AuthorRichard Reno

March 8, 2018

Trump’s Jerusalem move won’t help the cause of peace

By Richard Reno
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08March

Originally Published in the Washington Observer on December 9th, 2017 For decades the Israel-Palestine question has a been a divisive issue that sometimes seems impossible to solve. Many U.S. presidents have attempted to broker peace agreements between the two sides with limited progress. Progress on the issue has been at a standstill for many years and with President Trump’s announcement to...

March 8, 2018

Law Abiding Gun Owners Under Attack – In the same manner law abiding Muslims are constantly attacked

By Richard Reno
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Originally Published in the Sky Valley Chronicle on March 4th, 2018 America needs to change the way we respond to tragedy and increase our dialogue. We have become far too cynical and it has become a roadblock to any type of progress. There was a strong reaction last week when National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch commented at the conservative CPAC conference saying, “many in legacy...

June 9, 2017

My View: Portland stood up to hatred then and now

By Richard Reno
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09June

Originally Published: Portland Tribune (Tuesday, 06 June 2017 ) The horrific attack on May 26 that resulted in the death of two people and injuries for another as they tried to protect two young women from a man’s racist tirade is shocking. In today’s divisive political climate, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes, each of which is both saddening as a human...

May 29, 2017

Murders not a Reflection of Portland

By Richard Reno
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29May

Originally Published in OnFaith on May 29th, 2017      The week following September 11th was a sad and tense time for us at the Portland Rizwan Mosque. Not only had we experienced the same shock and horror from the attacks as any other American, but we also had the fear of retaliatory attacks that might occur at our mosque or against community members. The initial response wasn’t nearly as bad as...

May 14, 2017

The United States and Middle-Eastern Arms Trade, A Closer Look

By Richard Reno
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14May

Originally Published in Patheos  We’ve all seen the tragic images of children killed or injured in the Syrian civil war. An estimated 55,000 children have been killed in the fighting. This is among the hundreds of thousands total casualties of civilian deaths. Less known are the thousands that have died in the conflicts taking place in Yemen, Iraq, and Libya. The war in Yemen between the Sunni...

January 18, 2017

Religious Freedom in Islam: A Permanent Principle

By Richard Reno
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18January

Originally Published in OnFaith “There is no compulsion in religion” (Qur’an 2:257)      Throughout the dark ages and the periods before this, Europe was very intolerant toward religious differences. The Puritans faced persecution in England and consequently migrated to the Americas to seek out religious freedom. However, this did not immediately lead to religious freedom across North America. In...

January 17, 2016

Muhammad and the Christians

By Richard Reno
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17January

Originally Published in The Beliefnet We recently held an interfaith event at our mosque in Seattle, during which, an audience member asked, “Muhammad killed anyone who did not convert to Islam, why did he teach his followers to kill Christians?”  With the atrocities committed against Christians by terrorists such as Daesh (also known as ISIS) and other terror groups claiming to commit their...

December 30, 2015

2015: The year when ‘banning’ a religion went mainstream in the US

By Richard Reno
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30December

Originally published in Patheos  One of the most prominent stories of 2015 has been the circus of the Donald Trump campaign.  It seems Donald Trump will say just about anything to be the center of attention and has been more than willing to cross any line when it comes to violating the American ideal of religious freedom.  We have seen an escalating pattern of anti-Muslim rhetoric from Trump and...

March 8, 2013

FRANCIS: Pray for interfaith peace and understanding

By Richard Reno
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08March

Originally Published in The News Tribune I want to congratulate the Catholic Church and Pope Francis on his election to the office of pope. I pray that he can bring about interfaith peace and understanding through his leadership. As a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, we understand the importance of leadership and its role in bringing about peace between the various faith communities...