Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an atheist. Many people think this defines her, but it is only part of her story. Ali is also an intelligent and textured individual, with a distinct and rich set of experiences and identities that shape her and her attitudes. Too often, atheists like Ali are viewed as one-dimensional. And even though she likely deals with people who do not recognize the complexity of her identity (including that she formerly identified as Muslim), she nonetheless fails to bring any depth to her Feb. 6 Newsweek article, "The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World."
In her article, Ali does identify a worrisome reality -- violence against Christians occurring in some Muslim-majority nations. This phenomenon needs to be named, publicized more widely than it has been and stopped. Unfortunately, the way she addresses the issue fuels identity-based division and, potentially, conflict. This is particularly troublesome because Ali's piece received substantial support in social and online media. People began picking sides, ignoring complex realities and facts.
Ali's analysis of the conflicts in Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran and Indonesia is brief, simple and borders on manipulative. Each of these countries is experiencing conflicts that have a range of contributing social, political, economic and cultural factors. Christians are being targeted, as are other groups, including diverse followers of Islam and indigenous peoples. There is nothing new here. Throughout history, members of minority groups, whether religious, racial, economic or otherwise, have been targeted during times of social and political instability.
To focus exclusively on one dimension -- violence against Christians -- misses the nuances and complexities at play, few of which are due to religious difference alone. However, it is only by providing a one-dimensional analysis that Ali can justify her thesis that there is a global war against Christians. Of the many lamentable armed conflicts around the world, she handpicks instances of violence against Christians and emphasizes factors that buttress her argument.
Ali blends this selective research with menacing generalizations and language. She argues, for example, that anti-Christian violence is, "a spontaneous expression of anti-Christian animus by Muslims that transcends cultures, regions, and ethnicities." Her inference? That the collective unconscious of the Muslim world is driving conflict against Christians. But, of course, we know this is not true. Similarly, her use of the word "Christophobia" is divisive, as is its predecessor "Islamaphobia." Phobias are an irrational and extreme fear of something. Hatred and violence based on a person's religious identity is qualitatively different. Indeed, anti-Christian violence and anti-Muslim hatred are more akin to anti-Semitism. Let's name the problem properly and then focus on solutions.
Concededly, Ali ends her piece with a few paragraphs that call for mutual respect and affirms that "tolerance is for everyone." However, this flies in the face of the rest of the article, which presents a "Them vs. Us" false binary. "Instead of falling for overblown tales of Western Islamophobia," she writes, "let's take a real stand against the Christophobia infecting the Muslim world." The paths to combating these prejudices are not mutually exclusive. We can -- and we should -- guard against hatred and discrimination in Western countries, and equally find ways to reduce marginalization and violence occurring in some Muslim-majority countries. We should condemn and combat religious prejudice wherever it is occurs.
People of all faiths and non-faiths experience religion-based hatred and violence across the globe. The issue at hand is not that Muslims are suddenly targeting Christians, but that majority groups in all regions must be educated to conduct themselves with respect for the rights of minority groups, particularly during times of stress.
Rather than paint the entire Muslim world with the broad brush of hate and as perpetrators of violence, we are better served by recognizing and supporting those in Muslim-majority countries and elsewhere, who draw on their faith to heal rifts in their societies. Multiple examples exist in Tanenbaum's own work. In Nigeria, Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa once led religious militias and tried to kill each other. Through personal transformation and trust building, these two former combatants became a team of peace builders that works in Nigeria and across Africa. Their Interfaith Mediation Centre is based in a hotspot of Muslim-Christian (mutual) violence -- Kaduna, Nigeria. Significantly, these men, two of my personal heroes, work for peace because of their religious convictions, not in spite of them.
In Iraq, the Rev. Canon Andrew White is an Anglican Priest working outside the Green Zone and under constant threat, as are his parishioners. However, Canon White works intimately with Muslim leaders in Iraq -- both Sunni and Shiite -- to stem violence that hurts both Muslim and Christian Iraqis. Last year, Canon White worked with senior Sunni Clerics, who issued a fatwa condemning violence against minority communities (i.e., Christians and Shiites in Iraq). According to Canon White, "After the fatwa, the killings stopped. It's crucial to remember that the vast majority of Muslims we work with, they are our friends. We can only do what we do with their help."
Indeed, in Pakistan, where Christians face state and societal discrimination, solutions to violence can come from within Islam. The International Center for Peace and Diplomacy and Pakistani-American peacemaker Azhar Hussain, for example, engage madrasa leaders in discussions about principles of Islam (like the Golden Rule), moving them to reflect on teaching curricula that values love and respect for the neighbor. The program has been effective in bringing interreligious understanding and human rights into formerly hostile classrooms.
I believe that one solution to violence that involves religious identity is to support and empower the work of religiously motivated peacemakers. Think of what our foreign aid dollars could achieve, if only they were used to scale up effective projects of committed religious individuals across the world. Isn't it time to heed Canon White's reminder that the vast majority of humanity are our friends, be they Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Taoist, Jain, animist, atheist or others?
Follow Joyce S. Dubensky on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TanenbaumCenter
Alan Dershowitz: Friends Seminary Plays Bait and Switch on Anti-Semitism
By the way, in the largest and so called moderate Islamic country Indonesia according to Pew Research in 2003 59% supported Bin Laden.
