September 2, 2006 - Extremism takes many forms

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In his letter to the editor (“Islamic extremism takes many forms”, 9-2) Iver Mindel criticized “the hundreds of millions of peaceful Muslims all over the world who do not speak out vehemently against such [terrorist] violence and the targeting of innocent civilians, which is supposedly done in the name of Allah.”

I have no idea how many Muslims oppose terrorism but I do know that many Muslims live in countries where there is little freedom of speech-- including countries like Egypt which receives a billion dollars of U.S. taxpayer’s money each year.

By contrast, Mr. Mindel lives in a country where freedom of speech is still allowed; does he exercise his right to speak out against the terror his own country creates?

Was Mr. Mindel among the millions of peaceful Americans who protested against the illegal and immoral war in Iraq, did he condemn the torture at Abu Ghraib, did he speak out against the rape and murders by U.S. soldiers in Mahmudiya, etc., all of which are done by supposed Christians?

Or, does Mr. Mindel find excuses for U.S. terror (“bad things happen in war”, etc.) just as some Muslims justify Islamic terrorism (“give us Cruise missiles and we’ll stop using suicide belts”, etc?)

In other words, as the Bible reminds us, it is so much easier to see the mote in your brother's eye than to see the beam in your own eye.