Comments about Obama and Islam worse than Obama's own comments

“You always become the thing you fight [hate] the most,” wrote Carl Jung, and the Feb. 8 Montana Perspectives apparently, perhaps inadvertently, set out to prove him right. The columns, opinions, and political cartoon that expressed a deep seated malice and disrespect for President Obama and Islam were, at least from my perspective, thinly veiled constructs of the very hate they were rebuking. 

During his talk at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama was not “denouncing Christianity” as mentioned in one column, nor was he saying that Christians are “evil” as the political cartoon indicated. What I heard was President Obama calling us to practice some religious humility, much like Jesus’ teaching that we must remove the beam from our own eye to be able to see evil clearly. 

And the long guest opinion on “Islamofascism” that informed us that Muslims “multiply like rabbits” and said about “Islamofascists” that we should “Understand them? No! Kill them? Yes!” failed to make clear that the misuse of religion historically and today, while an abomination, is not unique to Islam. The Koran and the Bible both contain verses of life and death. Hateful people will find hateful verses that confirm their view of the world. Loving people will find loving verses that call them to greater life. —Bob Muth Sr., Kalispell