All Muslims Are Not Terrorists and All Christians Are Not Fundamentalists

It is only one or a few that can give an entire group a good or bad name and forever classify them as that stereotype.  I agree with the Pope Francis on his visit to Turkey when he said "all Muslims are not terrorists just as all Christians are not fundamentalists."  So why do we classify them as such?

I think it's this need inside of us to group things together.  My five year old is constantly bringing home assignments that require her to group things that are similar and classify them as such.  I don't understand why a bird must be in the group of animals and a tree in the group of nature.  Why shouldn't a bird and a tree be in the same group?  To me it seems a much better fit and we shouldn't always have to be classified as one particular group.

But if we do have that need to put someone in a group or be in a group, let's all be classified as humans.  Or souls.  Or humanity.  Or people.  Those are things we have in common.  Our group so to say.

Can you be a Christian and Muslim at the same time?

Being married to a Muslim, I'm often asked how we get along.  My response is always the same, "we just do."  We have mutual respect for one another and our beliefs.  We accept and love the differences that we each have.  We embrace the two religious holidays and beliefs side by side every day.  We definitely don't always agree on everything, which includes whether you should boil the water before adding the pasta or not...

I just read an article in The Economist that praised Sierra Leone for some people there actually being Christian and Muslim at the same time.  How incredible is that.  The Christians go to the Mosques and pray right along beside the Muslims.  A Muslim goes to Church and sits right next to a Christian.  Some are even calling themselves "ChrisMus."  Signs boast and proudly display that "God loves Allah."  And everyone is happy, co-existing.  So, yes it is possible!  You can be a Christian and a Muslim at the same time.  Yes, you can love and accept another human in the name of God. Instead of hating or fighting or killing in the name of God.  Stop terrorism in the name of God and follow the examples of the good people of Sierra Leone.


Check out the full article at
http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2014/05/religious-tolerance-far-western-africa