In 2011, the rise of the rebellion against Syria’s totalitarian government began. The battle between the State and its people quickly evolved into one of mass warfare. While most of the casualties belong to those of the rebels, there is another victim – the innocent bystanders. The result has been more than 200,000 innocent deaths of civilians as a result of the rebels and drone strikes. In an effort to try to avoid an untimely demise, citizens of Syria are fleeing by the millions and are trying to seek refuge in other countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming amount of refugees, countries such as these are refusing to take them. 

President Barack Obama has pledged to receive 10,000 Syrian refugees, but due to the steadily increasing amount of ISIS attacks, many politicians are opposed to resettling the asylum seekers here. The question then remains, is the refusal to accept Syrian refugees justified? Personally, I answer with a most emphatic no.

The three main voices of the disapproval to accept Syrian refugees stand as Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Chris Christie. What’s most perplexing about the opposition is that they are only adamant in refusing Muslim Syrian refugees. Cruz, for example, is vehement in professing his beliefs that only Christian Syrian refugees ought to be accepted and the Muslim Syrian refugees ought to be rejected. Christie and Trump share the same sentiment in saying that Muslim Syrian refugees should be rejected also. Senators and Governors across 31 states in America share the same thought process to some degree that Muslim Syrian refugees should not be brought into America. Their reasoning? Muslims are much more dangerous than Christians since the terror group ISIS subscribes to the Islamic religion. It’s an assumption that is very deeply rooted in religious discrimination and thus so is wrong.

There are two reasons why the refusal to accept Syrian Refugees, specifically Muslim refugees, should be rejected. The first is very obvious – ISIS and Islam are not related. Yes, while ISIS claims to be a group dedicated to Islam, the very basis of their organization goes against the principles of that religion. Those who are Islamic are not supposed to terrorize or kill those who are not soldiers in war, only kill in self-defense and spread a principle of peace – all of which ISIS has explicitly violated. Since ISIS clearly goes against the basis of Islam, they cannot be representative of the Muslim community, thus all assumptions that the Muslim Syrian refugees would be inherently violent are false. Since that assumption has been clarified, any further opposition to accepting Syrian refugees, regardless of religion, would be extremely ignorant, harmful and irresponsible. The Syrian citizens are facing the risk of death on a day-to-day basis due to terrorism or careless air strikes and while Congress deliberates whether we should accept them or not, they face another day of hell. To remain dormant in the midst of this crisis is to directly send the Syrians to their death – it is disgusting, to say the very least. 

In order to solve this issue, the answer is pretty simple – educate the public. Where we are now is that the public, as well as politicians, are rooted in the idea that ISIS and Islam are synonymous. Out of fear and ignorance, it breeds an environment of deceit in which harmful assumptions are made. If we educate the uneducated on how ISIS and Islam are not related and that the Syrians are facing imminent death every moment, they will be much more receptive to receiving these refugees and thus will be the result. If we have the capacity to receive them, and we do, we ought to at the very least should resettle the Syrian refugees in America to aid in avoiding their deaths.