Spreading hate in Framingham

In response to: OUR VIEW: Memo to those who spread hate, it is a lovely opinion, but (and it's a big BUT), it skipped over the issue whether any god like Allah exists. If there is no Allah, then we are discussing imaginary creatures and Islam is a religion and subject to the harshest criticism because it is as false as any religion that claims to one of the god creatures. Where exactly was Allah before the alleged prophet Muhammad was born? Twiddling his fingers in boredom? Show me one stinking little god.
The problem is not religious extremism because extremism is not a problem if your core beliefs are truly non-violent. The problem is not fundamentalism. The only problem with Islamic fundamentalism are the fundamentals of Islam.
As an public atheist, I am especially impressed with Surah 6:93.
"Who can be more wicked than one who invent a lie against Allah? If the death penalty is prescribed for lesser crime, then it stands to reason that it should be imposed for the most "wicked".
The Judeo/Christian version is: Deuteronomy 13:6-18
Nothing is so pleasing to these gods as the butchery of unbelievers. Nothing so enrages them even now, as to have someone deny their existence.
Any religion that demands earthly vengeance and retribution for any reason is not a religion at all, but a mental illness and should be treated as such. Any jew, muslim and christian may be mentally ill believing the edicts of imaginary creatures.

OUR VIEW: Memo to those who spread hate December 23, 2018

Anne Brennan 508-626-3871 Metrowest Daily News

First, let's state something that should be obvious: Hate and prejudice are le arned behaviors; that small children do not simply become bigoted little peopl e without having been led in that direction by one or more adults in their liv es.
So late last month, when a 10-year-old Muslim girl at Hemenway Elementary Scho ol in Framingham began receiving threatening notes - likely from a fellow stud ent - calling her a "terrorist" and warning her "I will kill you," investigato rs hopefully looked beyond the similarly aged perpetrators of these acts and f ocused instead on the environment that may have led them to pen such horrific sentiments.
The young girl, who is a fifth grader, received two notes, both were left anon ymously in her school storage bin in her classroom. The school, as well as Fra mingham police, launched an investigation into the matter, but a month after t he letters were discovered officials have yet to announce any conclusive resul ts.
The reaction to the story was almost as heartening as the actual incident was horrific; hundreds of letters and notes, penned both by the famous and the ord inary, began arriving in support of the girl. The effort was spearheaded by th e Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which de cided that the only thing that can truly win over hate and ignorance is love a nd understanding.
The American Muslim community understands this as well as anyone. In the days, months and years since 18 disturbed, radical men decided to turn four America n commercial jets into missiles, Muslims both here and abroad have suffered en masse for the warped actions of a few. Were the hatred not so palatable and o mnipresent, it would almost be laughable; a 10-year-old Muslim child is no mor e responsible for acts of terrorism committed in the name of Allah than a 10-y ear-old Christian child is responsible for the unconscionable acts of violence committed during the Crusades or the Inquisition.
There is, of course, a precedent for trying to intimidate young Muslim girls a nd to frighten them to the point that they consider giving up their right to a n education and being a part of a society that values the open expression and flow of ideas. In fact, there is a deep irony in that the approach of these yo ung would-be, patriotic, anti-terrorists mirrors the tactics of the Taliban.
Perhaps most tragically, these notes only retained the capacity to shock and c apture national headlines because of the age of those who wrote them. The sad truth is that we live in a society where the expression of sentiments of distr ust and outright hatred for anyone who looks or believes differently than "the majority" has increasingly become a norm rather than the aberration it should be. Anyone doubting this should scan the headlines of the past year; headline s from MetroWest that speak of swastikas and other hate graffiti appearing; he adlines from Utah, where a man attacked two Latino men while shouting he wante d to "kill Mexicans"; headlines from Kentucky, where a white man who had attem pted to enter a predominantly black church instead entered a supermarket and m urdered two black grandparents, simply because of the color of their skin.
The list goes on. And on.
In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks incidents of intoleranc e and the proliferation of extremist organizations throughout the United State s, reported the number of active anti-Muslim hate groups alone in this country skyrocketed from 34 to 114 between 2015 and 2017. The FBI echoed those sentim ents last month when it announced that the number of hate crimes in general in the United States had risen for the third consecutive year, with more than 7, 100 reported in 2017.
And those numbers tell only a sad fraction of a larger frightening story; ther e is widespread understanding that the actual number of such crimes is much, m uch higher, as law enforcement agencies report such data to the FBI on a purel y voluntary basis.
Fortunately for the 10-year-old Hemenway student, it appears she is surrounded by adults who continue to validate who she is and who will act as a bulwark a gainst those who would suggest otherwise. But they are not enough. It is incum bent upon all open-minded people who are wise enough and comfortable enough wi th who they are to stand up and declare that we will not allow ourselves, our country, or our children - all of our children - to be swallowed up by the for ces that believe that hatred and distrust should supplant love and acceptance.

