The Islamic Person

It is important not to "demonize" the Islamic person. There are many different people and personalities in Islamic countries as there are in the U.S.

The early cradle of Christianity was in many of the countries currently controlled by Islam. The seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation are in Turkey. Great Christian thinkers came from Egypt and North Africa. All these countries are now under the sovereignty of Islam. The children of the seven churches are now residents of Islamic countries where Christianity is discouraged and discriminated against.

My point is that people are people. There are "good" people wherever you find them. Most people desire peace and want to raise their families where it is safe. Most want to make their living in peace.

I am reminded of a devout young Islamic man I met in Turkey as a Guide. I even was able to attend a Muslim service with him. His problems were typical. He was on his cell phone trying to make peace with his wife. He had some married friends over and had commented how his friends wife had not gained any weight since school. His wife took this as a statement that she had (and she was probably correct) and he was spending much time trying to achieve peace in his small family. In short this young proponent of Islam was a human being. He had concerns and issues much as you and I have.

Therefore in dealing with groups we tend to overgeneralize. In dealing with people in prisons we do the same thing. All people in prison are not the same. All military officers do not believe the same thing. The spectrum of personalities in the Baptist faith or the Catholic faith can be very wide with good or bad appearing anywhere in the spectrum. So it is in Islam.

Generalization is helpful in thinking; however it is less helpful in dealing with people. Often we are pleasantly surprized to find that our stereotypes do not work.

HarleyDad