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Muslims are not our real problem

By Staff | Sep 20, 2015

We have a problem in this country. Lots of them, really, but one of them came to the fore at a Donald Trump rally in Rochester on Thursday night.

"We have a problem in this country," the man at the rally said. "It’s called Muslims. We know our president is one. You know he’s not even an American."

The man then went on to rail against the existence of terrorist training camps and asked, "How do we get rid of them?" Whether he was talking about getting rid of the training camps or Muslims in general wasn’t clear.

Either way, those who rightly criticized Trump in the hours after the rally for not correcting the man about President Obama’s religion (he’s Christian) and citizenship (he was born in Hawaii) miss part of the point.

As disturbing as those things are, more troubling is that Trump appeared to say "Right," as the man finished his characterization that Muslims are a problem in this country.

Maybe it was nothing more than a subconscious interjection on Trump’s part, but the candidate could and should have stopped the speaker at that juncture to point out that Muslims, according to the Pew Research Center, make up less than one percent of the country’s population.

He could have noted that Muslims – the name for those who embrace the Islamic faith – are teachers and doctors and lawyers and business people and students and laborers. They’ve been here since the 1700s.

Trump could have pointed out that the more recent Muslim immigrants have come to America seeking the same economic opportunity that has attracted millions of others over the years and made this country a beacon of hope around the world.

Trump could have stopped the man at his faulty premise and pointed out that Muslims abhor violence and terrorism just as much as the Christians who make up 70 percent of the country’s population.

According to tolerance.org, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, "The Fiqh Council of North America (an Islamic juristic body) captures the views of the vast majority of American Muslims: ‘Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism.’?"

Trump could have pointed out that the real problem is not Muslims, but extremists of every stripe.

He didn’t.

Instead, he said: "We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things. And you know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We’re going to be looking at that and plenty of other things."

Whatever the heck that means, Trump’s chickenhearted response certainly wasn’t that of a leader.

Yes, we have a problem in this country.

It’s called ignorance.

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