammed himself insisted upon it. His successors carried it out religiously--no pun intended--such that in a relatively short span of time, all of the Arabian peninsula, Egypt, the Persian Empire, many of the Byzantine Empire's holdings, and huge portions of Spain and North Africa fell into Muslim hands through conquest after conquest. Other forays into Europe followed. After a long war of attrition, the Byzantine Empire fell to Turkish Muslims. The Spaniards won back their lost territory in a bloody, seven hundred-year struggle against the Muslims known as the Reconquista, which ended the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

The jihad continues today; it really never has ended, flaring up bright and deadly as Muslims grow in strength, and simmering when they fall into weakness. From just shortly after Muhammed received his first "vision," until today, Muslims have been murdering in the name of Allah, somewhere on the globe. This is neither unrepresentative of Islam, nor extreme--unless you consider Islam itself extreme.

So, "What's the difference between Christianity and Islam, when it comes to violence?" Simple. People who take the Bible seriously--especially the teachings of Jesus--become less inclined to kill others. But people who take the Koran and the utterances of Muhammed seriously become more inclined toward murder.