Extremism hurts everyone

Submitted by Pro-Israeli Democrat (United States), May 23, 2006 at 00:44

Once again, thank you for your response. You have some of the most interesting and meaningful things to say. You are also the first person on this site not to ridicule me for opposing Bush Administration policies (regardless of any particular stance on Iraq or NSA, you treat my entries as legitimate). It is certainly refreshing to know that religion and scientific/social/technological progess are compatible under the right circumstances. You are right, for one cannot lump all members of a particular group and pigeonhole them. That, of course, IS what led to the systematic slaughter of the Jews. Certainly watching Pat Robertson call Ariel Sharon's stroke "a punishment from God" angered me greatly. I was already infuriated by his (and Falwell's) declaration of war against the rights of women and gays (and I am a strong advocate of both , although I am not gay. Nor am I a woman) and certainly got carried away in lumping all "evangelicals" into one group...my apologies.

Then again, America is a secular democracy, and in my opinion it must always remain as such and neither Falwell nor Robertson can be considered "moderate Christians", just as Hamas' "tehnocratic" premier Ismail Haniya, while "moderate" by Hamas' standards, is not a moderate Muslim (whereas UCLA's Khaled Abou-el Fadl, a Kuwaiti, is one, and should serve as a model for Muslims all over the world). Exposure to religious extremism, whether on TV or in person, hurts greatly. In the summer of 2002, I was unfortunate enough to have been exposed to it in person. I have met some Christians who were a little cooky, but most were/are lovely people. Same for the Jews I have known. I have only known five Muslims in my lifetime. Of these, three were Palestinians. There was also an Egyptian and an Iranian/Israeli...YES, an Iranian/Israeli (who opted to follow an extremely liberal interpretation of Shiite Islam...she never wore a hijab). With the exception of the Egyptian, all were fairly secular and he, too, has learned to adapt to American culture.

Surprisingly, my exposure to religious extremism that summer came from one of my own. As stated in earlier entries, I am Jewish by birth. In the summer of 2002, I was a counselor working with special needs students at a Jewish Communinity Center. At first I felt out of place, because most of my co-counselors were Orthodox. I am more or less an agnostic/ atheist (although I identify with Jewish culture, I am not a true believer and have not attended Hebrew school since the age of 7). Yet, I made friends with many of them. One of my co-counselors, however, really put me off. When he told me he was about to enlist in the Israeli Defense Forces in '03, I congratulated him. Here is his response:

"I want to kill Arabs."

When I asked him why he wanted to do that, he echoed Meir Kahane's statements, calling both Palestinian and Israeli Arabs "dogs" and saying that they should be expelled from the holy land. When I told him that my uncle (who was gay) had died from AIDS in 1995 (and as a result, I have a great deal of compassion for all who suffer from the disease, regardless of race, creed, age, sexual orientation, or geography), this co-counselor told me that God had punished my uncle for being "immoral". Never for one second did I believe this, and knew that if he had held on for another six months, he would have gained access to more advanced treatments, and would probably be with us today (albeit living with HIV for 20+ years). I was both shocked and saddened to learn that Jews like this actually existed. For some reason, I had thought we were exceptional...but we weren't.

Extremists can be found in all guises, and this co-counselor, a Jew no less, probably gave me some idea of what meeting a Saudi or Pakistani jihadist would be like. His God was not your God, the God of moderate Christians, Jews, and Muslims...a God of peace, compassion, and forgiveness. His was a God closer to that of Fred Phelps' or perhaps even Hassan Nasrallah's. If there is a God out there, I do believe that he is peaceful, compassionate, and forgiving. Yet, some (such as this co-counselor) see him as a being of fire and brimstone. I don't believe it, but perhaps it was THIS that turned me away from religion.

Moreover, to know that this co-counselor of mine was a Jew was exceptionally shocking for me. Jews (meaning all Jews) were supposed to be the voice of reason. This was NOT what my parents taught me, but rather what I thought I knew from watching TV. We had been victims: many, many times, only to respond with the creation of modern Israel, a secular democracy that is ruled by law, and not be decree. That, of course, is true...we HAVE handled our hardships very well, as both Jews and as citizens of the world.

Yet, I have since learned that Jewish extremism is far from unheard of...just look at Israel's far right; they want to turn the tiny democracy into a theocratic kingdom, whatever the cost (including blowing up the Dome of the Rock and, in one case, an attempt on an Arab girls' school...both of which result in Jews stooping to the level of Hamas or the Al-Aqsa Brigades...disgraceful). As a Christian, you can probably identify with this when hearing about Phelps picketing the funerals of American heroes who went to Iraq (whether you agree with the war or not is another matter altogether) so that folks like us did not have to...Most people I spoke to said, "Christians don't do that."

Extemism, whether it be on the part of Muslims, Jews, Christians, or Hindus, hurts everyone...and the first victims are those who practice the respective faith. This has become the story of the Muslims...hopefully, it will not afflict us Christians and Jews. My point is a reiteration of yours and that is that the key to making religion work within the context of secular society is moderation (which is also why the left and right-of center must unite against the extreme right, the wannabe Soviets, and the Islamists within the context of a "grand bargain" between both sides).

However, it is also a matter of acceptance and gratitude. That is, a cessation of attempts by the Falwells of the world to undermine secularism (and this is not a strike against evangelicals, but of some particularly desparate individuals...if you could call Falwell a "reconstructionist"). I sometimes think many Westerners (especially young ones like myself...I am only 22 and it wasnt until recently that I realized what a wonderful thing secularism is) forget what a privilege it is to live in societies in which church, synagogue, temple, and mosque are separate from politics. Lebanese, Iranians, Bosnians, Serbs, Croats, Sudanese, and countless others do not have this privilege. Americans, French, Britons, Israelis, Scots, Australians, and Canadians do. In a secular society, one has the option of believing or not believing. That may be life's greatest luxury of all. Let's make sure we retain it no matter what, come what may.

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