Islamaphobia

Rabbi Brian Fox, above, listening to a reading of Islamic materials and Rehanna Ali, Wellington, NZ. Both Rehanna and Brian were presenters in the workshop addressing misconceptions about and fears of Islam.

Islamaphobia
This is one of the workshops that reflects the ICCJ desire to become more inclusive and appreciative of the other Abrahamic faith, Islam. Three speakers made the case for gaining a deeper understanding of Islam, overcoming mythology and misperceptions and recognizing the significance Islam. More importantly, they were concerned that we move away from the tendency to indict all of Islam because of the small segment of Islam that engages in terrorism. All three speakers made significant contributions, but the Muslim woman from New Zealand provided the most thorough overview of concerns about Islam. Following is a few comments from each of the speakers.

Rabbi Brian Fox, Menorah Synagogue, Manchester, England – The first speaker, Rabbi Fox, is from Australia, but now resides and serves in England. Racism, he says, is very limited in contemporary Australia. He experienced very little, if any racism or anti-semitism while in Australia. His experience is dramatically different in England where irrational hatred toward Muslims is widespread. There is great fear and hatred of Muslims everywhere because of the incidents of terrorism. But, it is important to recognize, he says, that 99% of Muslims have an equal, or even more intense revulsion toward terrorism. One problem, says Rabbi Fox, is the failure to recognize that while there may be sources in the Koran that are untenable, there is in the community what he calls the practice of interpretive fluidity toward the sacred texts. Reading of texts within the Halachia process is approached with the law of interpretative fluidity which allows an open interpretation of some texts that are initially untenable. We do not accord the same freedom of practice to Islam and problematic texts. We automatically assume the worst regarding texts that are problematic.

Only 1 – 2 percent of Islam is a problem. With the rest of Islam we must seek dialogue, and strive to reach and support the moderates.

Golam Dastagir - teaches world religions in a college in Bangladesh http://www.dastagir.info/ He is Sunni Muslim. Golam makes a number of distinctive points that are important to recall. Islam, Jews and Christians, he says, are all people of the book. The Koran is clear that non-Muslims are blessed by God. Terrorism is an abuse of the Koranic text. The Koran also gives the commandment not to kill. Likewise, many Muslims oppose the aggressive approach to the war on terror, feeling that it is an artificial war. More important is to break the cycle of violence. Terrorism and violence are not Islam, but specific Muslims that must be dealt with since terrorism does not lie in Islam but in the mind of the terrorist.

Rehanna Ali – a Muslim from Wellington, NZ. Her background is Fiji and Dutch (and something else, but did not get it written down). She is a specialist in Sharia law and British Common Law andhas a law degree from university in Britain. She is very impressive in her style of presentation. The term ‘Islamaphobia’ she says, was first coined in 1991 as part of the Runnymede Brief dealing with religious discrimination. (have to look it up!) Dealing with terrorism cannot accurately address the problem by simply indicting all of Islam. The term is too broad and too general encompassing potentially all of Islam. Think of the David Koresh event, for example. He was a conservative Christian, somewhat cultish, charismatic and fundamentalist. He was a Christian, but, it is not possible to indict all Christians who were anywhere in the vicinity of Waco. That is illogical thinking. But, if he had been Muslim, that likely would have happened as Koresh would have been identified as the archetype Muslim and his behavior would have been generalized to all of Islam. He was a Christian, so we don’t generalize the indictment.

Rehanna Ali also talked about how the news is event based, only reports the bad news, and when reporting good news, or interesting news, tends to report more on “people like us.” We tend not to get good news about good things or interesting things that are happening in Islam. “No news is good news” as we say. But, this is not the case with Islam, because we get too much bad news and it is never counter balanced by good news. SE Asia and Asia are the biggest populations of Muslims in the world. But, they are over there, and we don’t report much that is interesting globally, only the bad news.

Rehanna used an acronym for her discussion of misconceptions of Islam, the word INFIDEL.

I - Islam & Infidel – Islam is the victim of the Infidel syndrome. It is easy to demonize the infidel, the other people, religion etc

N -- news is the culprit as explained above

F – Islam is mostly foreign to the western world, the US, Britain etc. It is ‘over there’ and easy to write off and dismiss.

