The Muslim Manifesto - Just words

Submitted by Pat (United States), Dec 11, 2006 at 12:53

I read your manifesto. Actions speak louder than words, my friend.

What are Muslims who share your beliefs doing to eradicate the violent Muslim groups that preach conquest in the name of Islam? The problem with Islam is that the same word has different meanings, depending on the audience. Do Muslims consider their takeover of non-Muslim countries to be conquests, or merely propagation of the faith? (Istanbul was once a Christian city with a dffierent name.) Why can't Christians propagate THEIR faith in Muslim countries, given that the Christian and Jewish presence in many of these countries predated Islam? Muslims are allowed to preach and worship freely in the West. Does the idea of reciprocity exist in Islam, or does it apply only to Muslims?

You can preach peace forever. Until your fellow Muslims take you up on it, the rest of us will have to be on watch. Call it profiling. We're still waiting for moderate Muslims who live in the Muslim world to stand up in public and condemn these groups and fight them. Hezbollah is able to muster hundreds of thousands for a public protest. If Islam is so peaceful and Muslim moderates are so opposed to the actions of the extremists, then why aren't they willing to do the same? They would outnumber the Hezbollah activists by ten to one. (If they really exist, that is.) We need many more Rafik Hariris within the Muslim world, willing to risk their lives for a better future for their fellow Muslims and all their children. If people are going to be cowed into submission to radical Islam, then "moderate" becomes just another word and all Muslims must be viewed with suspicion. It's not what we prefer, but it's the hand we were dealt and we have to play it.

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