Too all of you who no longer want to read about this subject, please do not
read on. For those of you who wish to continue, please do so but understand
that this is my opinion only.
I have found these postings to be of great benefit and I have read some
emails and learned some valuable things that perhaps would not have been
possible if I chose not to read them. I think the issue of religion, and
all it's particulars should be further discussed, debated, argued, etc.
(Sometimes when you wade through the muck and mud or perceived muck and mud,
there is a the oasis at the other side.) At least then we have a chance to
know what types of problems we have perhaps a solution may arise. Perhaps
the best show I saw on television happened just a few weeks ago regarding
tolerance between religions/beliefs or rather the lack of. Unfortunately I
can not give you the name of the program nor the station...sorry for
that...but it was basically children under the age of 13 from Israel
discussing their religion and how they felt about one another, one another
meaning jews and muslims(palestinian). On the one side, we gained the
perspective of children following the Jewish faith and their reaction to
their muslim neighbors and vice versa. Now these were children mind you,
who didn't even want to know or speak to a child of the opposite religion
and they firmly believed that the holy land was theirs and theirs only.
After learning about their feelings and thoughts, the interviewer set up a
meeting between some jewish children and some muslim children and guess
what...they played and had a good time together like normal children do. It
even appeared that they were friends.
After the fun and playing the interviewer sat down and said, "What do you
think now of each other?" The children honestly stated that although they
were glad to meet, they realized that this was a temporary thing and once
the interviewer was gone, the relationships that they had established would
be disolved and their efforts in vain. Some had tears due to the reality of
their situation.
Now, religious debate/fighting is a part of everyone's history in every
part of the world. I am still optimistic and hopeful that we as humans can
come up with a way to stop killing each other and co-exist with each other,
keeping our religions intact, because this issue will not go away by itself
and I would rather deal with it now. Now, so that the issues do not keep
going into the next generation and affecting them and their relationships.
But, I prefer to keep discussing things, everything, in hopes that one day,
someone will come up with a brilliant idea to make us be able to live in
harmony, yet keep our religious beliefs intact. I am muslim so I will say
Allah. Allah has created masterpieces, everyone of us is a masterpiece of
art in every fiber of our existence. I don't want to continue to see
communication stop...because that's when we start communicating with guns,
bombs, etc and masterpieces are destroyed. I tend to tolerate things when I
have more knowledge regarding them. I am muslim and I would never judge
someone who was not muslim and didn't believe what I did because it is not
my place to do so. I will leave that up to Allah because I would trust the
judgement of Allah, who has created water, over the likes of me that simply
drinks it.
Perhaps my emotion is apparent but I feel so strongly about religion as an
important issue of discussion so that we may all learn something from each
other.
If I have offended anyone, my apologies. If I have not made much sense and
have taken up valuable space and time, my apologies too.
Thank you,
Halima S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ablie Njie- lekbi [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 1:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Celebrating Holidays of the Disbelievers/Ginny_ENOUGH OF
THIS.
To all subcribers,
I must first say that like Joe Sambou, I have been observing some of the
postings pertaining to this topic. I have been reluctant to add any
comments due to the fact that I honestly believe that there are more
important issues we should be addressing.
I must first give a word of cautiion and reiterate that "religion is the
Opium of the Mass", therefore people will always have the tendency to
assert thier beliefs as the one with superiority.
I am from a family which consist of three surnames namely, Williams, Thomas
and Njie , and we have grown up happily without any regard to which
religion we belong.
I cannot recall ever having any problems celebrating Koriteh or Christmas
separate from my family. We all lived in harmony and my mom has given us
the liberty and freedom to choose our religion.
My Kids are named Mary( Not Mariama) and Susana (Not Sosseh)Njie after
my christian part of the family , and they are free to choose their own
religions when they grow up.
I think like most people, we are sick and tired of this futile debate.
Why can't we pay attention to the issues happening at home and try to find
answers to our problems.
Ablie Njie- LEKbi
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