Read a really good article relevant to today!
Highlights include:
“But if Islam does stand for freedom of faith and coexistence, why is it that so many people who call themselves Muslims are in so much conflict, not just with non-Muslims, but also with other people who call themselves Muslim?”
“If you believe that Muhammad is your moral guide, then you have to accept that there was a peaceful character in Muhammad and that there is a warlord, a military man, a beheader, a man who sold people into slaves,”
“While the Western world now largely accepts a live-and-let-live ideology, it was not that long ago that religious intolerance was our norm, too.”
“Not only did we have the medieval Crusades but we also had the confessional wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.”
“Intolerance lived on in the 20th century in my birthplace of Ireland, where extremists like the late Ian Paisley denounced the Pope as the Antichrist as late as 1988.”
“No Indonesians or Muslims were killed in revenge attacks in Australia.”
“But a little over a year later we had the Cronulla riot. Disgusting as this event was, no-one was killed or seriously injured and police action was admirable.”
“But many self-appointed Islamic spokesmen give no credit to this liberal tradition.”
Read the whole article here: