Why do you kill?
Jürgen Todenhöfer
Mariam J. (06th July 2008)
Hi Dr.Todenhofer..Salam Alaikum..I'm Mariam from baghdad,19 years old..i have a germany friend who sent me the link of your book(why do you kill Zaid?)and i read the online story all the part..its just i'd like to tell you that i've never felt proud about any book published before and i don't read books alot but now..i feel amazed about the story you told,I live in baghdad and i've been in such story .I also lost relatives but we pass it,what i see in the way you expressed the story and how you introduced the people in the book and what they said?what you were wearing?.how you couldn't sleep under the noise of Helicopters?..its just noone introduce the truth like this especially in the media..I just wanted to tell you ,I do admire your work and the effort you put in this book and the danger you've been through...What I wondered is that why Abu Saed did that to you? is it for money? or he is just a loyal iraqi who wanted the truth to be revealed? and by this they are in great danger now,especially the picture of the generator near Zaid's house,i know people here they always can ask and locate their house.and now Zaid has no secret's in his life anymore all can now that he is a brave resistor boy and US forces might look after him now!..or may be Zaid isn't his real name?that to keep him safe..and if it is and his family all the real names then i think he is a live only by a miracle u know here too many traitors and informers,I don't know that really made me worried since the day i read the book,I've been touched by it so much that i cry with it and all day long i think about those people,i've heard such stories from people we know here,and i've witness explosions and shooting and dead bodies by myself but I dnt know why this story just holded in my mind, I can feel that they are part of my life and I am one of them...Really I admire you work..I hope you can just reply me in anyway because i wish someone can ensure me that those people are safe so i can sleep well at leaste without worry..Glade you are back home safe and i wish someone can get the whole published book to iraq or from where i can get it? in Syria or Jordan ?..again best wishes and congratulation for the book..and i hope you'll remember a fan of your work from baghdad..
Katherine H. (13th June 2008)
Dear Jurgen Todenhoffer,
Thank you so much for your work and for trying to educate people in the U.S. through your article/advertisement in the New York Times. I heard about your article from Dr. Rafil Dhafir when he recently requested that I send him the March 16th piece (he already has the piece from March 13th). Dr. Dhafir is an Iraqi-born American citizen and is currently serving 22 years in an American prison for sending aid through his charity, Help the Needy, to starving Iraqi civilians during the 13 years of the brutal embargo on Iraq.
You can find a summary of his case here (600 words): http://www.dhafirtrial.net/case-summary/
His case is another tragic injustice of the Iraq war/"War on Terror" and I wonder if you will be able to let people know about his case? (For an in-depth article of his case here, "Crime of Compassion:" http://www.dhafirtrial.net/?p=261
And an article about the special prison unit where he is being held (that holds almost exclusively Arabs and Muslims) here: http://wrmea.com/archives/May-June_2007/0705012.html )
Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General has said of Dr.
Dhafir's case, "It appears that Dr. Dhafir has become a victim of American injustice that applies double standards. He seems to have been swept up in anti-Islamic anti-Arab madness that has corrupted the American justice system." http://wrmea.com/archives/August_2007/0708005.html
Thank you again for all your work.
Volkmar Z. (March 10th, 2008)
Dear Mr.Todenhöfer,
Besides that I have to congratulate you for your exeptional effort, which I deeply adore, I like to lead your attention to a piece of literature, which in my opinion still stays as a classic for any antiimperialist and anticolonialist. I speak of Frantz Fanon's book "The Wretched of the Earth" (Die Verdammten dieser Erde), with a very relevant(also in our days) foreword by Jean-Paul Sartre.
I am aware of your pacifist concept of politics, but at the same time I am happy about that you use the term "resistance fighters", when you speak of those, who actually use violence as their last tool for selfdefense against imperialist and colonialist agression.
I deeply respect your work!
