The scene last Sunday at my neighbor's house. Kids playing. riding bikes, doing the hula hoop, running around and enjoying themselves. Adults chatting and ejoying each other's presence. The smell of some great food cooking in the air. This is repeated most Sunday's when my neighbor has a get together with her friends. It gives my street a real 1950's Ozzie and Harriet feel that I enjoy. One slight difference is that she and most of her friends are Muslim and are wearing the appropriate clothing, as are some of the kids.
I could not help but contrast that pleasant, bucolic scene with what we have been seeing on the TV regarding the violent reactions by radical Islamic militants to the cartoons published in the European press.
Interesting how events half way across the world can hit home.
Some of the nicest and most kind-hearted individuals I have met throughout this country have been devout followers of the Islamic faith, one which at it's heart preaches peace, much as most of the world's major religions. Unfortunately throughout history, from the Crusades and the Inquisition, through to the modern day splinter Mormon fundamentalists, "Faith"-based Islamic terrorists and abortion clinic bombers, mixing religion and politics is an incredibly unstable brew. Anti-conservative arguments aside(I'm sure there will be some comments from that camp), one of the things that makes this country great and attractive to much of the world is the freedom of thought that seperation of religion from politics allows. For all the problems we face in this country I can't think of place I'd rather live.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Separation of religion and politics in the USA... check out the most recent post in this blog regarding the anti-gay marriage/civil union push.
ReplyDeletePoint taken, we have still a long way to go, but imagine living in a place under a totalitarian government full of Ronda Storms types . Now that is a scary thought. Thankfully, here we have both the privelege and, in my opinion, obligation to debate such issues. (For the record, I am opposed to all of these sorts of discriminatory efforts)
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