Tanner Schafer, St. Joseph
I understand this is an opinion column, but the views of Ron Scarbro in his recent column should not have been published. Muslims are people and their religion Islam makes up the third largest percentage in the United States. According to a BBC article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/islamethics/war.shtml) this is the beliefs held about war and harming others:
In brief, war is permitted:
- in self defense
- when other nations have attacked an Islamic state
- if another state is oppressing its own Muslims
War should be conducted:
- in a disciplined way
- so as to avoid injuring non-combatants
- with the minimum necessary force
- without anger
- with humane treatment toward prisoners of war
Their faith is not extreme nor sadistic. They are people of good faith. Just because there are extremists has nothing to do with the religion or its followers itself. It is the equivalent to the KKK clan. A small percentage of KKK members occupy this country and even still commit race crimes today, and most are Christian, but no one makes generalizations and stereotypes about how horrible Christians are. Scarbro demonstrates idiocy through several statements in his Dec. 11 column, but this one is the epitome: “I don’t care if Muslims are offended. They should be offended and they should be embarrassed and ashamed. By their silence they are granting tacit approval of the actions of their brothers and sisters in the Muslim Community. If I were a Muslim, I would be ashamed to show my face and they should be too.”
Why is this being published in the Newsleader? Extremists are not Muslim “brothers” and “sisters.” His whole premise is Muslim people in this country are silent, and they are approving their actions. Not true at all. Not only does he not support his point, there have been many Muslims to make comments throughout the entire world to ensure they do not promote this behavior. Even one British soldier who had his leg blown off by a Muslim in war goes on to say it was a Muslim soldier who carried him to the helicopter, a Muslim pilot who flew him to the hospital and a Muslim doctor who saved his life. According to the logic in Scarbro’s statement, the man in Colorado who decided to shoot and kill three people at a Planned Parenthood must be our “brother.” Yet, no one is talking about how terrible Christians are. This is truly an informative and asinine article. I am offended this was published; the people of this community deserve better.