When Bishop Joseph E. Strickland stated that Islam is, by its own admission, anti-Christian, the backlash was immediate—and predictable. In an age trained to flatten all religions into “basically the same thing,” any clear theological boundary sounds offensive. But Strickland’s claim was not emotional, political, or racial. It was doctrinal. And doctrine matters.
Christianity is not merely a belief in God. It is a confession about who God is. At its core stands one uncompromising claim: Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, crucified, risen, and Lord. Islam explicitly rejects that claim. The Qur’an denies the divinity of Christ, denies the crucifixion as salvific, and rejects the Trinity outright. These are not peripheral disagreements. They strike at the heart of the Christian gospel.
To say this is not to insult Muslims as people. Christians are commanded to love their neighbors, including Muslims, with humility, mercy, and truth. But love does not require theological amnesia. Respect does not require pretending that contradictions do not exist. Christianity cannot affirm a system that denies Christ while remaining faithful to Christ.
The modern instinct is to accuse anyone who draws this line of hatred. But Jesus Himself drew lines. He said no one comes to the Father except through Him. The apostles preached Christ in cultures that found the claim intolerant—and they did so anyway. The early church did not survive by blending doctrines. It survived by bearing witness.
Strickland’s statement feels shocking only because the church has grown hesitant to speak plainly. When theology is reduced to sentiment, truth becomes negotiable. But Christianity does not exist to be agreeable. It exists to proclaim Christ crucified and risen, even when that proclamation offends religious systems that deny Him.
Calling Islam anti-Christian is not a call to hostility. It is an acknowledgment of reality. Two faiths that disagree on the identity of Jesus cannot be spiritually interchangeable. Christians who blur that distinction do not advance peace—they weaken their own confession.
Clarity is not cruelty. Conviction is not hatred. And truth does not become false simply because it is unpopular.
