what the world needs now is love (sweet love)

al salaam alaikum, readers! literally the day after i wrote about misconceptions of religion i ended up being involved in a press conference to announce the launch of the 'islam is peace' campaign which seeks to provide an open, transparent and honest source of information about who muslims actually are. none of this bigoted propaganda that the more extremist fraction like to broadcast, but a voice for the average everyday follower of the islamic teachings. not freaks or idiots or dangerous, but people who condemn the actions of those few.

about freckin' time, i say. a high profile campaign to help desist the mistrust of 2 million british citizens is long overdue. well done chaps.

my favourite sentiment of the press conference was spoken by dr. hany el banna OBE (president of islamic relief worldwide)... he said "this is not about defending islam or christianity or judaism or any other religion, religion is above us, god is above us." one of the major misconceptions of religion is that religious people are filled with contempt for anyone who follows a different set of teachings. it's thought that there is a hatred between them, even more than between believers and atheists. i guess that's understandable from the israel situation. but the whole world is not israel.
(israel is actually that tiny red dot in the middle of the map.)

doctor el banna's sentiment grounded the thought that this isn't the majority case. actually there is a huge respect between faiths, a constant dialog between faith leaders and even social integration in faith groups. shock horror. perhaps it's not about competing for god's attention, but understanding that people have been brought up in different cultures and learned to respect god in different ways. personally i think no religion is 100% right or wrong, what matters is that we understand there is something more powerful than us and accept that it might have an effect on how we live our lives.

what matters even more than that is being excellent to each other.

maybe i'm wrong and actually david icke has it sussed.

anyway, i applaud the work of the islam is peace organisers. and if you don't think you know everything about islam, you couldn't do much wrong by clicking on the logo and having a bit of a read.

i'm writing a lot about religion lately aren't i?
next week: HINDUISM! party on dudes.