A World of Tolerance
With the recent massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand of 49 moslems by one terrorist it reminds us that terrorism is a global problem. The lone wolf terrorist is perhaps the most difficult to detect unless they are promoting their ideas on social media. With the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 in New York City, Americans thought terrorism was only an American problem. It is not. Those individuals who fall outside of society’s norms are always going to demonstrate their radical ideas to attract attention. Just like the little boy who keeps falling down in the playground for no reason but to attract attention, likewise the lone wolf terrorist wants attention like a child.
We live in a world of religious intolerance with each religion preaching that they have exclusive rights to God. No one religion owns God. He or she is universal and ministers to all religions and all who believe. The moslems and the Christians of today need to form an alliance to protect their parishioners in the United States as well as the World. The Crusades are over and Christianity is not at war with the Moslem world any longer. Jerusalem is a city that belong to everyone, even though many religions reside within.
The religious leaders read from the bible and try to pattern their lives after the events in the Bible. The Bible is thousands of years old and the New Testament is two thousand years old. In many ways the Bible does not resolve modern problems of intolerance. The Romans are long gone and are replace by other warring societies, but the worst of all is not a warring country, but an ideal of intolerance throughout the world. Unless societies and religions learn to get along, they will become extinct like the Romans, Greeks, and barbarians of the past became extinct. Christianity is not blameless with it’s ideas for centuries that the only true religion is Christianity. Then the moslem religion develops which honors Christ as a Prophet and St. John the Baptist yet somehow the message from Mohammed of peace for all man-kind got lost through the ages. In India moslem and Hindu have fought for centuries over differing beliefs rather then build on peace and their similarities. In Ireland the Catholics fight with the Protestants as to who is the right religion. Religions cannot continue to fight forever, and likewise we as people of the world cannot allow intolerance to exist. We must all live and let live, share and understand, love and not condemn. Regionally in the United States there are major differences of tolerance of different people of color, minorities, woman, immigrants and on and on. In the Mid-west the Americans have always held the hard line that only the whites shall rule. Go down South and you will find a fracture society that still treats people of color poorly. The Civil War is never forgotten in the South. In the Northeast where the major cities of New York and Boston exist, immigration is the main blood flow of new life and workers for America. No one turns Chinese people away in New York city. They have their own China town and do very well in this large city. Boston is a city of many black minorities that used to work in the factories in Boston, but now the factories are gone. Americans are all on a ladder to success, struggling to make life better for the next generation. Religious intolerance is not the role model to leave in place for the next generation in America or anywhere in the world.
We need to as Americans, to get off our butts and become more vocal about our equal rights as citizens and to promote tolerance of all races, creeds, religions, immigrants and those that seem different than others. Our forefathers did not sacrifice their lives for a country that is deeply divided as to white vs. black issues or inequality against minorities by the Police. Our forefathers planned for a society that was a melting pot of all countries, races, and religions. They provided religious freedom and freedom of speech in our constitution, yet many seek to silence those who seem different. In American we all speak the same language, English. We are bonded together in the right to work at any job we want. We can achieve anything in our society so long as we protect the constitution and the freedoms our forefathers promised. The time for intolerance is over. We must say something, do something other than watch TV and do nothing. The time for action is now before the terrorists and radicals ruin our society and it’s future on this planet.