Armenian Genocide 650,000 - 1.5 million
Assyrian Genocide 270,000 - 750,000
Greek Genocide 350,000
afaik the first modern Genocides
"sn't it time to heed Canon White's reminder that the vast majority of humanity are our friends, be they Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Taoist, Jain, animist, atheist or others?"
Doesn't being "friends" people of those groups mean speaking up when they are silenced. Learn what's going on: http://www.peopleofshambhala.com
To say there are those is the Islamic world trying to help is charitable. Out of 1.5 billion maybe a few thousand preach tolerance.
Ask what happened to the Christian population that used to exist in Muslim countries? Ask the Copts, Palestinian Christians, Turkish Christians, Iraqi Christians and the rest. And oh yes, the Musliims are also intolerant of other sects and minorites.
It is a very simplistic view to say Muslims do not have a global war on Christianity.
Name one.
How? By Missionaries? Missionaries are illegal in most Muslim-majority countries.
Don't forget the ongoing jihad against Buddhists and Buddhism: http://seanrobsville.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-buddhists-and-pagans-need-to-know.html
But why be surprised with these human rights abuses in Islamic majority countries? Just imagine how much harsher life would be in today’s Christian, Buddhist, Hindu majority countries if their supreme examples were to act in similar fashion to mohammed. For example, what if Jesus had stoned several people to death, instead of saving them? What if Buddha had married a 6 year old child and started regular sexual intercourse when she was 9 years of age? What if Gandhi drove all foreigners from India? What if Jesus had issued orders for a special tax on non-believers, which they would pay “with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued”. These are just a few examples, but they start to shine a dim light on the Islamic ideology, which starts to explain why so many troubling behaviors coming out of Islamic majority communities.
That's what he was trying to do, friend.
This is the only logical solution, because everyone can claim to be a victim and every other person can claim that their situation is worse. Ms. Dubensky correctly identifies religious peacemakers as important keys to change.
Among the Muslims, the first peacemaker who comes to mind is Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Ahmadi-Muslims hold interfaith dialogues each year in order to open the doors of communication between all faiths. This year in Georgia, we had 4 speakers who each taught us something different about their faiths. This educational process prevents violence.
Ms. Dubensky, I hope you find an opportunity to get to know our community. Our motto is: Love for all, Hatred for None.
The Promised Messiah began these interfaith dialogues 100 years ago with the full understanding of their importance.
Let me add that I am impressed with your knowledge. You must know more than 90% of Americans.
The Promised Messiah had 100 companions, I believe. The Ahmadis have spread to the four corners of the earth and slowly they are making changes. Never discount the role God plays in it. I had such dreams that were magnified in color and sound that I felt compelled to become Muslim.
The caliph will, inshallah (God-willing), act as the best of bridges. He understands who is right and who is wrong in Islam. He is the perfect mediator. If his people are wrong, he does not hesitate to tell them so. He will bring justice and only then will we feel peace.
"Jerusalem Christians are latest targets in recent spate of 'price tag' attacks
Attack on Baptist Congregation marks the latest in series of attacks targeting Muslim, Christian and leftist institutions in Jerusalem over last two months."
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-christians-are-latest-targets-in-recent-spate-of-price-tag-attacks-1.413848
"Jerusalem monastery, Jewish-Arab school defaced in suspected 'price tag' attack"
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/jerusalem-monastery-jewish-arab-school-defaced-in-suspected-price-tag-attack-1.411533
For 30 years I have been waiting for the day when it is generally recognized and acknowledged that it is socially unacceptable in a civilized society for any person -- and especially for any political candidate -- to claim that their religion or race or nationality or sex is superior and should be predominant.
We are ONE family called humanity, living on ONE planet, in ONE world.
We should celebrate our diversity rather than allow anyone to let it produce conflict and divide us.
http://cjcmp.org
http://www.soundclick.com/ttap
The Koran was not transmitted orally for hundreds of years before it was written down. The OT was and the NT was written by people who never saw Jesus. They wrote what they felt were relevant parts of the stories they heard about him. Hundreds of years after the death of Jesus a council of men decided which of the story tellers should be incorporated in the Bible. Both the Koran and the Bible are now written down and are open to interpretation by all readers. Islam, like Christianity has many forms. It is also divided as Christians are. It has also committed atrocities as Christians did. The Muslims I know have one wife, are good fathers and good citizens who would not hurt anybody. And they are devout. It was the Dutch Christian Reformed Church which developed aperteid. AIPAC and evangelists compel America to support Israel no matter what Israel does. Religions create extremists.
True Islam does not "hate Christianity," as you say. That false idea has been spread by the "Christian Right" in America. But in fact, only about four percent of Muslims identify with the radical terrorists who claim to be Muslims.
During the lase sixteen centuries, far more atrocities have been committed by people claiming to be "Christians" than those claiming to be Muslims.
I recommend you read at least some of the articles at http://messenger.cjcmp.org and listen to the songs at http://www.soundclick.com/ttap
http://cjcmp.org and http://www.soundclick.com/ttap