Americans Don’t Approve of Religion Bashing
By Rafiq Ebrahim
Glen Ellyn , IL
Muslim countries like Pakistan are being criticized by the West for having ‘madressahs” that impart hatred against non-Muslims and train students to become extremists, or terrorists.
What about some religious centers in the West which advocate that the beliefs of all religions other than Christianity are false, go against the teachings of Christ and even proclaim that some religions are devilish! This is what Terry Thomas, Senior Pastor at Dove World Outreach Center in the USA believes in and propagates to students of the Center. Isn’t this an extremist view that intended to spread hatred towards all those who are non-Christians? As such shouldn’t this Center be termed as a Christian madressah?
This has come to light in a news item with the headline ‘STUDENTS WEAR ANTI-ISLAM T-SHIRTS’ in The Gainesville Sun, a local Florida paper in its issue of August 25, 2009. The report that follows states that students associated with the Dove World Outreach Center were sent home from school over wearing anti-Islam T-shirts. These T-shirts, another news source states, had anti-Islam slogan, Islam is of Devil, spelled out in red capital letters.
As per the video clip in the same issue of the paper it is revealed that it was not in ignorance that a ten-year old girl Faith Sapp wore the T-shirt. She fully knew what it signified. Her fifteen-year-old sister Emily Sapp stated that they were against the beliefs of the religion, not against the Muslims.
Faith’s father, Wayne Sapp, is a member of the Center; a northwest Gainesville Church that drew hundreds of protesters last July after it posted this anti-Islam slogan on its property.
Is this what pastors are supposed to do in the present time when all other right-minded and conscientious people of all religions are doing their best to promote inter-faith relations? Do we all want peace in the world, or do we want turmoil, bloodshed and devastation every where?
If only such pastors would read the English translation of the Holy Qur’an, they would learn that Islam is a religion of peace and preaches no hatred towards any one belonging to any other religion. Islam respects the beliefs of all faiths, and teaches deep respect for all the prophets who came before Prophet Muhammad.
Just one verse – Verse 62, Surah 2 – is enough for people to know what Islam really says. “Those who believe (in the Qu’ran), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians, - any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord. On them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
It is worth mentioning that a local poll taken after the appearance of the news showed that sixty-two percent agreed with the decision of the school to send the students home, while thirty-eight percent disagreed with the decision. Also quite a number of letters appeared in The Gainesville Sun in the following days condemning the anti-Islam T-shirts. This shows that the majority of American people do not want Islam, or any other religion to be maligned. A good sign for Muslims!
