AEIOU: Arab World -- RESPONSE
March 12, 2005
Dear Editor (of the previously entered editorial ... whoever that may be),
Based on your March 11, 2005 article you do not believe that intentional murder and slaughter of a person is based in something other than hate. This is very odd.
If an anti-abortion advocate were to kill an abortion doctor, it would be labeled a hate crime by most thinking people, whether he took all the doctor’s money first or was merely “following the dictates of his conscience.” If communists were to abduct and torture an police officer for “political reasons,” they would pay the penalty. When a homosexual who knows he is HIV-positive intentionally has intercourse with many people concealing his condition in order to “share the pain,” has done evil. Surely we all have enough sense to agree that simply because college men have sexual desires and may be drunk does not excuse fraternity members if they gang-rape a college freshman. And yes, if three beggars were to overpower and kill Donald Trump in order to take his money, I have no doubt they would receive a pretty stiff judgment. Probably death, poor as they may be. Severe discipline would follow in each of these cases if sufficient evidence were found. Recently when frustrated, underpaid nurses’ aides in Arkansas beat to death an elderly demented resident, they were found guilty as charged, though they stole no money and were somewhat provoked.
Death is not a good thing. To murder simply in order to rob from the other person is certainly no better than to kill for religious reasons. To love possessions more than people is the greatest danger we face today in America, whether you happen to be Muslim, Coptic, or any other religion. Pretending human life is not valuable is a dangerous thing, whether the family concerned is Coptic or Muslim, poor or rich. To love money most is to hate humanity.
Many years ago, a righteous man honored by Copts and Muslims lost all his children and most of his property very quickly. Job’s friends did well when they kept silent. They sinned when they accused him of some great evil as he aired his complaint & struggled with why such suffering had befallen him. For the record, I implore you to consider those who grieve in the future and do not use your eloquent editorials to punish those who weep, but rather look for ways to weep with those who weep. I am convinced you would be enraged if your family was slaughtered & money stolen by those who oppose your faith. When the Garas family was attacked, the perpetrators devalued the lives of all: Muslim and Copt, rich and poor, immigrant and indigenous. Even more, the God who made us was also insulted. You must not extend that blasphemy by minimizing or dismissing the wrongfulness of the crime and ignoring the sting of death. The profit motive is not a valid excuse for murder.
Sobered and saddened,
Mert Hershberger
mertaka@everybody.org
Dear Editor (of the previously entered editorial ... whoever that may be),
Based on your March 11, 2005 article you do not believe that intentional murder and slaughter of a person is based in something other than hate. This is very odd.
If an anti-abortion advocate were to kill an abortion doctor, it would be labeled a hate crime by most thinking people, whether he took all the doctor’s money first or was merely “following the dictates of his conscience.” If communists were to abduct and torture an police officer for “political reasons,” they would pay the penalty. When a homosexual who knows he is HIV-positive intentionally has intercourse with many people concealing his condition in order to “share the pain,” has done evil. Surely we all have enough sense to agree that simply because college men have sexual desires and may be drunk does not excuse fraternity members if they gang-rape a college freshman. And yes, if three beggars were to overpower and kill Donald Trump in order to take his money, I have no doubt they would receive a pretty stiff judgment. Probably death, poor as they may be. Severe discipline would follow in each of these cases if sufficient evidence were found. Recently when frustrated, underpaid nurses’ aides in Arkansas beat to death an elderly demented resident, they were found guilty as charged, though they stole no money and were somewhat provoked.
Death is not a good thing. To murder simply in order to rob from the other person is certainly no better than to kill for religious reasons. To love possessions more than people is the greatest danger we face today in America, whether you happen to be Muslim, Coptic, or any other religion. Pretending human life is not valuable is a dangerous thing, whether the family concerned is Coptic or Muslim, poor or rich. To love money most is to hate humanity.
Many years ago, a righteous man honored by Copts and Muslims lost all his children and most of his property very quickly. Job’s friends did well when they kept silent. They sinned when they accused him of some great evil as he aired his complaint & struggled with why such suffering had befallen him. For the record, I implore you to consider those who grieve in the future and do not use your eloquent editorials to punish those who weep, but rather look for ways to weep with those who weep. I am convinced you would be enraged if your family was slaughtered & money stolen by those who oppose your faith. When the Garas family was attacked, the perpetrators devalued the lives of all: Muslim and Copt, rich and poor, immigrant and indigenous. Even more, the God who made us was also insulted. You must not extend that blasphemy by minimizing or dismissing the wrongfulness of the crime and ignoring the sting of death. The profit motive is not a valid excuse for murder.
Sobered and saddened,
Mert Hershberger
mertaka@everybody.org
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