Charlie Ryker recently claimed that Islam offers nothing but “violence”, “taqqya”, “Jihad”, “abuse of women”, and “the murder of innocence and the innocent”.
It is really pathetic that Christian polemics against Islam too often revolves around the same talking points. The problem is that nearly every accusation he listed can be found, in some form, within his own Bible.
- “No love” — Deuteronomy 20:16–17 commands Israel to “save alive nothing that breathes” among designated enemy nations.
- Violence — 1 Samuel 15:3 commands the killing of men, women, children and infants among the Amalekites.
- Religious warfare / “Jihad” — Deuteronomy 7:1–2, Deuteronomy 20:10–18, Numbers 31:1–7 and Joshua 6:20–21 all describe warfare carried out under divine authority.
- Deception / “taqiyya” — the Hebrew midwives deceive Pharaoh and are rewarded (Exodus 1:15–21); Rahab misdirects the authorities to protect Israelite spies and is later praised (Joshua 2:4–6; Hebrews 11:31).
- Paul and deception — Paul says Christ being preached “whether in pretence, or in truth” still gives him reason to rejoice (Philippians 1:18). Romans 3:7 clearly defends lying for the greater good, i.e. “through my lie”, while 2 Corinthians 12:16 uses the language, “being crafty, I caught you with guile.” Paul also says, “I am made all things to all men” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Context matters for these passages — which is exactly why context should also matter when Christians discuss taqiyya.
- Abuse of women — Numbers 31:17–18 orders the killing of women who had known men while the virgin girls are kept alive. Deuteronomy 21:10–14 regulates taking a female war captive as a wife.
- Sexual violence against women — Judges 19 describes a woman being surrendered to a mob, sexually assaulted throughout the night and later dismembered.
- Killing innocents — infants are explicitly included in 1 Samuel 15:3. Joshua 6:21 says Jericho’s inhabitants, “young and old”, were put to the sword.
- Killing children — Psalm 137:9 pronounces blessed the person who seizes Babylonian infants and dashes them against rocks.
None of this means Christianity can simply be reduced to these passages. Christians will rightly appeal to historical setting, literary context, genre, theology and interpretation.
That is precisely the point.
If context matters when Christians defend Deuteronomy, Joshua, Samuel, Judges and Paul, then context also matters when they attack the Qur’an, hadith, jihad or taqiyya. You cannot demand nuance for your own Bible and then abandon nuance when reading someone else’s scripture.