Muslims are a favourite target
By Letter to the Editor on September 17, 2018.
Re: “Christians being persecuted into extinction” Sept. 13.
Leslie Maltin’s response to my guest column of Sept. 8, though well written and thoughtful, seems like a bull’s reaction to the matador’s red cape. He reacts to one sentence from my article: “The favourite target these days seems to be immigrants from Muslim countries.” Apparently the word ‘Muslim’ sets him into a sputtering rage.
My guest column was not intended as a defence of the Muslim religion. It was intended rather as a sad commentary on the need for so many of us to express hatred. Muslims being amongst the latest group of newcomers, is a favourite target. This cannot be debated, as a quick look at Facebook will attest.
Mr. Maltin’s collection of ‘facts’ clearly shows that in many parts of the world Christians are under attack. This is not debatable, but many other religious minorities are also persecuted — the Uighars (Muslims in Communist China), and the Rohingya (Muslims in Buddhist Myanmar) are two current and tragic examples.
It is also clear that much of the persecution of Christians and other minorities that Mr. Maltin references is carried out by radical Islamists like ISIS or Boko Haram in Nigeria, and mainly in places beset by civil wars, failed governments, and economic desperation. Civil disintegration, not Muslim doctrine, is the root of these atrocities.
The vast majority of mainstream Muslims abhor the work of the radical Islamists, denounce their perverse interpretations of the Qur’an, and actively disassociate themselves from the acts of violence done by these groups.
One Muslim writer, Kabir Helminskistates “É in the city of Jerusalem, which has been ruled by Muslims for most of the last 13 centuries, the sacred sites of Jews and Christians have been protected, and those communities themselves have for the most part been able to live in peace together with Muslims. The assertion that Islam or the Qur’an inherently call for a “war on unbelievers” is sheer fallacy and fantasy” (The BeliefNet Guide to Islam).
Consider for a moment, that groups like ISIS are Muslim in the same way that the Ku Klux Klan or Donald Trump are Christian. The vast majority of Christians, I believe, would be very reluctant to have either one of these ‘christians’ as their poster boy to the world. Likewise, Mr. Maltin’s undifferentiated use of the word ‘Muslim’ as his locus of evil drains his argument and his ‘facts’ of any meaning.
Let me close this letter with the same sentence I used to close my previous article. “As humans we should be trying to lessen pain in the world, not adding to it.” That, rather than fear mongering, would be a Christian response.
Peter Mueller
Medicine Hat
There is only one way to rid the world of hatred and that is to come to the realization that there is NO god, thus-for, religion is nothing more then “a” right to wage war from one religion to another. Religion breeds hatred! History has proven this fact and most conflicts today are deeply rooted in religion.
It’s the radicals in every religion that cause the hatred. If these religions would expel those that don’t follow their ways, there might be fewer wars as a result which could be blamed on religion..
It’s easy to blame it on radicals, but let’s look at the catholic church and their residential schools. They raped the children, assimilated them and pretty much every indignity known to mankind was forced on these poor kids. All that was done by catholic nuns and priests. Their hatred was forced upon innocent first nation children.
You say it was a few radicals? Oh no, it was the church, it was religion that was guilty. It’s just so easy to blame it on radicals. Religion is a blight, a lie perpetrated on man by man.
Of course it is easy to blame it on radicals, (Mr. Black) and as it should be when the fundamental radicals of all religions try to use their religion to justify their causes.
What the catholic church allowed to happen with the residential schools (Mr. Black) was absolutely abhorrent and quite rightly has/is being addressed.
The issue that conceived the response from Mr. Mueller was “Christian faith being persecuted into extinction” …… the west has become a sanctuary for many people of different religions, particularly the middle east and many African countries. A major concern, highlighted and warranted in many countries is the rise of fundamental Islamist’s.
In the west we give aid and welcome refugees, be they economic or victims of war we respect their religion we afford them the right to follow their religion, however in many(most) Islamic countries Christians are not afforded the same respect or freedoms. (There are many reports that can be accessed to support my statement). With that in mind it would be easy to ignore Muslim rights in Christian countries, but we do not. So the argument “Muslims are an easy target” (Mueller) is PC rhetoric and designed to close down the debate on what is truly wrong.
All that said, it is right to protect ourselves from fundamental radicals that will use deadly force in countries that offers them safe harbour. A major step forward in eradicating this would be for the moderate and peace loving Muslims to be more vocal and pro active than they are in dealing with this serious and concerning phase. But fear within their communities prevents many from doing more.No sane person actually believes “all Muslims” are the same” no more than all Christians are the same. And to deny the majority the faith they believe in and carry(Mr. Black) is a ludicrous argument. Deal with the issue “fundamentalism” these people are not religious, they have a cause in mind, the outcome if successful is frightening.
Disclaimer: I have no religious beliefs, I just believe in the overall good of man and I have faith in most.