"Muslim" is not synonymous with "monster"

Here's something I found online:

And you know what? It makes me angry. It makes my blood boil. "All I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9-11." That's like saying, "All I need to know about Christianity, I learned from Westboro Baptist Church."

Let me be clear. September 11th, 2001 (and no, I didn't need to look that up) was a very dark day. Not just for America but for the world. It marked a terrible tragedy, a crime that left so many people shocked, terrified, and grieving. There aren't enough words in the English language to describe what happened on that day. But.

It wasn't new. History repeats itself, again and again. 9-11 showed us what monsters we can be, but we've been shown that before and since. The Holocaust? Slavery? Pretty much any war? We have the capacity for great evil and depravity; we should remember that but hope and strive for goodness.

Muslims are not evil. I know, it's shocking, isn't it?* We all need to understand that man is not evil. We have, as I just said, the capacity for evil. We can be horrible and disgusting, but we were originally created for righteousness. Since then, we've allowed ourselves to become... Well, if you've ever read Ted Dekker's book Thr3e, you'll see it. "The Good, the bad, and the beautiful." We are humans; we struggle between good and evil, always having to pick a side. Those of us who have chosen light are still drawn back into darkness. My point is (I just realized how much I'm rambling), Muslims are no more evil than any other religion. In case you've forgotten, we're all human beings.

Now, I'm not compromising my beliefs here. I'm a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, but I don't believe He'd be very pleased with us for the prejudice we're showing our fellow man. He calls us to love them and teach them about Him. It's our job to give others guidance, letting them know that we Christians are not better than anyone else. We are broken and lost and royally screwed up, just like everyone else, but we rely on a perfect God to teach us how to be better.

Everyone chooses his own path. We don't force our beliefs; we don't hate anyone for their beliefs. We only teach, answer questions, and pray that God (not us; remember, it's God who saves, not Christians) gets through to them someday.

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" -- Romans 10:14

*Just a disclaimer. This is sarcasm from my own anger at the ignorance, not condescension aimed at any reader.