This is in response to the Muslim woman in the Free Speech section of 10/06 who says that she is the mother of a young man who was killed at the World Trade Center nine years ago.
I am truly sorry that you have had to suffer the loss of your son. But, the letter seems disingenuous, and the attitude therein perhaps helps to illustrate exactly the reason why there have been anti-Muslim rants in the paper.
Your son wasn’t killed by intolerant Americans. He was killed by intolerant Muslims. Yet, your plea goes out to Americans to be more tolerant.
You say your loss is made more painful by insensitivity to your faith. What about the insensitivity to the suffering of all the people of other faiths who are now suffering again at the hands of Imam Rauf, forced to watch as he moves forward with his plans to build a monument to Islam near the very site where their loved ones were killed by fanatical Muslims?
No one is challenging his right to build, though many are challenging his decision, which shows a callous disregard for the families of the victims of 9/11, but historically is very much in keeping with what conquering Muslims do.
Just how much do we, as Americans, have to give up before we will be considered tolerant? As Americans, we have already lost much of our freedom of speech due to self-censorship directly linked to the fear of Islamic terror.
Wherever Muslims have power in the established government, they are brutally repressive to people of all other faiths. This isn’t a statement of intolerance. It is merely a statement of fact.
Within the last week in Saudi Arabia, 150 Filipino men were celebrating mass privately in a Riyadh rest house. They were not proselytizing. All of the men were Catholic already. There was no one to proselytize.
Yet, Saudi officials saw fit to raid the house and arrest several of the men on charges of proselytizing. Reportedly, they would have arrested them all, but didn’t have enough room to hold them.
This doesn’t happen to Muslims in America. Ten aid workers in Afghanistan were recently murdered, execution style, because they were Christians. Again, their attempt to help victims of the floods was seen as proselytizing. I could go on for pages with this type of example. Do you see a trend?
Are you aware that the politician Geert Wilders is on trial for “hate speech” in the Netherlands for making a movie that simply depicts images of writings from the Koran, which are taken right from the book, juxtaposed with images of the violence, perpetrated by Muslims, that those very writings have inspired?
Apparently, the truth offended Muslims. Truth is the new hate speech. The Netherlands is said to have free speech, but Geert Wilders is facing possible jail time for speaking out about the injustices he sees at the hands of Muslims.
Wilders’ speech was tame compared to the many Imams speaking today around the world, speaking vile hatred against Christians and Jews. Where there is free speech, such as in the U.S., why should Muslims be a protected class?
I believe the intolerance you are feeling is directly linked to the terror emanating from the religion of Islam and the fear of the very real threat to our freedoms.
While I do understand that most Muslims want the same things that most other people want, I also understand that Muslims would prefer it to be under Islamic rule, which is, by the way, totally incompatible with the United States government as we know it today.
And it is more than just a fanatical fringe that seems bent on making Islamic rule a reality. If it was just a small fringe, as you and many others claim, I doubt that some 20 newspapers across the U.S. would have passed on running a cartoon in their newspapers last week due to fear of terrorist reprisals from offended Muslims.
Muslims’ easily-offended sensibilities and freedom of speech such as we cherish in the U.S. do not seem to be compatible.
I’m offended nearly every day when I read the things that get written about my Catholic faith, things I know to be outright lies, myths and distortions. I would never dream of killing someone over it, and I cherish the freedom that allows others to speak their minds, as it allows me to speak mine.
The Pope and the U.S. bishops have denounced bigotry against Muslims. While there may be a few Imams denouncing the terror, the majority do not, and many of them, like Imam Rauf, say one thing to placate historically uninformed Americans, while speaking an all together different and contradictory agenda when speaking to Muslims terrorist groups. (Could he be engaging in taqiya?)
Why does your plea not include a call to moderate Muslims to speak out against terror against Americans of all faiths? Unfortunately, those who carry the banner of Islam have declared war on the United States.
While I in no way support violence against Muslims or people of any faith, I do believe that the U.S. has a right to defend herself against terrorists. I am personally trying to take the time to begin to understand the Muslim faith. I am currently reading the Koran. It has not reassured me.
One thing we do have in common, however. For what has become an all too painfully obvious reason, I share your reluctance to print my name. Though I certainly feel I have far more to fear from angry Muslims than you do from intolerant Americans.
Please withhold my name from the letter.
Name withheld by request
