Sunday, March 4, 2012

“EXTREMISTS EVERYWHERE? MAYBE MODERATES TOO?”

I've been troubled for a long time by the seemingly overwhelming number of religious extremists in the world. And I've ranted for years about the media's too-frequent connection of the words "Muslim" and "extremist" in their reporting of events in the Middle East. Seldom do they seem to report about Muslims without connecting to extremism somehow.

Well, here's a change for the better. On Christmas Day 2011, the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE reported on Muslim families who celebrate Christmas. In his article, "Muslims Who Celebrate Christmas" (San Francisco CHRONICLE, December 25, 2011, p. C9) author, Raja Abdulrahim, tells of several families who view Christmas as a "happy time," or a "fun holiday," or a way to celebrate the "magic of Christmas." These people are taking a moderate view of the differences between their faith and the majority's religious traditions. They are seeking to assimilate, or to be good neighbors. They resonate to the message of "peace on earth and good will to all." Because they can maintain their religious beliefs, they don't feel the "imposition" of non-Muslim ways on them. (We must remember too that Jesus is an important Prophet in Islam.)

But the author reminds us that "Most clerics, however, will argue that followers of Islam should not participate in the Christian holiday." This is certainly a more conservative (but not extreme) point of view.

More troubling are reports in the same newspaper of "...growing extremism inside Israel's insular ultra-Orthodox community." Author Aron Heller uses the terms "religious extremists" and "Extremist sects" in his reports. (See "Protest's Use of Nazi Images Condemned" in the San Francisco CHRONICLE, January 2, 2012, p. A2.) It's clear, in this Associated Press article, that the media can and does use this term to describe groups of believers in faith traditions other than Islam.

Heller characterizes the concern caused by these "extremists" this way: "...[Ultra-Orthodox Jews] have become increasingly aggressive in trying to impose their ways on others as their population has grown and spread to new areas." That's troubling for me and you (I presume) as we realize we have to face people who want to impose "their ways" on us by threatening or violent means. But that's what societies have always faced, and that is why we have armed forces to defend us.

Indeed, Heller attempts to "size" the problem by informing us that Ultra-Orthodox Jews "make up 10 percent of Israel's population." That's about 730,000 people, a large number. But Arabs in Israel number about twice that, and Jews who are not Ultra-Orthodox comprise about two thirds of the entire population. So we can see that most Israeli citizens - Jews and Arabs - are not extremists.

The CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR reports that the dialog between Christians and Jews is becoming ever more open. And dialog proceeds from a position of tolerance rather than extremism. So while extremists may threaten, and even destroy and kill others, moderates discuss and understand the points of view of others. Rather than rant, I can applaud dialog.

And I can applaud these authors' reporting which tries to inform rather than scare us.