Someone forwarded an email to me today. He didn't send it because he subscribed to the content, but because he was shocked by it. The email said that Muslims can't be good Americans and therefore Obama, a Muslim, and the possibility of his presidency, should provoke fear in our hearts. The email was horrifying and sad.
My friend had responded directly to the sender with a concise statement. He said, this is all untrue, and it's racist. He told me he wanted to respond more completely, but hadn't had time. He said, wisely, "I felt like staying silent made me complicit." Because the original sender was family, I also decided to respond. I'm a busy body like that. Besides, anyone who thinks they can send around emails that are so fundamentally fueled by fear, ignorance and hate should realize that they are easy targets for edifying responses. I mean, really. Shouldn't we all be telling the truth about what we know, to power or otherwise? Especially when folks attending McCain/Palin rallies are shouting for the beheading of Obama? Geez, Louise. What kind of world are we living in, anyway?
So, this is what I wrote:
I write to you specifically in the hope that you willbe very cautious in your thinking on this issue. Mike alreadyresponded to you to make you aware of how false the allegations ofthat email are. I write to you because I urge you to send a follow upto your friends or family who you may have passed that email along to.First, Barack Obama, like him or not, is a Christian. He has been aChristian since he was a community organizer in Chicago. Although hecame to the church primarily because it was part of his organizingjob, he found himself drawn to the support and fellowship that hefound among other churchgoers. There is an amazing passage about hisexperience in his book, Dreams of My Father. Of his first experiencecelebrating a Sunday at church, he wrote,"And if a part of me continued to feel that this Sunday communionsometimes simplified our condition, that it could sometimes disguiseor suppress the very real conflicts among us and would fulfill itspromise only through action, I also felt for the first time how thatspirit carried within it, nascent, incomplete, the possibility ofmoving beyond our narrow dreams."Barack Obama, like him or not, is also a Senator of the United States,who was sworn in on the Bible. Only one Congressman, in the House ofRepresentatives, has ever been sworn in the Quran. He is a Democratfrom Minnesota and his name is Keith Ellison. He is also a Muslim,and he used a Quran that was owned by Thomas Jefferson to be sworninto Congress in January 2007. In learning that Congressman Ellisonused Thomas Jefferson's Quran, I hope you will see that religioustolerance has been a pillar of our nation since its founding.Finally, the email you sent may best be classified as bigotry andracism, neither of which suit individuals who love deeply, recognizeour common humanity and seek to live a pure and good life. Millionsof Muslims live in the U.S., and they are our friends, neighbors, andpeers. They are no less committed to our nation than a Christian orJew or Hindi or Buddhist. Our nation was formed on an idea that weseparate our patriotism from our spiritual beliefs. I was sad to readthat email because it only verifies how little many people mustremember or understand about the special virtues of our nation. Weare truly blessed to live here; however, the freedom to hate surely casts a long shadow over our most beautiful features.
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