After a long conversation, during which the Muslims argued that extremists should not be portrayed as representing all Muslims, the anti-Islam protester backed down from her position and agreed with them. No Muslims were harmed – as is always the case. “We are getting support from everywhere”.
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It was one of about 20 weekend rallies planned near mosques across the U.S. The organizers wanted to protest against the Nation of Islam’s “Justice or Else” event, held in Washington, D.C., and against what they said is the threat of the Muslim faith. As if this somehow erases all the carnage and bloodshed and suffering caused by the global jihadi war on freedom.
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson was ridiculed for saying a Muslim who subscribes to Islam’s Sharia law shouldn’t be president. Why wasn’t that as big a story?
“I think, if not fully changed, at least she had a different concept of the Islamic Center and the community that attends here”, he said. “I pray for my Muslim bothers and sisters”.
Cynthia then asked her if she could hug her and she accepted: “Something came over me and I went up to her and asked if I could give her a hug”.
She came to protest against her enemies and left with friends.
In Corpus Christie, Texas, where protesters organized an event on Facebook and then either canceled it or kept information from all but those they specifically invited, no anti-Muslim activists showed up.
To Annie’s surprise, she was approached by a few Muslim women wearing headscarves who embraced her.
Another person argued that the Nazis were Western Europeans with Christian cultural heritage, yet they engaged in genocide. “They don’t see this is the way to address the world’s problems”, Beshir said.
But neither the Facebook counter-jihadi who is converted through kindness nor the Daily Mail seems aware of that distinction. (They should, however, consult the Muslim community throughout the planning and make sure they’re comfortable with the response). “If people need help, they are sworn to help anybody, regardless of religion”.
That’s why, even if a protest isn’t planned outside the nearest mosque, Christians should initiate positive, pro-active gatherings with the goal of welcoming the Muslim community and building bonds of friendship. Tell that to the tower of skulls and the rivers of blood. Anti-Muslim sentiment and conspiracy theories about the “Islamic threat” circulate on the web, while the rhetoric of presidential candidates on Islam and Syrian refugees often verges on fearmongering.
But despite being the only anti-Islam protester to show up outside the Dearborn mosque, the woman proceeded to hold a solitary demonstration, shouting anti-Muslim slogans and calling for murders and beheadings in the Middle East to stop.
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She and others at the mosque said the woman identified herself as “Annie” from Lancaster. In one of those selfies, the woman stands next to a smiling Muslim in a hijab, who is holding up one index finger: the sign of allegiance to ISIS.
