"We are good, tolerant and open! And if you disagree, Allah willing, our swords shall strike the necks of every last one of you filthy infidels!"
Posted on 11/04/2015 11:52:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Protestant pastors are increasingly polarized about Islam, as a growing share label the Muslim faith violent while a sharply rising minority calls it spiritually good.
Although a majority considers Islam dangerous, a small but increasing segment believes Islam is similar to Christianity, according to a new survey by Nashville-based LifeWay Research.
Two-thirds of Protestant pastors agree Christianity and Islam should seek to coexist in America.
The softening of some pastors' views toward Islam is a key finding of a LifeWay Research survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors. Seventeen percent of pastors characterize Islam as similar to Christianity, nearly double the 9 percent from five years earlier. Although views shifted in both directions, positive opinions rose more significantly.
The American public, meanwhile, is twice as likely as pastors to see common ground between Islam and Christianity. In a parallel survey of 1,000 Americans, more than a third say the two faiths are similar.
"To understand the data, you have to understand that Protestant pastors are not of one mind," said Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, "And minds are changing in more than one direction."
Shifting Views
While more than 8 in 10 Protestant pastors say Islam is fundamentally different from Christianity, just as they did in 2010, minority viewpoints are increasing, LifeWay Research finds.
Compared to five years ago, pastors are much more likely to describe Islam in favorable terms. Fifty percent say Islam promotes charity, up from 33 percent. Significant numbers also describe Islam as spiritually good (32 percent, up from 19 percent), tolerant (24 percent, up from 16 percent) and open (22 percent, up from 12 percent.)
Negative opinions are also on the rise, although the shift is less dramatic. A slim majority considers Islam dangerous (52 percent, up from 44 percent). Almost half say Islam promotes violence (49 percent, up from 42 percent) and is spiritually evil (46 percent, up from 39 percent).
Stetzer explained, "Some mainline pastors and a few evangelicals are answering questions in a more positive way, while some evangelicals and a few mainline Protestants are trending in a negative way. But the biggest move is in the smallest percent—and is in a more positive direction."
The surveys allowed pastors to choose positive and negative terms to describe Islam, and pastors chose more of both this year than they did in LifeWay Research's survey five years ago. Fewer pastors opted for "none of these."
In the most pointed increase, 53 percent of pastors say Islam is "relevant today," an opinion held by only 28 percent five years earlier.
"It only makes sense that Islam is relevant today—it's on the evening news regularly. What's perhaps most interesting is that the majority of that coverage is negative, but some pastors still evidence a more positive perception," said Stetzer.
"Furthermore, it is worth noting that while pastors appear to be increasingly familiar with Islam, the same large majority recognizes unmistakable differences between Islam and Christianity" said Stetzer.
Moving Apart
Evangelical and mainline pastors hold divergent opinions about Islam. Most self-identified evangelical ministers view it as a violent and dangerous faith, while most self-identified mainline pastors associate it with peace, love and compassion.
The gap has widened in the past five years.
Fifty-two percent of evangelical pastors today characterize Islam as spiritually evil (up from 44 percent), while only 32 percent of mainline pastors agree, a rate unchanged from five years ago.
Conversely, almost half of mainline pastors call Islam spiritually good (47 percent, up from 35 percent). Fewer than 1 in 4 evangelical pastors share that opinion (24 percent, up from 16 percent).
Evangelical pastors increasingly say Islam is dangerous (59 percent, up from 50 percent) and promotes violence (54 percent, up from 49 percent), while mainline pastors' views on those terms are little changed. In contrast, growing numbers of mainline pastors say Islam is tolerant (35 percent, up from 25 percent) and open (30 percent, up from 18 percent), while evangelical pastors' agreement with those terms rises only slightly.
Asked which of two well-known descriptions is closer to their beliefs, 59 percent of evangelical pastors choose evangelist Franklin Graham's characterization of Islam as "a very evil and a very wicked religion," while 51 percent of mainline pastors choose former President George W. Bush's comment, "the Muslim faith is based upon peace and love and compassion."
