The Legitimacy of Muslim protests about the film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ and the
freedom of speech are major issues facing the world today. I am pleased to
offer a summary of issues and pluralistic solutions. If you feel hatred towards
them, you are clearly justifying their hatred towards you. We all have to rise
above it and mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill. That was the message of
Jesus, Muhammad (pbuh) and every spiritual master. We cannot have peace, unless
we contribute to it, we cannot have peace, if we aggravate it.
Showing posts with label Muslims. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muslims. Show all posts
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Do Jews, Christians and Muslims better understand each other since 9/11?
Abstract: Jews need sincerity and not duplicity. Native Americans need an apology and there is a good amount of phobia embedded in Hindus about conversions. We believe in Jesus as a Prophet and not as a son of God. Unless we deal with tough issues about our differences, we will continue to fake being nice to each other and brood with ill-will within. There is indeed improved understanding among faiths since 9/11. But there also is deepening suspicion among them. One is spiritually motivated and the other is political. Please note, most of my writings are inclusive of all theist and atheists traditions, we all inhabit the earth and we need to figure how best to co-exist cohesively.
# # #
Since September 11, 2001, many conversations have taken place among Muslims, Jews and Christians. There are official interfaith conversations occurring all over the globe, where participants dig into each other's texts. And numerous personal dialogues have been established over the last decade. Many of us have learned more about the three Abrahamic faiths since September 11, 2001 than perhaps we knew before that day.
But here's this week's question, which is simple in its wording but not necessarily simple to answer: Do followers of the three Abrahamic faiths really understand each other better since 9/11?
Eight Texas Faith Panelists including Mike Ghouse weighs in at: http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/09/texas-faith-do-jews-christians.html
MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas
There is indeed improved understanding among faiths since 9/11. But there also is deepening suspicion among them. One is spiritually motivated and the other is political.
We were better off when we knew very little about each other. But as we faced the hostage crisis in 1979, the evangelical foray into politics, the Baptist convention on harvesting poor souls and finally 9/11, religion moved on to center stage. It will get better when we know more about each other.
On September 11, 2001, I was on the radio in Dallas attempting to make sense out of the chaos of the day and pave the way for relevant actions. Interfaith-faith prayers, blood donation and fundraising for the men and women in uniform were all in place by evening. The fog was clearing up. Osama bin Laden was the bad guy and Muslim-Americans had nothing to do with his actions, nor did they authorize him to terrorize any one. Indeed, he placed a wedge between Americans that still needs to be undone.
Atheists, Baha'i, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Jews, Native Americans, Pagans, Sikhs, Wicca and Zoroastrians along with area city mayors, FBI, police and fire chiefs and community leaders graced the first interfaith event in Frisco. Out of which a new tradition evolved called Unity Day. It continues year after year.
But while we are trying to know more about each other, more needs to be done. Here are a few examples;
* Mosques in Dallas/ Fort Worth area opened their doors right after the 9/11 incident. As Christians walked in, they were naively welcomed by yet-to-be trained volunteers who said, "We believe in Jesus as a Prophet and not as a son of God." However, the volunteers were trained to welcome without conflict the very next week.
Of course, back in the 8th Century, a Syrian bishop had declared that Islam was a false religion. That declaration has remained in the psyche of a few Christians forever.
Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas reiterated the statement and added, "Quran is a false book written by a false prophet." He was asked to prove it but failed.
There are several verses in Quraan that are mistranslated for political gains. Steve Blow in Dallas Morning News quoted me, "In the Middle Ages, European leaders commissioned a hostile Quran translation to foster warfare against Muslim invaders. Later, Muslim leaders produced another translation to inflame Muslims against Christians and Jews."
One such difficult passage is "Kill the infidels wherever you find them." Ten such propaganda verses were read to separate the myths from reality. They were not read by Muslim clergy, but by Baptist, Mormon, Protestant, Catholic, Unitarian, Methodist, New Age, Unificationists, Sikhs, Hindu and others at the Quraan Conference
*Shamelessly, anti-Semitism continues to operate under the radar. The anti-circumcision bills in San Francisco and Santa Monica were irksome to some, but frightening to others. Indeed, there are still a few Christians out there who cannot shake off what Fred Phelps was demonstrating with reckless posters such as "Christ Killers."
The Judeo-Christian phrase was thrown around in the 40's to build relationships between Jews and Christians. A whole industry of opportunists was born from it. The support for Jews by Billy Graham, Richard Nixon, Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Glenn Beck and other chest thumpers have ulterior motives. They want to cash in on the name of Israel and perhaps convert them. Jews need sincerity and not duplicity to feel genuinely secure.
*Native Americans need an apology for the destruction of their religion and there is a good amount of phobia embedded in Hindus about conversions. Some of them feel that Governors Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal made it in politics because they converted to Christianity.
