I would like to precede this article by stating that I am a firm believer in God. I am a Christian, and like every other Christian, I have my many flaws. However, I have always prided myself in my capacity to maintain an open mind, particularly concerning my religious beliefs. I am not naive enough to claim that my religion is absolute, nor will I ever persecute other religions and their faiths for diverging from my own, for who am I to do so? Who am I to tell someone that what he believes is unsound and that a lack of change will render eternal torture in a Hell that he may not even believe in?
2015 has been a bloodstained year for the United States. The past few months alone have been scarred by seemingly endless mass shootings and acts of terrorism. Thus far, 2015 has documented 353 mass shootings. More than you hear about on the news, right? That's because the majority of these mass shootings were done by unidentified shooters, and the media doesn't like to dwell too long on faceless assailants, for those types of shootings won't even trend on Twitter. Rather, news networks seek out the types of stories that will seize their audience's attention and appeal to their emotions and inherent beliefs.
When a white person shoots up an elementary school, leaves a homemade bomb on his neighbor's doorstep, or slits his girlfriend's throat, he is simply seen as a lunatic: That one-in-a-million psychopath whose head simply wasn't screwed on just right. The same, however, cannot be said when crazed individuals of different races or religious groups do the same. I could provide a list of historical instances in which underlying prejudice led to attacks by radical Muslims being deemed acts of terrorism, but for the purpose of this article, I will focus on the recent shooting in San Bernadino.
For those who are not up to date on America's most recent mass shooting, which can be quite burdensome considering the United States averaged roughly one per day this year, The San Bernadino shooting involved Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik: A married couple who opened fire at a work Christmas party, killing 14 and injuring 22. The couple was eventually killed in a shootout with police. The attack immediately captured the nation's attention, and it wasn't but a few hours before the attack was presumed an act of terrorism. Keep in mind this was before anyone knew anything about the shooters... other than that they were Muslim.
The San Bernadino shooting soon obtained the attention of many along the political spectrum, including the focus of reality TV star Donald Trump, who seeks the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2016. Being the stellar, experienced politician he is, Donald Trump proposed one of his most innovative, revolutionary schemes yet: To deport all Muslims from the United States. Curiously, I don't recall all white, Christian males being deported following the Planned Parenthood or Charleston Church shootings, both of which were done in the name of religion, but perhaps I'm just ignorant.
In response to the attacks, much of the underlying racism and prejudice that exists towards those from the middle east has been brought to light. The Syrian refugee crisis continues, and many of the 13.5 million people in Syria who require humanitarian assistance will never receive it. Why? Because a large population of U.S. Citizens would rather stand idly by and focus on deporting immigrants, both illegal and legal, than provide the help that Syria desperately needs. One might think that a nation established by immigrants might not be so cold-shouldered. Among those who couldn't care less about the violence, lack of child safety, or near total collapse of infrastructure within Syria are many radical Christians. These "Christians" are often the same people who believe that the Bible is to be interpreted literally, yet seem to select only particular excerpts that back their political agenda. Love thy neighbor? Not if he's Muslim.
In closing, I would just like to include one of my personal favorite passages from the Bible from Leviticus 19:34, which reads:
"You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with
you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you
were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
