An Empathetic View of Western Fears Over Religious Orthodoxy

Iman Kurdi, writing for Arab News, has written one of the most intellectually cohesive thought-pieces on burqas, minarets and other iconic identifiers of religion — in this case Islam — that I remember reading.

Kurdi’s point of view is reasoned, culturally sensitive on all sides, calm and articulate. The last point of his article although true, is troubling, because I know in my heart and probably my mind, too, that Iman Kurdi is correct.

via Flickr’s 7abo0ob el Emarat - An Emirati IdentityAfter displaying an open mind in explaining why the secular societies in Europe and America have banned public displays of religiosity — remember that America has fights every Christmas over public manager scenes — Iman Kurdi says:

There is undoubtedly a growing paranoia against Muslims and Islam as a religion. There are aspects of Islam or of the way it is practiced in certain countries that are unpalatable to Western thinking. If you listen carefully, the message you hear is not that Muslims are not welcome, but that a perceived movement toward a more radical form of Islam is ringing alarm bells. The problem is that by voting in such laws you achieve the exact opposite effect and create the very tension that can lead to radicalization. via Arab News

Admittedly, I understand Islam as little as I understand the actual science of global warming.I know what I read, yet I do dig deeply into these issues.

In my writing at Anne of Carversville, I believe — correctly or not — that the goal of Islam in Western countries is to change laws over time, so that we are no longer secular societies but ones governed by, and submitting to, religious principles.

Forgetting for a moment that most Americans and Europeans support the separation of church and state, the practical implications of this alleged-on-my-part goal of Islam are challenging and make me fearful.

The major religions of the world have demonstrated little historical ability to share turf and work together in societies dominated by religious laws and submission to that religion’s particular God. Correctly or not, I also perceive that total obedience to Allah, and not the expression of any human free will or free thought, is a key component of Islam.

Beyond my fears of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism for all people — not only on American soil — is a strong intellectual fear of losing our minds to Islam. Perhaps because Westerners know so little about the religion, and what we read is typically about terrorism, we misunderstand concepts of free will and independent thinking in Islam.

Everything I’ve read so far stresses “obedience” and humility in Islam.

Rightly or wrongly, I believe that allegiance to Islam is higher than allegiance to any national government or set of political principles.

We have enough challenges in America, having abandoned most intellectual thought to kneejerk soundbites and screaming sign wavers of every persuasion, alongside our roads and highways.

This moment the Catholic Church tries to dictate health care in America, as elected officials say that their allegiance to Catholicism is a moral obligation more important than 35-year-old decisions of our Supreme Court or the basic principles of separation of church and state embedded in our Constitution.

America’s current inability to have any substantial thought and conversation in Congress, in our media and online terrifies me. This lack of quality public discourse in the US has nothing to do with Islam.

However, layering in an entire new set of Muslim demands for sharia, minarets and burqas makes me feel we are losing the desire for allegiance to America, France or Switzerland, and replacing it with the higher obligation to different religions and their respective Gods.

Historically, the world’s religions have sought to destroy each other, and they still do. Do I have this wrong?

Returning to my starting point, I truly appreciate the tone and message of Iman Kurdi’s Minaret message to Muslims in Europe. If only we could repeat this thoughtful dialogue around the world, perhaps we could keep ourselves from self-destructing.

Instead the loudest voices embrace a fiery vision of a giant religious poker game playoff.

The “true believers” are rejoicing in the beauty and glory of destruction, and the rest of us are shaking in horror and anguish over what we have done to ourselves and Mother Earth — all in the name of honoring the Almighty One. 

I’d say the odds are currently 60/40 against the future of civilization. Ironcially, I believe that religious zealots, not the heathen ones or big business, will bring down Mother Earth.

This view explains my perceived xenophobia on burqas, minarets and sharia laws, the Vatican and West Bank settlements. I haven’t the smallest confidence that new arguments about religous transcendency in public life will take us to a better place for the planet and its people.

This view doesn’t minimize the importance of spirituality and importance of private religious belief in one’s life or as a behavior guide among those whose heart and mind don’t give them a clear sense of right and wrong.

Personally, I never found ethical terrain to be so difficult to deduce and interpret, but we live in complicated times.  Anne

Update on Sun, December 13, 2009 by Anne

Swiss businessman defiantly bilds minaret to protest back LA Times

- Swiss businessman Guillaume Morand has built a minaret atop the chimney of his office.

- Morand joins prominent Jewish leaders and the Vatican in condemning the referendum.

- Club Helvetique, a group of over 20 Swiss intellectuals, hopes to introduce a new initiative for voters to undo the ban on miniarets. via The Independent

- The American Anti-Defamation League has also released a statement condemning the vote.