"While these quotes are hardly new, they still embody opposite perspectives held by different theological groups of Christian leaders," said Stetzer.
Americans' Views
Though pastors don't see eye to eye on Islam, an even larger chasm divides them from the American public.
While 83 percent of Protestant pastors believe Islam is fundamentally different from Christianity, only 44 percent of Americans agree. Almost as many Americans (34 percent) consider the two faiths similar.
Overall, Americans tend to be more sympathetic than pastors toward Islam. They are less likely than both mainline and evangelical pastors to view Islam as dangerous, violent or spiritually evil.
But for most Americans, Islam isn't a black-and-white issue, LifeWay Research finds. Their uncertainty is evident throughout the survey.
While 31 percent of Americans say Islam is tolerant, almost as many (26 percent) say it promotes violence. Equal numbers find Islam to be dangerous and open (29 percent each).
Not a single characteristic—positive or negative—gains agreement from a majority, and 13 percent of Americans remain entirely undecided, choosing "none of these."
Americans are also unsure whether Christians and Muslims pray to the same God—46 percent say yes, while 47 percent say no.
-- Lisa Cannon Green is senior writer for Facts & Trends magazine.
Complete ignorance about the violent, world-expansionist ideology cleverly disguised as a religion.
In the end times, even the very elect will be fooled. Make no mistake, Islam worships Satan, Christianity worships God. They are not the same.
There are an endless supply of morons in America.
Which denominations are making a pact with Satan?
Our church pastor refers to islam as a cult tailor-made for Satan.
First problem. There’s no belief involved in Islam. Once in, never out. That’s not a faith. If you lose your faith, if you no longer believe in Islam, you can’t leave.
As such, it isn’t a religion. As such, it doesn’t deserve protection under 1A. It also doesn’t enjoy federal non-profit status.
If I suddenly don’t want to be a Christian, I can choose not to be.
It’s easy to believe in a method which boils down to a lot of moral and ritual rules, which men are supposed to be able to boast about keeping before the Lord.
But that’s like the Pharisee who offered the boasting prayer before the Lord. It was deemed as false because he leaned on his personal power and forgot his need.
It’s a new covenant with Christ.
Just because Christianity and Islam are rooted from the God of Abraham does not mean they are the same God. Christianity and Islam were established to replace the former belief system and were never meant to be synchronous with other religions.
What would be the point of trying to get people to convert if one or the other is just as good? Yet, the sense of urgency to create converts is at the very heart of both Christianity and Islam. There also lay one of the main differences in how each religion approaches conversion/evangelism. Christianity uses baptism by water, Islam uses the sword.
This is no surprise. Google comments the Pope has made about islam. It’s about the great apostasy/ecumenical movement.
“Jesus Christ, Jehovah, Allah. These are all names employed to describe an entity that is distinctly the same across the world. For centuries, blood has been needlessly shed because of the desire to segregate our faiths. This, however, should be the very concept which unites us as people, as nations, and as a world bound by faith. Together, we can bring about an unprecedented age of peace, all we need to achieve such a state is respect each others beliefs, for we are all children of God regardless of the name we choose to address him by. We can accomplish miraculous things in the world by merging our faiths, and the time for such a movement is now. No longer shall we slaughter our neighbors over differences in reference to their God.†- See more at: http://nationalreport.net/pope-francis-followers-koran-holy-bible/#sthash.fPrqUHVk.dpuf
We can thank GWB for a large part of this confusion.
I suspect the only religion they would denigrate would be the one based on God's Word.
Babylon the Great...”come out of her my people that you be not a partaker of her plagues...” Rev 18:4
Those along with islam are satan spawned.
Well, there are nicer devils and meaner devils. Usually we think of Satan as overtly mean. But all lead to teeth gnashing emptiness in the end.
“Forgive your enemy” vs “Convert or die!” Yup looks pretty similar to me!
A growing are heretics.
“islam is a political death cult. These pastors are morons.”
They know nothing of Islam, or Christianity, or both. Shallow and naive at the very best.
The second, kind of a baptism in evil.
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