What do you think of when you hear the word Muslim? For many of us these days the latest terrorist outrage comes to mind, the bombs in London or Iraq or Delhi or Israel. Or we think of shadowy figures in white robes and beards, urging their brethren to destroy the Infidel.

Which is all very unfair. Muslims in this country hate being lumped together as extremists. Many of them point out that there are many different sects within Islam, and that the extremists who carry out terrorist atrocities are a tiny minority even within those sects.

I think I'm beginning to understand how they feel. The same sort of thing's starting to happen with the word Christian. I've belonged to the Church of England all my life and one of the things I've always liked about Anglicanism is that it's what they often call a 'broad church' - you can believe almost anything and still be a practising member.

You may have huge doubts about every aspect of the church's official teaching. You may feel you're very far from reaching any sort of certainty. But the Church of England will still welcome you without asking too many questions or making any undue intellectual demands. You can make your own individual spiritual journey within the shelter of an institution that has room for all kinds and shades of belief, from the evangelical happy-clappy to the spikey-incense-with-everything brigade.

There's room for all of us, and many more. And if there are disturbing signs that this decades-old inclusiveness is starting to slip, at the moment it's still just about intact and I'm very grateful for it.

But you read the papers nowadays or listen to the news, and when the word Christian pops up you'll find it's almost always linked to some rigid, intolerant belief. Newsworthy Christians don't believe in evolution, but (at the very least) insist on teaching what is called Intelligent Design. They believe that every word in the Bible is, literally, true (though how they reconcile all the contradictions it contains I don't quite know).

They oppose abortion and stem cell research. They are keen on 'family values', so they want single parents penalised and are virulently opposed to homosexuality. They believe that, within the home, the man should be the lord and master, the wife obedient and subservient. They want savage laws to keep wrongdoers on the straight and narrow. They insist that only they are right and everyone else is wrong. They demand that those who don't share their beliefs should be cast out or even punished. In fact, they are as rigid in their views as any extremist Muslim fundamentalist.

And I just don't recognise myself or anyone I know in that definition.

The idea of being lumped together with people who hold such beliefs fills me with dismay and repulsion. I begin to think I don't want to call myself Christian if that's what it means.

So I think I know just how the majority of Muslims feel when they're categorised in that off-hand way, demonised because of the beliefs and behaviour of a tiny minority.

Maybe we need a new definition for those of any religious affiliation who don't hold to some rigid, exclusive formula - 'seekers after truth', for instance. Or maybe we should just stop taking lazy short cuts in the way we think and speak and write about our fellow citizens.

Published: 17/11/2005