My brother is a Christian missionary. Philosophically, we are about as far from each other as two people can be.
He just got back from China, where he hung out with some Chinese muslims. (There are 50 - 60 million muslims in China.) He and his small entourage- including my 7-month-old niece, the cutest kid in the world- were welcomed into all the mosques they went to. He even has a picture of a group of them on the roof of a mosque, and they're all wearing the kufi hats.
As a gift to them, my brother gave these very friendly people a small Bible. Turns out they already had one. And they read it from time to time. So, my brother also gave them a copy of the Jesus Film dubbed in their dialect. (My brother has been a recording engineer for some years and has traveled to cities and tiny villages all over the world, finding people to be "actors" and dubbing hundreds of different languages.)
I see the beauty in what he's doing. But I'm also uncomfortable. These people opened up their sacred space. I mean, I suppose they knew he was a missionary and that his purpose in being there was to give some testimony, to just get them thinking about it. And, there are actually as many Christians in China as there are in the U.S. So it's not a foreign concept to them.
There just seems to be a fundamental disrespect there. I understand why Christians want to Spread the Word, I really do. But I would never, ever in a million years go into a mosque or church or temple or synagog and suggest that what someone believes is wrong and that they should believe in something else. Outside of someone's sacred space, I would speak up for myself, I would speak passionately about what I believe; I'm all about discourse. But... I don't know. It's cool to suggest other ways of living and believing. This just seems so aggressive.
I can't seem to stop drawing this comparison in my head to what my brother is doing, and what Islam (in general) thinks the Western world (in general) is doing. The West is pushing- Get democracy, get Christianity, get credit cards. This is the way to live. Because clearly, we here in the West have got it all figured out. We know how to live a fulfilling life.
...At the end of the day, though, I do know that whatever my brother believes Heaven to be, he will certainly go there when he dies. Because he means so well in this life. He wants people to be good and happy. His intentions are so good, and I wish I could believe that about everybody but it's clear that I can't. So, as much as I disagree with him, I'll go on believing in my brother.
