For many Christians, being a Christian is about being right and everyone else being wrong. For such individuals, there is no actual understanding of what Christianity teaches, except on some vague level. Being a Christian is, for such people, not about living a certain way, or adhering to certain values that involve turning the other cheek.
Paul the apostle challenged those who considered themselves God’s chosen ones and others automatically condemned because they are outsiders to think again. If he had lived today, he might have added a mention of an incident on a New York train, when Christians beat up a Jewish man and a Muslim came to his aid, in making his point in Romans 2:6-11.
In modern English “faith” is understood as believing certain things to be true, and thus being right (with the corollary that others are wrong). All of this leads to a gross misunderstanding of Paul’s point about faith and works.
I don’t know how to conclude this, except to say: Happy Hanukkah, and thank you Hassan Askari for being a “good Samaritan” (or more to the point, as Jesus might have actually said if he told the parable today, a good Muslim).
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