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My First Bumper Stickuh
October 15, 2006
I was never a bumper sticker kind of guy -- never had one -- until now. When I saw this one, my first thought was... "that is going on Ms. Sparks immediately!"
The symbols spell "COEXIST," of course... every letter has a symbol that represents a system of thought:
- Crescent & Star for Islam (1.3 billion adherents worldwide)
- Pentagram for nature religions (200 million adherents)
- Relativity formula for science
- Star of David for Judaism (16 million Jews worldwide)
- Karma Wheel for both Buddhism & Hinduism (1.3 billion adherents)
- Tao symbol for Taoism (more than 400 million adherents)
- Cross for Chrisitianity (2.1 billion worldwide)
As I talk with Islamic friends, they are all concerned about the growing perception throughout the Middle East that our U.S. military campaign is a war about culture -- and that this perception is going to breed a new generation of fervent Middle Eastern fundamentalists bent on protecting their own sacred values. In simple words, our War On Terrorism is worsening the terrorist threat by generating more and more terrorists, as confirmed by our own recently released National Intelligence Estimate. In simple imagery, the vast majority of U.S. citizens saw Suddam Hussein as evil. But within more conservative Islamic circles in the Middle East, the U.S. is seen as evil -- increasingly, "the Great Satan." This is not the backdrop we want our children to inherit, especially when we consider that at least three Middle Eastern nations have or are on the verge of nuclear technology.
Yes, the people of the Islamic and Christian faiths have fought over the past 1300 years. But history illustrates that at many times both groups have coexisted peacefully. The Islamic prophet Mohammed himself pioneered peaceful tolerance and coexistence with Christians. We -- our leaders and our peoples -- must do a much better job of understanding, respecting, and tolerating each other with a broad world view if we are to coexist and survive together.
