This is regarding the first story of the special report: “Struggle for the soul of Islam; Hard-liners won battle for Bridgeview mosque” (Page 1, Feb. 8), by Tribune staff reporters Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Kim Barker, Laurie Cohen, Stephen Franklin and Sam Roe.
I am glad to see the Tribune investigating and exposing the day-to-day workings and operations of religious extremism going on right here in America. It can be so easy to simply focus on the sensational consequences of religious intolerance and blame those individuals involved in specific acts of criminality, without looking beneath the surface for institutions and individuals who cultivate such hatred.
But I wonder when the Tribune will look at the activities of some Evangelical Christian groups, whose teachings promulgate hatred toward homosexuals and whose followers have committed acts of violence against abortion clinics and their users.
Indeed, I look forward to the Tribune’s investigation of charitable giving by U.S. citizens to Jewish organizations engaged in settlement construction, and other activities prohibited under international law and condemned repeatedly by the United Nations, in the West Bank and Gaza.
These activities do as much to inspire acts of violence and wanton aggression as any undertaken by Islamic leaders from Bridgeview.
Every faith has interpretations that and individuals who do injustice to moderate followers.
If we are to move forward in the spirit of tolerance and cooperation, then we need to start learning more about each other’s faiths and developing a more balanced perspective on what positive and negative aspects different religious groups bring to the table, rather than singling out certain faiths for suspicion and condemnation, while placing unrestricted trust in the “faith-based initiatives” of others.
