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Attacks on Muslim class speaker unnecessary

Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Updated: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 11:01

Still, Caton seems to believe that Muslims solely come in the radical variety. He may be equating the Islamic community as a whole with certain violent Muslim individuals such as Sami Osmakac, who was arrested Monday and charged with plotting to attack Tampa locations with bombs and other weapons. 

Yet, according to the Associated Press, Shibly was among those disturbed by Osmakac's beliefs, and told concerned members of the Muslim community to immediately notify the police about him. 

This makes Caton's comments even more offensive. Shibly is not just far from a radical Muslim, but he actually aided in bringing a legitimate violent radical to the authorities' attention.

Every belief will have a few radical followers. Nonetheless, religion has shaped the world into what it is today, and a history teacher would not be doing their job if they did not expose others to those lessons. Education thrives on diversity, and individuals such as Caton and the FFA cannot bully others into one sole belief.

 

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1 comments

Alumnus writer
Mon Jan 30 2012 17:09
The editor makes good points. The FFA was out of line here. Shibly is just a speaker, who was invited to Steinbrenner High School to speak about a violent person that she stopped. If Sami Osmakac was not inspired by religion, he would have been simply labeled crazy. We have crazy serial killers, and even children who have plotted other terrifying attacks as well.

The other commenter from facebook, Lin Anderson, uses terrible logic here. I risk arguing with an ignorant commenter or possibly a cleverly disguised troll, but, if I use Lin's logic, if a "true" follower must follow all examples and behaviors in their holy book, it sets all "true" christians as terrible people. I don't think Christians today feel that slavery is okay or morally justifiable, but it is justified in the Old and New Testaments (1 Timothy 6:1-2, Luke 12:47-48, Exodus 21:20-21, Exodus 21:7-11). If a "True" Christian must follow the Old Testament as well, murder and rape are justified. In Deuteronomy 22:28-29, if a man rapes a woman, the man must marry the woman. No civilized person today would say that a raped woman should be forced to marry the man who raped her.

Not all Christians or Muslims alike follow their holy books word for word. Thankfully, many people try move beyond the literal gospel of their books and use contemporary human rights and values as a working point. If the faithful continued to follow religious texts literally, there would be no women's rights. While some Muslims in 3rd world countries still marry children, it is far from representative of the majority of the religion, and more culturally advanced Muslims denounce these practices. There is a comparison, and unfortunately Lin Anderson's attempt is sadly born of ignorance.





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