Who has the Right?

Written: 07/10/08
Revised: 02/12/10

In the madness of these current times, I am amazed at how gullible citizens are to the lies of those who use religion to manipulate and create fear. For instance, a year or so ago Rachael Ray was signed to do an ad for a commercial entity but because she wore a scarf similar to those worn by Muslims, including the extremists, someone became hysterical, made some calls and next thing you know the ad is yanked. What is going on here? The most unfortunate part of this is the role that a certain group of "Christians" play in these scenarios as well as their Jewish counterparts. These two groups of religious piousness assume that they have a monopoly on the Creator and that leads me to explain the reason for the title. Our Creator, who has no favorites, is known by many names yet it seems that one particular group doesn’t have the right to call His Name in their given language and that Name is ALLAH. Christians call Him GOD or JEHOVAH which was derived from the Jewish YAHWEH. Who gives anyone the right to decide who can call on GOD and what name can be used especially when so many in this nation profane His Name? I remember GOD told Abraham that he would be “a father of many nations[1] ”, of which one is the Muslim nation. Christians tend to forget that Abraham’s first son was Ishmael (a Muslim) and although he was not the son of promise, GOD promised Abraham, “Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondswoman because he is your seed[2]”. So, let me clarify this again, Christians say, “GOD is great” and Muslims say, “ALLAHU AKBAR”; it’s exactly the same thing just in different languages. Why is one better than the other? Muslims, unlike Christians, have tenets that they live by. They have the “5 Basic Duties” also known as “The Pillars of Islam”. 1st is the profession of faith; 2nd is the five daily prayers (if we prayed as they do, how much better our lives would be but I digress); 3rd Muslims must give charity to the poor. By giving part of what they own to the poor, Muslims unite the community; 4th fasting and 5th the Pilgrimage (which is no different from Christians traveling to the Holy Land). Just as many Christians, not all Muslims adhere to their profession of faith but does that mean one is better than the other; especially when many conservative "Chrisitians" choose to ignore the plight of the weak and poor?

I am thoroughly disgusted by those who manipulate religion and their views of what is right and wrong when it completely goes against what is read, be it in The Bible, The Koran or The Torah. If one feels another is misguided, one should lead by example but I’m guessing these groups of pious people are forgetting the many sins their groups have committed. The Jews, with the assistance of the Roman government, did crucify JESUS and far too many "Christians" have murdered in the Name of GOD to pursue their own agenda. Muslims extremists make no mistakes on disclosing their thoughts and feelings while this certain group of "Christians" deceive with their words. For those of us who read The Bible, whom do we know as the deceiver? There are Muslims extremists and conservative "Christians" and the only difference between them is what they call the Creator. Both groups want to deny the right of an individual so that they could dictate and control how everyone should live. Terrorism comes in many forms such as the economical and educational inequalities within a nation that is the richest and strongest on this orb. Being classified by one’s race and ethnicity and being denied justice is another form of terrorism.

I will close by stating that there is evil in every form and in every religious arena, and no matter how much certain folks protest against it, it is a war on the Muslim religion. It is a war on what doesn’t fit into conservative "Christian" America's way of being and that is a form of terrorism, no one wants to admit it but it is so. GOD is no respecter of persons and only He alone has the right to judge as He created us all. In the movie “Robin Hood” with Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman plays a Moor. In responding to a child asking why he looked as he did, he stated, “ALLAH likes variety”. Need I say more?


[1] Genesis 17: 5
[2] Genesis 21:13