The spike in Islamophobic speakers coming to our area is disturbing to me. They come here, selectively take out most radical passages from the Quran which they use along with anecdotal incidents of Muslims committing reprehensible acts, to discredit an entire religion which consists of 1.5 billion people of different races, nationalities and cultures. If you didn't know anything about Islam, and someone shows up and tells you they're all rapists and murderers who literally want to take over the world and you don't know any better, you may treat the next Muslim you meet with fear and hostility. If these guys were saying these things about Jews, blacks, or Native Americans people would recognize it for the bigotry that it is. These demagogues are preying on ignorance to spread hate and sell their books. They are not trying to inform you.
They never discuss the Muslims who are serving in the military, the hundreds of millions of adherents of Islam worldwide who attempt to raise their families in peace while living decent, productive lives, or the Muslim who defends Christians rights to worship as they please, or the Muslim doctor who saves a child with a delicate surgical procedure, that would contradict the sinister portrait they're painting. No presentation can capture the depth of even a single person, less so a seventh of the entire world's population.
Cody Robertson
Fort Ripley
