When are perceptions reality? When does what we witness, over-ride what we are told to believe? We are told that Americans do not rightly perceive Muslims as peaceful, that Islam is a peaceful faith. There are several articles in the local newspaper, the Zero, showing concern that our perceptions are wrong.
Is Islam a religion of peace? The answers are mixed based on the evidence available. It does seem that most of the Muslims you bump into, or work with, or walk the grocery store aisles with, are peaceful. They, just like you or me, want to live their lives, raise their kids, worship their god in peace and safety. They do not want to be hassled; they want to mind their own business and expect the non-Muslims to do the same.
Which brings us to the question: in the last 10 years, how many suicide terrorist bombers have been Hindu? Buddhist? Catholic? Baptist? Protestant of any persuasion? In the last five years, how many Christians have launched rockets loaded with explosives at villages, or cities to kill innocent civilians? In the last 30 years how many commercial airliners have been hijacked by Lutherans? Wiccans? Since 1972, when the Muslim terrorists kidnapped and killed the Israeli Olympic team, what is the percentage of terrorist acts done in the name of the Muslim’s god? There are terrorist acts perpetrated by communist insurgents in South America, Indonesia, etc., but these are in the minority.
This presents a dilemma: Is Islam a peaceful religion?
Yeah, but…the terrorists, suicide bombers, hijackers, rocket launchers are a radical minority, they don’t represent the majority. Okay, let’s say that’s true. Where is this ’majority’ in their denunciation of the ‘minority’ perpetrated atrocities? Those dancing in the streets when the Twin Towers fell – a minority? Show me any Christians celebrating when lives are lost in Muslim countries – either by Muslim-on-Muslim violence, or any other means. This one fact is illustrative. There is another not-small problem: when gun-toting, bomb-wearing nutjobs are all around you, of course discretion is required. You and your family can be killed, tortured, beheaded for mentioning you do not agree with the 'minority'. Again, what about those peaceful Muslims in America, why don't they speak up, speak out? They are not surrounded by crazies, are they? If they fear for their families here in America, then the crazies are everywhere and the peaceful Muslims are the minority, not the majority as we are led to believe.
When a nutball preacher in Florida threatened to burn the Koran, there was moral outrage from Christians all over the U.S. We received threats of violence, and got mob riots from the Muslims. One imam, or mullah, or whatever said that burning the Koran would cut the heart of Islam. Really? Islam is so weak, so fragile that one person can ruin the Islam faith? If we publicly destroyed thousands of Korans, would the whole theocratic Islamic empire collapse? I doubt it. The religion we see has a way to go to prove itself by its actions as peaceful.
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