Christian wrestler, Aaron Brooks of Penn State, won his third-consecutive NCAA title at 184 pounds. However, it was not the title, but what Brooks did afterward that had him trending in the news. Brooks credited his faith for helping him win, saying in a post-match interview, “It’s everything. Christ’s resurrection is everything. Not just His life, His death and resurrection. You can only get that through Him. The Holy Spirit only through Him.” He then proceeded to center Christ as the only way, adding, “No false prophets, no Muhammad or no anyone else. Only Jesus Christ himself.”

Brooks faced criticism for his statement on the Islamic prophet Muhammad, with some implying his statements were “Islamophobic.” Dave Zirin, sports editor of The Nation, criticized the NCAA’s tweet of Brooks’s interview, saying, “Disgusting. But he can say what he wants. Why is the NCAA promoting this anti-Muslim rhetoric? What a bankrupt ‘non-profit.’” The NCAA has since deleted its tweet of Brooks’s interview. One user responded to Zirin’s tweet, saying, “If it was a Muslim wrestler saying that Jesus was only a prophet, it wouldn’t even be newsworthy. Why is it a big deal only when Christians profess their faith and belief? Christians know why.” Brooks has previously expressed his faith, saying in an interview in 2022 that he hopes to use his NCAA career as a platform for Christ. “This platform is great to wrestle on, but it’s to glorify God. This stuff comes and goes. I’m blessed with this opportunity, these gifts. They’re not mine. He gives them to me to bring glory to Him,” he said. 

Brooks’s comments come at a time when nearly 70 percent of born-again Christians state they believe other faiths can lead to God. A study from Probe Ministries found that only 1 in 5 of all respondents aged 18-39 disagreed with the statement that Muhammad, Buddha, and Jesus all had teachings that led people to God. The statement runs contrary to John 14:6, where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The organization, Christ on Campus Initiative, makes the case that despite similarities between Christianity and Islam, there are fundamental differences that keep the two faiths separate. “At the heart of the polarization between Christianity and Islam lies the divergent historical assessments of Jesus and of Muhammad,” the organization writes. After a long analysis of the differences between Christianity and Islam, the article concludes:

The claims of the two religions cannot both be true: they are, as we have seen, intrinsically exclusive. Such recognition never warrants hate or malice: surely, both sides are obligated to tell the truth as they understand it, yet such truth-telling should be undertaken with courtesy, respect, and attentive listening…. The issues will be not only theological but historical. For instance, if it is established, so far as history can establish anything, that Jesus rose from the dead, the implications are sweeping not only for understanding who Jesus is and for what he accomplished on the cross but also for any system of thought that depends, in whole or in part, on the denial of this claim.