Yes, there are aspects of Islam that are very upsetting. If every statement in the Qur'an was followed to the letter, the world would be a terrifying place. But have you ever flipped through a Bible? Not only is it filled with all sorts of crazy antiquated laws that almost no one follows (no working on Sundays, no associating with menstruating women, no clothing made of more than one material, etc.), but there are also passages that decree that non-believers should be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 17, for example). Of course, most reasonable Christians do not heed those outdated biblical laws (except for the mentions of homosexuality- that's serious business!), and instead choose to focus on the positive teachings of the Bible. Likewise, the vast majority of Muslims choose to focus on the peaceful messages rather than the violent ones. I'm not saying that this kind of pick-and-choose approach to religion makes sense, just that it is what is being practiced throughout most of the world.
The hypocritical Christians are quick to point at acts of terrorism committed by Muslims as proof of the religion's inherent violence. Those people were performing a religious jihad, so clearly that means that Islam encourages and rewards acts of violence. They seem to forget the disturbingly violent history of their own religion. Any one who passed a high school history class knows that millions of lives (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) were lost at the hands of the crusading Christians between the 11th and 13th centuries. When confronted with those facts, Christians wave them away, claiming that historic events don't count- times were different then!
But how about modern issues? In the past 30 years in America, there have been at least 8 murders, 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 cases of assault, 41 bombings, 173 cases of arson, and 619 bomb threats against abortion clinics and the workers within them. And guess what- those are acts of terrorism! Just because they're white men rather than people with strange head-wear and a darker skin color does not mean that they are not terrorists. Once again, these facts will be shrugged off. Those are crazy people committing those acts- they don't represent the religion as a whole! Exactly. So why are you spouting this nonsense about those nutjobs hijacking planes being representative of Islam as a whole?
I know I'm preaching (lol) to the choir here, since most of my readers are reasonable, educated people who know all of these things already. But please take a moment and try to improve the lives of Muslims in America in some way. Wish them a happy Eid ul-Fitr this weekend, as it's a very big religious holiday for them. Next time you hear some idiot spouting off some anti-Islamic nonsense, take a stand and throw some facts in their face. It probably won't change their mind, since facts mean nothing to these kinds of people, but we need to make it known that Muslims are as welcome in the US as any other follower of a crazy religion is. Some of my friends here are becoming scared of studying in the US. Is this really the image we want to project to the world?
For a more lulzy yet to-the-point statement on the issue, please check out this Onion article.
Stop the hate! You're making this kitten cry.
... i think that should be the motto. "stop the hate." has a nice ring.
ReplyDeleteon another note, I didn't know the bible talked about not associating with women who are menstruating - they actually do that in India. women are secluded and aren't allowed to cook/clean/etc. (though I believe it is becoming less strict - instead of 5 days outside, most women only do 2-3 now... and might only happen in more rural areas aka the relative village my grandparents live in) weird.
In a big way Republicans are responsible for what
ReplyDeleteis happening. You see when elections are arriving
the Republicans preach Fear and insecurity as they
are trying to get some less intelligent Americans
to follow them. Sad to say they do this every
two years.
KAS
@neeta: Yep, Leviticus says that women need to separate from other for 7 days, and anything/anyone they touch during that time becomes impure and must be ritually cleansed. I wasn't aware that that was practiced in India. The world is strange.
ReplyDelete@dad: It's upsetting how easy it is to get people riled up. Put some factually-deficient Fox News stories up, have Rush and Glenn Beck spout some nonsense and BAM- anti-Islamic sentiment across the country. I actually think things improved in the last few days, though. I like to think that the outrage at the Quran burning brought people together and hopefully made some people realize how out of hand things were getting.