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Buddhists Taking a Stand Against Islamaphobia

edited August 2012 in Buddhism Today
http://buddhistletteronislamophobia.wordpress.com/

This Open Letter comes to us via Joshua Eaton, a journalist writing about Buddhism, religion and politics, poverty, and the American South. He is also a Tibetan translator. Also, Rev. Danny Fisher, a professor and Coordinator of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Department at University of the West, collaborated on it in key ways. (http://joshuaeaton.net ; http://dannyfisher.org )

The letter is motivated by recent news reports, as well as a long-standing, deep-rooted sense of social justice. This being Ramadan — if not now, when? Those who wish can add their name through the custom form, via a blue button at the top of the website. Please pass it along as you might see fit. Thank you.

Maitri

Comments

  • the Buddhist Channel devoted intensive daily coverage to Burma’s Saffron Revolution, from a range of sources, including some exclusive, all of which is archived there in perpetuity. Today they have posted a strong open letter to the monks, as top story
  • Andrew Lam has written a strong op-ed in New America Media, In Buddhist Myanmar, Monks Gone Wild. It is generating backlash in its comments. Meanwhile, since the Open Letter was written and posted, Human Rights Watch has labelled the actions in Burma "atrocities."
  • It is good that the focus of this missive is beyond North America's shores. That is where it belongs. In North America, Muslims are left to themselves for worship and cultural traditions with a peaceful coexistence in society the fruit. That some Muslim groups have been watched aggressively by law enforcement can be understood at some level. This sort of thing has its day and is gone...I think soon.
    I do object to North America and Europe being lumped together however. In Europe , one sees Muslim ghettos, riots, discriminatory legal maneuvering like the head covering ban, and in general , a large disgruntled Muslim population. We have none of this here.
    Perhaps the author and signers of this document wish to soften their expression by generalizing before focusing their attack as they do further in the letter.
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    It is good that the focus of this missive is beyond North America's shores. That is where it belongs. In North America, Muslims are left to themselves for worship and cultural traditions with a peaceful coexistence in society the fruit. That some Muslim groups have been watched aggressively by law enforcement can be understood at some level. This sort of thing has its day and is gone...I think soon.
    I do object to North America and Europe being lumped together however. In Europe , one sees Muslim ghettos, riots, discriminatory legal maneuvering like the head covering ban, and in general , a large disgruntled Muslim population. We have none of this here.
    Perhaps the author and signers of this document wish to soften their expression by generalizing before focusing their attack as they do further in the letter.
    I was interested to read your entry, above. I had an adult adopted son who was Pakistani Muslim, and as a result I got to know quite a few adult Muslims in the northern Virginia area just outside Washington. I was also a school principal, and we had a number of Muslim families in our school.

    There were a few mosques in northern Virginia, and no one paid much attention to them. In talking with my son's friends, there was a general attitude that Americans don't like us. But if you asked them to give you examples of things Americans did to show that dislike, rarely could they come up with any. Maybe a vague comment about they're not friendly to us. And I think, perhaps, they were mistaking freedom of speech and freedom of thought and freedom of religion with the idea that after you express your freedom of thought and speech and religion, that everyone will say well, isn't that wonderful.

    I did a bit of traveling throughout southern Thailand, which, once you get south of Surat Thani is majority (and in most areas vastly majority) Muslim. I remember visiting a Muslim fishing village and walking over to the small green mosque, which had a sign saying, "Non-Muslims may not enter, but you may give money." And in fact, as I traveled further and further south, it wasn't until I got all the way to Singapore before I found a mosque that was actually welcoming.

    At my school there was a tendency for the Muslim families to stay very to themselves. I did get invited to the post-Ramadan parties at the home of one of our embassy families from Malaysia...but that was more because I had spent time in Malaysia. In fact, as I was personally introduced to every other guest at the parties, I came to the conclusion that I was more the "guest star" (as the son's principal), than I was the true guest.

    So it just seems to me that there's a "you're don't understand us" attitude working against a "stay away from us" attitude. And one naturally follows the other.

