Message from a Friend

I recently got an email from a friend who didn't like my post regarding taking a hardline with terrorists. She thought this kind of post would only lead to more hate. My response follows below, but before I post it here. I would like to say that I don't have anything against anyone of any particular religion unless that person is looking to in some way infringe on my freedom of religion or free speech. This includes hurting or killing my co-religionists or anyone who is not of the same faith as that person. This is the situation today and it applies to people who subscribe to the mindset of the terrorists currently in the news.

Here's my response to my friend.

"thanks for your honest opinion. I'm not promoting
hatred, but a response that those, who have only one of
two options (convert or be killed)
available to all, in their opinion, non-muslims, can understand.
No matter how much we
wish that everyone was peaceful
and respectful of everyone else, that is not
the
reality. There is evil in this world and it needs to
be confronted.
Guru Maharaj [Sikh Guru Gobind Singh Ji] didn't submit to the evil
of the Mughals and in particular,
Aurangzeb, and
neither should we. He didn't want to fight and kill
the
enemies of freedom loving Sikhs, but he was forced
to do so by them. They did
not understand any other
way. The evil we are confronting today after 9-11
is
the same that he confronted so many years ago.
Unless this evil is
elminated we will not survive. I
want a better world for myself and my
children and
their children and so on. This IS a life and death
struggle
for all who don't believe in Wahabbi Islam or
Salafi Islam. Osama and friends
don't care if you hate
them or not, they only know that they HATE you
and
want you either dead or converted to THEIR version of
Islam. No other
option is available. You decide which
way you would want to go. My way is to
talk about it
and bring it out in the open so that it can be dealt
with,
to do otherwise only invites even greater death
and destruction.
I won't
send you this kind of email in future, but
would hope you are interested in
dialogue.
best regards,"

And so there you have it. There is no hate involved here. I don't espouse the killing of people based on religion or treating them as second class or differently than anyone else. I think all of humanity should be free to practice their beliefs and to change them if they are so inclined. The world isn't going to be any safer if we don't talk about the issues. In some cases some people are not willing to reconcile. They really do mean it when they say either you convert or we will try and kill you. Take them seriously otherwise you may end up on the wrong side of the equation.