Religion’s something everyone has an opinion about and something that stirs arguments every time it’s mentioned. With many different religions, much ignorance regarding them, and fights erupting around them, should our country be a truly Godless country? Have we gotten to the point where we are scared to even mention God no matter the language?

Lately, Grand Junction has been a Mecca for religious controversy. As many of you have heard, a student attending Grand Junction High School dropped his extracurricular choir activity after an Islamic song was put on the roster. The Choir is a volunteer choir and therefore, student participation wasn’t required. But rather than sit idle during the song, this student decided to stir the pot and go to the media. He told KREX his basis for doing so was because “I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a public high school to be singing an Islamic worship song. This is worshipping another God.”

This is the religious ignorance I was talking about. Muslims don’t pray to a different God than Christians. Imam Ali from the Northeast Denver Islamic Center visited CMU last week and touched lightly on the subject. Ali said Muslims pray to the same god that Jesus prayed to and that Allah is only the Arabic word for “God.”

I know this may be hard for a lot of you to grasp, but most religions pray to the same god. They may do it in different ways, have some difference in ideals and even have a different name, but basically, all religions are here for the same purpose: to give us hope and help us to be better people.

I am not saying it is this kid’s fault for not knowing Muslims pray to the same god, but it is his fault for spreading this ignorance. Before being so quick to pass judgment and share our irrationalities, we should try to educate ourselves and free our minds of hate.

I feel that everyone looks up to and respects something in this life, whether it is the universe itself, God, or just the energy that surrounds us. To me, all of these are one and the same. They’re just looked at through a different lens and go by a different name. It should not matter if someone prays to Allah or the universe. The only thing that should is that they do not pass judgment onto others. No matter what your views are, stand aside and let other’s be heard. You never know, their thinking might not be that far from your own.