If you want to invest in a growth industry, consider hate crimes. London police report a five-fold increase in attacks on Muslims – particularly Muslim women – since the terrorist attacks on London Bridge, the Westminster parliament, and the Manchester concert.
But the increase is not limited to Britain, where the reaction might be understandable. Here in Canada, Statistics Canada indicates that attacks on Muslims more than tripled over three years, from 45 in 2012 to 159 in 2015. During 2015 alone, according to a CBC report, hate crimes against Muslims soared by 60 per cent.
This increase comes as hate crimes in general have declined. Over the same period, anti-Jewish incidents dropped from 213 to 178. Incidents targeting black people also declined – slightly – from 238 to 224.
Blacks are, of course, the primary target in the U.S., as daily reports of shootings remind us. Earlier this week, Seattle police shot and killed Charleena Lyles, a black mother of four, in the presence of her children, after she called to report a burglary.
But in the U.S. too, the rate of anti-Muslim crime has spiked, jumping about 50 per cent in 2016 from the year before.
No doubt attacks on Muslims are a form of retaliation for acts attributed to Islamic extremists. But if so, why single out women? Not one of those acts was committed by a woman.
Or are women simply easier to identify by their head scarves?
The driver of the car that plowed into a crowd of people leaving the Finsbury Mosque after Friday evening prayers apparently didn’t care who he hit. News reports quote 47-year-old Darren Osborne shouting, “I want to kill all Muslims,” before he was pinned to the ground by witnesses.
Osborne apparently disregarded the fact that he too might have been killed, had not an Imam intervened to save his life.
Faulty foundations
I’m sure the perpetrators of attacks on Muslims and other immigrants think they’re defending a Christian culture from heathen infiltration.
I wonder how they would define the faith they think they’re defending. Certainly not by regular church attendance, which, in Britain, has plunged lower than Donald Trump’s approval ratings. By citing a creed, perhaps? Identifying God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Having been baptized, once upon a time?
They obviously pay little attention to Jesus’ teachings. Especially to what’s called the “Golden Rule” (Jesus didn’t call it that, by the way) roughly rendered as, “Treat others the way you would want them to treat you.”
The Golden Rule lies at the core of every world religion, although often phrased in the negative rather than the positive. “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you,” said Confucius. The Hindu Mahabarata: “One should not behave towards others in a way that is disagreeable to oneself. That is the whole of morality.” And the Jewish Talmud: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour.”
Yes, even in Islam. If I can trust my sources, Mohammed cited variations of the Golden Rule at least four times in the Qur’an. And in his deathbed sermon, he declared, “Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.”
Tragically, the Qur’an also contains passages encouraging violence towards non-believers. Some scholars, I gather, argue that there are actually two Qur’ans -- the message from Mecca, where Mohammed belonged to a persecuted minority, and the message from Medina, where he became a powerful leader. I’m not familiar enough with the Qur’an to venture my own opinion.
Turning the tables
If I were to take the Golden Rule seriously, I would need to treat Muslims as I would hope to be treated if I lived in a country dominated by some other religion. I would want the freedom to hold my own beliefs, without being attacked as a threat.
Nepal, for example, is a Hindu nation. For years, Nepal prohibited Christian missionaries from evangelizing. But Christians were free to live their faith, as doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers. And everyone benefited.
Not all countries are as generous. Iran has viciously persecuted its Baha’i minorities. Indonesia, its Christians. Egypt, its Copts. In India, once a model of tolerance, fundamentalist Hindutvas have persecuted, lynched, and murdered numbers of Sikhs, Muslims, and Christians.
But the Golden Rule doesn’t say, “Do to them as they have done to you.” It says, “Treat others the way you would want them to treat you.”
To do anything else betrays the Christianity that people like Darren Osborne think they’re defending.
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.
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YOUR TURN
The responses to last week’s rant about vandalism tended to focus on the perpetrators’ state of mind.
Tom Watson wrote, “I share your detest of mindless vandalism. Every once in a while someone, or a group of someones, go through a graveyard upsetting head stones. The anonymity gives them cover; rarely are they ever found out. The same goes for arson -- torching churches, synagogues, mosques.
“Is it, from their perspective, as ‘purposeless’ as we might be tempted to believe? Or is it their way of striking back at a societal system in which they have no power? The world around them carries on as if they don't matter, in fact don't even exist; so, in the same sense as Rene Descarte's epigram, they resort to ‘I'll show them. They won't know that it was me who did this; however, they never knew I existed anyway.’”
Jim Henderschedt too: “I agree with your concept of cowardliness behind the assurance of anonymity. I can remember the masked men in Western movies who hid their identities behind neckerchiefs. Or more recently the terrorists who, trying to look brave through their violence, are afraid of being seen and identified. Call it for what it is -- cowardly acts.”
Laurna Tallman offered some defence: “Vandalism is not usually ‘meaningless’ but an expression of despair with the social system. It may be caused by a pre-teen or teenager who is unhappy at home or frustrated in school or who desperately longs for things he/she has not the means to buy. The park that pleases older people, compared with that young individual's desperate need, may explain why it became the target of the kids' angst. We had precisely that sort of issue arise in the local village over a well-funded beauty spot when what the kids needed was a social worker/sports coach and some employment. The financially comfortable folks who funded the park system were utterly blind to the impoverishment and lack of jobs. In fact, some short-sighted people on the town council made the policy decision to turn away small manufacturing enterprises to make their jurisdiction more attractive to retirees.
“Vandalism may [also] be caused by older people who have grasped that the society they should be aspiring to join is closed to them. It is not ‘mindless,’ but it probably represents confusion, hurt, and anger that is quite specific and is being wrought on things that seem more abstract, even in a village of 1500 people, because the troubled person cannot or dares not take specific action. Depending on the age and mental state of the culprit(s), some counselling and the opportunity to repair the damage might be the best solution to the park. But a deeper problem needs to be discovered and addressed.”
Ralph Milton: “I wonder if those vandals have a borderline mental illness that leaves them feeling disempowered, frustrated, persecuted, and that their anonymous lashing out at ‘them’ (whoever they perceive ‘them’ to be) provides a momentary sense of power, revenge, and therefore justification. And what is it that leads them into that feeling?”
Bob Rollwagen managed to tie last week’s topic to this week’s column, even before I had written it: “Recent surveys have noted the tremendous increase in ‘hate events’ against minorities and religious groups. The internet is becoming a public area where hate can thrive in the dark like vandals and not be traced to a source easily. It seems that this has been a trend globally throughout history.
“Vandalism is a sickness that appears in many forms. I suggest it is a social disease that is similar to Cancer. It impacts all of society, exists at all levels of society and consumes tremendous resources to cure. Unlike many cancers, we already have the tools to cure vandalism, we just don't want to invest in education.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF…
Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net