Islamophobia doesn’t belong here
As a Christian, I believe that all people are worthy of love, respect, and dignity. So, when I hear that people right here in Washington County are being harassed with profane, hateful language, my heart breaks.
It may be naïve to say, but I believe we are all still capable of neighborly love, defined by mutual respect and compassion. The “nearly constant torrent of disrespectful comments” experienced by Mays Al Taweel and her husband, Yareeb, as reported in Sunday’s edition of the Observer-Reporter, is deplorable. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for subjecting the Al Taweel family to blatant harassment.
Is it really so hard to love people who practice a different religion, or dress differently, or were born somewhere else? They have as much right as everyone else does to live here without fear of harassment, or worse.
If anything does not belong here, it is attitudes of xenophobia or Islamophobia. We can do better than to treat each other this way, and we should do better.
The Rev. Erik Hoeke
Washington
Hoeke is a minister at Avery United Methodist Church in North Franklin Township.