I recently attended David Silverstein's lecture about Christian persecution in Islamic countries and its relationship to terrorism. Christian persecution occurs in many countries such as Egypt, but important information was neglected. Many anti-terrorism measures and immigration practices aid in the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians as well as people from all faiths. A Coptic Christian escaped persecution in Egypt with torture scars and fled to the United States more than four years ago. Rather than receiving relief from persecution, my friend has been in Immigration and Naturalization Service detention centers since his arrival in 1997. His mother lives in Pennsylvania and when I drove her to see her son in a New York-area center, a non-Christian immigrant provided food for us after that visit. A month later, that immigrant was assaulted on the highway for wearing a turban, as his daughter watched.

I have visited countless individuals in INS detention. I saw the results of Christian persecution in INS detention, but I also saw Muslims and others stripped of their dignity, and this September, I comforted a friend who endured a religiously motivated hate crime on a New Jersey highway.

Islam is not responsible for persecution, intolerance is. I'm a Christian who has had my life enriched through relationships with Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and immigrants of various backgrounds. The very real persecution of Middle Eastern Christians doesn't justify policies and behaviors that deny rights to Muslims or people of any faith. We are all responsible for promoting tolerance.