Letter: I am confused

I have lived and worked with Muslims in Indonesia for a large part of my life (and I am an old guy). I have come to respect them because I find them at peace with themselves and their faith, and happy to live in a multi-faith environment.

They lead good moral family lives, dress modestly, pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, and will do the Haj pilgrimage if they get the chance. So who are these guys, who want to break peoples heads open with stones for committing adultery?

Wanting to smash and destroy everything that is not like them? Who would consider me their enemy because of my skin color and my faith? Are they really members of the same religion as all the good Muslim people I know? It cannot be! I refuse to believe it.

They seem so alien to the culture here; more akin to the fascist skinheads in Europe, or Mao's communist red guard; thugs indulging their violent, xenophobic tendencies towards political ends, inspired by the simplicity of bigotry.

Roger A.
Tangerang, Banten