Reply #143: Ltte To Cox News: [View All]

Dear Editors:

I live in Seattle and read with horror about the gassing of people in prayer at the Dayton Islamic mosque. Evidently some churches are reviewing the movie Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West and that Cox News services ran an ad for it in their papers nationwide. It appears that the fear some people had that this movie could inspire others to become inflamed with hatred, is becoming a nightmare come true.

Right after 9/11 in our community when hatred and outrage was the highest, Christian volunteers stood guard at our local mosque along with fellow Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu sisters and brothers. We did this in order to ensure that some kook would not hurt these good peoples' place of worship. All of them stood as Americans who believed in Freedom of Religion as a cornerstone of our country. One such man. Bert Sachs, a holocaust survivor, was among those who stood to face down anyone who dared to even try to hurt one of our Islamic neighbors.

I suspect there are folks like that in your city as well who would risk their lives and reputations in order to stand tall with those who merely want to worship God in the faith they know and believe. They may not know about but live every day, about the story Jesus told of The Good Samaritan who helped the man who was not of the same faith whom others of the wounded man's faith, bypassed and walked over as he lay helpless and wounded while someone of another (hated) faith stopped and assisted the wounded man. The point of this story is that the Samaritan was a great deal farther along the path to God than the many others who passed by someone of their own faith who needed their help.

It is the time of Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah and I hope that every person out there also would stand guard at either one of these places of worship in solidarity with one another while their brothers and sisters participated if they were needed. I would hope that I would enjoy the same protection if celebrating Easter were something for some to hate. As a wise Hindu leader told a group of us once, like God was to those of us who were there, if you travel around a mountain it may look completely different from different sides, but it is still the same mountain. I have learned in my travels while sharing spiritually with many faiths in my church, in my work, and in my neighborhood that, God is God. The very same gentle guiding light, the same wise and wonderful Force that is big enough to make the Universe yet small enough to live in our hearts Whom no matter the name, can inspire us to be good neighbors to one another.

Whether atheist, or believer, we need to bow our heads in shame that some people of faith do not seem to understand the Message the rest of us hear loud and clear: They do not seem to understand that, if you truly know God, you will know peace. If your brother hurt someone, does that mean you also did it too? No! So you would most certainly not put innocent people in danger or discomfort just because they do not believe as you do or because they are different from you and even if their "brother" hurt someone, you would know they are innocent. You would love your neighbor as you love yourself.

It is the American Way ...

Catherine Sullivan
19121 61st PL NE Apt A
Kenmore, WA 98028
425-483-6421.

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