So, I haven’t blogged for quite awhile – but a number of things have been running through my mind for quite a while now and it’s finally time to write about them.

First, I thought I’d tackle some politics/religion.

Since I knew that many would discount the words spoken simply because of the mouthpiece, I included both videos.

These are words that mirror my own personal opinion on the matter. But they are just words – words that have to be solidified through our actions. That is what it means to be honorable, you know. Considering that many Americans don’t know the first thing about Islam (See Exhibit A below), it’s baffling to me that we continue to judge and mis-judge. Islam is not our enemy. Nor should we allow our emotions of sadness and mourning (regardless of how incredible the loss) to keep us from doing the right and honorable thing. Especially when our emotions irrationally associate individual Muslim worshippers with the terrorists that attacked us on 9/11.

Exhibit A (See full report here)

I served as a proselyting missionary for my own religion in Eastern Europe. On the long flight home, I had an experience that I’ll always remember and that makes this topic very personal for me. For the duration of the flight, I sat next to and made conversation with a man that happened to be Muslim. He was traveling with his beautiful wife and three lovely children. Of course, we spent a good many hours talking about our lives and our religions. I shared about my faith and he shared about his. I could tell that he was deeply committed to his faith and it showed (in the way he acted, the things he talked about, the way he looked at and spoke to his family, the obvious success he had as a business man). I was so impressed, especially given the spiritual/religious apathy I had seen in most men I met during my mission. I learned more from him that I ever could have taught him. In the end, we walked away realizing that we had SO MUCH more in common than we had differences.

If I had children, I would want them to be friends with that man’s kids. Not only that, but I would hope that his kids would invite my kids to hang out at their community center regardless of its proximity to ground zero. So for me, I have a very difficult time with anyone interfering with the building of a mosque/community center for American Muslim families like this one that I met that day.

Our religious duty is to preach to all the world. NOT to convert all the world. And how do we best preach? By loving our neighbors!

Our American duty is to treat everyone like Americans, regardless of their faith (or even lack thereof).

That’s all I have to say about that.