Chris W. (March 26th, 2008)
Dear Dr. Todenhofer,
As a subscriber to the NY Times, I read your article "10:1" with interest. As I finished, I was dismayed and taken aback. As I student of history and a high school teacher, I can state that your paper contained half truths, distortions and omissions in an attempt to justify Islamic extremism and terrorism. Bush, America and the West are all many times worse than Al Qaeda, is your general conclusion. Islamic history is richer and more tolerant than Christianity, which is universally intolerant and evil. History is far more nuanced than the distorted version you portray.
In the vein of a typical multicultural extremist, European and Christian crimes are exaggerated and magnified while those of non-European and non-Christians either ignored or glibly justified. For example, you point out many of the horrors of Western imperialism in the Muslim world over the last 2 centuries. At the same time, you barely mention that for over 1000 years, Arab, Berber and Turkish Muslims attacked Christian nations and empires on all fronts on three separate continents. While you do mention this, it is justified in such a way that left your article twisted like a pretzel. Your 10:1 ratio is a "Number from nowhere", in the words of scholar David Henige. For one, we don’t know how many people perished in this thousand year Holy War since it was never controversial for Muslims to conquer over such a wide area. It was Christians, not Muslims who debated whether or not war was justified, from the Middle Ages onwards. From 668 CE to 1683 CE, Muslims conquered North Africa, the Middle East, Spain, southern and Eastern Europe, central Asia, India, and even western China. Though you glorify the Muslim takeover of Spain, it was a religious imperial conquest that lasted over 7 centuries, resulting in hundreds of thousands killed in battles and uprising, the conversion of millions, constant religious warfare, fanaticism (Almohods and Almoravids) that expelled many religious minorities, and the subjugation of Christians and Spanish to a 2nd class status. Undoubtedly, millions were killed in battles and massacres over the centuries of war on these 3 continents.
Entire cities were razed and destroyed; just ask the residents of Alexandria, Roman Carthage and Constantinople, where millions lived.
Islam was declared the official religion, and Christians were reduced to 2nd class status. Holy Churches were converted over night, and many destroyed. Christians were banned from visiting holy sites (such as that in Jerusalem). It was far worse for Hindus in India, who were not "people of the book". Mughal rulers destroyed hundreds of temples, sod countless millions into slavery and debt bondage, and killed countless millions.
In other areas, this takeover was even worse. David Brion Davis, one of America’s pre-eminent historians of slavery, concludes that "It is impossible to understand the Atlantic slave trade without knowledge of the 1000 Holy war between Islam and Christendom. While slavery always existed, the Muslim conquest of much of Africa resulted in the trafficking of nearly 14 million black slaves from 660-1900 CE, according to Ronald Segal, author of "Islam’s Black Slaves". This resulted in the first massive importation of black slaves into southern Europe and the beginning of the slave trade. Unlike slavery in the Muslim or African worlds, it was only in parts of Europe that it became controversial, resulting in a worldwide abolitionist movement that was resisted by many in the aforementioned regions (Mauritania just abolished slavery in 1980). Since there was no controversy, very little is written about these slaves, either by ordinary subjects or by the slaves themselves (over a million European slaves were taken into the Islamic world between 1600 and 1800). Unlike the slaves in the New World, those imported into North Africa and the Middle East has such high death rates and low birth rates that "there is virtually no trace of them". In Davis words "In addition to algebra and Greek philosophy, racial slavery was another contribution from Islamic civilizations".
