Extremist Muslim teachings will produce more assassins

Extremist Muslim teachingswill produce more assassins
EDITOR:
Unrest in the Middle East is as old as time. The warrior prophet Mohammed tamed some of the unrest when he established Islam through conquest of much of the Arab region. Not long after his death, however, cracks appeared in the religious leadership of Islam, and fighting began again.
Muslims have invoked jihad, or holy war, on one another for centuries, and it is also used against all infidels -- any non-Muslims. It is taught that to die in holy war is a great honor and a guarantee of entry into heaven. In fact this is taught to children from the earliest age of comprehension by mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. When the children enter school, the curriculum includes more lessons of ethnic and religious hatred (a fact in Saudi Arabia and undoubtedly elsewhere), and suicide bombing is hailed as an ultimate achievement for any child. It becomes a mission for many, so deeply ingrained in the young Muslim's psyche that he or she sees no other purpose in life. Children are being born today who will receive this twisted education, which is actually an extremist corruption of a beautiful religion.
Don't look for an end of this violence in our lifetime. The word assassin derives from a suicidal Muslim cult that developed during the Crusades. It is being taught today to children who will fulfill their missions in life when they grow up.
DONALD K. ALLEN
Youngstown
There's nothing narrowin view that promotes life
EDITOR:
The editorial & quot;Taking the most narrow view hampers stem cell research, morning-after contraception & quot; (How We See It, May 12) disagrees with the recent Food and Drug Administration denial of the request by a for-profit drug distributor to sell its morning-after pill Plan B over the counter without a prescription.
Birth control pills require a physician's prescription. Plan B is essentially an "overdose" of birth control pills and has been associated with a heightened risk of ectopic pregnancy, a potentially fatal condition. Plan B is marketed and advertised as a contraceptive, but its own proponents admit that it works before and after conception. To place a potentially dangerous mega dose of abortifacient prescription drugs on the shelf next to the Band-Aids would be irresponsible.
The same editorial expresses displeasure with a 2001 executive order limiting the use of taxpayers' dollars for experiments involving the destruction of living human embryos. The writer seems unaware of, or unable to grasp the simple fact of science that human life begins with the union of egg and sperm.
One of the functions of government is to protect the life and rights of its citizens, especially those citizens least able to defend themselves. Prenatal life is not second-class life. Human dignity is inherent from the moment of conception, and is not acquired or determined by the narrow parameters of the circumstances of one's conception, or by one's age, birth, social status or race.
Interestingly, this promise of equality under the law embedded in the U.S. Constitution is also articulated in a guest column appearing on the same day by Rabbi Simeon Kolko ( & quot;Grasping the Brown decision & quot; How They See It, May 12, 2004 p. A7). In his reflection on the 1954 Supreme Court decision helping to end legalized racial inequality, Rabbi Kolko reflects on the inviolable rights and dignity of all people. He writes: & quot;The moral underpinning of Brown was, and continues to be, that each of us is created with inherent dignity and potential whose fulfillment it is the obligation of our collective social, economic and legal policies to promote and to flourish. & quot;
This same expansive truth applies to every person at every stage of life, including even the embryonic stage of life, when we are at our weakest and most defenseless. It is the antithesis of a & quot;narrow view. & quot;
MELINDA KNIGHT
Catholic Diocese of Youngstown
Office of Pro-Life Activities