Where are the moderate Muslims? Everywhere
Blogger is acting totally wigged today, so I can't format anything. All the HTML editing buttons are gone today and I don't know why.
Anyway, interesting letter in today's Miami Herald Editorial:
Where are the moderate Muslims? Everywhere
Re Cal Thomas' Sept. 23 Other Views column, Where are the moderate Muslims?: The simple answer is: They are everywhere.
Many of us are Americans, study in American institutions and go on to work and pay American dollars to our tax system. Like everyone else, we eventually find our better half, have chubby babies, go to zoos, get season tickets to the Miami Dolphins, go on our childrens' field trips and fix the leaks in our roofs.
With all the growing pains in the life that we lead as normal Americans, every day we turn our face to Mecca to pray to what our Christian brothers call God, our Jewish sisters call Yahweh and whom we call Allah.
I am a small-business owner. I am not the only woman who works in my Muslim community. Many are engineers, pediatricians, teachers, research analysts and attorneys. Some are PTO volunteers.
America's Muslims have time and again issued statements denouncing 9/11 and the gruesome killing of innocent Americans. We have denounced the London bombings, the arrests of Americans in Iraq and the Iranian holocaust-cartoon contest. The list goes on and on.
Muslims also ran a full-page ad in several newspapers distancing us from the fringe ideology of the few. In addition, we ran an Internet campaign, ''Not in the name of Islam,'' in which we denounced all acts of terror on innocent civilians. To date it has been signed by more than 700,000 people -- mostly Muslims.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (www.cair.com) has called on Muslims to help repair Palestinian churches damaged following Pope Benedict XVI's remarks, which were perceived as critical of Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.
Our actions rarely make it into print. When they do, the coverage is relegated to some corner of the paper or a brief spot on a local TV channel. On the other hand, when someone from some other country issues a controversial statement, it rates headlines and becomes a topic of discussion by all TV hosts.
After last year's hurricanes, Muslims formed a task force and pledged $10 million. At the local level, we had truckloads of food, medicine and clothing sent to New Orleans from South Florida. Are we passionate about America? Of course.
-- MEHER SULTANA, Fort Lauderdale
All I can say is THANK YOU MEHER. I checked out some of the organizations she is talking about, and yes, they are doing exactly as she is saying. Now if the media could step up to the plate a bit and represent more moderate rational minds of all belief or lack therof, it would be a significant step.
http://www.cair-florida.org/
http://www.cair.com/
We have enough kneejerk overreactions triggered by the extremist minority in this world, and what a mess it is. I've been guilty of them myself. As an atheist, I am highly critical of all religion, but props go to anyone who is willing to extend their hand beyond the boundary of their belief and idealogy to help others and to conquer extremism.
Anyway, interesting letter in today's Miami Herald Editorial:
Where are the moderate Muslims? Everywhere
Re Cal Thomas' Sept. 23 Other Views column, Where are the moderate Muslims?: The simple answer is: They are everywhere.
Many of us are Americans, study in American institutions and go on to work and pay American dollars to our tax system. Like everyone else, we eventually find our better half, have chubby babies, go to zoos, get season tickets to the Miami Dolphins, go on our childrens' field trips and fix the leaks in our roofs.
With all the growing pains in the life that we lead as normal Americans, every day we turn our face to Mecca to pray to what our Christian brothers call God, our Jewish sisters call Yahweh and whom we call Allah.
I am a small-business owner. I am not the only woman who works in my Muslim community. Many are engineers, pediatricians, teachers, research analysts and attorneys. Some are PTO volunteers.
America's Muslims have time and again issued statements denouncing 9/11 and the gruesome killing of innocent Americans. We have denounced the London bombings, the arrests of Americans in Iraq and the Iranian holocaust-cartoon contest. The list goes on and on.
Muslims also ran a full-page ad in several newspapers distancing us from the fringe ideology of the few. In addition, we ran an Internet campaign, ''Not in the name of Islam,'' in which we denounced all acts of terror on innocent civilians. To date it has been signed by more than 700,000 people -- mostly Muslims.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (www.cair.com) has called on Muslims to help repair Palestinian churches damaged following Pope Benedict XVI's remarks, which were perceived as critical of Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.
Our actions rarely make it into print. When they do, the coverage is relegated to some corner of the paper or a brief spot on a local TV channel. On the other hand, when someone from some other country issues a controversial statement, it rates headlines and becomes a topic of discussion by all TV hosts.
After last year's hurricanes, Muslims formed a task force and pledged $10 million. At the local level, we had truckloads of food, medicine and clothing sent to New Orleans from South Florida. Are we passionate about America? Of course.
-- MEHER SULTANA, Fort Lauderdale
All I can say is THANK YOU MEHER. I checked out some of the organizations she is talking about, and yes, they are doing exactly as she is saying. Now if the media could step up to the plate a bit and represent more moderate rational minds of all belief or lack therof, it would be a significant step.
http://www.cair-florida.org/
http://www.cair.com/
We have enough kneejerk overreactions triggered by the extremist minority in this world, and what a mess it is. I've been guilty of them myself. As an atheist, I am highly critical of all religion, but props go to anyone who is willing to extend their hand beyond the boundary of their belief and idealogy to help others and to conquer extremism.
posted by Bostonbootgirl at 2:44 PM
2 Comments:
I, too, have been guilty of a "only what the media let's us see" attitude toward moderate Muslims, and this letter makes me feel ashamed of that. As it should. To overcome this bias, I'm afraid that people like Meher and organizations like her are going to have to be louder and more persistant than they should have to be in order to get the coverage they deserve.
While I won't go back on previously stated comments on my blog (Faith by the sword), many religions have had their time of "Convert or die" and there have always been groups, vocal or not, who've opposed that approach. Some have learned and evolved (Christianity) while others have died out (How many people worship Zeus and Jupiter nowadays?). My problem with Islam is that it has had this duality for many, many years. As I've said, there were times when Muslims were the ruling "class" of a country and lived in peace (it's relative, but with no massacre's and such) and let the other people live their own lives. But with the switch of a ruling "party", things went from serene to horrorshow in the blink of an eye.
As Moose said, in order for these people to have a solid voice, they're going to need to shout louder. The media loves carnage (and so do people in general, sadly) so those who push for peace are going to have to fight for it. Sounds like an odd mix, but it is what it is.
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