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Progressive News & Views (since 1982)
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Religion Drives World Tension
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
This is the quote I was looking for about facts and the way we see things.
Some of us can be looking at exactly the same thing or hear exactly the
same report in the news and yet we see those things differently and we
hear the news differently. Even when you witness something you can have a
different perspective.
As an example of this I draw your attention to the discussion this morning
on Meet the Press. Those who watched it know the discussion was about
religion, a topic which is on everyone's mind - and some much of time -
but even for those who do not think about it, it is relevant since 9/11
even if we would like it not to be -- and it is being discussed more
often. I am very aware of the dangers inherent in Islam not just because
of the tension with Israel but because of the so-called war against
terrorism and the excuses for which we went into Iraq, etc.
On Meet the Press they were discussing certain aspects of religion and a
professor Yeyyed Hossein Nasr, who is a Muslim, explained what Muslims
mean by the word, "infidel."
He said the West has a different interpretation of the word infidel. For
us it means "unbeliever" but for Muslims it means something else. Besides
that western meaning, it also means anyone who rejects the Islamic truth
so everyone who is not a Muslim is to the Islamists an infidel. There is
no mistaking that interpretation of the word. If you are a Christian you
are an infidel. As a Jew I am an infidel. As an atheist Jew I am still an
infidel. There is no difference. If I was a Muslim I might still be an
infidel if I wasn't a Muslim who believes the way another Muslim believes.
To Shi'ites the Sunnis are likely infidels unless you are a moderate
Muslim and I do not believe there are many of those. There are plenty of
moderates per se, so do not want war, who want to live with everyone, but
if they are Muslims they believe in the words in the Qur'an because those
are the true words of Allah (through Gabriel) and directly from the mouth
of Muhammad.
Professor Nasr was splitting hairs. It was obvious he wanted to put the
best face on Islam, the way a professor and a politician minces words. He
said westerners are considered "infidels" because of the history of
colonialization, because of the British and now the Americans and
Europeans and their support for dictatorships in Islamic countries.
Somehow it is being interpreted that dictatorships supported by the West
are changing the Islamic world, making it over in the image of those in
the West which is an attack on them by our infidel values. Therefore, the
upheaval in the Islamic world today isn't really their fault. It is a
reaction to this onslaught of infidel values.
What if we stopped buying their oil? What would professor Nasr say then?
And the Muslim countries became poorer than they already are in spite of
their _unwanted_ dictatorships which I don't see the Muslim world rising
up to overthrow because of foreign support, i.e. money they get from the
West.
He says there is a struggle going on in the Muslim world to redefine
itself. I hope so. But it won't work until they reject what it says in the
Qur'an. He says there would not be so much concern about the Muslim world
if it wasn't so large, if it was like Buddhism for example, an example he
gave. He says that we are wrong when we assume the Muslims hate the West.
I don't think they hate the west either. I think many of them like our
television sets and our science and movies.
It comes down to religions driving the tensions (and terrorism) which
exist in the world. It is not just the Muslim world where there is
tension. George Bush is a fundamentalist with an extreme world view and
vision for it and we should not forget that. I think the holiday
Christians are celebrating today and all religion does nothing for the
real needs of society if civilization is to make any progress at all.
Hank Roth
http://pnews.org/
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