CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- From time to time I get an email from someone who is concerned about what people of the Islamic faith believe, and if Muslims are trying to take over our country by running for public office. The writers of these emails often claim that Muslims are commanded by the Koran to "kill infidels." They are scared that this might happen if enough Muslim candidates are elected. 

First, by way of giving the writers of these emails some empathy: it sounds like they are feeling concerned for our country, anxious about changes that are happening in our society, and scared and mistrustful about the intentions people they do not know very well. They seem to value safety and security, and are very concerned that this is being threatened.

I really relate with these concerns. I have these concerns too, though, admittedly, for very different reasons.

When the email writers say that 'killing the infidel is a command to all Muslims,' I feel some confusion and need for clarification. Living here in Charleston, I have learned a very different understanding about Islam in my interactions with my friends who are Muslim.

In my research, the word "infidel" is an important word here. There seems to be a variety of ways that word is used. It is not clear whether this word means "non-Muslims," or  "non-monotheists" (anyone who is not Muslim, Jewish, or Christian), or "those unbelievers who would want to hurt or kill you." In one case (Suruh 2:191) the context of "infidel" seems to mean "those who are persecuting you." This proscription seems to be that it is good to fight back against injustice, to fight against those who would take away your right to freely worship God. Is this so far from how many Christians view their own calls to duty? I suspect that many who call themselves Christian believe this same idea as well.

The Koran also has specific comments about Christians and Jews, sometimes known collectively in Islam as the "People of the Book." There seems to be a recognition in the Koran (Surah 98:51) that there are among all the People of the Book, including Muslims, a distinction between believer (followers of the path) and those who are unbelievers (people who claim the name of the tradition but are not followers of its path). The People of the Book who are considered to be believers, those who follow the spirit and the way of God, are to be recognized as members of the same spiritual community: Jews, Christian, and Muslims all considered brothers and sisters together.

This has been my personal experience here in Charleston. As a Christian minister who occasionally attends prayer services at our local mosque, I have only felt friendship and welcome, and have been treated as a fellow believer of the same spiritual community and follower of the same spiritual path: that of wanting a better relationship with God.

Regarding the emails I receive, I am curious about what request is being made of me by these authors. Do the authors want the followers of Jesus to treat Muslims as they fear Muslims are going to treat them? If the definition of infidel is anyone who does not believe as I do, should all others be denied their basic human rights, or maybe just denied their democratic rights to vote, or to run for office? Is this what the U.S. version of democracy is all about?

As I consider even the small request that is being made of me to pass the authors' emails on to others, I do not feel an alignment with my personal sense of Christian values. I do not see Jesus as spreading fear of those who were different from him. What I see is a man who views all people as loved children of God, and one who trusts that love is more powerful than any of the things that seem to divide us.

As I have tried to understand better the text in the Koran where the idea of "killing the infidel" comes from, I have wondered if the context is similar to those texts in the Jewish/Christian Scripture when God commands death to those who blaspheme or curse the name of the Lord (Lev 24:16). God in the Bible also commands death to those who work on Sundays (Ex 35:2). How are these to be read and interpreted? Are Charleston believers expected to follow these "commands?" If a Muslim friend were to ask me about these, wondering if these are representative of current Christian believes and practices, what would I say, how would I explain?

These are challenging passages indeed!

I have a vision of a different future. I wonder what would happen if each of us engaged our brothers and sisters in a dialog about what we believe and how we interpret some of the difficult passages of our own traditions. Maybe that dialog could become an email conversation that could include how we have now come be one nation of people practicing our differing faiths under the canopy of liberty and justice for all.

Now that would be an email worth sending around!

Kershner, of Charleston, is director of the Kanawha Pastoral Counseling Center.