Mark Stroman, a white supremacist living in Texas, went on a killing spree in October of 2001, just after the September 11 attacks. Stroman claimed that his sister was killed in the 9/11 attacks, although it is unclear whether this was true. What is known is that Stroman visited three convenience stores and shot three clerks before he was captured. Two of Stroman's victims are dead. A third victim, Rais Bhuiyan, was blinded by Stroman's attack.
Mr. Bhuiyan is angry. Not at Stroman, but at the State of Texas for sentencing Stroman to die by lethal injection. Mr. Bhuiyan has forgiven Stroman and seeks to reconcile with him. Mr. Bhuiyan has filed a lawsuit against Texas to stop the government from executing Stroman.
Mr. Bhuiyan is a muslim, and he states that he forgives Stroman because he was raised with the religious principle that he should forgive others easily, to become a better person,
Stroman must really be confused by this. After all, he shot Mr. Bhuiyan simply because Bhuiyan was a muslim. Yet it is Bhuiyan's religious beliefs that have led him to try to save Stroman's life from execution.
Hopefully Mr. Stroman and others like him take some lessons from this tragedy. You can't judge a book by it's cover. Intolerance of race and religion make the world less safe and a worse place for all. Maybe Mr. Stroman will learn something about his victim's religion, perhaps he would find that the basic tenets are like his own. Then he will see that killing for the sake of religion is among the most senseless of crimes.