Response to Mohammed

Submitted by gary fouse (United States), Jul 3, 2007 at 14:09

Mohammed, you must be joking. What does the Catholic Church have anything to do with modern day terrorism? So you think we non-Muslims are the haters? Are you implying that the government staged 9-11? State-sponsored terror? You must be talking about Iran and Syria.

You seem to feel that the reaction by non-Muslims to 9-11, 7-7-05 in London, the beheadings, the suicide bombers, the inflammatory rhetoric of Imams against the people and societies of the West in which many of them live is racist. No, it is normal human anger and resentment.

There is no logical reason in the world why all religions cannot live together in mutual respect and freedom except for the hate that is eminating out of the Middle East. Why all this hate? Because the rest of the world is living in the 21st century and a part of it is not? Because we have freedom that you disapprove of?

You have to go back to the Salem Witch Trials to find religious persecution in this country. We have a great tradition of freedom of religion here-which many Muslims would take away. We will not let that happen.

I don't want to criticize your religion, but there are verses in the Qu'ran which trouble me. Some have already been quoted here, but what I noticed is that on almost every page of every Sura, non-believers are condemned and will burn in Hell. I know that is also a tenet of Christianity, but when it is repeated over and over, what does that lead readers of the Qu'ran to think about other religions?

I also have to remind you that the prophet Mohammad was a warrior, who spread Islam by war. Some in the Islamic world want to emulate that. The problem is that we are not living in Mohammed's time. We are not talking about a small geographic area of the world. You Muslims have to live like the rest of us in a connected world with many peoples and faiths. If you cannot accept that, you will be scorned and isolated. Is that what you want?

Stop blaming others for the problems of Islam and Muslims in today's world. Your religion is unfortunately experiencing the biggest crisis in its history. If so-called moderate Muslims are willing to stand up and fight the so-called radicals, you can save Islam. So far, the silence, with few exceptions, is deafening. It is causing the rest of us to question who are really the radicals.

gary fouse

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