Source/Credit: Intelligencer | Editorial
By Intelligencer | October 17, 2011
At a time when the exchange of information as close to instantaneous as it is widespread, it remains an unfortunate truth that much of the information is wrong, based on ignorance, misconceptions, prejudice and misrepresentation of facts.
It is also sometimes based on the fact many people don't want to hear anything but their own perceptions of the truth.
Eric Thomas and members of the Quinte Secular Humanist Association deserve a great deal of respect for the fact they are not only willing to listen to different ideas, but are willing to work to assist others in doing so as well.
On Saturday, QSHA hosted an open house on Islam and the Holy Qur'an at the Belleville Public Library Art Gallery.
The followers of Islam have had — to put it mildly — a great deal of "bad press" recently, much of it to do with the actions of a minority and the reactions of people who like to speak before they actually listen.
"The Muslims had a lot of bad press over the last few years and this particular sect of Muslims (Ahmadiyya Muslim) has this specific outreach program, which I thought would be the perfect venue to discuss and show them our respect and consideration," said Thomas.
Organizer Rizwan Rabbani and speaker Adam Alexander have been canvassing Canadian cities like Belleville for the last year — promoting peace, condemning terrorism and addressing misconceptions regarding Islam and the Muslim religion at large.
"I came here this morning with the intention of hearing things that people have learned about Muslim, the Islam, and the Qu'ran from TV, media, friends and family members," said Alexander, who became Muslim five years ago after reading and understanding the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. "And I wanted to be given the opportunity to defend those misconceptions.
"I don't need participants in our seminar to believe it. I just want them to know the different versions of Islam."
Knowing, of course, is not the same thing as believing, and to Alexander's credit he isn't asking people to believe in his faith, only to understand it, or at least understand how not everyone who shares it can be bundled together in one small group.
As has been noted before, blaming all Muslims for terrorism is akin to blaming all Christians for the Ku Klux Klan.
By being more knowledgeable about Islam, we are all in a better position to understand it, as well as understand the many people around the world who, despite worshipping differently than us, are not all the much different from us.
From that kind of knowledge comes tolerance, even understanding. And that takes us one step closer to peace.
Read original post here: Open house on Islam step toward understanding
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