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What is wrong with being a Muslim or as you see in Indonesia, Moslem?
I have asked that question a number of times in the last week and people look at me as if I were stupid and, of course, chorus "911".
Well I've got news for them, blaming Muslims for 911 is like blaming the disaster in Iraq/Abu Ghraib etc. on Christians since that is the song Bush sings. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, "Many good religions and I respect all of them, I just happen to be a Buddhist".
If anything, Muslims are the ones with the beef. American Muslims have been illegally imprisoned, tortured, and they have been told the rule of law does not apply to them. There are radicals in all belief systems and my personal opinion is that a lot of non-believers are simply put off by so called "people of the book" because they say one thing and do another.
I have spent many years in Indonesia and have many Muslim friends and guess what, they are just like you and me. They have families, jobs, children, hopes, dreams, want the best they can be and are good people.
Think how much of this campaign has been taken up with and continues to be an issue, "is Barack Obama a Muslim" and he has to defend he is not. A lot of that slander is not because he might be a Muslim but because he is black.
For some there is no difference; but in this culture you can slander him as a Muslim but you have to hide behind, "he will raise our taxes, he is inexperienced, he is a liberal, all of which translates he is black. If you are REALLY a Christian, then your religion requires you to stand against such behavior and the literal translation when one prays in Christ's name is, "you will do anything HE would do".
Be careful here, because that got him crucified. His Holiness says, "Love, forgiveness, compassion, and self-discipline". That works.
