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Oklahoma bombing reactions show distanced ideals

By Rev. Paul Dechant

We are a nation founded on ideals. Our Constitution and the Bill of Rights express our belief that every person deserves equal treatment in a court of law and in the arena of public opinion.

Here a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Here a person is guaranteed a fair hearing. Here there is the freedom and room for differing beliefs and opinions.

Recent events, especially those surrounding the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, reveal how far away from our ideals we are today.

No where is this more clearly evidenced than in the rush to scapegoat our Muslim sisters and brothers for the bombing. Mosques, Islamic Centers and individual Muslims (or those presumed to be Muslims) have received personal, written and telephone threats of all kinds.

Our news media was quick to pass on scurrilous connections linking the Oklahoma City bombing with the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. The tenor of the coverage switched significantly when the accused were revealed to be white American males rather than some "fanatics" from outside the borders of our country.

Voices are now heard defending or justifying the bombing. Such reactive racial or religious stereotyping or ideological responses display our need for a better educated public, especially about Islam and how narrow our thoughts have become.

We at the University Religious Conference at UCLA remain hopeful about our future. We call upon our elected and religious leaders to promote the unity of the human family and to foster tolerance as well as an appreciation of the diversity of our beliefs, lifestyles and cultures.

We call our news media to a stricter standard of fairness and accuracy in reporting. And we call upon the American people to examine where the path we are on will lead us.

The previous viewpoint was submitted by Dechant on behalf of the Board of Directors Executive Committee of the University Religious Conference at UCLA.

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