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Ignore the willfully ignorant
President Obama's 10-day Asia trip includes visits to India and Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country.
The president chose not to visit the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar during his time in India because it required a head covering that his advisers feared would fuel speculation about his faith. A Pew study showed that nearly 20% of Americans believe falsely that the president is a Muslim.
The more Obama reaches out to Muslims, the more his critics are likely to slander him, implying that he is not a Christian.
An example is his April 2009 speech in Turkey, in which he said, "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation, we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values." The president's critics have seized on that statement, insisting that he rejects the Christian foundations of America.
Is Obama stuck between a rock and a hard place? If you were the president, how would you handle this dilemma?
Barack Obama is often described as the "professor president." Of course, this is meant as an insult--not a term of praise, much less endearment. But I think Obama missed a teachable moment when he declined to visit Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as the Golden Temple, in Amritsar. The president was between a rock and a hard place--but only because he gave the "rock" more weight and substance than it deserves. That's the problem posed by the willfully ignorant.
I remember getting into a taxi cab in New York City several years ago. The driver was Sikh--I knew that not just from his turban, but from a picture of Guru Nanak that he had on the dashboard. As we started talking in Hindi, he told me that many times he had to explain to people that he was not, in fact, Muslim. Although in post-9/11 America cases of mistaken identity are not to be lightly brushed aside, I remember we both laughed and shrugged our shoulders as a sign that we didn't know what else to do or say.
Whether you happen to be a professor or a president, there are times when you just have to accept that some people are willfully ignorant. Those who don't know the difference between a Sikh temple and a Muslim mosque are being willfully ignorant as are those who refuse to appreciate the multiple symbolisms and uses of head coverings, religious or otherwise. Those who do not take President Obama's self-professed Christian identity at face value are being willfully ignorant as are those who believe that being Muslim is somehow antithetical to being American. The willfully ignorant twenty-percent of Americans who believe that President Obama is a Muslim are not going to be persuaded or placated by his avoidance of events that might confirm their blinkered and bigoted stereotypes. This is a rock that can't be moved, but it can and should be ignored.
It's important to realize that Indians themselves were the most important audience for the president's Indian trip. Going to the Golden Temple would have been an important gesture on a number of levels. First, Sikhism is an important part of India's cultural fabric and contribution to world culture. The succession of Sikh gurus, from Nanak through Gobind Singh, has articulated a powerful religious vision whose influence is not limited to South Asia. Second, the Golden Temple itself was the focal point of one of the most destructive outbreaks of political and religious violence in India's history in the 1980s. That India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is a Sikh is testament to how some of these deep communal wounds have healed. By visiting the Golden Temple, President Obama would have affirmed India's secular vision which, while certainly not without its own tensions and problems, is nonetheless an interesting counter-point to more polemical forms of secularism in the West. My advice to President Obama is not to hide his own respect for religious diversity from view, regardless of how that may be interpreted.
American conservative websites have been posting a picture of Obama "bowing to the Indian parliament" while Indian media outlets have said that the American president hit all "the right notes" -in spite of his refusal to go to the Golden Temple. If showing respect to the world's largest democracy is taken by some Americans to be a sign of disrespect to democracy "back home," then photo-ops are simply manifestations of deeper underlying issues.
Those twenty-percent of Americans who mistakenly believe that President Obama is a Muslim seem deeply uncomfortable with pluralism. This discomfort with pluralism is reflected in negative reactions to the President's speech in Turkey in which Obama affirmed America's religious diversity. Those who call for a return to America's "Christian roots" often fail to acknowledge that other religious roots are being planted in American soil that prevent the erosion of some of our most basic civic values. Nostalgically wishing for a return of "Christian hegemony" is not only fanciful--it undermines Christianity itself by dangerously allying it with political power. President Obama has regrettably given testimony to the political power of such nativist visions by avoiding places like the Golden Temple. Instead, he should celebrate religious pluralism and engage its critics: the President should not be afraid to "profess." It's just that he will have to realize, like all other "professors" inevitably do, that not everyone is ready or willing to listen.
By
Mathew N. Schmalz
|
November 9, 2010; 12:31 PM ET
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Posted by: FarnazMansouri2 | November 14, 2010 8:59 PM
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Bottom line: First Amendment. Prez should have gone to Temple. Keep religion out of Grand Asian Tours, funded by my tax dollars.
- Farnaz Mansouri
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Should or should have not gone to Temple?
Go to all houses of worhip and/or significant religious places, or none at all in Near East-Middle East-Far East/Asia?
Take out religion from Middle East conflicts and it is all just political- economic-social security matters related to territorial issues and control over resources and access to resources.
Posted by: Jihadist | November 14, 2010 1:05 PM
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Joe Allen, regarding the idea that "Believers in Jesus . . . should NOT go into pagan places of worship..."
Respect for others and the faith of others is required in civil discourse between governments. If all are asked to rise when a prayer is said, should a Believer in Jesus remain seated unless the prayer is in the name of Jesus? Or, should the politician who is a Believer in Jesus stand for all prayers offered?
