In response to Meredith Walker’s Sept. 26 letter to the editor, “Islam: a not so peaceful religion.”
It is truly disheartening to see an individual holding to a warped ideology. I am very interested in what Quran texts Meredith has read that would imply that Islam is anything but a religion that highly values peace among themselves and others. It is not a manual for terrorism, but rather a spiritual text encouraging piety and tolerance.
As the philosopher, law professor and Christian anarchist Jacques Ellul described, “It is impossible to judge the Islamic world in a general way: A hundred different cultures have been absorbed by Islam. It is impossible to study all the doctrines, all the traditions, and all their applications together. Such a study can only be undertaken if one limits oneself to the study of specific questions, disentangling what is true from what is false.”
Do not let a very small percentage of the population serve as a representation for the 1.6 billion men, women, and children who define themselves as Muslim. In addition, there is a significant amount of unrest and political corruption within the Middle East and as such the citizens are not under the same regulations as we.
I would like to offer reflection that every religion has extremism, but generalities should not be based on the radicals.
Friederike Doerstling
Graduate Student
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Read our Editorial Board's letter here. Read a collection of responses to Meredith Walker's Sept. 26 letter here.