I - Integrity is a characteristic not attributable to Islam, at least by western standards and western culture.

D – Damned – Islam is identified by many as a bad faith, a cursed people. God has punished the people of Islam.

E – Enemy – and therefore, it is appropriate to demonize Islam, because it represents the enemy and it is more appropriate to be at war with the Muslim people.

L- Losers – Islam represents a failed civilization, a people and a culture that has lost its way. That is the allegation current in highminded discussions of Islam today, and especially as it is viewed in connection with terrorism.

Overall, this was an excellent set of presentations, very provocative and challenging, and helpful at putting Islam in a different light that we typically get from the current discussion.

There are lots of possibilites for further study and conversations about Islam. One item that I have found very engaging and helpful is the relatively new publication that I read on the way over. Vali Nasr provides a nice, accessible background on Islam, the history of Sunni and Shia camps, their distribution across the Middle East and how it all fits into the war in Iraq. Here is the book: The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future by Vali Nasr

Act of Public Repentance

Remember this simple but profound expression:
We recognize the Indigenous people, on whose land we stand.

Every speaker begins with this act of public repentance for the treatment of the aboriginal people through British colonialism. They were here first. It is their land. They are a proud people with much to offer in terms of their art and craft and religion and history and story. But, they suffer much as Native Americans do with high rates of dysfunction, alcoholism, abuse, unemployment etc. you know the story, I think. Despite that, many have risen above the mistreatment that took place over the decades and two centuries really. A number of our speakers are from that background.

But, importantly, the faith community has taken on the task of always bringing them to mind, of publically reminding all who are gathered that the Aboriginal were here first, and we are indebted to them for our mistreatment of them over the long years. This is a serious act of public repentance that is liturgical in nature, part of every gathering that takes place in the faith community, and elsewhere as well.

Web pages about the original inhabitants of Australia:
http://www.ozshots.com/aboriginals/
http://www.crystalinks.com/aboriginals.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians

Overview notes - Wednesday evening

There is much to report in terms of specific programs, ideas shared, presenters etc. But, for now, I will make a few random overview notes.

About the youth delegates--40 total ---they are a lot of fun, very engaged, asking great questions, 'hanging' with one another. This is a great model, giving scholarships to youth and young adults to attend an event such as this. They are Jewish, Christian and Muslim.

Lutherans are making a good showing here. Frank Sherman, retired from the Center for Christian - Jewish Understanding at Muhlenberg College did a fine workshop presentation on the ELCA's work on repudiating Luther's diatribe against the Jews. It was very well received and prompted a lot of conversation and further interest even outside the workshop. The feeling on the part of many delegates seems to be that Lutherans have made the most consistent effort to heal relations and work constructively on fostering good relations with the Jewish community. That is after the Roman Catholics, of course, who lead the way in this regard.

Islam - there are a number of delegates here from the Muslim community. Most impressive is Rehanna M Y Ali from Wellington, New Zealand. She stepped in at the last minute to fill in for a speaker who did not arrive and addressed very powerfully the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. She was bold, forthright and compassionate toward all concerned. Rehanna is a specialist in Sharia law and English common law having received her law degree in London.

Later she was one of 3 speakers on Islamaphobia. Amazing! I took extensive notes on her talk. She is matter of fact, straightforward and very well informed. She would be a great speaker in some place like Columbus, OH for addressing the issues, real and imagined around Islam. A lot of it is imagined, which she documents quite well. She draws from the Koran as one of the sources for her presentation.

Jewish delegates and the local Jewish community-- Many of the Jews here are forthrightly and unapologetically liberal and progressive in their outlook. There are quite a few Rabbis participating, especially from Aus and NZ. We visited The Great Synagogue, sort of the mother house of Judaism around here. It dates back to the 1800, located in downtown Sydney. Here is their web page http://www.greatsynagogue.org.au/. Jews have been in Australia since the 1700, and have done very well here, encountering little if any anti - semitism.

