Strands of intolerance
I'm going to pull together a few strands from my day yesterday to see if a pattern emerges...
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Last night a friend was telling me about a confrontation she once had with a pastor. She was part of a Christian singing group that was to perform at said pastor's church, but he made a fuss about the hair length of some of the young men. This reminded me of a similar experience I once had, only the cause of offense was my earring. The pastor of a church where my band was to perform felt that my earring was a "corrupting influence" on the youth.
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I watched a great documentary yesterday called 'Afghan Star'. It was released in 2009 and is about a TV program that was hugely popular in Afghanistan. The program, also called 'Afghan Star', was basically an American Idol ripoff. A third of the country--roughly 11 million people--tuned into it each week (this, in a country where people often have to power their television sets by connecting them to car batteries). The first season that Afghan Star (the show) ran, 2,000 men auditioned to sing on it. Only a handful of women auditioned, but 3 were selected to appear in the initial line-up, along with several men.
In a culture that not long before had banned all music and television, and which only allowed women outside if they were escorted and dressed head-to-toe in burqas, Afghan Star was really pushing boundaries. The religious leaders of the nation voiced concern.
As the show's season progressed and contestants were gradually eliminated, one young woman in particular became a focal point for controversy. She was fiesty and free-spirited. While most contestants--male and female--stood stock still while singing, this woman actually danced. Not the bump and grind of Western pop stars, mind you, just a little bit of an awkward shuffle. Many Afghani's--especially the very religious--were offended.
The young woman was eventually voted off the show (Afghan Star's audience voted during each episode via text messages--each week the lowest scoring contestants would be eliminated). When a contestant was voted off, they were allowed to perform a final "farewell" song. The young woman sang her last song and let it all out, dancing even more stridently and allowing her headcovering to fall to her shoulders, revealing her hair.
This was a national outrage. The young woman became an object of public scorn, fueled by the religious leaders. She received death threats and had to go into hiding. You'll have to watch the film yourself to find out the rest of the story.
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As I was driving last night, listening to the BBC, a very interesting interview came on with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the religious leader behind the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" (which, by the way, is a horribly misleading thing to call it). Rauf has long been a voice of moderation and inter-faith dialog, yet found himself the brunt of massive protests and a media storm because of his plans to establish an Islamic community center. During the interview, Rauf said the following:
"What we've learned from this experience is that the real battlefront is not between the West and the Muslim world or between Muslims and Jews or Muslims and Christians, etc.--as many people have framed the discourse. The real battlefront is between the moderates of all faith traditions and the radical extremists of all faith traditions."
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/interview/interview_20101210-2332a.mp3
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How these strands all wove together to form a pattern in my mind was in seeing that the same mindset (or spirit, if you will) of religious intolerance was behind it all (although, the more I think about it, it is really cultural, gender and ethnic intolerance wrapped up and justified in religious language). Whether Christian pastors having "concerns" about hair length and earrings, or Muslim Imams denouncing harmless entertainment, or Christian Americans attempting to limit the First Amendment rights of Muslim Americans, it's all about people trying to make other people conform to their views on religion and morality. And yet, Jesus said "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." The log that blocks one's vision is caused when religious doctrine and dogma shape what we see, rather than love, compassion, mercy, lovingkindness and grace. When we let go of religiousity and fully receive God's love, compassion, mercy, lovingkindness and grace we can then see others with God's eyes--what a friend of mine calls "seeing people with soft eyes." We become much less preoccupied with changing, fixing or correcting people and more preoccupied with simply loving them for who they are and where they're at. It only happens when we realize that God loves us for who we are and where we're at.
--------------------
Last night a friend was telling me about a confrontation she once had with a pastor. She was part of a Christian singing group that was to perform at said pastor's church, but he made a fuss about the hair length of some of the young men. This reminded me of a similar experience I once had, only the cause of offense was my earring. The pastor of a church where my band was to perform felt that my earring was a "corrupting influence" on the youth.
--------------------
I watched a great documentary yesterday called 'Afghan Star'. It was released in 2009 and is about a TV program that was hugely popular in Afghanistan. The program, also called 'Afghan Star', was basically an American Idol ripoff. A third of the country--roughly 11 million people--tuned into it each week (this, in a country where people often have to power their television sets by connecting them to car batteries). The first season that Afghan Star (the show) ran, 2,000 men auditioned to sing on it. Only a handful of women auditioned, but 3 were selected to appear in the initial line-up, along with several men.
In a culture that not long before had banned all music and television, and which only allowed women outside if they were escorted and dressed head-to-toe in burqas, Afghan Star was really pushing boundaries. The religious leaders of the nation voiced concern.
As the show's season progressed and contestants were gradually eliminated, one young woman in particular became a focal point for controversy. She was fiesty and free-spirited. While most contestants--male and female--stood stock still while singing, this woman actually danced. Not the bump and grind of Western pop stars, mind you, just a little bit of an awkward shuffle. Many Afghani's--especially the very religious--were offended.
The young woman was eventually voted off the show (Afghan Star's audience voted during each episode via text messages--each week the lowest scoring contestants would be eliminated). When a contestant was voted off, they were allowed to perform a final "farewell" song. The young woman sang her last song and let it all out, dancing even more stridently and allowing her headcovering to fall to her shoulders, revealing her hair.
This was a national outrage. The young woman became an object of public scorn, fueled by the religious leaders. She received death threats and had to go into hiding. You'll have to watch the film yourself to find out the rest of the story.
---------------------
As I was driving last night, listening to the BBC, a very interesting interview came on with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the religious leader behind the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" (which, by the way, is a horribly misleading thing to call it). Rauf has long been a voice of moderation and inter-faith dialog, yet found himself the brunt of massive protests and a media storm because of his plans to establish an Islamic community center. During the interview, Rauf said the following:
"What we've learned from this experience is that the real battlefront is not between the West and the Muslim world or between Muslims and Jews or Muslims and Christians, etc.--as many people have framed the discourse. The real battlefront is between the moderates of all faith traditions and the radical extremists of all faith traditions."
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/interview/interview_20101210-2332a.mp3
---------------------
How these strands all wove together to form a pattern in my mind was in seeing that the same mindset (or spirit, if you will) of religious intolerance was behind it all (although, the more I think about it, it is really cultural, gender and ethnic intolerance wrapped up and justified in religious language). Whether Christian pastors having "concerns" about hair length and earrings, or Muslim Imams denouncing harmless entertainment, or Christian Americans attempting to limit the First Amendment rights of Muslim Americans, it's all about people trying to make other people conform to their views on religion and morality. And yet, Jesus said "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." The log that blocks one's vision is caused when religious doctrine and dogma shape what we see, rather than love, compassion, mercy, lovingkindness and grace. When we let go of religiousity and fully receive God's love, compassion, mercy, lovingkindness and grace we can then see others with God's eyes--what a friend of mine calls "seeing people with soft eyes." We become much less preoccupied with changing, fixing or correcting people and more preoccupied with simply loving them for who they are and where they're at. It only happens when we realize that God loves us for who we are and where we're at.
2 Comments:
Where did you see Afghan Star? I've been wanting to watch that but wasn't sure where to find it. Was it on TV recently or did you rent it?
Hi Omar,
I rented it from Netflix.
-Danny
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