Antone's Nightclub
Thankful for Religious Freedom
RECEIVED Sat., July 3, 2010
Dear Editor,
I’m moving again. For some of us, moving itself has become an American tradition. While packing I stumble upon my old cowboy hat which somehow looks better with every move. I can’t help but put it on even though I don’t wear it much anymore. After accepting Islam Ahmadiyya, I’ve kept a more sober profile. Yet every time I see that hat, it reminds me not to let culture get mixed up with religion.
I’m an American, and for that I’m darn thankful. My family arrived more than 100 years before our great nation declared independence. As another Independence Day passes, I cannot help but be thankful that I live in a country that grants me religious freedom. My particular Muslim community believes in secular government, equal rights for women, tolerance, love for all and hatred for none, and a God who still speaks. For this we are murdered, maimed, tortured, widowed, and denied even the right to call ourselves Muslims. So God bless America, a country where its citizen will die for the right to worship the Good Lord as they see fit.
I’m moving again. For some of us, moving itself has become an American tradition. While packing I stumble upon my old cowboy hat which somehow looks better with every move. I can’t help but put it on even though I don’t wear it much anymore. After accepting Islam Ahmadiyya, I’ve kept a more sober profile. Yet every time I see that hat, it reminds me not to let culture get mixed up with religion.
I’m an American, and for that I’m darn thankful. My family arrived more than 100 years before our great nation declared independence. As another Independence Day passes, I cannot help but be thankful that I live in a country that grants me religious freedom. My particular Muslim community believes in secular government, equal rights for women, tolerance, love for all and hatred for none, and a God who still speaks. For this we are murdered, maimed, tortured, widowed, and denied even the right to call ourselves Muslims. So God bless America, a country where its citizen will die for the right to worship the Good Lord as they see fit.
Joseph Seager