Taking Over America

I hear people say that Muslims are taking over America because Muslim citizens have been elected to public office. When the voters of a community elect a Muslim, a Jew, or a Christian, that person owes the same duty to the people who elected them. I want to know how they vote, whose interests they serve, and whether they keep their word. Those are questions I ought to ask of the candidate who sits in my own church pew, too.

I see a double standard among some of my fellow evangelicals. A Muslim American who questions our military support for Israel may be asked where his loyalties lie. At the same time, a Christian Zionist who urges Congress to send more weapons is given the benefit of the doubt. Both are making a case about what America ought to do. Both deserve a fair hearing, and both ought to answer for the consequences of the policy they support. Congress spends American tax dollars, and American officials decide on arms sales. We have every right to ask them how those decisions serve the American people and what they mean for the families who will live through the fighting.

Words matter in that debate. In October 2023, Israel’s then–defense minister, Yoav Gallant, used the words “human animals” while speaking about the fight against Hamas and announcing a siege of Gaza. He did not name Muslims or Christians as religious groups. The siege, however, reached families across Gaza. When a leader speaks that way while announcing a policy that will affect civilians, I want to know whether those families still count in his thinking. I would ask the same question if the man speaking were a Christian.

Where I stand as a Christian

I do not approve of the teachings of Judaism or Islam concerning Jesus Christ. Neither confesses Him as the divine Son of God. Islam honors Jesus as a prophet and Messiah while rejecting His divinity. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, and that He rose again. John writes, “He that hath the Son hath life” (1 John 5:12, KJV). That is at the heart of what I preach.

My Jewish neighbor and my Muslim neighbor are souls for whom Christ died. They deserve to hear the gospel of salvation, and they deserve to hear it from someone willing to love them, listen to them, and help them when they need it. Peter tells us to give a reason for our hope “with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15, KJV). I can speak plainly about what I believe and still sit at my neighbor’s table with kindness and respect.

Every faith has people whose conduct poorly witnesses what they profess. I have seen enough among Christians to know where I ought to begin. If I excuse cruelty from a man who carries a Bible but assume the worst of a man who carries a Qur’an, what kind of witness am I giving? Jesus said, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20, KJV). I ought to be willing to have my own words and deeds weighed by that measure.

As a Friend, I hear the words of Jesus, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9, KJV), as a charge to the church. When I speak about war, I want to remember the Israeli family grieving someone they love and the Palestinian family wondering where they will find food or a safe place to sleep. When I speak to my neighbor about salvation, I want that neighbor to hear in my voice something of the mercy I have received from Christ.

The Lord told His disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15, KJV). That includes the neighbor across the street who worships differently than I do. May the Lord give me the courage to tell him what I believe and the grace to love him as Jesus commanded.