With the anniversary of September 11 coming up this weekend, it seems like everyone is becoming a radical.
Why would one burn the Quran? What is so wrong with a mosque being built near Ground Zero? Why is our country blaming a RELIGION for the acts of MEN?
This theme seems to keep coming up around me and its taking all my willpower not to respond in a bitchy manner. I thought we lived in a country where we have the freedoms of speech and religion. It makes no sense to me why people are so against anyone of the Muslim faith because of what happened. To me, it seems like if this is the case, why aren't we persecuting all persons of the Christian faith for the crusades? But its so easy to forget that; it happened centuries ago. This wound is fresh.
Would we be so against everyone of the Christian faith if the attacks on September 11 had been caused by someone of, say, the Catholic faith? I highly doubt that. We've had bombings and shootings happen all over the country by Christians, Atheists, Muslims, and any other religious background you choose to look for. Look at the Virginia Tech shooting a couple years ago. It's been described as the deadliest shooting rampage in US history, and was done by a Christian. Did we blame the Christian faith for this? No. It was the act of one person.
If something described as the deadliest shooting in history doesn't blame a faith group, why does a terrorist attack? The attacks were caused by a few members of the Muslim faith, not the religion itself. There are bad, messed up people in every faith. Don't punish the whole group for the poor decisions and heinous acts of a few members.
Our country was built on the ideal of freedom from religious oppression. Are we going to return to those times where the only religion accepted is Christianity? If this is where my country is headed, I fear for the future of my children. I was brought up in a private Christian school where my classmates ranged from the obvious majority of Christians, to the nice little Jewish girl, to the Muslim girl who's family was from Pakistan (and who's aunt was Benazir Bhutto). If my close-minded Christian elementary school was open and accepting of these other religions, why is everyone so afraid?
I think if people took the time to understand what the other religions were about, we would be much better off. Stop being scared and accept people for who they are.
Just my two cents...
