You Hate One, You Hate Us All
Dear Friends,
I had the privilege of participating in the silent presence that the Virginia Interfaith Center organized in response to the Westboro Baptist hate group visit to the Holocaust museum in Richmond Virginia last Tuesday. While people will continue to differ on the best response to such groups, I want to thank Doug Smith (The Executive Director) and the staff at Virginia Interfaith Center for leading us in this effort. The Virginia Interfaith Center put together a great response to a call of hate and division by bringing together Christians, Jews, Muslims and other traditions hand in hand to assert one truth: We are one community. If you attack one, you attack us all. We differ on some our basic beliefs and practices but we hold in common our commitment and love to God, a God of mercy and compassion. The Virginia Interfaith Center helped us increase our cohesiveness and made us realize that we complete each other.
While America is a nation defined, largely, by a religious culture dominated by Christianity. As a Muslim I know that faith is not a singularity. America is not only a nation with large Christian followers, but also a rich plurality of faith traditions (and diversity within these traditions). This diversity is one of the things that make social diversity a unique, and healthy, component in the social reality of America. Jews, Christians, Unitarians, Buddhists, Hindus, and people who profess no religion, are all here, living, contributing, and co-existing in relative peace and comfort with each other.
We therefore should not allow voices of division and hate to go unchallenged. On Tuesday, I was reminded personally of this diversity when I walked together with my brothers and sisters from different traditions in the streets of Richmond. It was not about the “Jews”. It was about all of us. Do we care about each other? Are we our brothers’ keeper?
But I have the sinking feeling that the followers of Westboro Baptist and like-minded, if they lived on my street, would not exactly welcome me as a neighbor. That is because of their disdain for others. A disdain and arrogance that look at others as lower creatures not deserving God’s love and acceptance. The Quran, the divine text of Muslims, describes this type of arrogance as the source of evil on earth.
While many biblical values (which are also evident in the Qur’an and the Torah) are fine, at least for me, the promotion of an exclusively bible-centered form of belief as preached by the Westboro Baptist is problematic. We do live in a society that celebrates, and protects, both the right to freely practice any religion we choose, and to think what we like about the faiths of others. Westboro Baptist followers are certainly free to hold their own personal beliefs about Judaism, Islam and many other groups. But they should not expect that our communities would sit idly and not rise up to challenge & disagree with them.
America today with all its diversity will remain here, with or without the approval of others. Westboro Baptist followers and their friends would benefit, I believe, from a little of understanding of America’s history and a dose of reality.
Religious bigotry, from any community directed at any other community, is just plain wrong-and evil. And when last I looked, the instructions from Jesus (Peace be unto Him) for those who follow him- “love thy neighbor” applies to Jews, Muslims, Hindus as well. Thank you Virginia Interfaith Center!
With Blessings,
Imad Damaj