Australians’ Amazingly Compassionate Response To Horrific Religious Extremism

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by Jack Jenkins
Posted on December 15, 2014 at 9:48 am
Updated: December 15, 2014 at 2:02 pm

As Australia continues to grapple with a violent hostage-taker in Sydney who claims affiliation with the militant group ISIS, local Muslims and non-Muslims are working together to condemn the gunman as unrepresentative of the greater Australian Islamic community.

Sunday evening, a gunman calling himself “The Brother” stormed a Sydney cafe and took several hostages, beginning an ongoing siege with local law enforcement and making several demands — including that officials bring him the black flag of ISIS, an infamously violent jihadist group in Iraq and Syria also known as the Islamic State. Within hours of the incident, however, a coalition of 50 Muslim organizations quickly released a statement condemning the militant’s actions and urging their fellow Australians not to conflate the attack with all of Islam.

“We reject any attempt to take the innocent life of any human being, or to instill fear and terror into their hearts,” the letter read. “Any such despicable act only serves to play into the agendas of those who seek to destroy the goodwill of the people of Australia and to further damage, and ridicule the religion of Islam, and Australian Muslims throughout this country.”

“We remind everyone that the Arabic inscription on the black flag is not representative of a political statement, but reaffirms a testimony of faith that has been misappropriated by misguided individuals that represent no one but themselves,” the letter added.

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/12/15/3603590/australian-muslims-hostage-taker-amazing-response/