I am pretty sure if Jesus told the Parable of the Good Samaritan today, in the United States, it would be told as the Parable of the Good Muslim.
Jesus and his family were political and religious refugees in Egypt in his early years.
Baptists were persecuted in Colonial America, and in Europe they were martyred for their beliefs.
When any one faith group is singled out, it is not long before all faith communities will be viewed suspiciously.
The inability to differentiate between Muslim terrorists (Jihadis, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, etc…) and the other 1.6 billion Muslims is as ridiculous as blaming all Catholics for the Irish terrorists (IRA) in the 80s, or even all Irish for it.
I remember how people pointed fingers at conservatives after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Can anyone imagine all white conservative males being blamed for that?
We Christ-followers rightly scream ‘foul!’ whenever someone uses the instances of people killing abortion providers or blowing up abortion clinics to paint all us as violent extremists. That is probably how many Muslims feel right now.
Pluralism is beautiful. For the love of all that is good and decent, don’t let demagogues set the agenda, and refuse to let xenophobic racists take a place of leadership.