A group of compassionate Canadians had sponsored some Syrian refugees. After meeting one of those refugees, a young single woman, one of the sponsors said in surprise, “She’s Muslim!” Well, doh! Now, I heard that story second-hand. So I don’t know whether the speaker genuinely didn’t realize that most Syrians are Muslim. Or, to give her a little more credit, surprised that an attractive young woman could choose to remain single within a patriarchal culture. Either way, it seems to me, the story illustrates the ignorance of North Americans as a whole to any religion but their own. And perhaps even to their own. Few of us recognize, for example, that religions like Islam and Buddhism are anything but monolithic. They have their own orthodox, reformed, and progressive wings. Hinduism probably offers the ultimate in diversity; anyone can set up a symbol of their favoured avatar and worship it -- unthinkable in Christianity. But the impression most of us get of Islam, particularly, is of fanatic fundamentalists attacking western values. My own church helped to sponsor a refugee family fleeing first from the Syrian civil war, then from several years in refugee camps. The father made an eye-opening comment. In gratitude for all the help his family had received, he said, “You people are just like Muslims!” You’d never guess that Muslims can be kind and generous from reports in the mass media.
A skeptical lens I shouldn’t be too critical of reporters. The mass media look at the world through a secular and typically skeptical lens. Journalists pride themselves on finding facts and proof rather than exploring the mysterious beliefs of faith, admits religious tolerance and faith scholar Jill Carroll. “We have this notion that religion is in a separate sphere from other parts of human experience,” says Diane Moore, director of the Harvard Divinity School Religious Literacy Project. “But people don’t leave their religion and beliefs at the door when they leave the house every morning.” Moore argues that understanding religion is key to understanding just about anything in today’s world — from the complicated origins of terrorism to the 2016 presidential race. Where, as some wag noted, “Ted Cruz thinks he’s speaking for God, and Donald Trump thinks he is God.” “A better understanding of religion is incredibly important to understanding the state of affairs,” Moore continues, “but most media have the same general lack of knowledge around religions.”
Ignorance breeds bigotry The complexity of religion is important to explore, agrees Jaweed Kaleem, a former religion reporter for the Huffington Post, because ignorance about religion leads to bigotry.
He argues that secular media outlets do little to help their readers understand the complex beliefs that make up the world’s faith groups, even when they cover issues directly related to religious beliefs. “Understanding religion is key to understanding people,” Kaleem said. “When you don’t understand your religion or the religion of others, things can get really bad. The best example right now is ISIS.” But ISIS is not the only group espousing dangerous beliefs. The media do not report on a branch of the American political movement that looks forward to nuclear war in the Middle East; it would fulfill biblical prophecies about a final conflict between good and evil. Similarly, large numbers of Christians don’t care about global warming or mass extinctions; they expect to be lifted up, taken away, before the earth descends into chaos. David Suzuki and Al Gore might as well be talking to a brick wall.
Too much to ask? Unfortunately, most reporters -- with notable exceptions such as Doug Todd at the Vancouver Sun -- switch off their minds as soon as someone tries to explain why the distinctions between theism, pantheism, and panentheism might actually make a difference. So most interviews with Greta Vosper, the United Church minister whose progressive views have been rocking the traditional boat, usually focus on her conflict with orthodox factions of the church rather than on her theological concepts. So whose job is it to provide reliable information about world religions? If reporters don’t do it, academics can’t. Again with a few notable exceptions, academics write for their peers, not for the public. When I edited a magazine called PMC (the Practice of Ministry in Canada) I asked potential contributors to write as if their bright and intelligent teenager had, for the first time, asked, “Just what is it that you do, anyway?” In that context, you don’t argue Nietzsche against Niemoller, Sunni against Sufi. You simply help your reader understand. Is that really so difficult? ******************************************************** Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved. To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca ********************************************************
YOUR TURN
I got a lot of mail about last week’s column on the suicides in northern and isolated First Nations communities. A lot! Most of it was well reasoned, and well expressed. And many of the letters were quite long. So I have to use only portions of most of the letters, and leave some out entirely. Sorry about that. 
Rob Brown recalled “the story of a drunk, who was asked why he drank so much. ‘It’s the fastest way out of town,’ he said. Fastest way out his town, with all its problems, and accompanying despair. “It seems Aboriginal youth see suicide as the fastest way out of their towns, will all the problems and despair. How do we help people to build meaning into their lives, when they are in such desperate situations?”
Steve Roney questioned my dismissal of a “religious panacea”: “On the whole, I agree with you on this column. Yes, blaming any of this on residential schools is absurd. Yes, the basic problem is a sense of meaninglessness. Yes, I agree that mental health professionals flown in are not going to help much. “But why do you seem to say religion is not the answer? Surely it is the obvious answer: worship, worth+ship, is comprehensive meaningfulness. Religion is indeed the obvious and correct solution for a sense of 
meaninglessness. That is indeed one big reason why I believe mental health professionals do little or no good. They do not lead suffers to religion. Instead, they obscure the effective, established treatment with a trail of red herrings. “Are you saying that you believe no religions work?”
