Lately, Muslim immigration has been a controversial talking point in the 2016 Presidential election. One candidate has suggested a ban on Muslims because he feels that they are extremists who do not share American values.
However, after visiting a mosque with many of my fellow Brother Martin students, I must say this belief is far from the truth. Three Muslims spoke to us, each of them renouncing ISIS, claiming that ISIS represents a radical sect of Islam.
The most effective speaker was a pediatrician. Wearing a hijab, a cloth which covers a woman from head-to-toe, she offered information about respecting women that impressed me along with many of my classmates. Although Muslim women do not have to wear this “traditional” dress, she chose to do so, despite her mother’s wishes to delay wearing the hijab. This decision of hers represents a full commitment to her faith.
Essentially, the people at the mosque could not have been nicer. These people are not a detriment to American society, but rather they contribute to it and share American values of liberty, religious freedom, and justice.
We also visited a synagogue. I did not realize that Catholics and Jews are far more alike than they are different. Although Jews have faced religious discrimination in this country, Judaism has formed the basis of Christianity.
Catholics, Jews, and Muslims make up the three great Monotheistic religions of the world. Though some beliefs and practices between these religions differ, they are far more united than divisive. They acknowledge their differences, but accept others’ beliefs with inclusion not prejudice, with acceptance not xenophobia, and with interest not intolerance.
Submitted by Hunter Mathas ‘17
