deansreport.com: On Sunday night, I received a frantic email from a friend who lives on the West Coast. She wrote in her email that as she was walking out of her local grocery store and her caught sight of an attaractive newspaper titled, “Good News Northwest.” Out of interest, she picked up the paper and browsed through it. Soon she saw an article titled “A Terrorist’s Fairy Tale” by Michael Paul. She sent me a scanned copy of the two-page article. After a quick search on Google I found out that Michael Paul is a former Muslim from Iraq who has now become an Evangelical Pastor who primarily ministers to the Muslims sharing the “Good News” with them.
My friend was upset by the misrepresentation of Islam in the article and wanted to know how she could respond to it. Frankly, I have no problem with Christians proselytizing Muslims because after all there is freedom of religion and freedom to preach in America. But what is troubling about the article was the way the author was stoking the flames of fear in the hearts of the readers.
Paul claims that he has no qualms against the Muslims per se but the problem is with the religion of Islam (coincidentally this is the claim made by most Islamophobes). He says, “Our problem with Islam is not with the people, but with the religion which controls the people.” He also claims that the “Qur’an directs, conquering the land of infidels through deceit and violence.” In the end he talks about the Charlie Hebdo attack and Islam’s (supposed) restriction on freedom of speech. “Why don’t the Islamic leaders publish peaceful articles clearing up the perceived misconceptions of unbelievers?” the author wrote and to which he answered, “It is because they are indoctrinated to hate those who oppose Islam and to dominate all disbelievers by the sword.”
Categories: Accepting Islam, Americas, Answers to Anti-Islam, Anti-Islam Campaign