Just a rant.

I am gently amused/annoyed that whenever something in the news cycle makes white people scared of Islam, my Muslim father suddenly has a lot of speaking engagements advising church groups how not all Muslims want to kill everyone.

It's always some group of Presbyterians or something, and they're always so proud of themselves for reaching out to Muslims by asking my poor father the same stupid questions over and over again. There's also often an uptick in interviews with the local news or newspaper. "Look, a Muslim, and he doesn't have claws or fangs or a bomb or anything! He's black and speaks Spanish and drives an SUV!"

It's also the only time anyone at the fairly conservative masjid in town calls him looking for help (there's been a growing split in the Muslim community here between conservatives and liberals. Which I think is great! I mean, the community is growing large enough to support two different masjids, there's no reason to smoosh everyone together. Not even in Albuquerque is Islam a monolith).

My father is happy to do these things, and in fact sees it as his duty as a Muslim. I however, find it annoying. Which is probably part of the whole being an atheist thing. I don't suffer foolishness very gladly.