Final note for the moment - The ICCJ is meeting in Jerusalem next year, June 22 forward, 2008 and the topic will be the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. In preparation, they will be conducting an on-line forum designed to lay some foundations for conversation that will take place in Jerusalem. More possibilities for the Columbus conversations...........

Ok, one more final note - we were hosted last night at Sydney city chambers by the Lord Mayor. That is their term. He hosted very well, lots of hordouerves, wine, beer, orange juice....I actually ate my dinner there, discreetly so, of course.

Closing dinner tonight -Wednesday -- more to say later -- travelling to the Blue Mountains tomorrow, Thursday, which will be Wednesday evening for Ohio et al.

Opening program notes - Sunday evening

The opening ceremony is conducted by the Aboriginal dancers on whose land we find ourselves since they were the original inhabitants of this territory. They are dressed in traditional outfits, which means they are not wearing very much. Their presentation is very deliberate and rhythmic using sticks to create a slow beat. It is backed by a gutteral pipe sound that is created by one of the dancer - musicians.

The international president, Fr. John Pawlikowski is welcomed and he makes his opening remarks. He calls Australia a land of dreams and to gather here is the fulfillment of a dream. The Australian Council of Christians and Jews has a strong reputation of working together and setting a high standard for what we need to do as an international interfaith gathering. The ICCJ - Australia and New Zealand have a long history of working closely on relationships and program development.

Professor Bashir is the first woman Governor of NSWs. She is native Lebanese and a medical doctor, a specialist in psychiatry. She deals with problems facing society such as youth depression and adolescent health. She is also a violinist and is married to a former Rugby player. (More notes about Rugby elsewhere.) She is a very distinguished person who feels the importance of healing the earth through the collaboration of the interfaith community. She notes the work of religious groups on human rights. Christian and Jewish people have been committed to work for the betterment of life in Australia. But, colonialization has been very damaging to the indigenous people, the Aboriginals who have suffered especially because of the European pathogens that were brought as part of the colonization process.

Spirituality has been very important for looking at and addressing the lives of people who have suffered trauma such as the Holocaust, for example. In high school Prof. Bashir was in the company of many Holocaust survivors, an experience which impacted her and her outlook significantly. From that experience she recognized the need for the exercise of compassion being of critical importance for people who have suffered so. Her core message for the people gathered is the importance of compassion as a natural outcome of spirituality. That is a particular gift that the faith community can bring to the world today.

Dialogue and healing is a critical piece of what needs to be done, and this conference must carry on this tradition, as children of Abraham, we are charged with this task. With that, she declares that this 2007 conference of Christians and Jews is now open.


The head of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews notes, and welcomes the number of Muslims who are also here to participate and observe. They are welcomed enthusiastically.

There are delegates here from all around the world, 165 total, but that includes 40 youth - college age delegates from Aus and NZ who received scholarships. They are Jewish, Muslim and Christian, a very lively group. More about them later.

Mostly Fun and Interesting - Sydney, Australia July 7

well, I put myself on record as maintaining a blog while attending this conference. little did I know, the amount of work that goes into something like that, and the limited access to the internet that I would face. but, here goes, first entry from Sydney.


I arrived at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday, July 7 (which is Friday US time), not too tired because I managed to sleep reasonably well on this 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Sydney. It was dark when landing, but bright morning by the time I got thru passports, customs etc. and out the other side.

The first challenge was to figure our how to get where I needed to be, the hotel Vibe (vee-bee or vibe, depending on who you are talking too). I eventually got directions to the train or subway platform, and made my way into the city. $13.50 one way.

First Discovery: the Sydney public transport system is Excellent. Large, 3 decker train cars with up and down seating and a platform and sitting area on each end of the car is the basic mode of travel. It works very well.

Second discovery: A 10 minute walk down the hill from the train stop through a restaurant, sidewalk café area gets me to the bottom and the Vibe Rushcutter Hotel. Rushcutter is the bay behind the hotel. Quick discovery, this is Prime real estate because it is the home of the Sydney Yacht Club. I found a good deal, a boat that had been reduced in cost to $600,000! This is a beautiful area where sail boats ply the harbor all day long. Saturday and Sunday were perfect days for sailing and it was a sight to behold, a couple hundred sail boats moving along in unison on the water, the sun shinning down and reflecting brightly off the water.

