Commentary

There was an item on my home page today about a Dutch film that insults Islam, protests against the film, and so forth. Here we go again.

Or is it different this time?

The person who made the film did make inflammatory remarks.

On the other hand, though, to all the Muslims out there I would like to say this:

Your religion is being hijacked by extremists who are violent. There is no getting around that. You still see Christians in the light of events during the Crusades some 1,000 years ago, and frankly I admit that Christians did some horrendous things during those invasions of your lands. Surely you can understand that Westerners today, and Americans specifically, are seeing Islam in the light of terrorist attacks on innocent people. I'm not just talking about what happened on 9/12/01/. I'm talking about suicide bombers blowing up shoppers in marketplaces, suicide bombers blowing up worshippers at the mosques, Muslims raking school buses with gunfire and killing children. You can't expect us not to hate or fear your religion when we see these things being done in its name.

There are also stories of women being stoned or whipped for things like being outside the house without a male relative escorting them. We don't have such laws or such punishments in our culture, and frankly they don't make your religion look very attractive.

I would like to say first that I believe you are too easily offended about your religion. Any innocent act by someone unfamiliar with your cuture and religion can accidentally do something that offends Islam, and no offense was intended. You might be wise to consider lightening up.

Also I would like to say that if we express hatred or fear of your religion and that offends you, well, do something about it! Teach us whas true Islam is all about. If you believe your religion is loving and compassionate and peaceful, show us that by the way you live and by the way you treat strangers. Do everything in your power to oppose the extremists who are turning Islam into a religion of hatred and violence against innocent people. Don't just sit there and curse the people who don't understand; help us to understand.

We are all on this planet together, and we need to learn to understand each other. We need to live together. We need to work out our problems together, and shooting and bombing each other is not going to do that. But in order to talk together and work out our problems, we have to start by trying to understand each other.

Muslims, if you are willing to try that, so am I.