READ FULL ARTICLE ON: Be Very Concerned But Also Be Involved
It has now been four years since the United States decided for whatever reason to go against all international law and UN recommendations and invade the sovereign country of Iraq without any provocation from them. This war which has turned into invasion is about to enter its fourth year. This continuing conflict with the Muslim populace has led to a rising number of Americans to have a negative view of Islam.
In the years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the number of Americans expressing negative views of Islam has been increasing steadily. A poll released in early March this year by the Washington Post and ABC News showed that 46 percent of Americans view Islam negatively. That's up seven percent from the months following the 9/11 attacks. This should be a grave cause for concern by all Muslims living in the United States. The continued violence in Iraq that is seen daily on our television does not help the situation.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON: Christians find surprising allies in fight to defend Christmas
Any kind of worship can only be good, Muslims, Jews say
Jenny Jackson, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, December 23, 2005
Christian groups battling the "war on Christmas" have found surprising allies in some Jewish and Muslim groups, especially in the United States, who say any religion is more hospitable than aggressive secularism. "It is assumed that Muslims would object to someone saying, 'Merry Christmas.' In fact, we don't," says Ibraham Hooper, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Muslims are sympathetic toward the urge to worship and believe that a society with more spirituality, rather than less, can only be good, he says.
Although religious groups in Canada laugh off the idea of battling over Christmas, the holiday "holy war" has been building momentum across North America for years as mayors and school trustees tried to please everybody by pleasing nobody. Public schools scrapped Nativity pageants to placate non-Christian parents. Department stores dropped "Merry Christmas" in favour of "Season's Greetings" hoping to woo Hanukkah and Kwanzaa shoppers.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON: Is Islam hostile to Jews?
Is Islam hostile to Jews? When observing the Israeli Palestinian conflict it seems that long standing animosity comes to the fore. Religious symbolism is used and abused. Daniel Pipes (director of the Middle East Forum in the USA) writes: "Muslims takes religious interest in Jerusalem when it serves practical interest. When those concerns lapse, so does the standing of Jerusalem." Others are expressing concern that Muslims claim to be tolerant of Jews but try to legitimize their age old hatred by undermining the Zionist dimension of Judaism.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON: US Muslim Center Hosts Interfaith Banquet
US Muslim Center Hosts Interfaith Banquet
CAIRO, December 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - An American Muslim community center has recently invited a group of Christian and Jewish compatriots over an interfaith meal to clear stereotypes, create a better understanding and look for common grounds, a local American newspaper reported Monday, December 19. "People have misconceptions of us," Wasi Khan, an organizer, told Sun-Sentinel, the major daily newspaper of Broward and South Palm Beach counties, Florida.
"They don't know who we are. They don't know how we pray and what we do at our services. We have to change that."
The interfaith meal, organized by the Muslim Community of Palm Beach County center, drew several hundred people.
The organizers gave the visitors a tour of the center's mosque, introduced them to their leaders and explained the principles of Islam.
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