I Don't Understand Why Many "Christians" Hate All Muslims

I love Jesus' teachings to love even one's enemies. Given this teaching, I don't understand why many "Christians" hate all Muslims.

In fact, I frequently try to avoid reading posts in the media from "Christians" expressing hatred toward all Muslims and quoting verses (often out of context) from the Qur'an to support their views.

Instead, one could quote a verse from the Bible in the Old Testament that commands the Israelites to kill even babies and young children (I Samuel 15:1-3) and passages urging the Israelites to make war to steal their "Promised Land." One could also quote a passage in the Qur'an that states Christians and Jews are followers of the book and friends of Muslims (Surah 5:69). Quoting various verses can provide various views.

Sadly, too many radical Muslims and radical Christians quote verses out of context to create hatred. True followers of the highest righteous authority, God (or Allah, the Arabic word for God), would seek to help others, love one another, rather than hate.

I am blessed to have met many wonderful persons in both faiths and feel Muslims and Christians can work together to make the world a better place.

As I see it, the problem often is leaders who seek to sow hatred for their own often selfish purposes. Radical "Muslim" leaders and radical "Christian" leaders who take advantage of gullible followers for their own selfish purposes need to be held accountable.

In the "war on terror" there is terrorism committed by individuals on both sides, as is typically the case in war. Remember that many fine Christians served on both sides even in World War II.

The Qur'an does seem to differ from the Bible in the sense that the early Surahs in the Qur'an seem to be more positively focused, with the latter ones focused more on what could be considered "holy wars." With the Bible, the Old Testament discusses the Jews as a chosen race that are called to make "holy wars" and steal land for their own "Promised Land." Then in the New Testament the focus is on the the teachings of Jesus and the Apostle Paul to love even one's enemies.

My Christian faith may bias me, but I like the progression in the Bible better than that of the Qur'an. Furthermore, I find Jesus' teaching to love even one's enemies better than the teachings of Islam (or Judaism) that I have read--and far superior to "Christianity" as many practice it today. I feel that my Christian faith instructs me to care for all people, whether Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, or whatever. Let's all seek to help each other and we can make ourselves and the world a better place.

NOTE: This September 27, 2015 blog post is expanded from a comment and post that I made on Facebook.com on September 26, 2015.