LETTER: You can't compare Christians to ISIS on violence

Steve Odom, Contributed

Mike Osborne's fallacious tu quoque argument says nothing pertinent re: my critique of NOW's avoiding of the issue of the horrendous treatment of women and girls by the Islamic State specifically and Islamic countries in general.

Mr. Osborne is welcome to the position of defending the thugs of ISIS by deflecting my criticism with his accusations and defamations of my congregation and our community in his letter to the editor ("Christians also share in mistreatment of women" Oct. 25 DNJ).

Letter to the editor

I wouldn't want to be in that position. Especially since the facts are that this community has a Shelter for Abused Women and their families, and laws against it and law enforcement and a judicial system that work diligently to mitigate the crimes, unlike Raqqa or any community controlled by ISIS. The comparison he makes is just silly and a distraction from the larger question.

Of course some women are mistreated here, but it's not what is taught and encouraged, not even in the most extreme of denominations. Churches in Murfreesboro (and around the country) spend all kinds of money and volunteer time and effort in supporting our local Domestic Violence Shelter. The church I serve provides meals every month for them, as well as donating food and supplies and toiletries and allowing them to meet in our facilities for legal advice.

Mr. Osborne's "moral equivalence" argument that none of it has anything to do with different cultures and religions is just misinformed. The ignorance of saying that "his ire should be directed at his own congregation" is matched only by his effrontery in assuming that I and my congregation are hypocrites who need to remove "the beam from our own eye."

Steve Odom


LETTER: Christians also share in mistreatment of women

Odom: Women’s rights activists turn a blind eye to Islam