Misreading and Misleading

Submitted by jhubers (United States), Feb 28, 2007 at 20:13

Joshua,

There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world. If all were as violent as you assume - and Mr. Shoebat suggests; if all were out to kill Jews and Christians, we'd be in big trouble. I lived in the Muslim world for 13 years and was actually much safer there than I am in any American city. I was given a warm welcome wherever I went. Never experienced such hospitality anywhere else, in fact. And this was from people who not only knew that I was a Christian pastor, but were happy to meet a Christian pastor as they respect people of faith.

My problem with people like Walid Shoebat is that he plays on the ignorance of most Americans about all things Middle Eastern, feeding into natural prejudices which exist because the only information most people have about Islam and Muslims is the headline news about the extremists.

As for what you say about Muslims having a natural aversion to and hatred for Jews this simply isn't born out by the facts on the ground. The violence in Israel/Palestine began when it became clear that the Jewish settlers who were arriving in ever greater numbers from Europe were not simply coming to live among the Arab residents, but to create their own state. And you do know, of course, that during much of the Middle Ages Jews fled "Christian" Europe to settle in the Middle East because they weren't persecuted there, don't you?

If you make an assertion at least back it up with something.

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