I am a Mormon. Mormons have done some pretty evil things.
Want proof? Read this article right here. Want an article you know won't sugarcoat things? Read this thing from Wikipedia.
Guess what? I may be a Mormon, but I will never gun down hundreds of innocent people. You know why? Because I try to live the tenets of my religion as perfectly as I possibly can. I may not be a perfect Mormon, but I am trying to be as perfect as I can at being a Mormon.
Of course, some people may say that, because members of my religion are associated with the Meadow Mountain Massacre, I am no better than them.
Surely we can agree that's ridiculous. At some point, children can't be blamed for the sins of their fathers.
For some reason, a lot of people have this erroneous concept of Islam and its Muslim adherents. When a terrorist attack occurs, like yesterday's attack on France, social media explodes with people cursing Muslims, maligning and attacking prominent members of the Islamic community, and generally being complete and total ignoramuses.
The sad thing is, shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, I hated Islam, too. I thought all Muslims were radical terrorists who'd rather shoot me than say a prayer. It didn't help that the school system focused on the fact that the terrorists were Islamic. All I ever heard people say is how horrible Muslims were. I wasn't even a teenager yet, and I was indoctrinated into a mentality of distrust and hatred.
And then, through some lucky turn of events, the school curriculum asked students to choose between two books, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, and Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson. Most of my class quickly grabbed copies of A Long Way Gone. I was one of the few kids stuck with Three Cups of Tea. Very begrudgingly, I started to read the book.
I walked away with my mentality completely and forever changed.
Three Cups of Tea will be the only non-religious book I will ever require my children to read. Whenever they inevitably say a negative blanket statement about any class or creed of people, Muslims or no, I will hand them this book and tell them to shut and wise up.
Pure Islam does not teach their children to be reckless murderers. A true Muslim is someone who practices these sorts of tenets (click here). You might meet someone who is not a perfect Muslim, but I guarantee most Muslims try to be as perfect as they can at being a Muslim.
You can't say that all Muslims are terrorists just because some terrorists are Muslims. It is the latter group that is currently failing to live up to their pure beliefs.
When we make blanket statements about an entire group of people because of the actions of their small minority, we expose ourselves as bigots. Slavery occurred because some morons decided a few individuals represented an entire majority. Racism occurs because of the same.
And you want to know the kicker? Radical Muslims--you know, the people who don't follow the tenets of their peace-loving religion--hate western culture because of the past mistakes of a few people at the top. That's right, radical Muslims don't look at what you personally believe or do. Radical Muslims hate you for the culture you did nothing to establish. How's that for bigotry? How unfair is it for someone to hate you, a member of a majority, because of a small minority? Very.
So, please. Become educated about other cultures. Don't make blanket statements. Don't discriminate. Only then can we establish peace in this world.
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