Faith vs. prejudice

This weekend, I attended an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship conference in Washington, Ind. I would call myself a Christian with many struggles; some are with myself, but some are with trends in the Christian community that I find troubling. One of these trends presented itself through a chance encounter I had during the conference. \nOne day while walking back to the place I was staying, a guy stopped me and asked which direction was north. This immediately got my radar going that something was different here. So after trying to determine which way was north (rather difficult, considering we were in the middle of nowhere), we talked a little. I found out he was from Saudi Arabia, attended the University of Evansville and is currently taking intensive English seminars. Overall, he seemed like a very cool guy. When I found out he was Muslim, I asked him why he was at a Christian conference. He said he wanted to explore Jesus from a Christian perspective. I thought that was pretty cool, considering the huge difference in beliefs regarding whether Jesus was the son of God (as Christians believe) or just a prophet (as Muslims believe). \nWe talked about that for awhile, then the conversation turned to terrorism. He told me in somewhat broken English that all Muslims aren't like that, that very few Muslims would blow up buildings. I explained to him that I didn't feel that way, especially since as a black Christian -- a member of two groups that have had their fair share of negative stereotypes bestowed upon them -- it would be stupid on my part to stereotype another group. But as I walked away, I thought to myself that it was a shame that at a Christian conference, he felt he had to explain this to me. It was one of those moments when I was embarrassed to be a Christian. \nAccording to the Bible, Christians are not supposed to pass quick judgment on other people. It says in John 8:7, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." And let's be honest: There isn't a Christian in the world who's without sin. In fact, Christianity as an institution isn't without its own sins of terror and destruction. Yet in an effort to be more American than anyone else, to associate Christianity with being American, we've been some of the first people to attack and criticize Arabs. Since Sept. 11, it has become a trend to cast aspersions at Arab-Americans, and Christians have unfortunately too often been at the forefront of that trend. The media aren't very friendly to Christians either, yet we are just as quick to stereotype others. I know this isn't only a Christian problem, but we're held to higher standards by God and by unbelievers. What's more important -- being American or being Christian? Either we're going to be like many Americans and continue to stereotype these people, or we're going to do as the Bible tells us and love them regardless.