Do Jews, Christians and Muslims better understand each other since 9/11?

TEXAS FAITH: Do Jews, Christians and Muslims better understand each other since 9/11?

Abstract: Jews need sincerity and not duplicity. Native Americans need an apology and there is a good amount of phobia embedded in Hindus about conversions. We believe in Jesus as a Prophet and not as a son of God. Unless we deal with tough issues about our differences, we will continue to fake being nice to each other and brood with ill-will within. There is indeed improved understanding among faiths since 9/11. But there also is deepening suspicion among them. One is spiritually motivated and the other is political. Please note, most of my writings are inclusive of all theist and atheists traditions, we all inhabit the earth and we need to figure how best to co-exist cohesively.

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Since September 11, 2001, many conversations have taken place among Muslims, Jews and Christians. There are official interfaith conversations occurring all over the globe, where participants dig into each other's texts. And numerous personal dialogues have been established over the last decade. Many of us have learned more about the three Abrahamic faiths since September 11, 2001 than perhaps we knew before that day.

But here's this week's question, which is simple in its wording but not necessarily simple to answer: Do followers of the three Abrahamic faiths really understand each other better since 9/11?

Eight Texas Faith Panelists including Mike Ghouse weighs in at: http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/09/texas-faith-do-jews-christians.html

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

There is indeed improved understanding among faiths since 9/11. But there also is deepening suspicion among them. One is spiritually motivated and the other is political.

We were better off when we knew very little about each other. But as we faced the hostage crisis in 1979, the evangelical foray into politics, the Baptist convention on harvesting poor souls and finally 9/11, religion moved on to center stage. It will get better when we know more about each other.

On September 11, 2001, I was on the radio in Dallas attempting to make sense out of the chaos of the day and pave the way for relevant actions. Interfaith-faith prayers, blood donation and fundraising for the men and women in uniform were all in place by evening. The fog was clearing up. Osama bin Laden was the bad guy and Muslim-Americans had nothing to do with his actions, nor did they authorize him to terrorize any one. Indeed, he placed a wedge between Americans that still needs to be undone.

Atheists, Baha'i, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Jews, Native Americans, Pagans, Sikhs, Wicca and Zoroastrians along with area city mayors, FBI, police and fire chiefs and community leaders graced the first interfaith event in Frisco. Out of which a new tradition evolved called Unity Day. It continues year after year.

But while we are trying to know more about each other, more needs to be done. Here are a few examples;

* Mosques in Dallas/ Fort Worth area opened their doors right after the 9/11 incident. As Christians walked in, they were naively welcomed by yet-to-be trained volunteers who said, "We believe in Jesus as a Prophet and not as a son of God." However, the volunteers were trained to welcome without conflict the very next week.

Of course, back in the 8th Century, a Syrian bishop had declared that Islam was a false religion. That declaration has remained in the psyche of a few Christians forever.

Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas reiterated the statement and added, "Quran is a false book written by a false prophet." He was asked to prove it but failed.

There are several verses in Quraan that are mistranslated for political gains. Steve Blow in Dallas Morning News quoted me, "In the Middle Ages, European leaders commissioned a hostile Quran translation to foster warfare against Muslim invaders. Later, Muslim leaders produced another translation to inflame Muslims against Christians and Jews."

One such difficult passage is "Kill the infidels wherever you find them." Ten such propaganda verses were read to separate the myths from reality. They were not read by Muslim clergy, but by Baptist, Mormon, Protestant, Catholic, Unitarian, Methodist, New Age, Unificationists, Sikhs, Hindu and others at the Quraan Conference

*Shamelessly, anti-Semitism continues to operate under the radar. The anti-circumcision bills in San Francisco and Santa Monica were irksome to some, but frightening to others. Indeed, there are still a few Christians out there who cannot shake off what Fred Phelps was demonstrating with reckless posters such as "Christ Killers."

The Judeo-Christian phrase was thrown around in the 40's to build relationships between Jews and Christians. A whole industry of opportunists was born from it. The support for Jews by Billy Graham, Richard Nixon, Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Glenn Beck and other chest thumpers have ulterior motives. They want to cash in on the name of Israel and perhaps convert them. Jews need sincerity and not duplicity to feel genuinely secure.

