Ignorance is NOT Bliss.

Today, I did something I've never actually done before: gotten so angry at a comment made by a preacher in a sermon that I got up and left mid-service.  Mid-sermon, in fact.

Essentially, what happened was that the pastor (more out of ignorance than spite or hatred) made a sweeping claim that Islam, as a religion, is hostile to Christianity, declaring Christians the "pagans" upon whom war must be declared, according to the Qu'ran.

*Please excuse me while I bang my head against the table.*

This idea, no matter how prevalent in the media in recent years, is absolutely untrue.  Common, yes.  Accurate, no.  No, no, no, no, no.  NO.

Are there people who identify as Muslim who are extremist terrorists who attack people?  Yes.  They make up the MINORITY of Muslims.  And, I'd like to remind you that even Christianity has the Crusades in its past...we Christians aren't so perfect either.

I don't claim to be an expert in the field of world religions, but I've had enough religion classes to know the basis of Islam - one of the religion classes I took was a class entirely focused on Islam.  For this class, I wrote a paper about Qu'ranic Reference to the Gospel, in which my research discovered that, consistently, "People of the Book" (that is, Jews and Christians, the other two traditions that trace their lineage to Abraham) are to be respected in their faiths, and NOT persecuted.  In fact, according to the Qu'ran, the only time violence is acceptable is if Muslims are not being allowed to practice their faith.  In no other circumstance is violence justified, according to the Qu'ran.  Put bluntly, Muslim is not synonymous with terrorist, nor is it synonymous with Christian-hater.

Furthermore, having written my senior thesis on the present-day clash of Islam and the French Identity, and having a job that requires me to continually research current events involving the influx of Islam in Europe with immigration from North Africa, I know how an assumption that Islam as an evil religion can quite literally tear a society apart.  Because of France's inability to coexist with these Islamic immigrants, they have passed a series of controversial laws (such as banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public) that made them the target for several terrorist threats this past fall - unfortunately, the minority extremist Islamist group making these threats simply reinforced the unfounded hatred of Muslims living in Europe.  Even worse, the pump is now primed for Marine Le Pen (daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the xenophobic leader of the racist and bigoted Front National political party during the 1980s and 90s) to beat Nicolas Sarkozy out for the French presidency in the 2012 elections.  Le Pen has no shortage of platforms to work from; the French Muslim population has collectively become the scapegoat for France's problems.  Recently, Le Pen compared gatherings of Muslims in the streets for prayer to the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, a comment which has thrown the Le Pen name under controversy once again.  In the world of scapegoating, Alfred Dreyfus will have nothing on France's Muslims if Marine Le Pen is elected president; hatred against Islam will, in effect, be made legal.

And so, when I heard a Christian pastor ignorantly supporting the idea that Islam is a hostile religion from a church pulpit, speaking to upwards of 400 people who likely don't have the background in religious study that I have (and, let's be real, I don't have all that much), naturally, I got upset.

Pastors, like anyone in a position of authority as a community leader, have a certain responsibility to the people they lead.  But particularly for religious leaders, who often claim even more authority as mediators of divine ideas, it is imperative that you know what you're talking about.  Making claims about an entire people group without doing significant, objective research to back up your claims is inexcusable.

And yet, I know (as a person on track for a ministry career myself) that religious leaders don't have it all together.  Believe it or not, we ministry people are just like you.  If I was perfect, I wouldn't have this blog about self-improvement.  And so I can accept that the pastor made a mistake, even if it was a big one.  It doesn't make me doubt the rest of the church's ministries, nor does it undermine the good things that the church has done in the community and overseas.  God is perfect.  People are not perfect, and therefore churches are not perfect.  People make mistakes.  Pastors make mistakes.

I just wish it hadn't been that particular mistake.

*For more information on the current problems in France, check out the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Marie_Le_Pen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Le_Pen
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8197895/Marine-Le-Pen-Muslims-in-France-like-Nazi-occupation.html
http://www.france24.com/en/20100914-french-parliament-approves-ban-full-veil-public-senate-law-fine-sarkozy-islam


**Special thanks to my friend Brandi, who listened to me rant about this on the phone this afternoon, and my sister Hannah, who endured my heated tirade on the subject at Steak and Shake tonight.