Crossposted at Sacred Space: Reflections from the religious left
Recently, I shared what I heard at an interfaith forum in Columbus. We had a Muslim woman (local pediatrician Asma Mobin-Uddin), a rabbi and a priest as speakers. Today, Tara at Blog for America posted about the Freedom and Faith rally
“You got your religion in my politics!”
“You got your politics in my religion!”How do faithful progressives deal with the intertwining aspects of religion and government?
And I was reminded of something from the question and answer part of that forum, which touched on why its imporant that we hear from moderate and progressive religious voices…
A man stood up and remarked on the fact that there was no one at the forum representing evangelical Christians, and then asked the panel how we can how we live and be open to others and respectful of others when we’ve got a president who believes his mission is to convert Catholics, Muslims, Jews, to his version of Christianity. The man went on to comment about Bush believing God told him to attack Iraq and told him to continue the occupation of Iraq. Lots of squirming in the audience at this point, because the discussion had turned so political.
The question was put to whoever wanted to answer it, but, as Asma said, “I looked to one side and the other and they’re both looking at me!”
She then added, “I don’t think our Founding Fathers wanted our country safe from religion, but safe for religion. Pluralism is to be respected and not smothered. The idea is not to keep religion out of the public square, but to keep it safe for whoever wants to do so to do so.”
By the way, as I was listening to all of this, I thought of many people I know on the internet, and kind of wished there had been more effort to add something about the freedom not to believe and not to practice any faith. But I figured this forum wasn’t trying to be all things to all people, and it was more focussed on people who do identify with a religion understanding each other’s faiths a little better. Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge that concern, but hopefully people find something worthwhile/illuminating here in spite of that.
Asma went on to tell the man who posed the question that she feels a little bit saddened and a little bit nervous about what I she sees happening in the United States. She compared it to Pakistan, where she visits for a couple weeks every two years. What has happened, according to Asma, is that the best and the brightest are funnelled into medicine, law, etc.–often Western educated and then returning to Pakistan to practice. But they have left the care of religion to the mullahs, who seem to be trained rather than educated. The “best and the brightest” were not being sent to the seminary.
Asma was very conscious of not wanting to sound classist as she related this, but she compared the mullahs to Bible Belt preachers. Their fathers were preachers, and they just tell you “this is how it is, don’t try to talk to me about Greek or Hebrew or what St. Thomas Aquinas said in such and such year.”
She added, “People believe, they have their faith, but they don’t get into religious discussions with the mullahs because you can only bang your head against a brick wall for so long and then you’re like ‘why do this?'”
So, like in America, the voices that speak the loudest are the ones that are heard, and because there is a sense of pointlessness as far as trying to engage people with such rigid beliefs in discussion, those voices remain the only ones heard. And she sees something similar happening in the United States:
“I’m saddened by that here, because I don’t think people realize how stifling it is for the community and for people of faith to have that kind of environment. And I think that’s the best way I can describe it–it’s just stifling.”
…..
As Asma pointed out, it certainly isn’t easy, but when moderate and progressive religious voices fail to challenge the extreme ones, we are quietly contributing to this sort of stifling environment.
Freedom AND Faith Rally, Nashville, August 14
