THE DANGER OF RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY

Submitted by Lyle Sharky (Indonesia), Oct 1, 2010 at 04:58

I am a moslem and closed to Budhism, Christianity since my family members consist of these three religions. The three religions clearly teach each followers to respect people with different religions. As a moslem I know exactly what Islam says about tolerance towards people with different religion, plurality, and coexistence concept. Every moslem is obliged to bring peace where she or he is living; this is one of the good deeds. On the other hand every moslem is forbidden to hurt other people whatever their religion, as included into one of bad deeds. However, educated people seems to be reluctant to pursuit the materials of their own religion, and more intereseted to focus on non-religious activities which generate money. Many uneducated people sprout up to be religious teachers and leaders. Par of them grow into religious bigotry, just like racial or ethnical bigotry. This is the root of terrorism. So, there is nothing to blame with religion. You may feel that you are right with your religion as I fell right with my religion, and do good deeds according each belief (this is clearly mentioned in Koran). Who is really true? Only God knows; we only feel or think to be true. This is the way my family can live together in one house with different religions. We are open and can discuss and debate about our beliefs; but, we never act like a truth owner, God.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".