A dangerous and all-too-common paradigm in America, especially among those that share conservative ideologies, is that “all Muslims are terrorists,” or, if not extending quite that far, that all Muslims are somehow inferior or “wrong.” It’s just another symptom of the in-group/out-group psychology that drives most senseless conflict and bigotry. Unfortunately, that leads to abuses and negative stereotypes that aren’t true in any way. A mosque in Boston worked to help break the false “evil Muslim” stereotype by refusing to bury the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder of the two alleged (formality) Boston Marathon bombers.

Raw Story reported on the story, saying,

A Boston-area mosque has refused to bury the body of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the men allegedly behind the Boston Marathon bombing, his aunt tells NBC News. Patimat Suleimanova said that Tsarnaev’s body has been released to his family, who requested a funeral from their local mosque. She did not know which mosque it was, only that they refused.

Tsarnaev was known to at least one local Muslim leader for disrupting services, and in one instance loudly objecting to a devotional that held up Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a figure to emulate.

Examples like this are important because simple-minded folks will try to use opposite examples, such as the bombings or other incidents of Islamic-perpetrated terrorism, to show that all Muslims are radicalists. Peace is not won through destruction; continuing aggression toward the Islamic world will only drive mainstream Muslims to the fringe groups. Killing someone has the remarkable effect of angering those close to them and in their community.

It’s high time we, as a country, culture and people, moved toward peacefully resolving differences and away from antagonistic tactics and speech. Hatred isn’t going to solve anything at all.