Though it's several years old, I've received a chain email message from many people recently titled "Allah or Jesus Christ?" which gives the impression that every person of the Islamic faith believes in holy war (jihad) against non-believers (infidels.) I've replied with this link from Snopes.com, which debunks the story about a prison imam, or priest, being questioned about beliefs inherent to Islam. Read to the end to get the full effect: it might take a few minutes out of your day, but it could shine some light on how you view other people not of the same belief system.
Though I don't by any means condone hatred or death perpetrated by Islamic radicals — or radicals in any other belief system for that matter, whether it be political or religious — I think it's unfair for people to assume that everyone involved in a religion adheres strictly to every "belief" in that religion no matter how crazy, in this case jihad. Islam is a far-reaching, vast religion, with many different types of adherents, much like Christianity; spreading chain emails such as this basically amounts to gossip, polarizing people further to one side or the other. Stoking the fires of ignorance-based hatred only serves to endanger everyone involved: more danger and terror is something this world does not need right now.
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Not that I don't want anything for Christmas, BUT...
Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me") has a new film out, "What Would Jesus Buy?", about Reverend Billy, a Vancouverite who preaches against consumerism on Buy Nothing Day. The antithesis to Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day has been popularized, if you will, by Adbusters. From this CNN story:
A review of "What Would Jesus Buy?" in "Christianity Today" questioned whether (Rev. Billy) Talen's act, poking fun at both religion and consumerism, went too far.
"Yes, it's condescending. Yes, it cheapens Christianity," the magazine said, before concluding: "But the whole argument of the film is that our commodity culture has already cheapened Christianity."
Something to think about.
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