Certainly, if we reversed Arab Muslim for European Christian, you would be using this as a whipping tool to bash Europeans and westerners to "understand" Muslim rage and anger. But since it is non European Muslims doing it, which does not support your distorted thesis, you gloss over it as briefly as you possibly can, or simply claim that Europeans were just as bad. The only thing you do is pummel Europeans (how predictable) for the Crusade with little or no context. Leaving aside your exaggerated number of those killed (4 million you state, with no reference as to how a mere 40,000 Crusaders with Medieval technology could kill such a large number of people, especially in the Levant which was sparsely populated). No mention is made of the 4 and half centuries of religious warfare by Muslims against Christians that led to this. No mention is made of the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the banning of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land or the threat by the Seljuks to "raze" Constantinople to the ground. Christians debated (unlike Muslims) and finally declared that this was a defensive war. While one can deplore such a decision and its atrocities, it is of interest that Muslims get a pass you do not dare give to Christians. Certainly, if the situation was reversed (and Christians waged such warfare while banning Muslims from Mecca =, now a Christian city), here is no doubt you would have us "understand" such a war, as you want us to understand Islamic "terrorism". But since we are discussing European Christians, your multiculturalist’s relative blinders grant you no such perspective.
Sadly, you expose your blatant double standards and selective moral outrage throughout your work, Dr. Todenhofer.
In terms of colonialism, it is obvious that you believe Europe and the West brought nothing of consequence and simply destroyed advanced, enlightened, superior Muslim civilizations. Claiming 50 million were killed in Africa and Asia under colonialism is another case of "numbers from nowhere", especially given the small number of Europeans involved in such enterprises You were correct about the 70 million killed during the World War II, but this occurred with tens of millions of soldiers armed with the most sophisticated technology). This is an offense to those who did perish under imperialism, boot due to European and non-European expansion throughout history. You never fully explain how areas with no nation states, formal educational systems, exports, oil and the like were superior and more literate than Europe but less so 100 years later. Would they have discovered oil and extracted it, while making hundreds of billions of dollars, if not for Western technology and industrialization? Never did the West takeover these areas and declare Christianity the official religion while taxing all non-Christian subjects in an attempt to get all Muslims to convert. Nor did they make their languages "official". 99% of the population in these areas still spoke their native Arabic or Berber as their 1st language when the Europeans left (in contrast to the areas where Muslims took over, where all languages disappeared in favor of Arabic).
While we never stop hearing about European evils, those of non-Europeans seem to be insignificant or of no consequence to you.
Moreover, remember that the revulsion we have for (European) imperialism stems from the Western notions such as property, individual, human and national rights that have developed philosophically over the past 3 centuries before finally being codified into law. But these were debates that occurred in Europe and its offshoots, not elsewhere. Nowhere did Muslim philosophers and politicians debate whether or not it was legitimate to wage war and engulf regions into their religious domination. The Koran discusses two Houses; The House of War and the House of Belief. Not surprisingly, Osama Bin Laden talks about exactly the same thing.
In terms of "Arab decline", I refer you to the "Arab Human Development Report". These two reports document the economic, political, social and religious malaise that has afflicted much of this region over the last
5 decades, which resulted in the rise of militant Islam in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda. Far from being a detriment, colonialism (which was not universal; Saudi Arabia and Turkey were never colonies yet have the same problems as Egypt) was not a determinant for success. Former colonies of East Asia, and more recently China and India, have developed rapidly and bridged the gap with the west within a generation. It would be nice if you had read the report and focused more on the rise of Nazism, Communism, dictatorships and Arab nationalism/socialism ("Nasserism") which resulted in economic stagnation and political dysfunction. Instead, by attempting to portray them as helpless victims, you contribute to the current downward spiral that refuses to act on change in the false belief that everything is out of their hands. Even with oil, the total amount of Arab exports is less than that of Spain. Absent oil, it is less than Finland. Despite your rants against foreigners, most people in the region know this.
For the modern period, it is clear you see no distinction between Al Qaeda, Saddam and the West, including America. In fact, one would conclude from your thesis that the latter two are far worse than the former two. Hussein only killed 290,000, as you state. But this is a misleading number from Human Rights Watch, as is your claim that 1.5 million died under sanctions or the 600,000 who died due to the US invasion. For one, HRW also documents how Saddam killed 180,000 Kurds in 1988 alone INTENTIONALLY, an act that has been labeled genocide.