  • cazcaz Veteran United Kingdom Veteran
    Of course Burma's actions are wrong monastics should not behave in such a way.
  • Ficus_religiosaFicus_religiosa Veteran
    edited August 2012
    It is good that the focus of this missive is beyond North America's shores. That is where it belongs. In North America, Muslims are left to themselves for worship and cultural traditions with a peaceful coexistence in society the fruit. That some Muslim groups have been watched aggressively by law enforcement can be understood at some level. This sort of thing has its day and is gone...I think soon.
    I do object to North America and Europe being lumped together however. In Europe , one sees Muslim ghettos, riots, discriminatory legal maneuvering like the head covering ban, and in general , a large disgruntled Muslim population. We have none of this here.
    Perhaps the author and signers of this document wish to soften their expression by generalizing before focusing their attack as they do further in the letter.
    What you describe here is primarily true for France, a country which afaik is the primary representative for European culture in the US, Germany coming in a close 2nd.
    European states are very different in both culture, religion and legislation. The level of integration in the EU is also vastly different, countries opting out whenever they don't like what's going on - usually changing with governments. The European Union is a great project in my opinion, but it's still very flawed because of the European peoples' quite different cultural and economic backgrounds.
    The differences are also why the EU is so needed, simply to prevent war. For some reason Europeans do have one thing in common: They are quick to fight.
    Luckily the last world war made some leaders rise to the occasion and take measures to economically and politically bind the countries together to prevent more violence.
    Until then, Europe had seen war erupt somewhere every 30 years or or less.

  • I had a lot of Muslim friends in college. Sweet, very generous people. But unfortunately, I gradually become estranged with them because of how conspiratoral they were. I had never really been around hateful people before and I myself am pretty accomodating to different strokes, but these young Muslims were rabidly anti-Semitic and superstitious about Jews in general. "They control everything, the media, the world..." and the whole nine yards.

    I shrugged this off as being pretty uncomfortable and deluded, and stayed friendly to them. I can speak Arabic at a pretty amateur level and was appalled when I saw online postings by these same sweet people saying things like "Mat al-yahood" ("Death to the Jews" and all sorts of otherwise sane people "like" these vile posts) That ended my relationship with all of these individuals.

    The difference between Islam and other religions is that it is inherently a political as well as religious enterprise. The "Ummah" or literal Muslim nation has no parrallel. Implementation of Sharia law over both Muslims and non-Muslims is a traditional injunction of the faith. Unforunately, wherever we see this implemented (as is happening in Egypt and Libya), we see the erosion of religious, gender, and political liberties. This theocrtaic law is inherently supremacist in nature.

    I think the word "Islamophobe" (a word coined by the Brotherhood affiliate ISNA) is a fraudulent one, as no one speaks of Jewphobia or Buddhaphobia. But then again, I don't think it's unreasonable for non-Muslims and women to have some rational fear of Sharia law.
  • not that it really alters your post, but antisemitism is indeed a word, and signifying something alas all-too prevalent. (cf. http://adl.org).
  • I don't disagree. But there is a difference between an "anti" position and being "phobic" of something. Phobia suggests an irrational fear. Islamophobia the word is used to pigeonhole people who often bring up legitimate concerns with treatment of women and homosexuals under Islamic law. That's why I don't like the word.
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited August 2012

    The difference between Islam and other religions is that it is inherently a political as well as religious enterprise. The "Ummah" or literal Muslim nation has no parrallel. Implementation of Sharia law over both Muslims and non-Muslims is a traditional injunction of the faith. Unforunately, wherever we see this implemented (as is happening in Egypt and Libya), we see the erosion of religious, gender, and political liberties. This theocrtaic law is inherently supremacist in nature.

    I think this is the real problem some people have with Islam. They can either accept or be tolerant of the Muslim faith, but not the fact that it's enforced also as law. I've actually heard people (here in America) talking about Muslims some day taking over the government and ruling by this law, taking away the religious freedoms that America has worked so hard for... though people who think so are more conspiracy theorists than anything else. It's a real fear though, even if it's not a realistic one. ;)
  • edited August 2012
    And the problem is that traditional Muslims as a rule wish to see Sharia law installed. Men like Anjem Choudary repeatedly say how Britain will become Islamic one day and that the White House will be an Islamic White House someday.

    It's not a fear worth entertaining in America, but in countries where the Muslim population is either rapidly expanding (as in some European countries) or radicalizing (Egypt, Libya), it is a very legitimate concern. Being a Hindu or Buddhist or a woman in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is a highly unpleasant experience. Jim Crow looks kind by comparison.

    I wish that instead of combatting the phantom of "Islamophobia," Buddhists would take a stand for women who are forcibly circumcised or married off and suffer under apartheid in virtually every Islamic country.
    RebeccaScaz
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