December 15, 2007

BILL TAMMEUS COMMENTARY

Try a little openness

A few weeks ago I moderated a dialogue between a Muslim and a Jew in front of about 1,000 of our closest friends at a local church.

Judea Pearl, father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and Akbar Ahmed, one of the best scholars on Islam in the country, began these discussions as a way to seek harmony among people of different religions after Islamic militants murdered Danny Pearl in Pakistan.

I think I surprised the two of them when I asked each to say what he found most beautiful about the religion of the other man. They stared at each other for a minute and seemed unsure exactly how to proceed. And in that awkward moment, the audience laughed — a little nervously, I thought.

But then Pearl began: “What’s nice about Islam in my mind is its universality … and you have a direct connection to God.”

When it was Ahmed’s turn, he said that “every Muslim is defined by Judaic consciousness, history and ideology. What I really respect among the Jewish community is this great sense of learning.”

December is a particularly good month to think about such matters because it contains so many religious holidays. From Hanukkah, a relatively minor Jewish celebration, to Eid al-Adha, the “Festival of Sacrifice” marking the end of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, for Muslims, to Bodhi Day for Buddhists, to Christmas.

But I want to make clear why this appreciative interfaith exercise is useful and not just mushy feel-goodism that seeks to obliterate religious differences.

First, it moves us not simply to think about the religion of others but also to reaffirm our own religious commitment. When I, as a Christian, am asked what I find beautiful about Islam or Hinduism, I also inevitably think about what I find most beautiful about Christianity. And unless we are articulate advocates for our own faith, we cannot enter into useful discussion with people of other faiths.

As I’ve said before, the object of interfaith discussion is simply to know and to be known.

Beyond that, if I can find something to appreciate about the faith of someone else, I will be less likely to want to do that person harm. I will gain a better sense of the appeal of that religion to others — and that’s important even if one uses the information only in the way that people who make Fords use marketing information that tells them why some people prefer Buicks.

Of course, to be able to say what one finds beautiful about another religion, it’s necessary to know something factual about that religion, which means not relying on some of the trash-talking one often hears on talk radio.

But just to show you how this might work, if I myself were asked about various religions, here is some of what I would say:

• Judaism: I love its commitment to remembering. In most Jewish worship services time is set aside to remember each member of the congregation who has ever died in that week in history. The names ring through the sanctuary like bells.
• Islam: I most admire its insistence on spiritual discipline — the five pillars of the faith, the daily prayers, the Ramadan fasting and so forth. A commitment to the faith demands something tangible of its followers.
• Hinduism: This will sound odd, but I admire its monotheism. What? You thought Hinduism was polytheistic? Well, not at its foundation. But within its understanding that there is but one is the recognition that God can seem to have many faces.
• Buddhism: I admire its recognition of the reality of suffering and its commitment to finding ways to alleviate it.
• Christianity: In my own faith I am most taken with the idea that God came to humanity in weakness as the helpless infant Jesus.

Try this. If it works, let’s try it between Mizzou and Jayhawk fans.

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