I feel like every time I log onto social media, I see someone posting negatively about followers of Islam, more commonly known as Muslims. Ever since the attacks on September 11, 2001, this religion has caught a lot of bad attention. With the current rise of the terrorist organization ISIS, media attention for Muslims has gotten even worse.

People of other faiths stigmatize Muslims. They see them as terrorists, collectively. I am here to say now that this is not the case.

If all Muslims were terrorists, I can say in full confidence that we would be in a world of trouble. Islam is the fastest growing religion, and it has many, many followers. If all of these followers were terrorists bent on destroying America, America would already be destroyed.

I've seen people post many of times that Muslims aren't American, and should "go back to where they came from." Let me just throw a little fact out here; being a Muslim does not make you any less of an American than a Christian.While the Islamic religion has roots in the Middle East, if you were born in America, or you're naturalized citizen, you're an American. Period. A religion doesn't negate American citizenship. Also, there are good and bad people in the world, no matter what religious umbrella they fall under. So yes, there are bad Muslims. However, there are also bad Christians. I can think of a few Christians right now that I definitely wouldn't categorize as "good." For the sake of their reputations, they will not be named, but I would love to give you some examples of what makes them a bad person.

The bottom line is that Muslims are not the problem. Bigoted, uneducated opinions are. Looking down on an entire religion just because of the terrible actions of a few is the problem. I think it's funny how we can easily separate Christianity from hateful groups like Westboro Baptist and the KKK, but we can't seem to differentiate Islam from the few Muslims who commit acts of terror.

Am I justifying the acts of terror that have occurred around the world? Absolutely not! As a matter of fact, I abhor it. However, I'm not going to let the actions of a few taint my view on the whole. I have met some pretty amazing people in my life, some of who are of Islamic faith. As a whole, we need to stop judging, and start loving one another in spite of our differences.