ICOSA News Items
The ICOSA in the Local News
Sarwat Husain, San Antonio's CAIR director, and the Interreligious Council make the local news and catches the attention of the Pluralism Project. CAIR is sponsoring a web site to inform people about tolerance in the face of the recent cartoon issue worldwide. San Antonio, "with its long history of interfaith cooperation, could become a model for the rest of the world of how civilized society can respond positively to ignorance and violence by conducting interfaith dialogues that promote mutual understanding."Be sure to read the recent news article in the SA Express News, which is quoted below:
Faiths unite to counter 'clash of the uncivilized'
Web Posted: 02/21/2006 12:00 AM CST
J. Michael Parker
Express-News Religion Writer
The continuing controversy over cartoon depictions of the prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers is not a clash of civilizations but "a clash of the uncivilized," a group of religious leaders declared here Monday in announcing a new Islam education campaign.
They also said San Antonio, with its long history of interfaith cooperation, could become a model for the rest of the world of how civilized society can respond positively to ignorance and violence by conducting interfaith dialogues that promote mutual understanding.
Representatives of the Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Quaker communities and the Inter-Religious Council of San Antonio spoke of the need for education during a news conference at the Council on American-Islamic Relations' office.
The campaign, sponsored by the council, includes a Web site, www.cair.com/muhammad, providing detailed information about Mohammad, his life and teachings.
Sarwat Husain, San Antonio's CAIR director, said local Muslim leaders are available to speak about Islam and the prophet at schools, churches and other venues on request. The site also tells how to order free literature and DVDs about Mohammad's life.
"Civilized people come together to say that what is wrong is wrong, no matter who does it, East or West," Husain said.
She said Mohammad didn't resort to violence, even in self-defense.
Mohammad was born in Mecca, a city in modern-day Saudi Arabia, in A.D. 570. Muslims believe that after being visited by the Angel Gabriel, he told people that his job as a messenger of God was to reaffirm what God had already revealed to humanity through previous prophets.
Muslims consider Mohammad the last in a line of prophets charged with acting as God's spokesmen to humankind. A humble man, his sole miracle was the Koran, the Muslim scripture, which, Muslims believe, the Angel Gabriel instructed him to share with the public.
Other participants in the news conference condemned both the cartoons, one of which depicts Mohammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb, and violent responses to them. At least 45 people have been killed in protests across the Muslim world.
Every religion has extremists, they said, and no religion should be characterized as violent or evil in itself because of the actions of a minority.
Islam has about 1.1 billion global followers, second only to Christianity, with 1.9 billion.
"You can't judge a beautiful Beethoven symphony by the fifth-grade orchestra that plays it," said Temple Beth-El's Rabbi Emeritus Samuel Stahl.
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