Re. Christiantity's roots in what is now the Muslim world:
Read Acts of the Apostles. The first churches were in Jerusalem, Antioch, Asia Minor (Turkey), and Greece.
Further, a majority of the early church fathers (important figures in the spread of Christianity and development of Christian doctrine) lived in what is now Muslim territory. Some examples:
Ignatius of Antioch
Augustine (Algeria/Tunisia)
Pappas (Turkey)
Eusebius of Caesaria
Justin Martyr (Shechem - Samaria)
Clement of Alexandria (Egypt)
Origen (Egypt)
Cyprian (Algeria/Tunisia)
POlycarp (Smyrna - Turkey)
Ever hear of the Nicene Creed or the Council of Nicea? This important early church council was held in what is now Turkey:
The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day Iznik in Turkey), convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325, was the first Ecumenical council[1] of the Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed.
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Constantine had invited all 1800 bishops of the Christian church (about 1000 in the east and 800 in the west), but a lesser and unknown number attended. Eusebius of Caesarea counted 250,[7] Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318,[8] and Eustathius of Antioch counted 270[9] (all three were present at the council). Later, Socrates Scholasticus recorded more than 300,[10] and Evagrius,[11] Hilarius,[12] Jerome[13] and Rufinus recorded 318.
So the "east" - Asia Minor (Turkey), Greece, Syria, Egypt - held a majority of Christian bishops at that time. Note that the "west" then included what is now Tunisia and Algeria.
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The Eastern bishops formed the great majority. Of these, the first rank was held by the three patriarchs: Alexander of Alexandria,[14] Eustathius of Antioch,[14] and Macarius of Jerusalem.[14] Many of the assembled fathers — for instance, Paphnutius of Thebes,[14] Potamon of Heraclea[14] and Paul of Neocaesarea[14] — had stood forth as confessors of the faith and came to the council with the marks of persecution on their faces. Other remarkable attendees were Eusebius of Nicomedia; Eusebius of Caesarea; Nicholas of Myra; Aristakes of Armenia (son of Saint Gregory the Illuminator); Leontius of Caesarea;[14] Jacob of Nisibis,[14] a former hermit; Hypatius of Granga;[14] Protogenes of Sardica;[14] Melitius of Sebastopolis;[14] Achilleus of Larissa[14] Athanasius of Thessaly[14] and Spyridion of Trimythous, who even while a bishop made his living as a shepherd. From foreign places came a Persian bishop John, a Gothic bishop Theophilus and Stratophilus, bishop of Pitiunt in Egrisi (located at the border of modern-day Russia and Georgia outside of the Roman Empire).
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