Thursday, September 9, 2010

Maybe I’m over thinking, but…

This whole “Burn A Qur’an Day” thing has seriously disturbed me. I am afraid. There it is. I’m afraid. And I don’t mean, ‘Ah! …Oh, that’s my shadow’ afraid; I’m talking ‘days after 9/11’ afraid.

We are living in a time where one small group of people, a congregation of 50 overzealous Christians or a rag-tag group of a few hundred overzealous Muslims can demand the attention of the most powerful nations in the world. In this world of instant communication and information, the stupidity of one person can set off a chain reaction that could lead to the deaths of a couple of people in a car bombing, a couple-hundred people in an airplane or even a couple-thousand people in a building. I hate to think that some nut-job can and would hold our national security and the safety of our troops hostage to make a statement against a place of worship. This man endangered the United States and its mission abroad in order to undermine the rights of other Americans. Yet he thinks he is saving the US from falling prey to Sharia Law. Is that not mind-boggling?

My point is that these are scary times. The US of A is hardly putting its best foot forward regarding relations with Muslims in America and abroad. With the hate crimes against Muslims, the appalling poll numbers indicative of our collective opinion of Islam and the wildly incoherent protests against mosques anywhere in the US, it looks like our reputation abroad may be shot to hell as far as Muslims are concerned.

I am in NO way saying that these are the opinions and/or practices of all Americans. I’m just saying that that’s the way we allow ourselves to be portrayed and we are shooting ourselves in the face in more ways than one.

Protesting places of worship (that are not breaking any laws) should not happen in the US of A. It seriously goes against everything we believe in. The right to peacefully practice a religion is a constitutional right in the US; as far as I’m concerned, it ought to be a universal one. It puts Americans against Americans; we just don’t need that.

Putting forth this image of the US as inhospitable—even hostile—to Muslims only does us harm. It gives the terrorists fuel for their propaganda. It drives anti-American sentiment abroad in nations like Afghanistan and Pakistan where we desperately need the support of the people.

I am scared for the future. With the debate about Park51/Cordoba House/’The Ground Zero Mosque’ and the growing anti-Islam sentiment, I fear the direction in which this country is going and the reaction we will receive from abroad.

God bless America. Please. We really need it.

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