PaulSacramento wrote:There are many moderate Muslims, one can argue that the majority are moderates.
It makes the current state of Islam worse because of that, not better and the reason I say that is because it falls on the moderates to "keep" the extremists in line.
Every time a extremist Christian does something stupid like bomb an abortion clinic or come out and say that God hates homosexuals, it falls on us moderates to counter that hate with the true message of Christianity, and that is salvation through Christ and His commandment to love each other as He loved us.
And that is what we do.
When was the last time you hear or saw a moderate Muslim denounce radical and extremist Islam?
All the time Paul.
I don't think the issue is them not speaking out because they are, but rather our prejudices to not hear or see it.
There are FB groups with tens of thousands of Muslims members along the lines of Muslims against terrorism, against ISIS, against extremists and the list goes on. There are active Muslim groups working within nearly country to combat extremism within Islam.
When the siege happened in Sydney the Muslim community were very vocal and active in denouncing Islamic extremism, they mourned with the community as a whole and were the loudest voice against the violence. They held vigils for the 2 people who died. They were sincere, and were as shocked and outraged as the rest of us.
FB was inundated with posts and comments form Muslims who expressed how deeply sorry they were, how this man was not a representation of the community as a whole. I was personally moved by their words. There was a desperation, a pleading to not paint them in the same light. I felt for them as it just threw fuel on the fire for all those people who already had hostility and intolerance towards the Muslim community. There were countless responses from Aussies who spewed out hate and bigotry towards these people who had shown such compassion and empathy. I was disgusted and really saddened. As a person who very rarely posts anything on FB, I do look at current issues and responses to get a feel for how the average Joe is thinking but this time I couldn't help but personally express my thoughts to these people, well a few of them and I reiterated exactly what they had been saying, which was please don't think we are all like that.
The way I look at it, these extremists are trying to produce fear and hatred and they are succeeding. I look at my friends, family and community and I have never seen or experienced in my lifetime this level of hatred. There is an us versus them mentality and that is coming from average Australians. They are getting abused and sworn at on public transport, their mosques are getting graffitied with racist slurs, some members of our government have absurdly tried to stop women wearing hajibs in parliament and even public places, security guards are being placed within Muslims school to protect the children, everyone has gone bat **** crazy!!
The extremists are winning, they are creating an enviroment of fear and hate within the hearts and minds of the everyday person. I'm not going to let them turn my heart cold against an entire faction of people. I am going to stand against extremist and terrorism whilst standing firmly for the Muslim community in peace and love.
The way to win this is to combat hate with love. I am not speaking of the extremist they need to be dealt with accordingly I am speaking of the moderate Muslims, they are suffering through this, people are suspicious and hateful of them.
There is a change happening and it scares me.
What is happening in Iraq, Syria scares me.
What is happening in my own backyard with this shift in mentality scares me too.