Another 300,000 were killed when he crushed the uprising in 1991. The 290,000 are those who are estimated to have "disappeared" absent these two massacres. That would put the death toll at over 750,000! The UN "no fly" zones, which the US enforced for 12 years afterwards, stopped such massacres and allowed the maligned Kurds, whose deplorable situation receive no news in the Arab world, to form their independent area and democratic institutions. As for the sanctions, it is sad to see you as such an apologist for Saddam regime, which rejected the Oil-for-Food program in 1991 (UN Resolutions 689 and 712), only accepting it in 1996 when he faced a revolt of his population.
Interestingly enough, the Kurds in the north actually had lower death rates and child mortality rates than they did under Saddam when there were no sanctions! The reason? They were independent from Saddam, who starved out the Shiite areas and acted as a "hero" to the rest of his population when he allowed the Oil for Food program. Finally the 600,000 alleged to have died by the Lancet has been skewered and discounted by all agencies, including the UN, Iraqi Health ministry and "Iraq Body Count". This was a survey done by a group which presumed the same Iraq where 1.5 million died under sanctions actually had a lower death rate than Sweden! Once we adjust these rates properly, there is actually a large increase in the Iraqi population following the invasion. Other agencies estimate that some 80,000 Iraqis have been killed since 2003, nearly 90% by other Iraqis or foreigners in their religious war to undermine Iraqi society and the fledging democracy. It is of interest that it is the US, not these religious fanatics, which come into your firing range for criticism. While any civilians intentionally killed by US and coalition forces is deplorable (and illegal, by the way; many have been prosecuted for doing such), mass killing of civilians is both an ends and a means for Al Qaeda and religious fanatics. Some 35,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2006 ( number that has dropped precipitously due to the influx of US troops and orders to disperse and protect Iraqi civilians from insurgents, something Al Qaeda doesn’t engage in), all but 500 killed in the civil triggered by Al Qaeda, according to the UN. Tens of thousands more have been killed by Al Qaeda not just at the Trade Towers or Pentagon by in Afghanistan, where over 8000 HaZARAS were intentionally massacred by the Taliban in 1998 for refusing to convert to Sunni Islam. Instead, you underestimate such killing and then proceed to claim that the West, particularly George Bush and Tony Blair, are far worse than Al Qaeda.
You’re excusing and underestimating of such killing by religious fanatics is very telling. It is also a disgrace.
Read Al Qaeda’s manifesto before you rush to glibly explain away their international Holy War and intentional killing of all of those who oppose them, be they the tens of thousands killed in Iraq, Afghanistan or America. Their desire in not revenge for "colonialism" but a rebirth of the religious caliphate of the 7th century and destruction of all nation states which are stated to be "apostates" of Islam. There are two excellent books you should familiarize yourself with: Peter Bergen’s "Holy War Inc", and Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer prize winning "The Looming Tower". In it, they trace the religious civil wars that have engulfed much of the Arab word in the 1960s, particularly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This has nothing to do with imperialism or American policy but with religion. Neither A Qaeda nor Bin Laden ever said "Hey I have no problem with America or Israel. I would just like a few less bases or a Palestinian state as well." They have said their mission is to destroy Israel and "kill all Americans" everywhere, which amounts to a declaration of genocide. In 1998, they declared their intention to "purify" Islam of al foreigners and infidels. Moreover, the US has bases all over the word (including Germany) and religious fanatics have never attacked America from those areas.
