Muslims and others

I might as well start this thread by pissing people off.

1. Muslims are a dangerous threat to America.
2. Muslims are mostly interested in Jihad.
3. Muslims are trying to take over our schools.
4. Muslims are taking over our government.
5. Muslims are responsible for the decay of American values.

What a load of fertilizer! You know, male bovine fertilizer... BS!

Muslims are no different than most of the real Christians I know. For that matter not much different that any person of any faith I have been exposed to.

I am a member of several organizations and that sometimes lets me meet people from around the world. People of all faiths and races. It has taught me that there are extremists in any sect just as there are great people doing great things for the benefit of all humanity.

I know people who are Buddhists, Hindu, Muslim, Methodists, and heaven forbid even Catholics! I can't leave out Lakota and Maori who have many spiritual powers they pray to and with. Through the exposure to so many people from almost every walk of life I have learned that a vast majority of people in every religious faith or Spiritual belief are basically good people. 

I have also learned that there are extremist in every section of the world that claim religious Righteousness as an excuse to abuse others. Those are the ones who create fear and turmoil in the name of their respective gods. They do not represent the majority in any case. 

It is comparative to saying the KKK claims to be a Christian organization so all Christians are KKK. 

NONSENSE!

I was raised Roman Catholic. When I was a kid Catholics were not allowed in the Masons because it was said we answered to a Papal government. Jews weren't allowed nor were African Americans because we were not White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) (( It is a common myth that the KKK targeted only the Blacks )). 

Times changed. What happened to humanity? We (as Americans) are acting like the Civil War just ended and the carpet baggers are running amuck. Fighting among family, friends, and people we don't even know on social media. Wake up folks. If you have more than 100 "friends" on facebook you probably have about 80 cyberlinks who know nothing about you.  When did we stop communicating the basic beliefs of what made us great instead of what we hate about each other? 

The Muslims I know have been very rational and peaceful people and no threat to anyone. I've never met a single Muslim that tried to enlist me on a Jihad. My divorce lawyer is Muslim and fought to protect me from not only the courts but from myself. She spends her life helping immigrants become legal citizens. Many more are just normal citizens you may never recognize as "one of those people".

America is a mixing pot of races, religions, beliefs, and people of various ethnicity. Today we talk about immigrants as if it were a four letter word. FACT, If you are not full blood Native American you have immigrant blood in your veins. We are a nation of immigrants who descended from immigrants who left Europe and other places because they could not or refused to obey the law of the lands. Our "democracy" is set up on rules adapted to the needs of the one who could not obey the laws in Europe. They invaded Turtle Island and took over.

In the early days of this country we were given a statue called "Liberty". It was inscribed with the following...

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

There was a hospital set up on Ellis Island to screen and treat incoming "immigrants". Some may have been your grand parents.... Right? Why is helping immigrants such a bad thing today?

My point in this RANT is that America needs to seriously reconsider tolerance. Tolerance of each other as individuals, as Christians, as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu, Methodists, Catholics, agnostics and atheists as well. 

We are different people with different individual beliefs and opinions. Why is in not possible to have civil discord and discussions about issues we all face without calling it a "HATE WAR"?