But being a muslim it's not really a choice, i HAVE to respect him.
Wondering about this, is it because Jesus is a prophet in the Quran?
Us Muslims (most of us 1.7 Billion anyway) are very quite people living in our respective countries that are a majority Muslim population. We are taught to respect all people as long as respect is shown, and if respect is not shown we are to show acceptance and tolerance, and be patient for the hope that god may reward us for this patience. As for Christians and Jews, in Islam they are regarded as "The People Of The Book" because Islam teaches that when Judaism was first taught it WAS the right religion and all Jews leading up to Christianity were faithful to god (Our god, Allah) And when Christianity was taught by the prophet Essa (Jesus) It was by the will of god since it was believed that the original teachings of the Torah was tampered with. And Now Islam is the final Book and all the Christians and Jews under Muslim land are under the protection of the Muslims. In my country we have a beautiful church, and the Christians are accounted for and protected. I can go on and on how ridiculously we have been portrayed by not only the media but our own elderly scholars! But to keep this short yes it is because they still follow our prophet Essa and we must respect them for that and be tolerant.
As for me im not really a good Muslim because I've done many bad things :p
But i admire the truly faithful because they are such amazing people.
Oh and we have this saying,
Dine with a Jew but Never sleep next to him, Sleep next to the christian (roughly translated)
I have the same attitiude towards him as you. But being a muslim it's not really a choice, i HAVE to respect him.