#50 Coexist

For a long time, the “Coexist” bumper stickers have been popular. They are a cry to the world for peace & tolerance.  Each letter stands for something: C = Islam, O = peace, E = genders, X = Judaism, I = Pagan Wicca, S + Taoism/Buddhism/Confucianism, and T = Christianity. And some of these bumper stickers are written in rainbow letters to include the LGBTQ+ community. Now, at a first glance, once would think this is a noble statement, but not everyone thinks of it that way.

Once, I made the mistake of clicking on the comments section of a Facebook picture that said “You can’t coexist with people who want to kill you,” and the C for Islam was separated from the other letters. By the way, NEVER read the comments. I have never read so many awful, racist, religionist, & outrageously evil comments on a social media thread in my life. And, you guessed it, they were all directed toward Muslims. Not only does it grind my gears when people judge all Muslims by the actions of the extremist groups, but I hate it when people are closed-minded on any issue that really should be given some thought & perspective. So for anyone who agrees with what this picture says, I want to explain what “coexist” means.

First, when we say we wish everyone would coexist, we are speaking about normal people who are NOT killers & terrorists, who simply have different beliefs & values. We are talking about people who hold different religious views or who lack religious views (excluding extremists.) We are talking about people with different genders, gender identities, & sexual orientations. We are talking about people with different abilities & disabilities. We are talking about people with different opinions & life perspectives, as well as people from different political parties. We are talking about people of every single race in the world. We understand that we can’t just be a door mat or sitting duck for people who want to kill us. No one thinks we should just bend over for terrorists. That just doesn’t make any sense.

Second, this is also a cry TO the terrorists out there, whether they are an Islamic extremist group like Al Qaeda or a Christian terrorist like Timothy McVeigh. We are begging all of the people in the world, including evil ones, to stop what they’re doing and come together. We know this will never happen. This is a terrible world with a lot of terrible people, and even among generally good people, we are still all human & make mistakes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to promote love, compassion, peace, & tolerance in the world. We can at least dream of a Utopia where everyone lives in harmony, and we can most certainly advertise that this is the stance we take – to love our neighbors, regardless of religion (or lack thereof,) political party, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, race, or disability.

Last, I’d like so speak about how astonishing it is that this hatred always seems to be directed toward Muslims. I get that, ever since 9/11/2001, many Americans haven’t thought too highly of Muslims. I understand that it all comes from fear – fear for our lives, for our loved ones, & for the future of our country. I get it. But one thing you have to realize is that terrorists have no religion. They are extremists hiding behind the name of whichever religion they claim to be apart of. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and less than 0.01% of this population is apart of an extremist regime, such as Al Qaeda. Those are a lot of Muslims being persecuted for the actions of others, whose beliefs they don’t even come close to sharing! Islam is typically a very peaceful religion. A lot of people will argue that Muslims perpetuate deplorable beliefs, such as the idea that women are inferior to men. Yes, it is true that some Muslim cultures believe this, but not all of them do. Might I remind you that a lot of Christians believe the man should be above the woman in a household. The Christian Bible has a lot to say about men being above women. A lot of people will tell you that all Muslims have to be evil, because their religious books, the Quran & Hadith, call for murder. Well, might I remind you that the Christian Bible also calls for murder in the Old Testament. Yes, the Old Testament is invalid after Jesus’s death, but the point is, at some point in time, the Christian God called for murder, and it was written in the Christian holy book, just like it was written in the Quran & Hadith. Just like most Christians don’t commit murder in the name of the Bible, most Muslims don’t commit murder in the name of the Quran & Hadith. Some people are going to feed off of your fear of being bombed by a terrorist by citing the most recent mass terrorist attack on this country, and they will push their Muslim-hating agenda on you. Just remember to check facts & statistics before allowing hatred for other human beings fester in your heart. Also remember to never let fear drive you into become a hateful, irrational human being. And remember, while it’s way easier to fear someone who is different from you, it’s more rational to fear the real threat. And anyone who pays attention to terrorism in this country will tell you that the white man (meaning domestic terrorism) is way more of a threat to this country than any external terrorist group. Whether it’s a school shooting or a church bombing, throughout this country’s history, white men have been the ones to wreak the most havoc on their own people. This happens outrageously more often than external terrorism.

So remember, all we’re asking is that people at least try to understand others & live peacefully among others with different lifestyles & beliefs. Yes, there are extremists out there, and we won’t take them sitting down. But as for the rest of us, we can at least try to accept each other & live in peace together.

The famous/infamous coexist bumper sticker.

Haha, I couldn't help it. For those of you who watch South Park, you know that this is the episode where all the religious figures come together and work together to save the world. It's a really funny episode.

I like how this one is rainbow-colored to include sexuality.

Coexist gone wrong. This is what lots of Americans are trying to do - leave out the Muslims.

If you look up online how Middle Easterners have taken the 9/11/2001 attacks, you'll see they are ashamed that people of their religion did that to other people, and that they look down on them for it. The majority of Muslims are good people, just as the majority of most races, religions, and ethnic groups are.

The majority of terrorism in America is domestic terrorism - committed by white males, often Christians.