One does not see tens of thousands of Christians joining religious terrorist group’s b/c Muslims are "occupying Christian Holy areas such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and increasingly Rome. No, Muslims can migrate to the West by the tens of millions and be religiously accommodated. But Christians better not get near their areas, or they will suffer religious terrorism, followed by blatant excusing and understanding by disgraceful apologists such as you. Try being a Christian In Saudi Arabia or Egypt. Try converting to Christianity in Afghanistan, and you will get the death penalty. Offend Islam with cartoons of Mohammed, and watch the millions in protests and riots, with hundreds killed. Contrast this to Muslim converts in the West, open religious freedom, freedom of speech with little consequence (how many riots or protests over the consistent anti-Christian statements and art?) Of course, when it comes to the supposed "right wing"
terrorists (KKK, militias, Tim McVeigh, etc) are elevated to the level of the Islamic terrorists. One never has seen the Left (or others), however, try to glibly explain away those groups when they commit murder. One never hears the Left justify or understand their actions (however insignificant) the way they do for the Islamists terrorists.
The difference is that While the former includes the stereotypical evil white males, the latter includes tens of thousands of non-white, non-Christians, a group that racial activists, feminists, writers and others cannot bring themselves to criticize (similar to how they ignore black on black and black-on-white crime, but explode when there is a white-on-black crime-i.e.: Duke Lacrosse mobs). Sure, they will unload fury on Christians who oppose abortion on principal but cannot bring themselves to even remotely criticize people who want to bring us back to the 7th century. We'll never stop hearing about the "Christian Taliban", of course.
Try going to Sudan, where an Islamic state declared religious war on the southern Christian regions, which resulted in 2 million dead and 5 million refugees. 10:1, doctor? How about Darfur, with 350,000 dead and
2.5 million refugees intentionally killed and driven out in the name of religion. 10:1? Take a good look at the millions of Christian, Jews, Berbers, Kurds, Shiites and others who have been killed and intentionally driven out of Arab countries in the name of nationalism and purity over the last 50 years, which dwarf anything the West has done. There has been little controversy over it, or mention in your distorted paper. As long as it doesn’t contain your prejudiced caricature of "European perpetrator and non-European "victim", there is little room for it. Of course, Israel will be bashed worldwide on a constant basis for committing a fraction of this because, after all, it is a democracy, its Jews (and not Arabs doing this) and the attention can be focused away from the political and economic deprivations that engulf much of the Arab world.
Dr. Togenhofer, you seem unaware of the fact that it was the US military which saved millions of Muslims in Kuwait, Somalia (1.5 million), Bosnia, Kosovo (in which we bombed Christians to save Muslims), Afghanistan and the Kurdish areas long before 9/11. We also fought harder for a Palestinian state, when Bill Clinton met with Arafat more than any other official and proposed such a state twice, while the Arabs and Europeans were nowhere to be seen. It failed, and 9 months later, we were blamed for 9/11, Arab rage and the Palestinian issue.
I think you should heed your own biblical citations and see things beyond your limited, selective view of history, terrorism and religious fanaticism.
Naeem M. (March 25th, 2008)
Dear Dr. Todenhöfer,
I read your article in Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. It needs a brave person to tell the truth and to be prepared hor the hostilities that would result from such heroic actions.
There would be a huge number of people who would thank you, if that had an access to read your message, for representing and clarifying the truth.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart, in name of all those who cannot do so.
Stefan R., Spain (March 23rd, 2008)
Hello Mr. Todenhoefer,
thank you for the book! it makes me speechless and feeling sad. maybe there is still hope...
best regards from Spain
Jose T. (March 22nd, 2008)
Dear Dr. Todenhofer,
I have read the first installment in the New York Times and will read the second one tomorrow. It is very informative and it should initiate a much needed debate around the world, especially in the West and the U.S., given the tons of misinformation, omissions and distortions that are spread in the press, usually "manufacture consent."; Thank you very much and I will be looking forward to studying the book when I get it. Take care and God Bless!
Jacqueline F. (March 18, 2008)
Peace,
I've posted a link to Part III on my website i-am-americanmuslim.org.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first two parts. Just seeing that information in the NYT was exciting. Very strange, the article dwells on these atrocities, yet while reading it I kept muttering
beautiful
beautiful
thank You God
There have always been atrocities on Earth. I've begun to think that perhaps it is not the atrocity itself that is the tragedy-but the human beings' ability to avoid Truths both big and small...
