Islamic terrorism is a huge problem. But that doesn’t mean all Muslims are terrorists. Those who aren’t are useful allies in the war against extremism. It’s important to work with them to make the world a safer place. However, some Christians seem to have taken this idea too far.

According to reports, a church in North Carolina was recently converted to a Mosque by a group of Christians. They did so in an attempt to respect the local Muslims in the community. Although many in the community praised the act, some were concerned.

In an effort to show respect, several Christian pastors in North Carolina agreed to sell them a local church sitting on four acres for $230,000. They then worked with them to help convert the church into a mosque. Instead of destroying the crosses they removed from the building during the conversion, the mosque leader, Ali Muhammad, decided to give them back to the pastors as a sign of good faith.

Rev. Jim Melnyk, a pastor of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Smithfield, North Carolina, praised the mosque leader for doing so. “What they were attempting to do is honor our tradition and so they wanted to turn the crosses over to us,” he explained.

The local Muslim community had originally reached out to the pastors through an interfaith group. Melnyk confirmed this, telling reporters, “they were reaching out to us, and we were reaching out to them.” They hope that the mosque will help establish a “warm and respectful” relationship between the two faiths, which Melnyk pointed out “share common origins and scriptures,” in order to show that not all Muslims are dangerous extremists.

To further prove this, the pastors agreed to participate in the mosque’s opening ceremony. Melnyk reasoned that doing so was appropriate because they all worship the same god. “Christians, Jews, and Muslims are all people of the book, and we all claim what the Hebrew Scriptures call the Abrahamic faith,” he explained, noting, “we call it the Old Testament, and Muslims also claim the Bible.”

Despite what Melnyk said, some are opposed to the idea of working with the Muslim community, even if they aren’t extremists. They claim that some of Islam’s teachings are inconsistent with democracy, teach hatred against others, and spread lies about Jesus. They also don’t believe that Muslims worship the same god as Christians.

Timothy Furnish, a Christian historian of Islam, spoke out against the other pastors’ decision to convert the church into a mosque and participate in their opening ceremony. “[What’s] most disturbing is a joint Christian-Muslim ‘service,’ which includes readings from the Bible and Quran. Any Christian priest or pastor who participates in such is deluded,” claimed Furnish. He argued that Christians should not interact with Muslims because their scripture denies key Christian beliefs, such as the Trinity or that Jesus died on the cross, and noted, “we Christians in America can be welcoming to Muslims without going overboard and pretending that our faith and Islam are virtually the same – or that both are equally valid paths to salvation.” Furnish concluded, “this imam may mouth soothing words about all just getting along, but the symbolism of Islam triumphant is just being reinforced.”

However, Melnyk dismissed the concerns brought up my Furnish. “All of us humans are imperfect. We all struggle and we all look to the divine for inspiration, and we don’t always get it right,” he explained, adding, “we run a danger when we paint any faith tradition with a broad brush.” He continued, “I don’t know that faking his death on a cross is a belief held by everyone in Islam. I do know they see Jesus very differently than we do; they see him as a prophet, not the Son of God. And like other monotheistic faiths, they are challenged by the doctrine of the Trinity. I would challenge any Christian theologian to define the mystery of what we call the Trinity. It’s just a doctrine that is in many ways incomprehensible. We all struggle with it.”

Melnyk concluded, “obviously I’m a Christian, and I would not live comfortably within the full teachings of Islam, but I can recognize where we share teachings, and recognize the call to treat one another mercifully, and as the one God treats us mercifully, and that translates equally into Christianity as well as it does Islam.”

In the fight against terrorism, moderate Muslims, even if they deny important Christian teachings, stand the best chance of persuading extremists to not act violently. Since they share the same religion as the jihadists, their criticisms will be taken more seriously than someone who’s offering a critique from the outside. If we want to end terrorism, these harmless Muslims should be welcomed, not shunned. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean we should allow our churches to be taken over.