This week, the entire conservative evangelical community had a total meltdown over the possibility that New York City might elect a Muslim mayor. And not just any Muslim — a democratic socialist, born in Uganda, who moved to the States at the age of seven. He also happens to have two highly educated and successful parents, but I guess that doesn’t matter when you are filled with hatred toward people you have a hard time seeing as human beings.
Charlie Kirk and Matt Walsh tweeted so many Islamophobic takes, I genuinely thought they might have a panic attack. Then I remembered, they are professional Christians. They actually have the option to love their enemies.
Honestly, even I, someone who leans conservative was shocked by how much anti-Muslim hatred exists among evangelical Christians.
And it made me think: this can’t just be about post-9/11 fear. There has to be more to the story. And there is. It’s not only political. It’s cultural and theological.
It’s no secret that the political right has long been terrified that America will become “Islamized” like parts of Europe. But I honestly don’t know where that fear comes from. Crime rates in some Muslim-majority countries are actually lower than in major Western cities. So, really—who’s radicalizing whom?
Regardless of what some evangelicals think about Muslims, one thing is clear: a lot of them are absolutely terrified. Somewhere along the way, Christians forgot that Jesus said, “Make disciples of all nations and pray for those who persecute you.”
No judgment here. I don’t want to die prematurely either. But I do have to submit my will to God every day and that means loving my Muslim brothers and sisters. If that gets me “unalived,” so be it. I’ll be with Jesus anyway—which, honestly, is what I live for: to be reunited with the love of my life.
All jokes aside, let’s actually talk about the root of Islamophobia in evangelical circles.
Among the core reasons a lot of evangelicals in America view Muslims with dislike and suspicion is rooted in Christian Zionism and dispensationalist theology. These are powerful ideologies that have been deeply ingrained in the minds of American evangelicals for decades.
And let’s be real: the Left Behind series did a lot of damage. It brainwashed and traumatized three generations.
(That’s how powerful film is. That’s how powerful art is. If you want to influence the masses, do it through storytelling. Nothing shapes minds and cultures quite like art does).
According to Christian Zionists, Muslims are expected to play a destructive role in the end times. They are often framed as the enemies of God’s “chosen people”: Jews and Christians.
This isn’t only tragic, it is absolutely heretical. Apparently, in that worldview, Jesus died on the cross for a select group only, which is odd because the majority of Christian Zionists are not even Calvinists.
I have spent the last two years truly trying to understand Christian Zionist thought. The wild part? For a long time, I was unknowingly a Christian Zionist myself. But I’m grateful to say that, through what I can only describe as God’s providential hand, combined with powerful personal experiences and extensive research, I’ve since systematically dismantled those beliefs.
And for the past sixteen and a half years while living in the states, I’ve been asking myself whether the evangelical church in the US even realizes how deeply it lacks self-awareness and how long it’s been blinded by the prosperity gospel, which is so tightly connected to dispensationalism and Christian Zionism.
As evangelicals, we are terrified of suffering. We will do anything to avoid it. Dying for our faith is something we read about in Scripture, like something out of folklore from another time. Sure, Stephen got stoned, and Peter was crucified upside down. But that was them. It doesn’t apply to us 21st-century, privileged, Western Christians.
Instead, we’re busy “fighting the Muslims” because they supposedly want to take away our right to abort our babies, bomb kids in the Middle East, overwork ourselves, eat terrible food, and barely make ends meet.
“Make America Great Again,” they said.
But when are we going to make Christians Christlike again?
When will we lay down our lives for one another, give sacrificially, love deeply, and genuinely care for others more than ourselves? When will we reject the self-obsessed, narcissistic, hyper-individualistic culture that leaves the majority of our population lonely, sad, depressed, anxious, sick, and broke?
But sure—the West must be preserved at all costs.
Many American evangelicals grow up with the quiet idea that their culture is the most godly. This belief, even if not meant to harm, can lead to looking down on other cultures—especially Muslim ones—as less moral or even evil.
We fear Islam and Muslims not only because of who they are, but also because they seem different from us. We wrongly view them as a threat to our comfort, familiarity, safety and security.
My core conviction is that Islam is a false religion. Yet, that conviction inspires, rather than hinders, my belief that every single person, including every Muslim, is fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image and stands in need of His Son, Jesus.
And here’s a crucial point we often miss: Christianity wasn’t born an American religion, or even a European one. Jesus, our Savior, was from the Middle East. The early church exploded in places like Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, not the West. Our faith originated in the Middle Eastern. Christianity is culturally closer to Islam than any other religion, including Judaism.
We also have to remember what Paul writes in the book of Galatians, specifically in verse 3:28 clearly states: “There is neither Jew nor Greek… for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” When we confuse Christianity with Western culture, we inevitably end up worshipping our nation, our traditions, our comforts, and our political ideology instead of our Savior. That is idol worship.
Hating Muslims and wishing death upon them won’t solve our geopolitical issues, and it sure as hell isn’t going to lead anyone to Christ. I think it’s time for evangelicals to wake up, start asking tough questions, and truly reflect on what they actually believe.
addiction allah America American Culture American Identity bible book-review book-reviews books christianity dc dc-comics Democracy eastern orthodoxy Economics evangelism faith fantasy fiction Freedom god healing health history Immigration islam james-gunn jesus marriage mental-health movies orthodox orthodox church Philosophy Politics quran relationships religion saint nektarios saints spirituality superman The United States of America trauma women
Fariza 