I am so grateful that this truth is coming out now. This book, plays like 9 Parts of Desire, and hearing the veterans from the war will soon be testifying in Congress are harbingers of spiritual spring...
The Muslim community is mired in a victim-mentality now. They only want to talk about what is being done to them. They don't want to talk about what they have done. About Muslim lands' history of torture, etc. They don't want to look at what has happened to get us to this place...
From where I'm standing, as an American Muslim (convert), its seems that God is increasing us in nothing but destruction. Its what He did to the people of Pharoah. We need to face that. We MUST return to Islam. The evidence that we've strayed- and continue to stay off path- is this relentless oppression around the world. The Qur'an says that if we stray from His Path and become oppressors, He will put a people like us over us...
I am posting Part III because you address what the Muslim community needs to do. Root out the terrorists from within. SubhanAllah, it was amazing to me- because not 2 weeks ago I was talking to my husband and telling him that I'm going to start to get VERY vocal about these mind-sets in the community that need to be addressed. We know from hadith that we should not even begin on a path if we know that it can lead to evil... yet the Us vs. Them mentality is fostered in many ways, it is seen as pious by many people to shut themselves off from society, the higher degree someone is unable to function in Western society the more pious/pure they are construed as being, etc. Its not healthy. Its not Islam. It is the first step to developing the mind set that allows you to dehumanize others and justify attacks.
May God heap His blessings upon you. If you and people like you are addressing the wrongs of Colonialism, the reality of the present presence in the oil-bearing lands, the myths of the nature of Islam in the general press towards the average Westerner, it makes it much easier (God-willing) to get the Muslim community to focus on doing what they need to do which is empowering instead of focusing on what is being done to them. The victim mentality is SO toxic-- but it is also hard to pull out of it if all you see are your family members being bombed, caught in riots, etc.
Also- have you noticed the irony that the press, claiming to hate the narrow, self-righteous, hateful message of the Islamist radicals, continues to spread their message while silencing the moderates??? Whose side are they on???
Why do they spread the message of the radicals to such a degree they're even convincing MUSLIMS that this is what Islam is? And tear down moderates that would say otherwise... its astounding.
The nasty stories in the media, the slurs against Muslims, the Propaganda and hatemongering... they do for radicalism in the West what bombs do for it in the East.
Its very frustrating. Blessings and best wishes
Ron A. (March 18th, 2008)
Danke Herr T.. for the 3 page add in NY Times.... the only way to make
the US media free is to do that.
There are many many more things that the US media needs to print in
order to wake American's up.
Today you are my hero. Danke!! Danke!!!
I am a reporter inside of USA.. and for the truth they have tortured me for two years. My torture is over.. now.. but I am destroyed in terms of what I use to own..
I am a human rights activist.. and a writer as well as a scientist and pacifist.
any form or war destroys..
Marie A. (March 18th, 2008)
Dear Mr. Jürgen Todenhöfer,
BRAVO, Thank you for your work!
Since reading your piece in the New York Times and website, I have been thinking about your work.....
Thank you for your work!
Diana V. (March 17th, 2008)
Dear Mr. Todenhofer,
Congratulations on a job well done. It gives me great hope to see an article like this. I'm only sorry you had to pay to see it in print, but I'm grateful you did. Thank you.
Jeff S. (March 16th, 2008)
Liebe Herr Todenhofer,
many thanks for your articles, I admire what you are doing and wish you success.
Jacqueline F. (March 16th, 2008)
Dear Brother in Truth,
A friend of mine sent me the link to your site today. Words do not describe the joy that I feel knowing that your article appeared in the New York Times as well as in Germany and the Arab speaking world. May God bless and keep you for your efforts to turn the tide of ignorance and hatred that threatens to drown the world at the moment!
