Download January 29, 2014 Attention: Bob Pettit, General Manager, WCBM

January 29, 2014
Attention: Bob Pettit, General Manager, WCBM Talk Radio AM 680
Dear Mr. Pettit,
We are writing to express grave concern that your radio station WCBM, has decided to
re-post a derogatory and factually incorrect article authored by blogger Audrey
Russo entitled "Islam: The Only Religion That Tells Everyone on Earth What To Do."
The broad sweeping generalizations in this article collectively paint Muslims in the
United States as unwelcome, unpatriotic Americans who are unwilling and unable to
coexist with individuals of diverse faiths and ethnicities.
These allegations are offensive and blatantly false. The vast majority of Muslims who
reside in the United States respect the beliefs of our non-Muslim neighbors, friends, and
peers. They are law-abiding, contributing members of society who are proud to call this
country home.
Many Muslims have honorably served in the armed forces of the United States. My own
cousin lost her life serving our country. The insensitive insinuations in this article make
a mockery of their commitment, sacrifice, and service.
Many American Muslims have risked, and continue to risk, their lives to aid Americans
of diverse faiths and ethnicities who have been afflicted by natural disasters like
Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. The author of this piece callously trivializes their
selflessness and heroism.
In fact, Muslims coexist peacefully - and have for centuries - in many Muslim-majority
countries. Political strife that leads to turmoil must be attributed to individual
perpetrators, not to an entire faith.
The author states, "Where ever Islam goes, everything goes Islam." She clearly has
failed to take into account that religion is not a disposable undergarment that is
discarded, but rather it is comprised of principles and beliefs that are incorporated into
one's way of life. What she obviously fails to grasp is that Islam is a religion of peace not an intolerant culture - that has brought friendship, harmony, and patience into the
lives of millions of Americans and people all over the world.
Russo depicts in her article the ideology of Islam as "a totalitarian system cloaked in the
Burqa of religion." She claims it invades and conquers and that its sole purpose is "to
convert by force or by numbers." She then goes on to state "[Muslims] come to a
country and isolate their community..because the Quran demands they do not mix with
infidels."
Proselytization exists to some degree in almost all major religions, but the Qur'an clearly
states that there can not be compulsion in religion. Does the presence of Christian
missionaries in Africa mean that Christianity is "invading and conquering to convert by
force or by numbers?"
Islam places great emphasis on the rights of a neighbor, regardless of his or her faith. By
making accusations that Muslims in American deliberately isolate themselves from nonMuslims because Islam forbids "mixing with infidels," what Russo fails to factor in her
piece is the challenges immigrants in any setting face as they struggle to acclimate to a
different environment. She claims Muslims "isolate their communities," but did not stop
or care to think that perhaps cultural and language barriers serve as impediments - not
only for Muslims but for also other ethnic minorities who arrived in the United States
and colorfully dotted the map of the United States with Chinatowns and Little Italy's
from coast to coast.
The problem with such articles is that they present a biased, myopic perspective that
fails to take into consideration key tenets of Islam; Instead, they doggedly confuse
cultural norms and human drawbacks and shortcomings with the core principles of one
of the largest and fastest-growing religions in the world.
An effective, ethical blogger conducts his/her research and refrains from biased attacks
that spread hatred and intolerance. It is highly ironic and hypocritical that in this post,
Russo accuses American Muslims of being hostile, intolerant and unfriendly, when she
herself has dedicated the entire piece to expressing her own intolerance and vitriolic
hatred against us.
The question posed to you Mr. Pettit, is: Are the views expressed in Russo's piece in line
with the views of your talk radio show?
I sincerely hope not, and respectfully request that you immediately remove this blog post
from WCBM AM 680's website.
Sincerely,
Zainab Chaudry
Council on American Islamic Relations, Maryland Chapter