*Native Americans need an apology for the destruction of their religion and there is a good amount of phobia embedded in Hindus about conversions. Some of them feel that Governors Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal made it in politics because they converted to Christianity.

*The spiritual balance in the community needs to be restored through observing and following the Golden Rule, which is treat others as you would like others to treat you. Although we have failed in the past, such as when the city of Plano rejected a permit to build a Hindu temple in the early 80's and Richardson did not permit a Muslim school to open there in the mid-1990s, we still have come a long way. Thank God, those are now history and the public in the metroplex welcomes diversity.

* Interfaith meetings are still social gatherings. Leaders from smaller groups are invited as tokens rather than to genuinely get to know each other. Unless we deal with tough issues about differences, we will continue to fake being nice to each other and brood with ill-will within. There is plenty of room for honesty to grow and mature.

If we can learn to respect the otherness of other people and accept the God-given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. One of these days we will get there. Meanwhile, I am pleased to invite you to the 7th Annual 9/11 Memorial, the Unity Day USA on Sunday September 11 at 5:00 PM at the Unity Church of Dallas on Forest Lane. Details are at www.UnitydayUSA.com

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References:
Steve Blow – Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/steve-blow/20100919-In-defense-of-Islam-pursuing-9397.ece

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List of difficult passages: http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2010/12/difficult-passages-in-quraan.html

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Quraan Conference program sequence: http://quraanconference.blogspot.com/2010/12/quraan-conference-program-sequence.html

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Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day to the media and the public. He is a speaker thinker and a writer on the topics of pluralism, cohesive societies, Politics, Islam, interfaith, India and Peace. Over a thousand articles have been published on the topics and two of his books are poised to be released on Pluralism and Islam. Mike's work is reflected in 4 website's and 27 Blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/ and you can find all of his current articles at www.TheGhousediary.com

Adult Muslim Babies

What is wrong with 100th's of 1% of Muslims?
What is wrong with some 5 or 6 Muslims out of the 12,000+ I communicate with?

Even if you find 12 to mess around, it will be still less than 1/100 th of 1% of Muslims in this group. I can take 6 more people to attempt to tear me down.

I have nothing to gain from this work, in fact, I could make money like everyone else working, instead I have chosen this path. I am simply doing what needs to be done, none of this will benefit me. Prophet Muhammad had said (I do not use the word OUR PROPHET - because he is not ours, he belongs to the whole universe and I don't intend to reduce him to Muslim exclusive) good deed is like sowing a seed, which benefits others when it becomes a tree and bears shade or fruit, it was intended for.

Cant' the 1/100th of 1% of Muslims understand the simple word "focus".

# 1 No matter whose birthday it is, the kids want it to be theirs. It is the “me, me, me” attitude that children demand. Some adults still live in that stage.

# 2 In a large group if some one mentions ten names, the “me, me, me” adults complain that their name was not recited in the same breath.

# 3 No matter what the topic is their concern is what they are interested in. When we are talking about a certain subject, we have to remain focused on it and not talk about 50 other things, each thing must be dealt separately. Palestine issue should not be a part of one issue; it is a full time issue in itself and must be reserved for it.

# 4 If I list the atrocities, massacres and genocides of the world, can you write a 600 word article, listing all of them, and still write the article? Better, yet can you recite all of them in one breath, in one sentence? Guess what, if you miss one due to the length of your breath, some one will complain.

We need to focus, you are acting no different than the same percent of Jews who quickly jump with the "Anti-Semitism" rhetoric even if some one sneezes in Europe. That's how bad the 1/100th of 1% of Muslims are in my list of Muslims. They are significant and that is why I address them, instead of ignoring them.

Isn't this one of the reasons we cannot move forward?

We are hung up with petty stuff?

Let's look at the big picture and not get entangled with small stuff.

In all the instances mentioned above, the adult babies are hung up with their need. Now let’s take a look at the following comments that came when I wrote about the 9/11.

