On 28 Nov 2004 12:10:58 GMT, Steveo
wrote in :

Frank Gilliland wrote:
I would suggest you stop by your local Mosque to ask these questions.
I think you will find that these are people just as normal as you and
me..... ok, maybe a bit -more- normal.


No thanks, I don't trust anything they may say. Your definition of -normal-
is suspect at best. Hell, the local Cleveland Imam has terrorist ties.

The media had not been kind to Fawaz Damra, the imam at the Islamic Center
of Cleveland. The Wall Street Journal questioned why he and other Muslim
clerics did not denounce terrorism. The NBC Dateline program on October 28
raised the same question, as did a feature article by the Associated Press,
showing Damra in front of the Islamic Center.

Then on November 4, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) revealed that the Al
Farooq mosque in Brooklyn, New York, had sponsored the Alki Fah Refugee
Center. The Center collected money to send to Peshawar, Pakistan, in
support of Afghan chieftains, including Osama bin Laden.


Again, the few radicals do not represent the religion. When I was a
kid I once went to visit a Catholic church with a friend, but before I
did I got warnings from family and friends (mostly Protestants) about
how the Catholics would try and manipulate me and drag me into their
'cult'. Needless to say that didn't happen (and no, I wasn't molested
either).

As far as your trust goes, I don't trust people I don't know either.
But that doesn't mean I won't listen to what they have to say. If
forced to make a choice I would sooner trust a stranger than the
media. But to believe that Muslims are bad folk because of a few bad
apples doesn't make sense. You could say the same about nearly every
other organization in America. Even the USPS has had their share of
murderous whackos, but that doesn't prevent you from going into a post
office, does it?

Just go there and talk to them. They won't shove an AK-47 in your face
when you walk in the door. And I don't think you are afraid of being
brainwashed with what you assume will be lies -- I'm sure you are a
reasonable person that can draw your own conclusions after having
heard both sides of the story. They won't kidnap you and hold you for
ransom, they won't try and brainwash you, and they won't kill you if
you leave without bowing to Mecca. So it won't hurt you to ask
questions. The worst that can happen is that you will get answers
which support your current opinion. At best, you may learn about a
religion that has more in common with Judeo/Christian ideology than
you might think, and you walk away with a better understanding of a
different religion and culture.

I say go for it. Do I need to double-dog-dare you? ;-)







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