To Keep Our Trust
There are many Muslims who are furious with the Jihadists and feel that they are unfairly under suspicion for the crimes of others. I can sympathize with them even if I don't agree with their beliefs and feel that if they are good citizens they should be treated as such. They need to understand where the fear is coming from and how they can help alleviate it.
If a Muslim were to ask me how to end the suspicion I would tell them this.
1. Speak out, not against those who are suspicious of you, but against those who, by their conduct and words, are creating and reinforcing that suspicion. Call the terrorists within Islam terrorists and openly condemn them.
2. Police yourselves. If a Christian minister calls for violence against others, he is quickly rebuked by the Church at large; witness how quickly we told Pat Robertson that he was out of line when he called for the assissination of the President of Venezuela. The Church at large publicly condemns the hateful behavior of the "Reverend" Fred Phelps. You need to do the same; when an Imam calls for the deaths of infidels you need to publicly rebuke him and reject, not necessarily him, but that idea of his. If a Muslim is planning something against "infidels" and you learn of it, turn him over to authorities.
3. I am very convinced that the Christianity of the New Testament is the true religion and all others are false (except Judaism which true but incomplete) but I also recognize that there are very good and honorable people in other religions and I respect their right to practice their religion and the "sanctity" of their shrines and holy objects even though I believe they are wrong. I have the right to say they are wrong but I do not have the right to interfere with their activities. You can believe we are "wrong" without hating us, and many of you do. You need to loudly say that hate, even toward infidels, is wrong.
Admittedly a few Muslims have done this, but more need to. If they feel that they are doing this and it's not being noticed, then they need to do it a little more loudly.
If a Muslim were to ask me how to end the suspicion I would tell them this.
1. Speak out, not against those who are suspicious of you, but against those who, by their conduct and words, are creating and reinforcing that suspicion. Call the terrorists within Islam terrorists and openly condemn them.
2. Police yourselves. If a Christian minister calls for violence against others, he is quickly rebuked by the Church at large; witness how quickly we told Pat Robertson that he was out of line when he called for the assissination of the President of Venezuela. The Church at large publicly condemns the hateful behavior of the "Reverend" Fred Phelps. You need to do the same; when an Imam calls for the deaths of infidels you need to publicly rebuke him and reject, not necessarily him, but that idea of his. If a Muslim is planning something against "infidels" and you learn of it, turn him over to authorities.
3. I am very convinced that the Christianity of the New Testament is the true religion and all others are false (except Judaism which true but incomplete) but I also recognize that there are very good and honorable people in other religions and I respect their right to practice their religion and the "sanctity" of their shrines and holy objects even though I believe they are wrong. I have the right to say they are wrong but I do not have the right to interfere with their activities. You can believe we are "wrong" without hating us, and many of you do. You need to loudly say that hate, even toward infidels, is wrong.
Admittedly a few Muslims have done this, but more need to. If they feel that they are doing this and it's not being noticed, then they need to do it a little more loudly.
posted by shoprat at 9:48 PM
4 Comments:
Excellent post, Shoprat.
Too bad that most of the Muslims will not or cannot feel free to do this. Does make you wonder, doesn't it?
I second Tom! Great job on this post.
They really do need to do it a lot more loudly, Shoprat... I can't hear them!
Sadly, they will never speak out, but that is definitely what is needed....
P.S.: that cartoon about clinton was a gut splitter.
I can't argue with one thing you said here.
I also believe in salvation through Christ is for me, the only way to reach Heaven. I am not sure that I would call Islam "false". It also takes in the traditions of Judism and Christianity, but my problem with it is that it is an "addition". At the end of the New Testament, it says that anyone who adds anything to this book will have added to him all of the plagues and misfortunes mentioned in this book, and anyone who takes away from this book will have his name taken away from the Book of Life. So, that being said, to me, that means that this is God's final word. That also calls into question the Mormons, whom if you use this as the criteria are also a false religion. In college I had a course on world religions, and I remember a Christian cleric in Mecca pronounced that Muhommed had the "marks of a prophet". His message "there is no God but God, and I have been chosen to deliver his message" does sort of make sense. He is saying that "I am just a man, but I have heard God's word through the angel Gabriel". My problem with Islam is the demotion of Christ from the son of God to being merely a prophet like Moses or Muhommed. I think that , in the New Testament, when Jesus says "my father" the Muslims are saying that all should call God "father", so they think Jesus was speaking metaphorically.
Maybe we are all wrong and we should have stuck with Judism. Who knows. Buddism is also a fascinating way of looking at spirituality. The thought of reincarnation until the achievment of enlightenment, at which time the self (ego) finally has the courage to let go and melt into the fabric of the universe makes a lot of sense on many levels. There are so many different paths to spiritual enlightenment in the world today who knows which is the correct one? Maybe all of them are? I know what choice I have made and hope it is the correct one. I guess we will find out after the end of a (hopefully) long and happy life.
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