HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST TO SPEAK IN RAMONA ON DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY

Nonie Darwish, I enjoyed your speech but in reply to your statements you make some huge generalizations which compound your mis-statements. Your speech is not gospel but just one point of view. Another view comes from religious scholars which if the Ramona group was really interested in learning, they could invite. But for for some strange reason the nice people there seem fearful to invite another point of view. Why is this, I wonder? Perhaps because they are frightened to hear another side. Your talk was interesting but the problem is there is not just ONE islam. Just as there is not just ONE Christianity. Feel free to invite presidential professor and chair of the Department of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman Oklahoma, Charles Kimball who wrote the book, 'Truth Over Fear -Combating the Lies about Islam'. For example on page 72 of his book, Prof Kimball writes: "Islam, Christianity, and all other major religious traditions are extraordinary diverse. None are monolithic. Be alert any time you hear someone say or find yourself saying Christians believe _____ fill in the blank. Stop and ask which Christianity? Do you mean Russian, Greek, Coptic, or Armenian Orthodox Christians? Are you referring to Quakers, Presbyterians, Baptist, Lutheran, or Methodist? Were you thinking of Roman, Maronite, or Syrian Catholics? Might you be speaking about Pentecostals in sub-Saharan Africa or snake handling Pentecostals the Appalachian Mountains? Or when someone says, "Christian believes one _____ " one can complete the statement with almost anything and it is sure to apply to some group of people who perceive themselves to be faithful followers of Jesus...When I teach undergraduate and graduate course on Islam, I make it a high priority for the class to grasp this truth and began to explore its multiple implications.