wfn.org | Basic points about Arabs, Muslims

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 12, 2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{384}

NOTE: This is a sidebar to UMNS story # 383.

By United Methodist News Service*

With Osama bin Laden emerging as a leading suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks on America, understanding some key points about Islam and the Middle
East becomes increasingly important.

Muslims are followers of Islam, one of the three Abrahamic faiths, along
with Christianity and Judaism. Islam has members around the world and, like
Christianity, most of its members are peaceful, law-abiding citizens who
worship a God of love. Also like Christianity, it has a relatively small
number of militant extremists. 

The largest Islamic country in the world is Indonesia, notes the Rev. Bruce
Robbins, top staff executive of the United Methodist Commission on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns. "It's very important to realize that not
all Muslims are Arabic."

Arabs are a Semitic people most highly concentrated in the Middle East but
also extending beyond that region. They have influenced the development of
Western and Eastern civilization profoundly throughout history, in diverse
areas such as the sciences and the arts. Not all Arabs are Muslims, just as
not all European Americans or African Americans are Christians.

"The recognition of the way the United States is becoming increasingly
diverse and multi-religious requires us to do all that we can to learn about
each other's faith traditions and not stereotype and make assumptions based
on the actions of a few terrorists or violent people," Robbins said.
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United Methodist News Service
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