Letter: Americans shouldn't wage a war on Islam

The recent spate of paranoid, Islamophobic letters on this page are distressing to me. To condemn an entire religion for the actions of a minuscule fraction of people who profess to practice that religion but who actually don't, goes against one of the core principles on which this country was founded. To attribute evil intentions to every person professing belief in Islam is simply indefensible.

President Obama has asked that the American people not make this a war on Islam. Oh, you don't like Obama? Well, President George W. Bush made the identical request of the American people in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Does that satisfy your conservative sensibilities?

Look, ISIL, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and all the other radical Islamic groups do not practice the Islamic faith as set down by Muhammad. They have adulterated his teachings, added things that the prophet never said and twisted the meaning of things he did say in order to justify their murderous, misogynistic, hateful purposes.

The good news is that mainstream Muslim countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have banded together in a 34-country alliance to rid their part of the world of terrorism in whatever form it takes.

Meanwhile, in this country, vigilance against attack, be it from radical Muslims or homegrown nuts who are able to acquire guns because of lax background checks, is always required. But really, if we let fear and panic rule our lives, the bad guys have won, and we wouldn't want that, would we?

Henry A. Robertson

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Letter: Americans shouldn't wage a war on Islam."