Islamophobia has been a hot button issue lately, due to recent events in which two masked gun men carrying assault rifles broke into the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine office in Paris and brutally shot up the place, while shouting “Allah Akbur” (God is good), killing eleven and severely injuring others. Obviously, this was a very tragic event and I am not discounting that, however; the blatant discrimination and Islamophobia that followed was uncalled for. Islam and Christianity are two major monotheistic religions in the world, meaning that they have millions upon millions of followers that, perhaps, do not understand the core message of their faith, and do terrible things in its name. For instance, the Westboro Baptist Church is a militant Christian organization. If you want to learn more about them, go ahead and visit their website: www.godhatesfags.com. No, you didn’t read that wrong, that is their official website. Correct me if I am wrong, but the foundation of Christianity is supposed to be love and tolerance, so preaching hate is completely missing the point. Christian terrorism has killed people as well, but somehow we don’t associate all Christians with terrorists, so why are we doing the same to Muslims? “Thou shall not kill” is one of the Ten Commandments, which should be a pretty easy guideline for Christians to follow. Most of the Christians I know believe in the foundations of love and acceptance, and when asked, agree that just because something is done in the name of Christianity, does not mean that it speaks for the entire religion. Most Christians I’ve asked agree that the Westboro Baptist Church’s sermons of hate are terribly misguided, and most Christians would never want to be associated with them. Therefore: just because someone preaches hate in the name of a religion, does not mean that they speak for the entirety of it. Islam is the second largest monotheistic religion in the world, so the actions of a few violent individuals who claim to be doing things in the name of religion are not a reliable source for the religion and the people who follow it. Islam falls under five foundations, one of which is almsgiving, sounds pretty similar to something Christians are encouraged to do, right? George W. Bush, even said himself that “Islam is peace”, and this is me eating my words when I said in my high school government class that I would never agree with George W. Bush. Let us bear in mind, for a second that George W. Bush pioneered the war against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, a time in which Islamophobia ran rampant through the entire country, and people equated terrorism and Islam, and even he agreed that these tragic attacks were not what true Islam stands for.
[By Emily Smith]
[Staff Writer]