Peace

This is an interesting study flagged by Josh Marshall. It studies Islamophobia among various groups.  One group that is consistently does not hate Muslims is Jews.  As Marshall notes, this would seem surprising if we filter everything through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We all know, from observing things from 6,000 miles away that Jews and Muslims hate each other.

What's striking about this is how much of our discussion of what Israel is and stands for is increasingly being filtered through a Christian Zionist perspective.  Evangelicals want the Temple rebuilt so that Jesus can return and...cast the Jews into the Lake of Fire.  Cool. Support for Israel is therefore less about supporting Jews and more about taking a side in a nationalist contest that has Biblical overtones.  Muslims are the "bad guys" if all you know about Islam is Al Qaeda and Hamas.

One thing Marshall doesn't touch on, is something I've noticed in studying both Judaism and Islam.  Doctrinally, they are much more similar to each other than they are to their cousin, Christianity.  Only Christianity splits God into parts.  Only Christianity asserts that Jesus is divine. Islam and Judaism seem much more focused on ethical living, whereas Christianity focuses on divinity.

Shalom means peace in Hebrew; salaam means peace in Arabic.  Muhammad lived among the Jews of Medina. None of this is an accident. Hell, the Iranian Majles reserves a seat for a Jew; even we don't do that. Once again, a blinkered understanding of history dooms our understanding before it can even start.