Today, much of the world’s animus is directed against Muslims because of reprehensible acts done by some of their members.
Hasan should have been “scrutinized and monitored,” not because he is a Muslim but because he purchased and carried guns. Psychiatry is a healing art. Psychiatrists do not need weapons. It was his guns that killed, not his faith.
Msgr. Wilbur Davis
Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church
Newport Beach
We are learning that Maj. Hasan was motivated by his understanding of Islam and that, in slavish fealty to the god of political correctness, his colleagues and reviewing officers refused to acknowledge that he was a walking powder keg.
For years, he was unfit to wear the uniform. Hasan was a traitor who made common cause with Muslim enemies of America. This massacre was not the consequence of “pre-traumatic stress syndrome,” but the deed of a “troubled” man. Rather, it was the first terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. His proselytizing his patients, his support of suicide bombers, his stated belief that unbelievers should be beheaded, his contacts with an Imam who urges Muslims to attack the United States, were red flags that were unforgivably ignored.
Our craven media and politicians reflexively recoil from the truth: that this was the act of a jihadist, screaming “Allahu Akbar” as he gunned down innocent men and women in a “blaze of glory” that he was sure would illuminate his path to Heaven.
Rabbi Mark S. Miller
Temple Bat Yahm
Newport Beach
What happened at Ft. Hood was not about religious freedom, it was about the total rejection of social mores and the destruction of authority. It is present in every religion and occurs at all levels of society in many different ways.
But living in the fear of such behavior is not helpful to preventing it.
To prevent such behavior each of us must learn how to observe without judgment and to take action to protect each other in ways that do not inflame or ignore. Behavior may be motivated by religious confusion, but religion is not the cause.
What happened at Ft. Hood looked like it was done in the disguise of a religious act. It was a disturbed person cloaked in religiosity taking action out of a need to dominate and control. Such needs are primal and seek expression in any form they can find.
This is why those who seriously study the power of peace and learn how to apply peace in a proactive fashion can actually create the environment where those who threaten peace can be nullified and their behaviors made to seem illogical. Such is the power of the Principle of Peace! Pastor Jim Turrell
Center for Spiritual Living
Newport-Mesa
