...And there's growing Islamophobia in this country.--Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to Christiane Amanpour (transcript)
How else would you describe the fact that mosques around the country are now being attacked? We are Americans, too. We are treated and talked about today as if Muslims are not Americans.
We are Americans. We are doctors. We are investment bankers. We are taxi drivers. We are store keepers. We are lawyers. We are part of the fabric of America.
And the way that America today treats its Muslims is being watched by over a billion Muslims worldwide. And the battleground today... is not between Islam and the West. The battleground has been moderates of all faith traditions in all the countries of the world against the radicals of all faith traditions in all parts of the world.
I think this is a really smart guy. And as someone who grew up in an incredibly diverse community, and who had friends of nearly every faith and ethnicity, I wish that the majority of Americans would stop persecuting the many for the crimes of the few. Here's an analogy I got from The West Wing: Islam is to Al Qaeda as Christianity is to the KKK (or more recently, as Christianity is to Terry Jones). Stop and think about that for a minute.
Today, let's practice tolerance. It's easy if you try.
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And the battleground today... is not between Islam and the West. The battleground has been moderates of all faith traditions in all the countries of the world against the radicals of all faith traditions in all parts of the world.
That was the part of his interview that resonated with me.
Too bad Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin didn't stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and make that statement. But then I think that might be a little deeper than what they and their followers are used to thinking.
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