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| Gay muslims (Photo credit: hebedesign) |
Recently a
friend forwarded an e-mail to me.
A day later
he wrote and told me he was sorry that he had forwarded it as he now realized that
it was hate mail against Muslims.
I've added the letter to the end of this post and you can make your own decision.
Here is what I think:
I've added the letter to the end of this post and you can make your own decision.
Here is what I think:
We
Canadians suffer greatly from an abundance of politeness compounded by the
current social pressure to be politically correct.
Things like
this letter are as hard for us to navigate as a four corner stop.
But the
truth is that I agree with Dr. Tanay, (the supposed writer), - our strongest defence against
radical Islam is moderate Islam.
I applaud the people of Pakistan, the moderate, peaceful
Muslims, who have risen up in protest against the Taliban over the shooting of Malala Yousufzai,
the 14 year old who advocates education for girls.
But
getting back to the letter, I don't believe Dr. Tanay, an American, wrote the
last part about Toronto schools.
And
that is the part of the letter that moves into the realm of hate mail.
Yes
rooms have been put aside for Muslim prayers in some Ontario schools and it is
true the Lord's Prayer is no longer recited in our Public School System, but it
is my understanding that the prayer rooms can also be used by Christian
students or Jewish students or any other group of spiritually inclined
students.
I
do not have a problem with prayer rooms.
I
do have a problem with Muslim girls sitting at the back and menstruating girls not
being allowed to take part.
And I have written about this situation more than once.
And I have written about this situation more than once.
It
isn't easy being who we are - a polite, tolerant, just, compassionate and multi-cultural
society.
But
I think we owe it to those who went before us and sacrificed so much
to continue the struggle for equality, balance and fairness in a world that often is cruel and indifferent.
And the voice of moderate Muslim Canadians needs to be heard.
to continue the struggle for equality, balance and fairness in a world that often is cruel and indifferent.
And the voice of moderate Muslim Canadians needs to be heard.
Here is the letter:
The author of this email is Dr. Emanuel Tanya, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist.
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates.
When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.
'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'
We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace
and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.
Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.
It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march.
It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.
It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.
It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill.
It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.
It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.
It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people.
The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.
Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing
that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery.
Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany,
they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts--the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on!
Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on - before it's too late.
Now Islamic prayers have been introduced into Toronto and other public schools in Ontario, and,
yes, in Ottawa too while the Lord's Prayer was removed (due to being so offensive?)
The Islamic way may be peaceful for the time being in our country until the fanatics move in.
AND WE ARE SILENT.
10 comments:
I have a friend in Calgary who always forwards this same kind of disingenously racist crap to me. I told her not to send me any more but she still does -- probably because she doesn't see this stuff as racist. So now I just automatically delete all emails from her without reading them.
Found this:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/t/Tanay-Merek-German-Islam.htm
From what I've been able to gather, it seems Tanay did not write this at all. But either way, the last part about the Toronto schools seems to be an add-on. As for the rest of it, it is fanatics - no matter who they are - that cause the evil in the world. As the saying goes: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." And there have been good men - and women - who have gone so far as given up their lives to keep evil at bay. And continue to do so.
I agree with you Martha. My aunt always told me the right of one ends when the right of the next begins and religious fanaticism is a a cop out for something else. However, I do think that religious education should stay under the religious institution care, unless the person is going to a religious school (Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, whatever).
I went to religious schools when I was little and I was taught evolution. It was a non-issue. I also went to secular schools and we study all religions in an academic format. The world is going mad.
This sort of thing accomplishes nothing except to fuel to the already widespread fear and dislike of Muslims?
Muslim leaders in Canada have repeatedly expressed their disgust with fanatics and their actions. Moderate Muslims are trying to build their lives and integrate into Canadian society.
What else would we have them do?
I would like not to read that Canadian Muslim women pray at the back of the mosque. I don't want to read that schools in Canada allow rooms where menstruating girls are not allowed to pray.
If these leaders are speaking out, Doug, it isn't just me, some of their own people aren't hearing them.
OK, we're mixing up two different things here. The article attributed to Tanay is focused on fanatics. We're all against fanatics --- you, me, and the moderate Muslims.
I think your concern is with religious customs that are at odds with what most of us think of as "Canadian values," specifically gender equality.
Multiculturalism, by definition, requires that religious values and practices be respected, even if they affront other members of society, as long as they do not infringe Canadian law.
So, what does the law say?
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that freedom of religion encompasses a right to religious practices.
The Charter also states that every individual is equal without discrimination based on (among other things) sex.
So, perhaps it comes down to which of these takes precedence.
Countries like the U.S., France and Germany, which do not claim to be multicultural, are spared these conundrums.
Isn't it fun to be Canadian?
Thanks for responding, Doug. I know that we have disagreed on this before. However there is no doubt in my mind which needs to take precedence. Genital mutilation, women and girls not getting enough vitamin D, these things must not happen here and although i think we should all speak out i think our best front line is Muslim Canadians.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarntees freedom of religion but I couldn't find anyplace where "religious practices" were guaranteed rights. Splitting hairs I suppose, but at least we can sleep easy knowing there will never be Aztecs practising human sacrifice in Canada.
I trust so little of what I read anymore,because most of the time news is just commentary. I know i know little about the Muslim faith, and I am a strong advocate of religious freedom.
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