I belong to a group that has been studying the Bible for more than 20 years, so we have gotten to know each other’s opinions. In recent years we have used the videos of Dr. “Mickey” Efird, former professor in the Divinity School at Duke. One of his phrases is my favorite. “Don’t get lost in the weeds.” That is his Southern style of saying that we should not debate minor points that have little to do with the messages of the scriptures.

Both Muslims and Christians honor the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) as part of their origin story. We separated with the Quran and the New Testament with the stories of our leaders. But the history of conflict between us is a long one, spanning more than 1,400 years. It involves a lot of factors other than just religion. It’s marked by periods of intense warfare and as well as times of peaceful coexistence and intellectual exchange.

It started with the capture of Jerusalem by the Muslims in 638, when Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The Most infamous period is the Crusades: Beginning in 1095 and continued until 1492 with the fall of Granada to the Christians. The Ottoman Turks conquered the Orthodox Christian Center in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453.

The seven mountains of the Book of Revelation in the Bible refer to seven heads of a beast in Revelation 17:9, which are interpreted by some as seven hills of Rome or seven ancient world powers. This biblical passage has also inspired the modern “Seven Mountain Mandate,” a movement encouraging Christians to influence and gain dominion over seven societal spheres: family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, business, and religion.

In 2022, The Heritage Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank, and 140 former Trump staffers authored Project 2025 -- a roadmap for how to replace the rule of law with right-wing ideas. Project 2025’s largest publication, “Mandate for Leadership,” is a 900-page manual for reorganizing the entire federal government agency by agency to serve a conservative agenda.