NonBelievers, Foreigners, & Strangers - Essay Example

Judaism, Christianity as well as Islam share the same roots and are based upon similar principles of monotheism. Believing in one God, these three religions also seem to emerge from the region which is in closer proximity with each other. Jerusalem, in Palestine, is the home to Judaism as well as Christianity whereas Mecca and Medina are considered as sacred placed for Islam.
Judaism
Under the teachings of Judaism, believers have to believe in the existence of one God however, Judaism came into existence when people generally believed in many gods. Resultantly, Jews have to keep distance from the non-believers and those who believed in many gods. Essentially, for Jews, foreigners and non-believers were those who believed in many gods and were not subscribing to the idea of one God.
One of the key and essential aspects of how Judaism viewed strangers and kept a distance from them can be understood from celebration of the Passover in which God said to Moses that no foreigner shall eat of this Passover except slaves which have been purchased. Judaism also seem to put some conditions on non-believers to live with them and also suggest to love the stranger because Moses was a stranger too in Egypt.
Christianity
Christianity on the other hand however believes that its message is for everyone and that people might convert to Christianity. As such the position it shows towards foreigners or non-believers is relatively different as compared to Judaism. In Romans, it is written that Christians should extend hospitality to the strangers. Lord also says that he will speak to the strangers though they may not listen to him. (Berlinerblau, 2005)
Islam
Islamic teachings indicate that it is the last religion and have actually perfected what was initially being preached by Judaism and Christianity. Islam explicitly seems to address the issue of non-believers and preach its followers not to take Christians as well as Jews as their friends. Islam however seems to believe in the idea that each one should preach their own religion without actually interfering with each other.
Islam particularly prohibits non-believers to visit the cities of Mecca and Medina and restrict the access of non-believers to its sacred sites. Each faction however, is reacting to the current events differently with Muslims believe that Jews and Christians are responsible for most of the problems which are now encountered by the world generally and Muslims specifically. The issue of Jerusalem and Palestine is critical the way three religions attempt to stamp their ownership to the city. Jerusalem is sacred to all three religions and there has been strong dissent between the factions regarding the control of the city.
Geography of the region also seems to be the dominating factor behind the political decisions. The distribution of natural resources especially presence of oil in Muslim countries seem to dominate the way three religions interact with each other politically. Since Jerusalem held critical importance for all three religions therefore the policy making tend to be affected by the geography of the region specially the geographical significance of Jerusalem.
References
Berlinerblau, J. (2005). The Secular Bible:Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More