I'm pretty upset at the moment with American propaganda and their ability to manipulate the truth for their own advantage... and sadly, a majority of the world believe what they see on CNN, and a majority of Christians, what they read from Christian ministers.
Here's my response to
Rick Mathes' chain mail :
After reading the e-mail, I was was slightly suspicious about the credibility of the source as I have read before that Americans have misconstrued the meaning of 'jihad' to mean Holy War, when that is not the real meaning of the word. So for an 'Imam' to respond the way he did and not correct Rick Mathes was suspicious.
The definition of Jihad: The meaning of Jihad in Islam is to wage a (Holy) war with the Self. That is, it is the war which rages inside all believers of all faiths. It is the war of the Spiritual Self against the desires of the Selfish Self. It is a war waged to cut asunder the veils which have shut us out from the Beauty of God and His Desire for us. That is one of many purposes for the Fast of Ramadan. To focus your Self, your Soul, on the Desire of God, and your Submission (Islam) to His Will.
So I did a quick Google search and got a few links. Turns out that Rick Mathes stands by his testimony. But the
TRUTH is to be different from his account.
Some excerpts in case you're too busy to read the web page:
• The presenter on Islam was not an Imam, but rather a Muslim inmate who was pressed into presenting after no Imam could be arranged.
• Prison officials confirm that the Muslim inmate was asked a few questions that he was unable to answer, but none along the lines of those suggested by Mr. Mathes.
For more chain-letters that should be stopped,
click here.
Anyway, from Rick Mathes rebuttal in the above website, he does come across as someone who doesn't favour the Muslim community much and is highly suspicious of them;
"...Give me an Imam that will sing "God Bless America" or will say the "Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag" and I will listen to them discredit the fears we have about the Muslim community and all that we see and hear in the media. Until the American Muslim community speaks up, I have my doubts about those who join them."
I will have to say that it is an ignorant and narrow view.
Most people believe what the media has to say, but as someone who has studied the way media works, I will tell you that CNN, and other news agencies are tools of propaganda, just like our local newspapers, which are owned by the government. We cannot believe everything they say without doing our own research.
Many Christians, sadly, have fallen into this trap since 9/11. Mr.Bush will quote scripture, but his actions and the actions of other Christians actually put us to shame. What happened to loving others and loving our neighbours? Others, like me, are unhappy with the words of Rick Mathes, attempting to belittle the Muslim faith and it's leaders.
Read their comments. If it was a true account, I'd have little to say, but there are many Christians (many of them Americans for some reason) who are on the Internet telling stories and belittling others by lying. And it makes me really sad that Christians should be so 'evil' and prejudiced against others.
Love your neighbour, even if he is Muslim...
