A question that has been on my mind ever since coming to faith in Jesus is why most Arab Christians refer to God using the same word as Muslims, namely “Allah,” especially when speaking in English.

It is important to note that the word “God” is a direct English translation of the word “Allah,” but that doesn’t explain why many Arab Christians don’t use one of several other words (think “Yahweh”) when speaking of the God of the Bible in order to differentiate from the god of the Koran.

I have noticed that many of the Middle Eastern Christians who immigrated to the West and integrated with their new societies began to differentiate between the word “Allah” that Muslims use when referring to the Creator, and started using either “God,” “Yahweh” or simply referring to Jesus.

Let’s take a look at the different Arab countries that contain Christian minorities, namely Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, as well as the Palestinians. We will find that in more sectarian countries...