So, are you ready for a big argument? In many parts of the world, Islam is at the centre of heated debate. Some people defend it; others oppose it.

Many people are tired of religious fights that wreck the peace and seem to have no end. I’m sure you have heard the word “Islamophobia.” That refers to unfair discrimination against the religion or the followers of Islam.

Note: I am writing as a Christian, and I am not trying to start a fight. We already have enough conflict — and more than one religious war — in our modern world.

For example, Muslim extremists in Pakistan attacked some Christian churches, and the [Muslim] government had to intervene. Apparently police and army soldiers worked to stop the violence:

There is much more. A quick internet search will turn up news about Hamas and Israel, Iran and the U.S., Hindus and Muslims in India, and more.

1) Are you outraged?

Are ‘those people’ all the same? Whoever ‘those people’ are — we are constantly being baited into anger and outrage. Stirring that outrage has become one of the internet’s primary functions.

If we are angry, I suggest that we get over it, or at least move on to other things. It is important to think calmly about the issues that divide us.

2) We need to understand how humans act in organizations, with any religion or belief system.

Humans always organize into religions or belief systems, with two basic kinds of members:

Rank 1: A vocal minority, leaders and activists. Leaders are usually trained and appointed, and activists are usually loud and self-appointed. The loud minority usually speak for everyone in the movement.

Rank 2: The silent majority, the large number of members who go on with their lives and leave leadership and beliefs to the vocal few.

For example, a few years ago, I spoke to a friend who was raised in a farm district where most of the first settlers were from eastern Europe. That meant that most of the old churches were Catholic or Orthodox, and conservative.

However, in almost every town in that district, there was also a “Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.” My friend explained that the Witnesses directly approached the silent majority by knocking on their doors, when a priest was not available to explain and defend the local religion.

Often, those conversations produced new converts for the new religion.

The influence of the Vocal Minority

When we learn about religious arguments and wars, we are usually learning about the vocal minority who speak for the whole silent majority.

We should get past the surface anger and know who “they” are. We should also know who we are.

If we are concerned about religious arguments that can turn into wars, we should understand that this human organization pattern with the vocal and the silent is as old as the human race.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus confronted this division.

Modern Bible translations read that “The large crowd listened to him with delight.” 

Older versions of the English Bible explain it this way, “The common people heard him gladly.”

As he taught, Jesus also said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets” (Mark 12:38-39).

Really, there is no ‘them’ or ‘they.’ There is only us. The human race has not changed in two thousand years, or in ten thousand years.

Jesus said to us, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” (Matthew 4: 19 to 22)

And Jesus also said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16: 15).

The silent majority and common working people following Jesus are called to be vocal, and to speak to other people like themselves. We were never called to engage in enraging arguments and religious wars with the activist leadership from all the vocal minorities.

We are common humans who are sent to the common people of the whole world to bring them the good news from God. 

We can easily lose this focus in modern religious arguments.