Jim O’Connor: I deeply appreciate your humanity; but I cannot disagree more with your conclusions. “The key is the Frankl quote. Indeed, a lack of meaning is a central reality in our age of despair. (The despair of those who have lost their tribal connections and mythologies is really intense and must be addressed. So also should those who are losing their faith in a God of presence and thus hope. God has not left the scene. We have pushed him out the door by refusing to create a proper dialogue between science and faith in a secular age.) “Religion is a matter of drama and vision, not rational dissociative despair .I am so tired of the church being behind the curve rather than being led by cross of Christ and the meaning inherent in that sacrifice.”
James Russell: “I'm sure you're right: the base problem is a feeling of meaninglessness and hopelessness, based on present conditions. “Living remote from the rest of the world's wealth, diversity and opportunities, but exposed to it daily through media, without jobs, without education, without amenities, without medical services, in tiny communities of losers -- well, wouldn't you despair? And I don't see how the situation can be fixed except by saying: ‘You need to transition to life in bigger towns, further south. It will take a lot of learning. We will support you for a generation. However, after that you will just be members of your new communities. But then, we truly have to be willing to shoulder the real costs, not ten cents on the dollar, as we have been wont to do.”
Hanny Kooyman had some thoughts about the long-tern impact of residential schools: “My parents projected their war experiences on me. I learned to distrust 'the masses' therefore. It belongs to the possibilities that the grandchildren have been affected by projection of the grandparents' school experiences onto them. With the feelings of rejection and inferiority by our current society that has still not changed enough in attitude towards those who have no Caucasian background, there is reason enough to come at crossroads with utter despair. The Bible says that it takes at least three generations for real change to take place or overcoming deep hurt.” 
Charles Hill wrote about prejudice against aboriginal people: “I grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the US. My hometown was surrounded by Native American reservations, I taught school for a few years on a reservation. At that time (60+ years ago), the reservation suicide rate was very high. Unemployment was rampant, hopelessness was rampant, and alcoholism was a major problem. ( Onthe Yakima Reservation in the mid-60s, they still had the same problems.) Although my hometown of about 25,000 was only about 40 miles from the reservations, I never saw a Native American until I did some educational research on the reservation while at graduate school. My father, even as late as 1950, used to say to me, ‘The only good Indian is a dead Indian.’ A large monument just outside of town reminded residents that Native Americans had slaughtered a group of White missionaries because they had brought smallpox to the reservation. They were a defeated and powerless people. Those who had adjusted in a healthy manner had moved off of the reservation during and after WWII. Left were those who couldn't or wouldn't assimilate.”
Jim O’Connor: I deeply appreciate your humanity; but I cannot disagree more with your conclusions. “The key is the Frankl quote. Indeed, a lack of meaning is a central reality in our age of despair. (The despair of those who have lost their tribal connections and mythologies is really intense and must be addressed. So also should those who are losing their faith in a God of presence and thus hope. God has not left the scene. We have pushed him out the door by refusing to create a proper dialogue between science and faith in a secular age.) “Religion is a matter of drama and vision, not rational dissociative despair .I am so tired of the church being behind the curve rather than being led by cross of Christ and the meaning inherent in that sacrifice.”
Cam Baker thought I had dismissed residential schools too glibly: “Residential schools took children away from the parents, as we all know. Many of those that attended residential schools suffered harshly. They weren't given the tools they needed to succeed. After awhile some couldn't express themselves in their own language anymore, and they couldn't express themselves in English. Can you imagine how that would feel?” Cam then referred to some influential books on the subject, with some devastating examples of the treatment of the incarcerated children. “These troubled people then had children, that were also taken away from them to attend residential schools. They didn't know how to be parents, and their children grew up not knowing how to parent. Ask them, and they'll tell you. It's incredibly important you spend time with first nations people, on reserve, before concluding the effects of residential schools should be gone by now. “Some of those grandchildren are now attempting suicide. To say that this has no relation to residential schools is an uninformed opinion, in my opinion. Imagine if every brother, sister, cousin, grandparent, aunt and uncle or yours had a story of suicide, sexual abuse, drug and/or alcohol abuse involving either them, or someone incredibly close to them. And then imagine the unemployment rate in your town is 70%, and has been for decades. We call it a Great Depression when unemployment hits 25%.”
Bruce McGillis agreed that we can’t “fix the past” and need to work on the present. “Yes, remote reservations need to be closed. But where are they to relocate? I don’t think large existing nations are willing to accept even a few. “This thing called civilization is difficult one to live for many. Regardless there are no alternatives. When I accept civilization as the reflection, as the actual past, present and future human inane forces, I realize civilization cannot be otherwise because we humans cannot be otherwise. Perhaps our expectations are too high.”
Donna Crook called the column “a very thoughtful and thought provoking article. However, your comment about residential schools being a copout almost negated the rest of your message. Of course the grandchildren are still suffering from the residential schools. The students of these schools suffered deprivation of the love and care of their parents, and never learned how to be parents themselves. And their children never learned how to be parents, continuing the deprivation. Surely that is the underlying cause behind so many of the problems that are found on the reserves today. “I cannot pretend to offer a solution to this basic problem, but everyone concerned should be working towards replacing this ‘vicious circle’ with a new search for hope.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
This column comes to you using the electronic facilities of Woodlakebooks.com.        If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the “Reply” button.        To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedgesunsubscribe@quixotic.ca.        You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net.        I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedgessubscribe@quixotic.ca
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PROMOTION STUFF…
 Ralph Milton has a new project, 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.com 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>  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
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