A fight against religious extremism

[rug]

Ahmed Salah, an Egyptian activist living in Washington, is a co-founder of the Youth for Change Movement and the April 6 Movement. Alex Mayyasi, who interned at the Development and Institutionalization Support Center in Cairo monitoring Egypt’s 2011-12 parliamentary elections, helped him write this column.

By Ahmed Salah, Published: September 14The Washington Post

In the dawn of 2011, I and thousands of my fellow Egyptians took to the streets in the name of justice, equality and freedom. Along with protesters in Tunisia, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and other Middle Eastern countries, we challenged the conventional wisdom in the West that brutal strongmen were the only leaders able, and indeed necessary, to keep a lid on Islamic extremists. We showed the world a liberal vanguard ready and able to move the Middle East toward a peaceful and bright future.

Inevitably, this message has been challenged. Even before the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic missions in Egypt and Libya, some Americans had begun to question whether our vanguard is a mirage, given Syria’s slide toward civil war, the Muslim Brotherhood’s electoral victories in Egypt and ultraconservative Islamists’ demands on democratic governments. It is the extremists whose actions precipitated those attacks, however, who I fear may succeed in killing the promise of our revolution.

The events of Sept. 11, 2012, began with extremists in the West — not the Middle East. Last week’s attacks were carried out by people enraged at a film that insults the prophet Muhammad. While the origins of the movie are not yet clear, we do know that the video was created and filmed in the United States. Terry Jones, a pastor in Florida infamous among Muslims for publicly burning copies of the Koran, also independently promoted it.

I do not use the word “extremist” lightly. Muslims did not object to the movie only because it portrayed the prophet or because it “criticized” Muhammad. Instead, it portrays Muhammad as bloodthirsty and deranged, creating religious teachings to spread deplorable practices and satisfy his sexual urges. The film’s backers did not aim to criticize or educate. Their aim was the goal shared by all extremists: to spread discord, hate and violence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/religious-extremists-are-picking-a-fight/2012/09/14/19222eaa-fea0-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html

[cbayer]

1. Well done, at least the part I can read.

My connection (terrible) won't open the whole article, but the distinction between extremists and everyone else needs to be made frequently and loudly. That goes for the extremists that made this video and those that used it to kill innocents.