Saturday, November 28, 2015

We can Wonder about the Tsarnaev Brothers

   When we suggest Islam preaches the killing of disbelievers, we might be setting in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy.
   If they hear that this is what they believe often enough, some of them will begin to believe it is what they believe. While they might grow up and go for years without believing they should kill non-believers, if they are told it is what they believe, do they sometimes come to the conclusion it is?
  It is like with a child. If you tell him he is stupid, he comes to believe it. The harm you sow, is the harm you have.
   One might wonder if the Tsarnaev brothers are examples of this. They lived in the states with no harm for years. Then, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar pulled off the Boston Marathon Bombing. Did one or both of them become disgruntled with America, and reflect on the suggestion that their religion teaches to kill disbelievers, and conclude they would do just that, kill the disbelievers?
   Most Muslims do not believe they should go out and kill disbelievers. That is a belief only of the radical members of the religion. But, we as a society, sometimes parrot the thought that it is a tenet of Islam that they should kill disbelievers. The Muslims who have not been taught in their own mosques to believe this hear it from us, and can come to believe it, and can come to act on it.
   The harm we sow, is the harm we reap.






 

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