Issue Paper: the Palace of Justice

The Palace of Justice: Martin Luther King

The Anatomy of Intolerance

Kambiz Ghanea Bassiri

The bigger issue: lack of general education about religions

The smaller issue: Facing Islamophobia in American public schools

Why Islamophobia?

Given that this division persists, even though the majority of Americans admit that they do not “have a good basic understanding of the teachings and beliefs of Islam,” it seems clear that attitudes towards Islam have less to do with the religion and its practitioners than it does with current events and media reports, which have indelibly associated Islam with violence in the American public square. (54)

(Look up: “Bands of Others?” Attitudes towards Muslims in Contemporary American Society.” The Journal of Politics  71:3 (July 2009), pp. 847-862)

Anti Muslim sentiments are the manufactured byproducts of the propaganda campaigns of a limited but influential number of Islamophobes.

While public opinion scholars and researches of Islamophobia agree that anti Muslim attitudes are on the rise and politically significant, there is no clear explanation of its basis. (56)

Consequently, both the media and the state reinforce through their actions, if not always by words, the association of Islam with violence that has ostracized a segment of the American population on the basis of religion.” (59)

“In the current climate of escalated religiously motivated violence since the terrible attacks of September 11, Muslim women in hijab (headscarf) are particularly vulnerable because, for many years, western media and literature have consistently portrayed covered women as the predominant image of Islam. As a result, Muslim women in headscarves and other Muslim style clothing are often the first and easiest targets of hate violence.” Donnell (2003: 123)

Teaching With Sensitivity:

“This animosity is reinforced by the notion propagated by some that Islam is “their” religion, not “ours.” Such views are untenable considering that over six million Americans profess faith in Islam, and Muslims comprise one of the largest religious groups in the United States.”

What can we do?

Interpreting their religion in line with national interest. (63)

To profess oneself a Buddhist, a Muslim, or anything but Protestant, Catholic or Jew, even when one’s Americanness is otherwise beyond question would imply being foreign. (64)

I’m a Mormon ad

make your religion relevant to the larger community

strengthen your own people-pretty much the only thing you can do at the grassroots level. Get involved with some of the bigger organizations maybe?

Sharia: moral code and religious law of a prophetic religion-the infallible law of God

Is Sharia like the law of Moses?

watch: Mistaken Identity, Sikh’s in America

“Look, 9/11 was a huge traumatic shock….but the Cold War is gone. All the theologies and ideologies that were going to supplant ours are gone. The communists, the fascists-get serious! The few authoritarian regimes that are left around are peanuts!….We can’t let terrorism suddenly become the substitute for Red China and the Soviet Union as our all encompassing enemy, this great Muslim extremist, monolithic thing from somewhere in Mauritania all the way through Muslim India. They’re all different. It’s not going to come together that way. (Secretary of State Colin Powell)

• “school districts might consider establishing some form of interfaith education committee to help define and develop a mutually acceptable format for teaching about religion in the classroom. Such a group should be comprised of open minded, enthusiastic and committed parents, teachers and administrators striving to enhance sensitivity and balance in the classroom.” (teaching with sensitivity, 55)
• avoid reductionism, open ended seeking not consensus but understanding and appreciation of the values that lead to different religious expressions, especially with the objective of breaking down stereotypes and of helping students to accept the internal validity of religious experiences other than their own.
• ie) organize for there to be a room for salah at school
• educate teachers on Ramadan and other cultural customs

defining terms:

Islamophobia: “emblematic expression of contemporary biopolitical racism” (Tyrer 2011)

The issues:

Islamic teenagers are being made fun of

people are prejudice against Islamic teenagers, particular those with hijab and burqa= “easiest targets of hate violence”

media reports and current events “indelibly associated Islam with violence in the American public square”

We are, thus, left with a media that, rather than providing explanations of the political realities of our time, reflects society’s understanding of Islam and violence and has created a looping effect that fuels Islamophobia. (Bassiri, 58)

“Muslim youth are seen as trapped by an anti modernity that is also inherently anti-Western and opposed to liberal, secular democacy; young males are inextricably associated with the spectre of radical Islam and fundamentalist militancy, and Muslim females are seen inherently oppressed by their religion and cultural traditions and in need of rescue by ‘the West.’ (Razack 2008)-from the far right to the mainstream

Preparing to write

What this paper should answer:

• Why are young adults fleeing religious services?
• What consequences does this have for young adults or the country in general?
• How might our particular congregation bring back youth?
• What are the more appealing alternatives to religion? When did this trend start and why?

Things to look up:

• CAIR
• interesting, in “Islamophobia and Dissent,” the author found that the hardships they had to face in a post 9/11 world strengthened the people, not weakened them or caused dissent.