America puts out this feeling of contempt and disrespect. In what I dub "Bush's theorem", Terrorism + Abuse of human rights = Islam. The fuel for anti-Islamic sentiment has been going on for a long time. Islam has been portrayed as harsh and unfair. Many cannot understand why women have to wear head shawls and why films on what really happens are banned. Hearing news of women being stoned for adultery, and recently of people being hanged in a busy market square in Iran, has horrified the Western World. And now September 11 has given the best excuse for blatant attacks on Islam; perceived as a religion of hatred, unfairness and terrorism. I am not writing to express my opinion on whether or not this is true though.
All I ask you to ponder on is: Does Islam deserve to be treated as the religion of sinners? For if this is true, then Christianity and Hinduism, the two main oppressors of Islam, could also be considered to be religions of sinners.
Hindus are causing great problems for innocent Islamic people. A community of Islamic people, I heard, is forced to live in a cemetery in India, constantly in fear of their lives. These Hindus are also acting like terrorists, exactly what the Indian Prime Minister has accused the Muslims of behaving as.
In Australia, there currently is an investigation into child sex allegations, with the head of the Sydney Church, George Pell, having been accused of sexually molesting several boys 40 years ago. Even in America, several high ranking ministers have been forced out of their churches because of the people's angry response to it. As a teenager Christian-Australian, I feel extremely angry and I also feel that some of the crimes committed by the priests-who according to the Bible, are God's representatives- are worse that any Islam has committed.
What also annoys me is that unlike Islam, Christians are not being abused and treated like untouchables since their priests are meant to be the holier than the common person.
Haven't Christians been responsible for terrorism in the past? Refugees are locked up. That is a form of terrorism. There were the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans. The gas chambers of the Nazis. The constant killing by the Israelites.
In conclusion I can only say: Before looking down on other religions, take a closer look at your religion and then wonder, ‘Are they alone?’…
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