*The spiritual balance in the community needs to be restored through observing and following the Golden Rule, which is treat others as you would like others to treat you. Although we have failed in the past, such as when the city of Plano rejected a permit to build a Hindu temple in the early 80's and Richardson did not permit a Muslim school to open there in the mid-1990s, we still have come a long way. Thank God, those are now history and the public in the metroplex welcomes diversity.
* Interfaith meetings are still social gatherings. Leaders from smaller groups are invited as tokens rather than to genuinely get to know each other. Unless we deal with tough issues about differences, we will continue to fake being nice to each other and brood with ill-will within. There is plenty of room for honesty to grow and mature.
If we can learn to respect the otherness of other people and accept the God-given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. One of these days we will get there. Meanwhile, I am pleased to invite you to the 7th Annual 9/11 Memorial, the Unity Day USA on Sunday September 11 at 5:00 PM at the Unity Church of Dallas on Forest Lane. Details are at www.UnitydayUSA.com
----References:
Steve Blow – Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/steve-blow/20100919-In-defense-of-Islam-pursuing-9397.ece
----Steve Blow – Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/steve-blow/20100919-In-defense-of-Islam-pursuing-9397.ece
List of difficult passages: http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2010/12/difficult-passages-in-quraan.html
----Quraan Conference program sequence: http://quraanconference.blogspot.com/2010/12/quraan-conference-program-sequence.html
-----
Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day to the media and the public. He is a speaker thinker and a writer on the topics of pluralism, cohesive societies, Politics, Islam, interfaith, India and Peace. Over a thousand articles have been published on the topics and two of his books are poised to be released on Pluralism and Islam. Mike's work is reflected in 4 website's and 27 Blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/ and you can find all of his current articles at www.TheGhousediary.com
Friday, March 21, 2008
Tibet - A search for Balance
Cyber Voices on Tibet - A Search For Balance
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=0db406a8bd056cbbd2119742f01dba4a
New America Media, News analysis, Xujun Eberlein, Posted: Mar 21, 2008
Editor’s note: While the mainstream media in China is sounding its regular propaganda on Tibet, the Chinese cyberspace is calling for more balanced reporting and providing multiple points of view and objective assessments as well as on the ground reporting. NAM contributor Xujun Eberlein’s book "Apologies Forthcoming" will be published in May.
Getting a clear picture of what is happening in Tibet is no easy task. Bias is evident in both the Chinese and Western media coverage. A number of interested and thoughtful bloggers, however, have managed to paint a plausible picture, from which one does get important on-the-scene observations that help spotlight what's going on.
Independent blogs that are carefully monitoring the media coverage on China and gathering balanced information and views include Danwei (English), Zuola (Chinese), and Zonaeuropa EastSouthWestNorth ( English and Chinese). In covering the Tibet unrest, they point out inaccuracies as they can, and add photos and observations. As yet, the clearest opening for resolving the conflicts seems to lie in reconciling China's historical claims to a framework for Tibetan Autonomy, although it's not clear whether it's too late to reach a compromise for the new generation.
Meanwhile, the authorities are pointing fingers. During a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, China's Premier Wen Jiabao accused "the Dalai camp" of organizing, plotting and instigating the riots in Lhasa that began on March 10. He said he had "enough evidence to prove" the accusation, however no evidence was given.
On the same day, in Dhåramsala, while pleading "both China and the Tibetans — don't commit violence," the Dalai Lama theorized that "it's possible some Chinese agents are involved there. Sometimes totalitarian regimes are very clever, so it is important to investigate." An implausible theory given how desperately Beijing wants to keep human rights issues out of the news with the upcoming Olympics.
The cyber voices in China are largely "harmonized" – on major Chinese commercial websites one can only hear uniform shouting such as "Resolutely oppose separatism!" Fortunately though, there are a few individual websites and blogs providing multiple points of view and objective assessments; one of them is Zuola.com. This site operates on a principle that "media should not be owned by government; from government comes propaganda. We all know, as common sense, information from CCTV is not all that believable. Treat it similarly with Westerners' quoting of RFA."
While Beijing's blocking of international journalists and blog sites is plain stupid, if not unexpected, it is a bit more surprising that the preponderance of U.S. news reports have not been that insightful either. Mainstream media is quoting unverified or unconfirmed casualty figures and showing inappropriately edited photos. In one case, CNN cropped a photo that originally showed Tibetans throwing stones at a Chinese military vehicle. By cutting the right side where the Tibetan crowd is, the remaining part of photo becomes a scene of the vehicle chasing running people. This biased reporting was also caught by posters on Zuola.com, and it angered Chinese cyber readers, effectively pouring oil on the fire.
The U.S. media noticed that the unrest began on the day of the 49th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, which resulted in the Dalai Lama's exile. There has been little, if any, mention however of the role of the CIA in supporting that uprising.
Given government and media biases, independent bloggers and tourists became more credible resources. An American blogger cyber-named Kadfly whose eyewitness photos are now widely spread on the Internet, gave first-hand accounts from Lhasa on March 14.
