Islam

Today in class we started on the Islamic religion. I think about how we all view Islam and how our view has changed so drastically since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I think it's a shame that a lot of Amerians look down on Islam and view Middle Eastern people as terrorists. Just because of a few bad people that claimed to defend or represent a certain religion, lots of people had to get hurt and lots of people had to get the finger pointed at them. Is it the people that is at fault or is it the Islamic religion's teaching that is to blame? I want to be able to discern this as we start on the Islamic religion, especially the aspects of Jihad since this is apparently what the terrorists say a lot in the media, or at least that's what the media says a lot. Anyways, I really hope to have a better understanding of the Islamic religion, as well as it's culture. This will enable me to avoid being a close-minded person living in the box called Arkansas and embrace everyone in the world's diversity in order to be truly American.