November 2, 2016

Dear Future President,

Yes, ISIS is made up of Muslims, but that doesn't mean all Muslims are bad. For example, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook central Nepal on April 25, 2016, and then, only seventeen days later, a second earthquake struck, Nepal declared a state of emergency. Many Christian and Jewish organizations showed up to help, but so did Islamic Relief Disaster Response teams. So you see, many Muslims are not a problem. The only Muslims who are a problem are the extremists, and any religion is susceptible to extremism, not just Islam.

There are many examples of extremism in religions other than Islam. One such example happened in 1605 in London. It is called the Gunpowder Plot, and it was an attempt at assassinating King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The assassins planned to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England's Parliament. The attempt failed and the plotters were captured and executed. The reason for this assassination attempt was to have more religious freedom. Good cause, right? Yes, but a better approach to the issue would have been to diplomatically discuss it with the king. Instead, they chose to try to kill the king and many others. A bit extreme, to say the least. As shown by this, any religion is susceptible to extremism. Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and any other religion can have extremism, Islam is not the only one.

In May of 2014, a Muslim man tweeted his sadness at no one visiting him in the hospital, where he was after being paralyzed in a car accident. Hundreds responded, lining the hospital's hallways, giving him gifts and offering to pay his hospital bills. One man even donated pizza! The majority of these responders were Muslims. Unfortunately, people tend to overlook wonderful stories such as these, and that tendency is usually reflected in the media. The Islamic faith tells Muslims to do charitable acts. This leads most Muslims to a kind, loving way of life. Clearly, not all Muslims are a problem for this country and the world.

What we need to do is promote awareness of these facts. If people heard the many stories of the kind, caring type of Muslims, they might not be so prejudiced towards them. However, the road to acceptance of Islam should not be built on the faults of other religions. It should be built on the understanding that extremism is not restricted to Islam and on the true kindness of most Muslims. People in America and people throughout the world need to be aware of all those many Muslims who are good people.

In conclusion, prejudice against Muslims is wrong. We can solve this issue of prejudice by promoting awareness that many Muslims do not cause problems, only extremists do.

Sincerely,

Leah