Fear and ignorance feed on each other, and when they are allowed to do so unchecked, they result in hatred and violence.
How many examples, from religious or secular history, do we need to confirm the truth of this statement? There are too many to list, and we all have our favorites on that list—usually involving the persecution of our own people: the early Christians, the pagans, the Protestants, the Anabaptists, the Huguenots, the Roman Catholics, the Armenians, the Jews, the Palestinians, the Tibetans, women, black people, gay and lesbian people...
Right now, in the United States and Europe, what we are most ignorant of and what we fear most is Islam. Is our Pakistani neighbor or that Algerian or Somalian stranger a terrorist? Is that woman wearing a hijab or a burqah a sign that our freedom to choose—from religion to the clothes we wear—is under threat? Do the mosques and Islamic centers appearing in “our” city landscapes mean “our civilization” is at risk?
It’s not just members of non-Muslim religions that are scared; secular people are, too. Why do we assume that certain people living in our free, democratic societies do not share those values? Because of their religion or dress? The people we are most suspicious of have come here precisely because of those values—because they value freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression, and because they appreciate—in many cases far better than we do--the safety afforded by a pluralistic culture undergirded with laws to protect minority rights and enforcement agencies that, though not wholly free from corruption or prejudice, can be challenged by legal means.
Who is the real threat to the United States and Europe today? Not the millions of American and European Muslims trying to live decent lives with their families and communities. The real enemy is us: xenophobic nationalists, fundamentalists of all stripes, smug rationalists, all of whom want the protections of a pluralistic democratic society for their way of life only, and who pre-judge everything they do not recognize as “theirs” to be impure, evil, or primitive.
When will nationalists wake up to the reality that we are living and have always lived in a global, human world that transcends race and motherlands or fatherlands? When will Christian and other fundamentalists remember that "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18)? When will rationalists acknowledge that faith is not by definition irrational or anti-rational, but a well-reasoned way of orienting oneself in the world for good?
When will we stop playing the righteous god punishing all who do not follow our ways? When we will start using our imaginations not to inflate our fears but our understanding of others? What would “Americans” or “Europeans” do if anyone burned a Christian Bible? The nation’s constitution or flag? What would they do if anyone vandalized their cemeteries? Fire-bombed their places of worship and social halls and schools? Attacked one of their people on the street? Publicized lies and words of hate about them on the Internet?
In fighting ignorance and fear of those who differ from us, let’s start listening to one another and learning about the other. Let’s talk to our neighbors, find out their history, their values, their hopes, their dreams. And, as we learn about one antoher, let’s take as our guide not only the values of a free, democratic society, but also these words of Rabbi Hillel: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is interpretation." (Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, 31a).
Very nice , comments. We as a people have short historical memories
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