Here was response to a few ugly comments
a few are non-publishable
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My Commitment remains to bring a positive change, a positive contribution from Muslim Americans in uniting us, the Americans in adversity.

Finding the truth is also our responsibility and indeed, I supported an even where the videos and discussions of 9/11 were carried out whole day at a college campus in Plano.(None of these jumpers see this)

God has sent this opportunity to present ourselves in a positive light and Insha Allah, we will achieve it. The only ones I have to struggle with are Muslims, every one wants us to get on a level playing field, it is us, who hold back. Had the French been a part of the society, they would not have seen what they are seeing today.

May Allah's mercy be upon you and release you from anger and give you the
freedom from ill-will in this holy month of Ramadan.

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These were the comments from a Muslim:

"go fuck yourself. Take me off your list. 911 was an inside job you bastard" - ztminhas
"Hey shit face, if you want to dedicate something to Why don't you work on this" - anonymous

Even my friend Dr. Jamil talks about the issue of Muslim suffering in one breath. No Dr. Jamil, it is a separate topic in itself.

Every one of us is driven by our interests - you have your own and mine is Islam and co-existence. You and I can do only so much with the given amount of time we have in a day. I know you and I both put nearly 25 hours a week for serving humanity. How many of us do that? I am not talking about doing the selfish things like praying and fasting, I am talking about doing things for the benefit of others.

The attitude of Pluralism originated in Islam and thank God more and more people are unraveling that. Prophet Muhammad was the first interfaith dialoguer that there was and that is my focus, although I have other things in my peripheral vision.

Those comments were received against the following article that went out to some 24,000 individuals around the globe of which ~12,000 are Muslims.

http://mikeghouseforamerica.blogspot.com/2009/09/mike-ghouse-dedicates-this-day-/911-to.html

The Ramadan Article:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/08/ramadans_spiritua/l_discipline.html

Thanks
Mike

In a message dated 9/12/2009 11:00:37 A.M. Central Daylight Time, TSidd writes:
Mohtram Javed Bhai, ASA

Have you please sent this mail to your dear friends like Br MikeGhouse who are blindly following the dictates of Government version without blinking their eyes. It was a preplanned TRAGEDY committed by MUSAD/CIA/Zionist agents on innocent American people to build their momentum against Muslims, Islam, capture their oil resources and kill the "probability" of emerging Islam as a political entity somewhere in the ME, specifically in Afghanistan

On the very day of this mishap I wrote an article: WHO DID IT and challenged President Bush that you are totally wrong in pointing your fingers to Osama and Afghanistan which was becoming the hub of Islamic Renaissance at that time. That paper is still available on my Website. It was published in The Muslims, NY.

It is a tragedy no doubt but we must have courage to ask the political parties of this country, the "all-powerful" Congress and UN to investigate the cause and its horrible effects of this tragedy, as rightly and la-mentally pointed out by you, through the International Court of Justice and persons like "Bush, Blare & Musharraf" responsible for this great Human tragedy must be hanged to death in front of "old" WTC otherwise the wounds will continue to bleed for centuries together and the people will commemorate the "drama" of this self-sustained tragedy till doomsday.

Shamim Siddiqi

-----Original Message-----
From: javed jamil
Subject: sept 11 programmes

If US had hunted the attackers, there was absolutely no problem. It would have been the victory of justice. But the problem is that the US first decided without any substantial investigations that a few people guided by some masterminds currently living in Afghanistan were behind the attacks. And then they began the hnting, which remains unsuccessful till now with all the major "masterminds" still alive. But in the process, more than 2 million innocent Muslims have been killed. Now what is the way to give justice to these innocent Muslims? Should they also hunt their killers in the style of the US? Should they pray to God to punish the culprits?

It is nothing wrong to commemorate the victimsof 9/11. But please also find a moment to think and pray for those 2 million Muslims killed in the aftermath. It is good to condemn those that killed the 3000 people in New York. But please also find some time to condemn those that killed the 2 millions.

Dr Javed Jamil
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