We just passed the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorism that took American lives in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania in 2001. The same religious belief that inspired those events is still wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq, forcing thousands of refugees to flee the murder and mayhem. As evil as this is, some people incredibly compare Christianity as dangerous too.

Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos.com wrote a book in which he made the case that Christians are the “American Taliban.” He makes a sweeping moral equivalence between the terroristic tactics of radical Islamists, and Christians embracing the morals Jesus taught and inviting people to believe Him.

Shepard Smith of Fox News apparently bought into this ‘haters’ theme more than once on-air. He chastised and mocked Christians as hypocritical for promoting traditional morality while rejecting Sharia Law as not applicable under the U.S. Constitution. That makes us dangerous and intolerant.

Laura Miller, founder of Salon.com, and columnist for The New York Times Book Review was appalled to realize that C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books are Christian allegory. She apparently concluded that the Christian themes that permeate the books are subversive. Perhaps she can’t reconcile her love of the story as a child with her rejection of Christ as an adult, but does that make the beloved Narnia author dangerous?

Richard Dawkins is a secular atheist author. He rejects a god who is “a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal… capriciously malevolent bully” (The God Delusion). I’m happy to confirm that the Christian faith knows of no such boogie man. Mr. Dawkins’ writing projects and speaking tours take on the fervor of an evangelist trying to deliver his audience from what he sees as the dangerous trap of faith.

Is Christianity dangerous because it teaches self-sacrifice? What kind of world would it be if the greatest value was self-preservation or survival of the fittest? Is it dangerous because we recognize that our innate sense of morality must come from a Lawgiver that yearns for humanity to know Him despite our immorality?

Actually Christianity should be dangerous. The love of Jesus is a life-changing threat to selfishness, hatred, and evil. Faith in Christ is a threat to life without meaning, sin without forgiveness, religion without relationship. It attacks fear, anger, and loneliness. We can only hope that it leads to an epidemic of hope and healing of the human heart.

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28). Sounds dangerous.