Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Muslims and Catholics as Terrorists

I was discussing earlier with a friend the current atrocity in Bombay. He asked if there was an underlying problem with Islam.

My thoughts

I think Muslims will always think they are superior, just as will Catholics, Jews, and Southern Baptists. Religions are about truth systems, and obviously people of a given religion will think they are superior.

What is essential is to realize that these killers represent neither the mainstream nor best of "The Religion of Being at Peace with God and Neighbour" (i.e. Islam). Islam, in its holy texts (Qur'an and Hadith), main law schools, and main historical manifestations (Abbasid Baghdad, Ayyubbid Cairo, Ottoman Istanbul, Mughal India) has taught and practiced respect of life, protection of the poor and orphans, and insisted on seeing all people as children of God.

Some people seem to be judging Muslims now, as if Rwanda (where all were Catholic) represented Catholicism.

Think about that: the entire history of Catholicism being captured by those Tutu priests who participated in genocide. That would not be fair to Catholicism, and we are not fair to Islam to associate it with maniacs.

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