SOLO-NZ Press Release:

Islam Awareness Week - The Silent Moderate Muslim Majority

The government-sponsored Islam Awareness Week launched yesterday with Ethnic Affairs Minister Chris Carter saying he was "welcoming moves by the local Muslim community to demystify their religion and customs." "Splendid, because there's something I'd like demystified: why haven't we heard a peep from the 36,000 New Zealand Muslims about the jihadists who are terrorising the world in their name?" asks SOLO New Zealand Coordinator Glenn Jameson.

"Notably, the words 'terrorist', 'jihad' and 'war' were absent in both the government's and FIANZ's press releases, and on the IAW website. If Islam truly is a religion of peace, surely this would be an opportune time to hear their umbrage manifest in a deafening condemnation of Islamic terrorism – if for nothing else, to make a distinction between themselves and their fundamentalist brethren," Jameson continues. "Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words ring as true today as they did 40 years ago, "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period... was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

"As devout Muslim Mahmoud Ahmadinejad moves inexorably toward arming himself with WMDs, I'd like to point to an MWD (mass weapon of destruction) that could wipe out the Islamic jihadists overnight: the roar of one billion Muslims crying, "Stop!" But it appears instead we can look forward to a week of Muslims celebrating "Unity in Diversity" and avoiding the ticking elephant in the room," Jameson concludes.

ends

© Scoop Media