/rant
I've got a bit of a beef with the people of the USA and general Christianity lately. The United States was founded on the ideals of freedom to worship any god that you please in the manner of your choosing. Be you Christian, Jew, Muslim, Bhudist, Hindu, or one of many, many more, you are welcome here (aparently so long as you have the proper documentation and are not, in fact, Mexican... but that's another rant entirely) and free to worship what you will, however you see fit. Though the USA is primarily Christian, 73% claiming to be of Christian upbringing, if not practicing Christians, we share our great land of religious freedom with many others. Because we Christians enjoy such an overwhelming majority, sometimes it's hard for us to see the others that are standing in our shadow, but they are there, and by the constitution under which this nation was founded, are free to be something other than Christian without fear of persecution by others.
One of the basic tennants of Christianity is to love your neighbor as yourself. Christ didn't give stipulations when he said that. He didn't say, Love thy neighbor so long as he ain't Muslim, because those guys are bad news. He said love thy neighbor. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Accept everyone for who they are and let God above do the judging. As my grandmother always says, hatred has no place in a Christian home.
So why, then, do I turn on the news to see professed Christian politician after professed Christian politician, condemning Islam as a pack of satan worshiping suicide bombers that will all burn in hell? Why do I see thousands upon thousands of people rioting and screaming about Muslim Mosques being built all over the country. Why do I see reports about innocent cab drivers being brutally slashed to pieces for the crime of exercising a constitutional right to follow their chosen religion? Why do I see Christian churches holding special events to burn the Quran?
My own chosen religion has seen its fair share of persecution. My own ancestors were chased across the entire country by supposed good Christians for believing what they did. Misourri only JUST raised a governmental extermination order on members of my religion. And I personally know what it is like to be hated, or feared, or attacked just for my beliefs. That is why I sympathize with many muslims living in the united states today.
Any idiot with an internet connection and twenty seconds of free time can find information about the Islamic religion. It is a religion that teaches peace, abstinance from alcohol, loving your neighbors, and many things that many Christians will find very similar to their own beliefs. Those that you see proclaiming Jihad and such things, murdering innocents, and spreading terror have fallen away from the basic teachings of the religion that they profess to hold up. Why? Because they're PEOPLE. They have the right to choose their own path in life. Because there are a few bad eggs in the bunch, does that mean every single person in the world who prays to Allah, rather than God is a terrorist? NO! It most certainly does not!
The same argument could be applied to Christianity again and again. Do the Crusades ring a bell? Or the spanish inquisition? Perhaps the Salem Witch Trials? All things done by Christians that could be accurately described as terroristic activities. And why? Because some people don't worship the same god that you do? Seems a pretty pathetic excuse. Should the blame for these tragic events in our hitory be laid at the feet of every Christian in the world? No. Why? Because it was only a very small portion of the population that was responsible for those things, just as it is with Islam. By and large, as a whole, the Muslim faith is one of peace, and love, the same as Christianity. And, by the way, you would not even have your Christian bible if not for the Muslims, so you might want to cut them a little slack.
Terrorists don't do things because their religion tells them to do it. Terrorist do things because they are, in fact, douchebags. Plain and simple. For centuries upon centuries men have killed and tortured each other in the names of their gods. Men professing every religion that is and ever has been have used the excuse of fighting for their god to murder his enemies. The modern day terrorists are no different at all. They claim to serve god by killing the infidels, but no God would ever condone the murder of the innocent in his name. Placing the blame for the actions of a few individuals on an entire body of people is not only wrong, it's completely and utterly stupid. And you know what? It's playing out EXACTLY as THEY want it to.
By giving in to hatred, burning Mosques, killing men in the street because they happen to be Muslim, refusing to allow Mosques to be built as the Constitution of the United States of America give them the right to do, BURNING THE HOLY MUSLIM SCRIPTURE AS PART OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH SERVICE!!! you do exactly as THEY, the terrorists, want. They are merchants of hatred and chaos, living to spread their poisons through the world. Giving into the hatred, and spreading the chaos only works in their favor, weakening relations between two great branches of worship, and strengthening the position of those that would exploit it to do harm to others. Be you Christian or some other religion, or no religion at all, there are some basic principles on how life should be led. If you do not profess to follow a religion that teaches to love thy neighbor or some variation, then at least exercise some simple human decency and respect for your fellow man. Stop the killing. Stop the hatred. Just stop acting like complete and utter morons for twelve seconds, and go find a clue. When you act like animals in reaction to the actions of terrorists, THEY WIN, and EVERYONE ELSE LOSES, INCLUDING those who actually do follow the tennents of Islam as they were written. That is exactly what their aims are, to destroy your society, and what better way to do that than to turn you into an angry, lawless mob?
/end rant
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THANK YOU for this!! Richard and I have conversations about this very topic all the time. I hate how closed-minded everyone is...if they would just open their eyes, just a LITTLE...it would make a huge difference.
ReplyDeleteOne of my other beefs is hearing all these family members of soldiers saying, "Well, my life is affected by 9/11 because it's MY son/daughter/spouse/child out there fighting...etc." I want to shake them until they get it through their heads that I'm pretty sure everyone's lives are affected by 9/11. I mean, I imagine it was hard enough to be a Muslim or an immigrant without all the extra hatred and suspicion. Can you imagine how much more they've had to go through for the last nine years? And yet, try to say something like that to someone. You'll get lambasted. Anyway. I didn't mean to go off. I just really like this post.
I saw a christian church in florida on the news planning to have a hitler style book burning party on 9/11 to torch the Quran. The government stepped in to say, hey, that's kinda not a good idea, you're endangering the lives of our soldiers and americans abroad if you do that, they'll likely retaliate violently, and the minister was like, F U government, i'll do what I want!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, where do fanatics like this guy come from? That is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin counting. You're desecrating a book of scripture that an entire BILLION AND A HALF people in this world follow. You're displaying very unchristian behavior. You're endangering people that are putting their lives on the line so that you can enjoy your freedom to do what you want. They'll be paying for this congregation's retardedness with their blood, and the guy doesn't even give a damn about it! Talk about false prophets, if I were the people in this asshat's congregation I would find somewhere else to worship, because he obviously doesn't have a single clue what christianity is all about.
The terrorists see us as godless animals that need to be extreminated. By doing crap like this, all we do is prove them right. Seriously, we're BETTER than this.
Eric, you are entirely correct on all counts in this blog entry and in your comments. What is with people these days? It's like this sense of paranoia has settled in and everybody is reacting by condemning somebody else instead of working to change things. It makes me sad and angry all the time. In fact, I have to avoid thinking about the stupid things people are doing and saying because it's just too much for me.
ReplyDeleteSo really, it's good to be able to read such an eloquent post that so directly speaks about the way things really are instead of the way the haters imagine them to be. Thank you.