Chicago Tribune: Portrayal of Islam

By Julianna Parlock, Intern, CAIR-Chicago

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0918vplettersbriefs5sep18,0,4836268.story

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I was disappointed that the letters you chose to run in response to your Aug. 22 editorial “The burquini ban” expressed an extremely inaccurate portrayal of Islam. Sharia actually condemns forced marriages and so-called “honor killings.” Furthermore, allowing a woman to dress in accordance with her faith would not “undermine core Western values,” as one letter writer wrote on Sept. 1. If anything, it exemplifies those values.

Another letter writer wrote that if Western women dress modestly when visiting a Muslim country, then a Muslim woman should be expected to abide by “our” Western ways (“Banning burquinis,” Voice of the People, Sept. 1).

This argument is inapplicable, as many Muslim women are in fact natives of the West, and not foreign visitors.

The Chicago Tribune should be a place for intellectual debate, and not bigotry and misinformation.

–Julianna Parlock, Highland, Ind.

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