Third Discovery – Saturday evening I had signed up for a sunset cruise with the Captain Cook cruise company. Ferries and tour boats go in and out of the Circular Quay all day long. For my sunset cruise I got a very nice window seat in the front of the ship, a meal of excellent salmon, potatoes, canapés, rolls, wine and lemon cheesecake dessert and an hour and a half cruise of the Sydney Harbor. http://www.sydney.com.au/quay.htm link to info about the harbor front, sydney etc.



More on the public transit system, to get to the Quay, I rode the bus across town, a great way to get a nice overview of the city. The buses are very nice, very clean, very efficient, and drivers very helpful in letting me know where to get off and how to navigate the system.

ON the NEWS - Fox News, all the time, although they do run American ABC and CBS news about midday. Little has been said about the influence of Rupert Murdoch down here, but I will be inquiring with my colleagues. Fox news all the time, but at least there is no hannity and colmes, no bill oreilly etc….

It is a great view from the top of this hotel where the pool and health club are located. You can see the harbor, the train trestle, and lots of highrise apartment – condominium complexes clustered all around the hillsides. The land mass here is quite uneven with hills rising up from the Rushcutter Harbor front and very steep streets and sidewalks and housing pushed very close together. The impression is of urban living at its best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushcutters_Bay,_New_South_Wales link to information about Rushcutters Bay, history, origin of name etc.





More about the news --- Prime Minister John Howard is doing damage control since he said that the primary reason for sending troops to Iraq was to help control the price of petrol. Big mistake, Australian soldiers risking their lives to keep the price down at the pumps!! Not good.

All sports all the time – Wimbledon, American golf and Rugby. I have only been vaguely aware of rugby until now. It is on all the time, reviews of games, who won who lost. Rugby is a good cross between soccer and American football with a little bit of wrestling thrown in. It looks like organized chaos and these guys are skilled and tough!! What a game to watch.

Final observation – it is winter here, equivalent to January for us. I have been wearing shorts in my city travels. It is a bit cool, but tolerable. However, many locals are going around all bundled up in sweaters and scarves.

One more observation – well two – lots of Japanese tourists here; and the hotel breakfast is excellent. That’s good because the food at the college where the conference is taking place is not good, it is about as bland as can be. I now have a new appreciation of food services at Trinity Lutheran Seminary!! Tell Diane her food services rate much higher than Shalom College in Sydney, Australia!

More to follow later about the conference itself..........................................

ICCJ Web pages

http://ccjaustralia.org/en/?item=458
Here is a link to the web page for the ICCJ of Australia. Specifically it is the Australian Council of Christians and Jews. The program schedule and a basic introduction is included on that page. There are also some nice photos of Sydney and of the university campus.

Here is the list of all of the sponsoring agencies of this annual conference. The International Council president is Dr. John Pawlikowski, Roman Catholic priest and professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. It is interesting to note that the key Christian sponsors are Roman Catholic and Anglican. There seems to be no evidence of other Protestant, or of Lutheran sponsorship. I'll report on that later, that is the level of involvement of Australian Protestants.

The Commonwealth of Australia
NSW Community Relations
The Pratt Foundation
The Gandel Trust
The Sisters of Sion
Brentcorp Trust
The Catholic Diocese of Sydney
The Anglican Diocese of Sydney
Inter-religious Coordinating Council of Israel

ICCJ - Sydney Blog July 8 - 12, 2007

Welcome to my report on the International Council of Christians and Jews meeting in Sydney, Australia July 8 - 12, 2007. The theme of this annual conference is Healing a Broken Earth: The Faiths Working Together. Of course, the title automatically brings to mind the Jewish expression Tikkun Olam, which is a call to repair the world, a good directive for Christians, as well as for Jews.

I arrive in Sydney on Saturday, July 7 and the program begins on Sunday afternoon. As it goes along, assuming that I have regular access to the internet, I will attempt to report regularly on the nature of our meetings and workshops, as well as share some of my observations and insights gained from my participation. I also hope to include some photos of activities and locales in Sydney. So, stay tuned!