Last night I spent quite a while writing this post, as usual I took a break publishing to remove myself from it, and allow for any additional editing if needed, when I returned to do my editing, the post had gone missing, and I still haven't found it. Tom, who is a conspiracy theorist, thinks the government took it. If any of you run into it let me know, it was quite a bit better than what I have come up with today. On the left side of the homepage of the blog you will see some links I put in under the heading only two more days. They are articles and blogs I found interesting Yesterday.
I had initially decided that I was not going to comment on 9/11 or on the controversy in connection with the burning of the Quran and the building of the Islamic Cultural Center or Mosque or whatever you want to call it near Ground Zero. I didn't think I had anything to add, and I probably don't, but a few things kept nagging me. The thing that made me decide to write about 9/11, Pastor Jones, and the Cultural Center anyway was when a student made a comment that made me stop dead in my tracks Thursday night. We were just beginning our last hour of instruction when a high school freshman sat down at my table. After sitting down he said "Only two more days!". I thought that perhaps he was referring to an upcoming birthday or other exciting event a 14 year old looks forward to. Nothing was further from my mind than the answer I got when I asked him what was going to happen in two days, he said "It is the burning of the Quran day". My chin dropped, and in order for me to save the situation and prevent a discussion, the only response I could give him was "Religion and Politics have no place at this table, so please do not mention this issue again!". The expression of horror on my face must have been so obvious that this student, who usually takes pride in seeing how far he can push me before I crack and raise my voice at him (for those of you who don't know, one of Sylvan's policies is that it is never necessary to raise your voice at a child), actually got quiet and said "Yeah, I really don't agree with it either, I was just kidding".
Was he kidding? I don't know, I hope he was, but the comment was obviously not taken from out of the blue, this young man had heard it made somewhere, and obviously thought it appropriate to repeat in a semi public setting. The comment made me reflect on quite a few issues both in connection with the anniversary of 9/11, but also in how we are living in a society driven by ignorance and fear.
As of now, the burning of the Quran, is canceled, I am not sure what Pastor Jones's motives for the cancellation are, I can only guess, but I am sure he at some point will proclaim himself some kind of hero. He will probably not waste any time telling the world how he took the high road by canceling the burning. Deep inside I think we all know that the Muslim Cultural Center will not be moved, and frankly I don't think it should be moved. I know that some of you may be outraged about what I just wrote, and that is fine. You are entitled to being angry with me, you have a first amendment right to, but before you stop reading, and write me off as an unpatriotic, insensitive atheist supporting the enemy, please consider what I have to say.
First of all, I am not unpatriotic, quite the opposite, the Muslim community is entitled to build their Cultural Center wherever they want because of their constitutional right to free religion, how would you like it if I told you that you couldn't put your church at the end of my street because half way down my street a Christian extremist hit me in my car on purpose because he didn't like my lifestyle?. Should a few extremists allow for an entire population to be hated and feared? Think about it!!! Could a better location have been chosen, or could more communication have taken place before deciding on where to build the Mosque, absolutely, but I do not think the location was chosen as a way to provoke unrest between Christians and Muslims. Imam Rauf (the Imam behind the center) even said in an interview with Soledad O'Brien, that had he known the controversy this would create he would have reconsidered the location, or at least tried to negotiate an acceptable solution for all parties.
Am I an insensitive atheist supporting the enemy, absolutely not! As most of you know I have been on a quest lately to figure out what this Christianity thing is, and whether or not it has any truth to it. I have learned a lot, and have to some extent accepted that there may be a God, and that Jesus Christ may be his son, at least something is stirring out there. No I am not an atheist supporting the enemy, I just don't want history to repeat itself, and judging other people is not my job but God's. I encourage you all to follow this link, and read John Blake's blog posting on the burning of holy books, I could not have written it better myself http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/10/would-muslim-burn-the-bible/
This actually brings me to the core or my main reason for deciding to write the post even though I really didn't want to. Right now we live in a world run by a sensationalist media always looking for the next big story, along with a lot of people more than willing to provide it. The only thing I think we are getting from this is a society of scared, gullible, and ignorant people. Yeah I am calling us gullible and ignorant. Most of us have received our religious education through Sunday school in our respective churches, and lets face it, how likely is Sunday school at the Lutheran church down on the corner to introduce it's children to Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism....? We are not being taught in school because of the separation of church and state, and a bunch of fools not wanting their children exposed to any religion at all. We are all left to either believe what we see on TV or to make ourselves study these other religions in order to understand them, and determine if they really are as evil as we think they are. How many of you have felt compelled to stop by the religion section at the library and browse through all the different books on religion?
It is easy to believe everything you see on TV, and for some reason I think that we, as people are conditioned to think that the louder a person yells, the more right he/she is. Pastor Jones is one of the people who yells really loud, his church has about 50 members, and he has managed to get coverage all over the world. He has managed to make people believe that it is OK to burn the Quran because..., well why did he make us believe that it is OK? I think that was forgotten somewhere in the shuffle because we were to busy listening to Glenn Beck comparing the burning of the Quran with the construction of the Islamic Cultural Center. We can't forget that we also had to determine whether or not having Bristol Palin on Dancing with the Stars was a good idea, and if Snooki or whatever the obnoxious chubby person using up oxygen and taking up valuable airspace on TV is called should have painted her nails pink or green.
We my dears, have become a nation of complacent, ignorant, scared, gullible people, suffering from a severe case of group think. I think it is time for all of us in the "middle" to stand up and ask these extremists to STOP in the name of humanity. We do not want to live in a state of constant fear, we do not want our high school freshmen to think that it is cool to be excited about the planned destruction of a holy book. We need to stand up for our future, we need to set an example for our teenagers and show them that intolerance and ignorance is unacceptable. We need to raise educated children, who are capable of questioning what they see and hear, we need to let them know that Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, and Glenn Beck are the very loud minority, there is a middle, a middle in which we can at least attempt to communicate. If after reviewing as much of the information as possible people still agree with Sharpton or Beck, then so be it, at least an educated decision was made.
Appropriately enough, Tom and I watched the movie Good Night and Good Luck last night, this world needs more Edward R Murrow's, and I will quote his last lines from the movie, and hope that we will all open our eyes to what is going on:
"To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporters opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are
right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends.
Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck."
Contact email keepinghopejourney@gmail.com
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