Excerpt from Rev. Deborah C. Lindsay’s sermon in First Community Church in Columbus, OH.
7 responses to “Dealing with Islamophobia”
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After watching this video I came to respect this lady very much. It shows she is very well educated not just in her religion but in the others. It shows that she had read up on Islam after mentioning many facts about the Quran, even relating it to many quotes in Christianity to try and relate with her audience. I really like when she mentioned that killing a person is like killing humanity and saving a person is like saving humanity, because this helps clear the stereotype that Islam is all about violence when in actual fact its it all about peace, quite the opposite of the stereotype all Muslims are given. This just show to the public that it is okay to read other religious books, it doesn’t mean that you are following their religion; it’s just putting yourself in that other person’s shoes and see what they really believe in, instead of just abiding by the false stereotypes. I really liked the way she portrayed Islamic people as just regular people like anyone else; a teacher, an engineer, a waiter, etc. because that’s not what people think; most people think of a Muslim as a terrorist, with a big beard, a turban and shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ declaring jihad on everyone but other Muslim people; which she said perfectly as a small group of extremists who have no connection to others or the actual religion. I felt like she really connected with the audience after she mentioned a few Muslim people who also died during 9/11 due to the same attacks, and how these groups of people are trying to spread the name of Islam so people can really understand it for the way it is.
This clip might have been the best clip yet to talk about dealing with islamophobia. Thank you Rev. Deborah C. Lindsay for one of the most mind opening talk about Islam and how it relates to the world. I have been trying to explain how we are so much alike in faith for so long but this is actually the first time I hear it in words. The fear of Islam or Muslims comes from not knowing what Islam is or what it stands for. the world islam has been moved from referring to a religion, a faith, to being a group of people who are set to cause unrest and fear in the world. and that comes from what we see in the media outlets, from the extremests, and from the fear of the unknown. but if we can understand that Islam means nothing without the other religions of the book like Judaism and Christianity. if people could understand what Rev. Lindsay was saying I cannot even begin to imagine how this would change the way Muslims are viewed in the US. Understanding that Islam is a faith that derived a lot of its teachings from Christianity and Judaism, that we as Muslims have been taught in our religion to be peaceful and kind to others, and to respect and help them. the three ways that were referred to in the clip as how to deal with islamophobia are in my opinion very effective. and if every american could take it upon them selves to understand what it is about and how people who practice it live their lives it would turn from not knowing to knowing which at that point we will be able to reach a better understanding of each other. because I think people who hold prejudices and stereotypes about Muslims are not doing that out of anything but ignorance. when you don't know something you can shape anyway you like no matter if its right or not. and that is what i think personally is the way that we as a nation can treat this and go forward.
In our conversations we've talked about the muslim community center that will be near groundzero we tried to explain that it is not just a mosque, it is not right on ground zero, we tried to explain that Moses and Jesus are also seen as holy people in Islam. We've talked about that the real message of Islam is peace even the meaning of the word Islam means peace. Many people in the conversations repeated over and over again that killing one people is equal to killing all humanity.After watching this clip I thought that this was probably the best clip that I've seen so far which explains basically what we've been trying to explain the whole semester. It is always good to see that there are more people out there that are sharing the same feelings and thoughts with you. Like Anas said the Abrahamic Religions are so much alike in faith and the only reason that people fear Islam is because they don't know much about it and humanity always has the fear of the unknown. I can 'understand' why people can be afraid of muslims because I also see how muslims are portrayed in the news, but as Rev. DEborah C. Lindsay says in this video and as Sam always says the best way to overcome difficulties is to try to 'understand' each other. One thing that is quite unfortunate is that like any relationship it takes a lot of effort to build it but it just takes one person or one action to destroy it and rebuilding always starts from scratch.
After watching this video I came to respect this lady very much. It shows she is very well educated not just in her own religion but also in others. She literally said what every Muslim tries to explain to uneducated people who don't understand what the religion is about. This clip shows that she has a vast understanding of Islam after mentioning many facts about the Quran, even relating it to many quotes in Christianity to try and relate with her audience. I really like when she mentioned that killing a person is like killing humanity and saving a person is like saving humanity, because this helps clear the stereotype that Islam is all about violence when in actual fact its it all about peace, quite the opposite of the stereotype all Muslims are given. This just show to the public that it is okay to read other religious books, it doesn’t mean that you are following their religion; it’s just putting yourself in that other person’s shoes and see what they really believe in, instead of just abiding by the false stereotypes. I really liked the way she portrayed Islamic people as just regular people like anyone else; a teacher, an engineer, a waiter, etc. because that’s not what people think; most people think of a Muslim as a terrorist, with a big beard, a turban and shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ declaring war on everyone but Muslim people; which she said perfectly as a small group of extremists who have no connection to others or the actual religion. I felt like she really connected with the audience after she mentioned a few Muslim people who also died during 9/11 due to the same attacks, and how these groups of people are trying to spread the name of Islam so people can really understand it for the way it is.
Words can not describe how much respect every Muslim and middle eastern have for this brave women.
I never thought that a person with such power and position would stand up and be brave enough to say what she thinks and believe in, which on the other side so many Muslims and middle Easterns did not even try to describe and share their problems and thoughts with the world. what she shred with us in the video is what every Muslim want to share and talk about as i said. every single word came out of her mouth was based on experience, knowledge, and understanding. As Professor Sam Richard said " you will never understand what people think of until you step in their shoes". And thats exactly what this respectful person did, she read our mind and imagined her self one of us, sharing our problems and pain.
The problem of discriminating against Muslims is known by many people in the United States and the rest of the world. Most Muslims have been faced with this kind of discrimination because of the thought that are being spread by the media. Whenever Muslims are presented in the movies or TV shows, they are viewed as bad people. This is clearly a movement against Muslims that is intended to corrupt the view of Islam. When people see these repeated images of bad people who claim to Muslims, they subconsciously think that this is the reality of Muslims lives. They would expect that they are terrorists and live in the desert. This is because the media is focusing on the extremists of the Muslims who use the religious texts to justify their bad behavior. The logic followed for these people to justify their action is the same logic for those who generalized the idea that all Muslims are bad. This logic has been discovered by the smart thinkers who observe these things and see that they make no sense. It is so comforting for a Muslim to see a church leader trying to spread the truth behind the misunderstanding of the Muslim people. Showing people that there are millions of Muslims who live peaceful and civilized lives. In my opinion, seeing more leaders and famous people clarifying the image of the Muslims by removing the dust created by the media is an important action because people may have bad images of the Muslim world because the truth has been hidden from them.
I can be loudly proudly Muslim from now on. This lady just gave me the “awesomest” feeling ever. I really respect people who have the potential to search for the facts rather than get it from news or people. I loved it when she was comparing verses from Quran and the bible. That shows how perfectly she is involved in changing the prospective of Islamic religion in the Americans eyes. Even though she is not wearing a religious dress, she showed as if she is a priest. She is a priest not for Christians but for all religions in the world. Not only had she mentioned about the main religions she also know about other religion. We all know that religions never made to harm people but rather to make the world a better place to live in. This lady just changed something in the world today. Even if the effect wasn’t remarkable, that’s just because she just started. I hope this video to be spread all over the nation. America really need those educated people who can explain everything to lazy people who like to get information from TV and people only. I wish there was a lot of Americans who think as she does. I also want that those Americans, who have more knowledge about Islam, to have them broadcast some facts about the religion Islam. I think that Americans can understand and get it better from people whom they are belong to. If I had the potential to do what she did, I will totally going to speak up, but I know that freedom of speech is only limited for American not all races.