The challenge of Islam In the light of the moment in which we find ourselves as a nation, as a culture, as a world, fully aware of all that is happening around us here and abroad, of the crisis in which we are involved, it’s important for us to understand who Jesus Christ is.

All of us have been made much more aware since September 11 of the religion of Islam. One billion people on the face of the earth are Muslims-more than that, actually, which means about one out of every six people on the face of the earth follow the Muslim faith. In the United States alone there are more than 6 million Muslims. Chuck Colson and I are Southern Baptists, and we claim 15 million of us. You can’t find half of them on any Sunday morning, but just think about the fact that almost half the number of the largest Protestant denomination in America are Muslims. There are more Muslims in the U.S. than there are Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Lutherans all put together-and the faith is growing, exponentially in some places in the country.

I live in Birmingham, Alabama, which might be called the buckle on the Bible Belt, and yet in Birmingham today there are five mosques. Doubtless many of you can testify to the presence of Islam in communities all across the country-not just the huge cities like Detroit, but in many, many other places as well. We need to know about this. At Beeson Divinity School, we instituted a course on Islam several years ago. We asked our students to take it because Christian ministers prepared to live and interact in this world can no longer afford to live in ignorance of such a major religious force.

Many people equate Islam with the Arab world. And certainly there are very powerful historic connections. Yet Arab Muslims are only one of five major Muslim families, speaking religiously and ethnically around the world. Most of us couldn’t begin to name them. We have a lot to learn.

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