I’ve been so much enjoying my chats with a young Muslim man who’s been attending church for the last few weeks. He expressed a keen interest to learn more about the Christian religion. He is doing very well learning English, and having to use simple terms has been a very, very, very good exercise for me – if you know me you’ll know what I’m talking about!
Far from taking an “Islam/Qur’an/Muhammed = wrong | Christianity/Bible/Jesus = right” approach, we’ve explored many similarities between our faith. When discussing differences, I’ve tried to be very respectful and patient. But today he emphasized (he’d indicated it less strongly before) that he really enjoys “direct”-ness. So he thanked me for being able to say, “I think the Qur’an is wrong about Jesus.” (In the Qur’an (4:157), Jesus does not die on the cross, but rather another person who was made to look like Jesus did.) It was a bit of a reminder how PC-ism can keep people from having conversations that are wanted by both people. This guy wants me to be “direct” and tell him where I think his religion is wrong, and not constantly talk about similarities and common ground. I look forward to future chats with him!