It would be best if people who believe as you do stay home and out of national government. You can do less harm in local or state government, although you won't be much help when a non-Christian businessman comes to look into investing in a business - how would you react if he refused to stand for a prayer preached by a minister of your faith and asked you to stand for a prayer by a leader of his own faith?
Posted by: amelia45 | November 13, 2010 2:47 PM
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B R E A K I N G - B U B B L E S--NEWS:
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."I AM ALLAH" has been arrested and now facing LIFE in prison and his Mother wants him to stay there for both Vigilantes against the Family and protecting 'I am Gud" (Her 'SECular-SON'; not "PRODIGAL Sun") from Islamic Fanatics [Remember the CARTOON Mu-HAM-MAD debacle], wild Cookykooks and da "Crazy LOT"s who sing "Al Akbarr". Talking about being a Gavfilta-FISH now: OYE...!
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SEE."KAFIRS"..! PLO.ISLAMIC.RELIGiOUS.POLICE.
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........……/..(♠ ♣)_).).).).).\. ) .). ) .). ). ) .). )__/./././././././ .
............…\____ ).).).).).). ).). ). ). ) .). ). ).__.\.\.\.\.\.\.\.\...
{-Im ALLAH;> .)))))))./. ). ). ) .) .) .). ).)_/,-`__.\.\.\.\.\.\.\..
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Please see:
EXCERPT: ".. Residents of Qalqiliya [West-Bank; Palestine?] say they had no idea that Walid Husayin - the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar [Barber?] - was leading a double life.."
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.......................... {______} . . . If iSLAM is A Peaceful
.......................... /./.♥.\/.♥.\.\ . . Ummah, Then WHY Art
.......................... |.\__/\__/.|.. . YE Acquiring A 'WMD'
.......................... \.....--....../ . . against 'KAFIR' Ummah?
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... CREDITs to "JJ" . . . .
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http://onwapo.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/w-e-l-c-o-m-e/
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Posted by: woodstock-41 | November 12, 2010 9:11 PM
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Whether you happen to be a professor or a president, there are times when you just have to accept that some people are willfully ignorant.
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I attempt this continually, yet here I am reading this essay.
But then I also read the Pope's letter to Ahmedinejad in which he protested Iranian intolerance for Catholics. (Christians, B'hai, and the remaining couple of thousand Iranian Jews didn't figure in his missive, unsurprisingly. Worth pointing out since the plight of the B'hai is terrifying--won't last much longer)
So, here we have one fellow whose moves are guided by profiteering (the hell with the Lebanese Catholics) and political incorrectness when it doesn't interfere with money-making, and, another, who thinks he is holy and in with the academic in crowd (not in this lifetime) with redundant PC drek.
Bottom line: First Amendment. Prez should have gone to Temple. Keep religion out of Grand Asian Tours, funded by my tax dollars.
Posted by: FarnazMansouri2 | November 11, 2010 4:35 PM
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Mathew: You said, "The willfully ignorant twenty-percent of Americans who believe that President Obama is a Muslim are not going to be persuaded ...." to think differently about ANYTHING. These are the same misguided souls who do not accept any of the biological and other scientific finding about evolution, who oppose all form of abortion, who hate homosexuals, and who have a pathological belief that every word of the Bible is literally "the word of God".
These people want ours to be a Christian nation (although most would be hard pressed to say precisesly what they have in mind.) They have no patience for freedom of religion, but would fight to the death for freedom to carry a gun.
These are the people who would return us to something close to the dark ages. Ignoring them is good advice, being straight forward about your faith and your politics is good advice. But it is well to remember that within the 20% who are willfully ignorant there is a smaller group that is radical and dangerous.
Posted by: cecilg | November 10, 2010 3:44 PM
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Joe, you're just silly, and walking proof that our country is woefully ignorant in the religious diversity inheriant in a world covered in 6 billion souls.
With proper respect shown, I fully feel that anyone should be able to visit any holy site they wish.
Posted by: VisionFromAfar | November 10, 2010 1:30 PM
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This is probably the most accurate and to-the-point article I have seen thus far on how the Republicans managed to pull off an upset in the 2010 midterm election.
The article clearly outlines how the Republicans used FEAR MONGERING as a Political Weapon - YOU HAVE GOT TO READ THIS ARTCLE!
How Republicans Won The Midterm Election:
http://www.sandiegocountynews.com/2010/11/09/how-the-republicans-managed-to-give-the
Posted by: djoh1226 | November 10, 2010 12:27 PM
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Believers in Jesus (group of folks now often identified by the pagan created hateful epithet "Christian") should NOT go into pagan places of worship, no matter what their position in life.
Posted by: joe_allen_doty | November 10, 2010 10:46 AM
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Should or should have not gone to Temple?
Go to all houses of worhip and/or significant religious places, or none at all in Near East-Middle East-Far East/Asia?
Take out religion from Middle East conflicts and it is all just political- economic-social security matters related to territorial issues and control over resources and access to resources.
Posted by: Jihadist | November 14, 2010 1:05 PM
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Should have gone to the temple. It's a site like any other. Keep religionizing out of expensive grand tours.
ON ME, okay by me. I'll email Prince Feisal.