Religious Extremism: 'The Billion-Dollar Question'

September 8, 2007

Author: David A. Brensilver

Source: The Day

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=1a2ba608-32d1-4d5c-8f84-6691e7d07984

SHAREDA HOSEIN HAS BEEN afraid to wear both of her uniforms.

“Within my Muslim community,” she said, “I get more grief than I do in my military community.”

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hosein has experienced rude treatment at restaurants and shopping malls, and has been told that members of the military and the Muslim community might both be suspicious of her.

Still, Hosein said, her military uniform earned her more respect.

A first-year chaplain at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Hosein spoke to government majors Friday at the Coast Guard Academy. Questions from the students, who are enrolled in a semester-long course covering the history, philosophy and theology of Islam, focused on extremism.