Sane Muslim Watch: Omar Osama bin Laden

Introducing a new feature of my site: Sane Muslim Watch. It seems more than a few in the world these days, and Christians in particular, are quite favorable to paint Muslims and the religion of Islam as nothing more than religious thugs who want to murder all non-Muslims. I don't believe this is the case, and as a Christian I want to stand up to this stereotype. I do so for two reasons. Firstly because I want to keep myself conscious of my own intentions towards Muslims in order to ensure I do not slip down the lazy slope of assuming the individuals of the group match the pattern of the most extreme members. I also do this as an exercise of defending my own faith. For years I have heard people lump Christians together into one big pot of homosexual hating, facade wearing, know nothing lemmings. Just as I know from my own individual experience there is little homogeneity in Christians, I will not assume it of the people of the Islamic faith. I have heard many people, both Christians and not, say something to the effect of "If Muslims truly aren't evil, then why is there no one from within there ranks who publicly disagrees with them?" This is a question that is more complex than its requester likely understands. There are many possible reasons why this occurs. The extremists could simply be a very vocal minority. The peaceful Muslims may fear bringing disgrace to Islam and their fellow Muslims by speaking out. I know I personally would feel uncomfortable about declaring another Christian as preaching a gospel other than Christ's unless I was absolutely sure. Rather than get into a debate about those reasons, this post, and future posts will attempt to delve into the "Who?" rather than the "Why?" By giving a point of reference of those who have spoken out for peace in the Muslim world, we have a source in which we can say "There ARE people who are critical of their violent Muslim brothers and sisters."

So who is today's highlight? If I said Bin laden, you'd be surprised, likely calling me foolish. however it is not THE Bin Laden, but rather his son: Omar Osama bin Laden. Omar Osama bin laden appears to be an opposite of his father. He wears western clothing. He speaks English. He is married to a British women. Most importantly of all, his method of reaching out to the west is peace. Truly he seems to be a sane Muslim.