Yesterday in church I felt it important to pick up on the current ‘terror alert’ story that is slowly escalating and generating all sorts of disturbing behaviour around the place.

From a muslim woman thrown off a moving train in Melbourne, to a young girl named Isis who now is in a quandry as to ‘who she is’, to a business named ISIS who now advising staff not to come to work with their uniforms on and are considering re-branding. All of these are outcomes of a media voice that is telling us we need to be afraid and that our freedom and way of life is in danger.

The conclusion we get to led to as a result of the fighting in Iraq is that ISIS are Muslims, therefore Muslims are the enemy. For people who don’t think its a simple equation and the problem is that many don’t think…

So despite the messages from our politicians that tell us to remain calm and treat muslims fairly and kindly there is an equally virulent message that calls us to be careful, to be cautious and to look out.

Leunig summed it up well in this cartoon.

All the ingredients are there to create the kind of chaos we now see around us. So how does a church respond? How do we as the people of God respond every day in the regular rhythms of life.

If offered 4 thoughts yesterday:

1. Pray – I get the sense that ‘our battle is not against flesh and blood’ and it won’t be won by killing more people. I’m pragmatic enough to believe we need to take action to stop ISIS forward movement, but minimum force would be the answer rather than blowing them (and innocent bystanders) off the planet. Prayer also focuses our energies on the things God seeks – his kingdom – his righteousness – peace, rather than on the festering fears that perhaps our muslim neighbours might be terrorists undercover. Now is the time to pray for the muslims in our community that they will be safe and not become innocent victims of a fight that is not theirs, and to pray for the folks stranded in Iraq who have nowhere to run to (especially not Australia…)

2. Love – Dave Andrews wrote a piece about this and I think he’s on the money. Now is not the time to be neutral – to stand back – but it is the time to show love and concern and to offer our help to those who must now live in fear of being victimised. For those who are cautious I don’t believe this equates to agreement with the tenets of Islam, nor is it bowing to ISIS. It is believing that we do not overcome evil with evil, but rather we overcome with good. Try it. Speak to a muslim person and show concern. Smile at them… There… not that hard…

3. Think – I suggested yesterday that we treat the news as reality TV – a story being developed with some element of truth, but only enough to keep people watching. Let’s not believe everything we hear. Let’s be sure to check our sources and think before we forward that email speaking of the ‘slaughter of Christians by Muslims’… Consider what message this sends – even inadvertently, especially when it gets sent on another 5000 times. Check snopes before believing any emails and think twice before accepting anything you hear on the news. Just the other day I stumbled on a documentary about SOFEX – the special operation forces expo held in Jordan where the latest and greatest in military hardware is on display to those who will buy it and use it. And with the USA the biggest producer of this stuff it makes you question how viable this massive multi billion dollar industry is if there are now wars in which to use it. It makes you think doesn’t it?…

4. Radicalise – I read an article in the paper on the weekend about the process of radicalisation and how it happens among muslim youth. And as I was reading I began reflecting on that old oxymoron ‘radical Christianity’ (because it implies that there is such a thing as moderate or recreational Christianity). If we can choose to live our own lives surrendered to Jesus and the things that shape the kingdom then we must surely stand apart from our society in the way we love and seek the wellbeing of others. We will be a radicalised, prophetic (and annoying) voice to both the church and the society. Inevitably we will evoke anger, but a genuine expression of faith lived out in society will result in a concern for the other whether they are Muslim, Hindu, Bahai or Presbyterian… I believe one of our key roles as Christian leaders is to keep disturbing our people with the message of the kingdom and to keep questioning our own lives as do that. Authentic Christianity is radical by definition, but we continually need to radicalise ourselves and our churches where we so easily settle for middle class values with a sprinkling of Jesus.

At the end of the day there are significant theological differences between Muslims and Christians and we don’t need to downplay this. We aren’t varieties of the same plant. We are different, and the core difference is in who we believe Jesus to be. But that doesn’t mean they are the enemy… It doesn’t mean we need to be afraid. I liked John Dickson’s recent ‘letter to his church‘ as a way of seeing the issue.

And just while we’re at it, now is not the time to be figuring out the burka issue or to be banging on about Halal. I believe these are valid debates to have and the degree to which Islamic culture is able to permeate our society is a question we need to resolve. If we are genuinely a secular democratic society and Muslims have come to be part of that because their own system sucked, then they are welcome to have a voice and to participate in the process like everyone else. But for now we don’t need to take action that is unnecessarily hostile and provocative.