Worldly Chatter

Wilders is at it again, the Dutch politician, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, PVV, has had some interesting things to say about the Qur’an. In a letter to the Volkskrant, he stated that we needed to propose a ban on the Islamic holy book, stating it was a fascist book, which incited violence. It isn’t the first time Geert Wilders has spoken out against the Islamic religion and the Qur’an and I doubt it will be the last.

That is a bit extreme if you ask me. Here we have a book meant for prayer, enlightenment and a connection to their creator. It is the same as the bible, it was never intended for violence, it was so that people had something to go by, a direction to guide them with their faith. If the Qur’an should be banned according to Wilders then I vote to ban the bible as well. That book has seen many of battles in its name and honor. Blood spilt all over the world in the name of God and His laws. Protestants and Catholics, The Catholics and the Jewish people, Crusades, there is so much violence since the existence of this book and its followers. So, if Wilders thinks it is religion is the cause then make it equal.

However, that won’t help will it? The truth is many people do not trust the Islamic faith no matter how many people show them passages and tell them how it is really meant to be. So much violence in the name of Allah has made too many people skeptical of it all. All one has to do is turn on the television and see it, so how is one or two people going to change their minds? I have read a few passages of the Qur’an and had a friend who is from Egypt and Muslim attempt to explain it to me. I am not a religious person by any means. I have no affiliation with any religion and rather like it that way. I have a tendency to be skeptical of religion as a whole so I imagine I wasn’t a very good pupil, asking all the questions I did several times over. Clarity was something I didn’t find but I did learn a few things. Not all are extremists and honor the book the way it was intended.

I care neither way whether you are Muslim, Catholic, Mormon or Jewish. What I do care about is whether or not you respect your fellow neighbor and the laws of the land you live in. Inciting hate or violence based on religion or ignorance is absurd, foolish, sad and in the end no one wins. Abdeljarmid Khairoun, chairman of the Dutch Muslim Council has invited Wilders to discuss his views on Islam and its holy book but has refused. If that is the case then Wilders is foolish. A smart man, who has issue against something, first educates himself fully on the topic before trashing something with guns blazing. I have issue with the Christian faith; it is no news to anyone who knows me. The Christian religion and I go way back and it has been less than pretty to say the least. I will openly discuss the faith and its religion but only because I have read the Bible, understand its teachings and the structure of the Christian Churches. If I went about talking against the church with no basis for it, I would be considered ignorant and stupid for opening my mouth in the first place. Yet I sit here, with a good understanding of it all, still holding my beliefs on the matter and it is because of experience and education that I can do such things.

I understand the mistrust in the Netherlands and around the world. It is something we live with now and cannot go back to change it. What to do about the mistrust is a harder thing to understand. Yet, I personally do not see banning a holy book as an answer. If you deprive someone of something they will want it all the more. How will that solve anything? How will going on like this help anyone either? Hate cannot be answered with hate and ignorance can it?

Islam, Geert Wilders, Netherlands, Hate, Religious Hate, Worldly Chatter, PVV