OUR VIEW: Memo to those who spread hate	December 23, 2018
Anne Brennan 508-626-3871	Metrowest Daily News
First, let's state something that should be obvious: Hate and prejudice are le arned behaviors; that small children do not simply become bigoted little peopl e without having been led in that direction by one or more adults in their liv es. So late last month, when a 10-year-old Muslim girl at Hemenway Elementary Scho ol in Framingham began receiving threatening notes - likely from a fellow stud ent - calling her a "terrorist" and warning her "I will kill you," investigato rs hopefully looked beyond the similarly aged perpetrators of these acts and f ocused instead on the environment that may have led them to pen such horrific sentiments. The young girl, who is a fifth grader, received two notes, both were left anon ymously in her school storage bin in her classroom. The school, as well as Fra mingham police, launched an investigation into the matter, but a month after t he letters were discovered officials have yet to announce any conclusive resul ts. The reaction to the story was almost as heartening as the actual incident was horrific; hundreds of letters and notes, penned both by the famous and the ord inary, began arriving in support of the girl. The effort was spearheaded by th e Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which de cided that the only thing that can truly win over hate and ignorance is love a nd understanding. The American Muslim community understands this as well as anyone. In the days, months and years since 18 disturbed, radical men decided to turn four America n commercial jets into missiles, Muslims both here and abroad have suffered en masse for the warped actions of a few. Were the hatred not so palatable and o mnipresent, it would almost be laughable; a 10-year-old Muslim child is no mor e responsible for acts of terrorism committed in the name of Allah than a 10-y ear-old Christian child is responsible for the unconscionable acts of violence committed during the Crusades or the Inquisition. There is, of course, a precedent for trying to intimidate young Muslim girls a nd to frighten them to the point that they consider giving up their right to a n education and being a part of a society that values the open expression and flow of ideas. In fact, there is a deep irony in that the approach of these yo ung would-be, patriotic, anti-terrorists mirrors the tactics of the Taliban. Perhaps most tragically, these notes only retained the capacity to shock and c apture national headlines because of the age of those who wrote them. The sad truth is that we live in a society where the expression of sentiments of distr ust and outright hatred for anyone who looks or believes differently than "the majority" has increasingly become a norm rather than the aberration it should be. Anyone doubting this should scan the headlines of the past year; headline s from MetroWest that speak of swastikas and other hate graffiti appearing; he adlines from Utah, where a man attacked two Latino men while shouting he wante d to "kill Mexicans"; headlines from Kentucky, where a white man who had attem pted to enter a predominantly black church instead entered a supermarket and m urdered two black grandparents, simply because of the color of their skin. The list goes on. And on. In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks incidents of intoleranc e and the proliferation of extremist organizations throughout the United State s, reported the number of active anti-Muslim hate groups alone in this country skyrocketed from 34 to 114 between 2015 and 2017. The FBI echoed those sentim ents last month when it announced that the number of hate crimes in general in the United States had risen for the third consecutive year, with more than 7, 100 reported in 2017. And those numbers tell only a sad fraction of a larger frightening story; ther e is widespread understanding that the actual number of such crimes is much, m uch higher, as law enforcement agencies report such data to the FBI on a purel y voluntary basis. Fortunately for the 10-year-old Hemenway student, it appears she is surrounded by adults who continue to validate who she is and who will act as a bulwark a gainst those who would suggest otherwise. But they are not enough. It is incum bent upon all open-minded people who are wise enough and comfortable enough wi th who they are to stand up and declare that we will not allow ourselves, our country, or our children - all of our children - to be swallowed up by the for ces that believe that hatred and distrust should supplant love and acceptance.

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