I have long believed that the Devil's most effective strategy is keeping the children of Abraham fighting with each other, for--as you mentioned in your article--when they work and study and live together, the world changes for the better.
As you may know, there are Qur'anic prophecies about the sun rising in the west... God-willing, your call to wake up heralds the thin light of dawn.
May God help us all to see our faults, show us the way to correct them, and empower us to do so.
Salams,
Ben R. (March 15th, 2008)
I read your supplementary in the New York Times and was very impressed by the stand that you take on relations between the "West" and the Middle East. For years I have attempted, in my own way, to dispel the myth that Muslims are somehow more violent than Christians. It is a complete fallacy. However, the statement "Westerners are more violent than Arabs" is misled, for a number of reasons. First of all, it assumes you can make a prediction about a man's actions based solely on his race. In fact, race is one of the greatest cons of all time put forth by man.
The idea of "race" is one that was developed by "civilized" man in an attempt to distinguish himself from other men. But as intelligent individuals we should know that the melanin content of one's skin is not an accurate measure of any difference other than appearance. The term "race" has been used to justify some of the cruelest and sickest acts in human history. All genocides begin by dehumanizing the oppressed. The Tutsi were "cockroaches" and the Jews "animals". It is psychologically necessary for the perpetrators of genocide to believe that they are not actually murdering; they are simply doing the work of God. And why? Because another individual has a tan? And while your thesis is well meaning, it unfortunately gives way to the assumption that man is not a unified species, but separate groups that constantly fight for supremacy.
I would love to be able to discuss this issue with you, although I know you are a very busy man and probably have no time for someone liek me. I do approve of the work that you do, and it reminds me of a quote by another author, Chinua Achebe: "Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." Please continue to do good work. Hopefully through the work of individuals such as yourself, we may be able to improve the human condition.
Prof. Edward G. (March 14th, 2008)
Dear Dr. Todenhöfer,
Thank you for your very thoughtful essay. I am in large agreement with it. One slight critique: your quotation from the Gospel of Matthew is ripped out of context, as giving the impression that Jesus was speaking of physical violence--and approving of it. Yet the very next few verses make clear he is speaking metaphorically about the sword: as dividing families in terms of their belief in his message or not. When it came to actual swords, as you know, he told Peter to put his aside, saying that anyone who lives by it will die by it.
Your criticism of Luther, of the Crusaders, etc., etc. is entirely apt and just. But they perverted the initial Christian message, which was wholly non-violent. It is wrong to give any other impression.
I hope you will correct this, for it unnecessarily weakens your main argument--which is just. Certainly, Christians have a very, very, very great deal to be ashamed of across their history, and specifically in relation to the Islamic world. But shame over Jesus advocating violence is NOT part of it.
Alexandr S. (March 14th, 2008)
Dr. Todenhofer,
Your piece in the New York Times today was incredible. Absolutely essential knowledge for these times. I hope this can initiate a long awaited conversation.
Paul D. (March 14th, 2008)
Dear Dr. Todenhofer,
I read with great interest your two page advertisement/article in todays New York Times....
Over many years, I have come to understand, as you so eloquently state in your article, the reality of how the religion of Islam, and Muslims as a community have been treated by Western powers like my own nation of America. Sadly, I see everyday first-hand the ignorance with which my government and, consequently my fellow citizens. treat and speak about Islam and Muslims.
Your article in today's New York Times is one that is long overdue. I am not certain how many of the Times readers will take the time to read it but my hope is that many will and consider what you have to say. My own experience, having many Muslim friends, is that it will speak to people's hearts and cause them to consider their own pre-conceived notions about Islam, Muslims, and the manner in which Muslims have been treated over the centuries. I also hope that it will inspire my Muslim friends to speak out even more boldly against every form of extremism and to reclaim the proper understanding of their religion and its rich heritage.
Best wishes to you in your work.
Peace and Light