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Buddhists Taking a Stand Against Islamaphobia
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
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
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Comments
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.
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.
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 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.
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.