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Washington DC: October 15, 2010. Mr. Jeffrey Imm, Founder of Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) RealHumanRights.com who is campaigning for “Love” in American society with Slogan “Love Wins not Hate” have commented on article “How to End Homegrown Terrorism in West? By Nazir S Bhatti;
Mr. Imm writes that Dr. Nazir Bhatti - I must respectfully disagree with your prescription thus far on this topic.
As you point out in your article, "I must recall those days in Pakistan when brotherhood and tolerance prevailed in every field of life. There were open dialogues on religions among youths of Muslims and Christians but non of them were attacking each other on any sort of criticism. The Sunni was not killing Shia or Christian nor gunmen were throwing hand grenades on worshipers in Mosques or Churches. There was no concept of Terrorism in Islam nor terms of extremism or radical Islam were common in Pakistani Society."
If such terrorism is inherent in Islam and the Qur'an, then why would this period of brotherhood and tolerance prevailed, or why was there "no concept of Terrorism in Islam," etc., as you state?
As you know, I firmly disagree with the Cairo Declaration and the OIC's open challenge to the UDHR. I agree that any theocratic declaration of human rights that makes human rights solely dependent on a singular religious perspective is an open rejection of the very concept of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However, as you are no doubt aware, I question if the approach of challenging Islam itself will be productive either in combating terrorism or in gaining human rights for our oppressed Christian brothers and sisters.
I believe we must challenge our Muslim brothers and sisters to promote change and to respect human rights. I see that you have been critical of interfaith efforts, but we have seen with our eyes Muslims condemning violence against Christians in Pakistan and elsewhere. Isn't this a productive path that we want to continue to pursue? I know that I have stood with Muslim Americans speaking on hate and violence against Christians, against women, and against people of all identity groups.
I do not believe that we can do that by challenging Islam as a monolithic ideology, but by interfaith efforts to help our Muslim brothers and sisters understand the suffering that such anti-human rights views impose on Christians. I think there are a growing number of Muslims who do see this. Furthermore, any changes to Islam must come from Muslims.
We have the unquestionable facts of the suffering of our Christian brothers and sisters on our side. I don't believe it is productive to challenging Islam as a monolithic ideology without diversity, especially in the current environment in America today.
Perhaps recent events in America may make more Muslim Americans sensitive to what such discrimination against Christians in Pakistan is like, and we may gain more understanding. I would think that this is a direction that we would want to leverage on behalf of our Christian brothers and sisters in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world.
I urge you to consider this.
A fellow believer in Jesus Christ,
Jeffrey Imm
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"Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" By Nazir S Bhatti
On demand of our readers, I have decided to release E-Book version of "Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" on website of PCP which can also be viewed on website of Pakistan Christian Congress www.pakistanchristiancongress.org . You can read chapter wise by clicking tab on left handside of PDF format of E-Book.







