Muslim leaders call for peace, on their terms.
The “survival of the world” is at risk if Muslims and Christians cannot make peace, leaders from every sect of Islam have warned.
Muslims are currently marking their holiest month, Ramadan
The prediction came in an open letter signed by 138 prominent Muslim scholars in a bid to defuse inter-religious tensions.The letter, which was sent to Pope Benedict, The Archbishop of Canterbury and other Christian leaders around the world, calls on Christians “to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions” and spells out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.
It goes on: “As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them – so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes.”
Yeah, it’s the fine print that really gets you. Basically, what these Muslim leaders are saying is that so long as we Christians don’t do anything against Muslims, it’s all good. What I didn’t see is a similar promise that Muslims won’t oppress Christians as they have done in Darfur and are doing in plenty of other nations. I didn’t see Muslims promise to work with Christians so that we can all worship freely in Islamic countries. I didn’t see anything there but demands upon Christians. See, that’s how it works in the wonderful world of dhimmi. The Muslims make the rules and we either comply with them and know the magnanimous peace of the conqueror or we get the sword.
When those Muslim leaders start accepting that there is a very real and not insignificant portion inside their religion dedicated to spreading tyrannical theocracy all over the world and committing genocide without hesitation and then doing something about it, then I’ll listen. Until then, it’s all talk, talk, talk.
Your paranoia about Islam is truly astounding. You are right that in some countries (Saudi Arabia, for example), there are restrictions against the practice of Christianity. But in most majority Muslin cultures that is not the case. Even Iran allows Christian churches and allows Christians to be members of the government. Turkey makes special efforts to include Christians in society and their tourism board makes a strong effort to promote their Christian heritage. Christianity is well accepted in Indonesia, the largest Muslim population in the world. For the most part, religious intolerance among Muslims is limited to the Middle East where there has been a nasty history of religious and imperial colonialism by Christians. Their issues with the western world are a result of the past 200 tears of colonial experience more than any religious differences. The Muslim world is very far from perfect, but I’d rather be Christian in Istanbul than a Muslim in Atlanta. At least in Istanbul, you’d have some respect as a Christian.
My paranoia, as you call it, is borne out by copious example. Your historical memory seems somewhat misinformed. Darfur keeps coming to mind.
However, a few other examples might be useful:
There’s this story from Iran, and this one.
In Indonesia, there’s this and this.
Turkey’s “strong effort” doesn’t seem to have reached out to the people who did this, this one egged on by government statements against Christians, or this account of what it’s like to be a Christian in Turkey that followed the killing of a Catholic priest after the Danish Mohammed cartoons.
And if your last two sentences really reflect your beliefs, I don’t know what to say. This person went looking hard for Muslims murder victims in the three months after 9/11 and managed to find eight (not all of which could be evidentially tied to 9/11 and some of which were listed as “probable”). I find that number astounding. It stands in stark contrast to the reactions in the Muslim world after the fake “Koran in the toilet” story or the rage ginned up over the Danish Mohammed cartoons. I, personally, would rather have been a Muslim in Atlanta after 9/11 than I would be a Catholic priest in Turkey after the Danish Mohammed cartoons. At least in Atlanta, I’d have a much better chance of staying alive.