Faith and Logic: Public transportation to promote or demote Islam

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Cross-post
Source & Credit: Harrisburg Islam Examiner
By Valerie Long | June 14, 2010

Throughout this country and the world, some forms of public transportation have taken on a new logo – advertisements for and against Islam.

Some Muslim groups have tried to make peaceful statements regarding Islam to combat the negative views much of the population has for this peaceful religion. For example, taxies in London have bright colored signs reading “The rights of women are sacred,” referring to the rights women received from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him or also ads reading “Muslims for Loyalty, Freedom & Peace.” Similar signs can also be seen through cities within the United States, promoting the peace of the religion.

Not all the advertisements are positive.


Throughout this month, forty buses in New York City can be seen endorsing the slogan “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you?” and the website refugefromIslam.com.

Ads like this are not only offensive and upsetting to the many Muslims living in the United States in peace, but there may also be negative repercussions.

Richard Bernstein wrote an article for the New York Times, “The Danger of Demonizing Adherents of Islam” and in it he proposes that, the conservative blogger, Ms. Pamela Geller, may have the noblest intentions to help supposed threatened Muslims wanting to leave Islam, but her ads may in fact cause more harm than good.

Bernstein wrote:

“The host, Mike Huckabee, had received a statement from the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which argued that the Cordoba Center was precisely a way to remedy the perceived failure of moderate Muslims to speak out against extremism. It would be a place, the statement said, not only where freedom of religion could be practiced but where American Muslims could “stand together with our fellow citizens to condemn extremism and violence.

Ms. Geller’s reply was to remind Fox News’s viewers that the Sept. 11 attacks were aimed at two of the most important symbols of America, and the recent attempt by a Pakistani-American terrorist to set off a bomb in Times Square was aimed at another.

This is true, which is why we are speaking here of a vicious cycle. If there are more terrorist attempts by Muslims on American soil, there will more Americans paying for bus ads and other things to express their rage at Islam itself as well as at Muslims in America, and to encourage the idea that America is, or ought to be, its and their enemy.

This of course is exactly what the jihadists want them to do. The more we make all Muslims our enemies, the more enemy Muslims we are going to have.”

What Bernstein says is true. Rather than making Muslims the “enemy”, a greater effort at peace between all religions and all peoples should be made. Yes, Ms. Geller is part of an effort to “stop the Islamization of America”, but face the facts. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and second largest. There are Muslims out there trying to make the effort to promote the peace through these campaigns and correct the negative views that are circulating due to the slim percentage of extremist and terrorist Muslims.

“Loyalty, Freedom & Peace”: are these not the same qualities that Americans want?



Read original post here: Public transportation to promote or demote Islam

Valerie Long is a relatively recent convert to Islam and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. She has a bachelor's degree in history, and is currently working on her master's degree in humanities. If you have questions, comments, or concerns, she can be contacted at ValerieLong081@gmail.com.