Is There a Christian Double Standard on Religious Violence?

[rug]

Nearly 80 percent of Christians don’t think a terrorist acting in the name of Christianity is Christian. But more than half say terrorists acting in the name of Islam are Muslims.



Three-quarters (75 percent) of the public say that self-described Christians who commit acts of violence in the name of Christianity aren’t really Christian, while half (50 percent) of the public say the same about people who claim to be Muslim and commit religiously-motivated violence. Fewer than four in ten (37 percent) say that such people are actually Muslim, while 13 percent are uncertain.

BRANDON WITHROW
03.05.17 12:01 AM ET

hortly after September 11, 2001, then President George W. Bush spoke directly to Muslims. “We respect your faith,” he said, calling it “good and peaceful.” Terrorists, he added, “are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.”

Recently, TODAY’s Matt Lauer reminded Bush of his words. “I understood right off the bat, Matt, that this was an ideological conflict—that people who murder the innocent are not religious people,” Bush explained.

Those words epitomize an important, but controversial question: is someone who acts violently in the name of a faith truly a member of that faith? According to recently highlighted data from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)—which focuses primarily on Christian responses to that yes/no question—potential answers may result in a “double standard.” Christians are more likely to say that other Christians acting violently are not true Christians, while failing to provide the same latitude for Muslims.

But how closely does this represent the reality? When I asked Christian theologians the why behind that simple survey, the answers were—perhaps surprisingly—more complicated and diverse.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/05/is-there-a-christian-double-standard-on-religious-violence.html

http://www.prri.org/spotlight/americans-double-standard-religious-violence/

[guillaumeb]

1. So people are more likely to make excuses when their own beliefs are challenged?

No surprise. We generally tend to believe that our own beliefs are the correct ones, and make excuses if fellow believers behave negatively. This is true for theists and non-theists.

[rug]

2. That and people often don't understand different beliefs.

It's easier simply to promote straw men than actually sit down and learn.

[guillaumeb]

3. Exactly.

While homeschooling our children, at secondary level we mutually studied the 3 Abrahamic religions. My oldest went on to minor in Islamic studies because she was so interested in how the 2 religions related.