Dennis Prager penned an article entitled, "A Reminder About the Moral Difference Between the Christian and Muslim Worlds at This Time." Prager highlights the recent violent attack of author Salman Rushdie, roughly 40 years after the fatwa was issued on him. It would be virtually inconceivable for any Christian to attempt to kill someone for insulting Jesus or the Bible. Yet all too often we hear of Muslims harming people who did something that was perceived as an insult to Muhammad or the Quran. There is a clear moral difference between Islam and Christianity, and Prager (who is Jewish) bemoans modern western society's relative inability to draw the distinction.
I agree. I think Matthew 26 (along with Luke 22 and John 18) do a lot of work for us here. I think its only natural when it comes to matters a person believes are deeply important, and indisputably true that you will defend that idea passionately. And if someone insults or attacks something you hold sacred that passion naturally turns to violence. And we see that happen in the bible. When Jesus is betrayed and arrested Peter responds by chopping a guys ear off. But Jesus rebukes him, heals the mans ear, and goes peacefully. In doing so he sets the example for us to follow in a way a lot of other faiths don't. He shows us we respond to persecutors, and in turn we convert the unbelievers to truth through sacrifice, martyrdom and love - not through violent passion. And he leaves us with some choice quotes. "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" and "All who live by the sword, die by the sword". It's a ripper. Of course God doesn't need us to fight His battles for Him. If God wanted the blasphemer to be killed, He's more than capable of doing it himself. That judgement is for him alone. We are called to a far more difficult task than killing our enemies - we're called to love our enemies. Violently attacking people who insult Jesus is easy. Loving them in spite of their hatred is much, much harder. And when they turn their hatred to us we're not called to respond in kind, but to pray for them. It's a faith giving teaching - a religion that handicaps itself like that could only spread so widely if it had God on its side.