"I want to make one thing clear because all of the major news outlets are ignoring a very important fact. Yes, the Chinese government bears a huge amount of blame for this situation. But the protests yesterday were NOT peaceful. The original protests from the past few days may have been, but all of the eyewitnesses in this room agree the protesters yesterday went from attacking Chinese police to attacking innocent people very, very quickly. They appeared to target Muslim and Han Chinese individuals and businesses first but many Tibetans were also caught in the crossfire."
Because of this post, a few commentators insinuated that Kadfly was a Chinese agent, and he took down some of the photos yesterday.
A report by The New York Times' Jim Yardley asserts that "Tibet was effectively independent for decades before communist troops entered in 1950." This view is commonly held by Westerners, while the Western media fails to acknowledge the Chinese view that China has a historical claim of Tibet tracing back to Yuan Dynasty (13-14th century). During the Qing Dynasty, the government of China formally conferred the titles of Tibet's two spiritual and political leaders, the Dalai Lama and the Banchan (Panchen) Lama, one for "Front Tibet" and the other for "Rear Tibet." However, the act of conference is not considered significant from the Tibetan perspective today.
Because of these historical factors, to ask China to let go of Tibet's territorial rights would be as difficult as asking the United States to give up the American West.
On the other hand, the Chinese are not justified in denying their cultural and ideological intrusion of Tibet since 1950, which appears to be the historical reason for the Tibetans' anger today. In the dynasties from Yuan to Qing, Tibet's cultural and religious practice had been largely left alone by the emperors. The Dalai and Banchan Lamas effectively controlled most internal affairs. This changed after the Chinese army marched to Tibet in 1950 and, in the process, built a highway for the first time, through which the Chinese brought in goods, people and Communism without asking the Tibetans. Had the Communist government left Tibet as autonomous as it was during the dynasties, Tibetans might have had less modern but more independent lives.
While the Chinese cultural and political intrusion to Tibet is factual, the issue of Tibet's territorial rights may never be agreed upon by both sides. Unlike the Westerners who hear only one side of view and firmly support Tibet independence, the Dalai Lama knows better. Apparently realizing the infeasibility of requesting jurisdictional independence, the Dalai Lama maintains his high ground and calls for Tibet's autonomy instead.
In fact, Tibet's autonomy, provided its jurisdiction remains within China, may not be as far away as it seems. In the 1980s, a relatively more open-minded leader of post-Mao China, Hu Yaobang, visited Tibet to investigate policy and returned with strong recommendations for change. He subsequently carried out a political reform to allow more religious freedom in Tibet. Unfortunately, this reform was cut short by a series of riots in Lhasa and, in part because of this, Hu Yaobang was purged and the policies reversed.
China is under transition today and political reform is again called for. The current Tibet unrest and the Beijing Olympics may have actually provided an opportunity to China's leaders. When asked by Western reporters, Premier Wen Jiabao mentioned in Tuesday's press conference that his government would consider inviting independent international investigators to Tibet, a welcome gesture. It would be even wiser for Beijing to invite the Dalai Lama to negotiate the terms for Tibet's autonomy.
Yet Beijing is not the only obstacle to the Dalai Lama's mission; he is also facing a dissenting voice within the exile-Tibetans' camp. A Western blogger with unidentified nationality, China Hand, spotted the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph report on Tuesday that quotes Tsewang Rigzin, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, as saying,
"There is a growing frustration within the Tibetan community, especially in the young generation." "I certainly hope the Middle Way approach will be reviewed. As we can see from the protests here and all over the world, the Tibetan people remain committed to achieving independence."
China Hand points out on his blog China Matters that, as the leader of the largest Tibetan emigre NGO, with 30,000 members and over 80 chapters, the TYC’s stated objective is to “restore Tibet's lost independence.” Tsewang Rigzin is working to "marginalize the Dalai Lama and undercut him as the leader of the worldwide Tibetan movement," says China Hand.
Tibet is not unique in presenting a complex set of political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious challenges. Single-minded solutions do not seem likely to work.
Articles on Tibet
Articles by Viji Sundaram
A Tibetan in Nepal
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=0db406a8bd056cbbd2119742f01dba4a
New America Media, News analysis, Xujun Eberlein, Posted: Mar 21, 2008
Editor’s note: While the mainstream media in China is sounding its regular propaganda on Tibet, the Chinese cyberspace is calling for more balanced reporting and providing multiple points of view and objective assessments as well as on the ground reporting. NAM contributor Xujun Eberlein’s book "Apologies Forthcoming" will be published in May.
Getting a clear picture of what is happening in Tibet is no easy task. Bias is evident in both the Chinese and Western media coverage. A number of interested and thoughtful bloggers, however, have managed to paint a plausible picture, from which one does get important on-the-scene observations that help spotlight what's going on.
Independent blogs that are carefully monitoring the media coverage on China and gathering balanced information and views include Danwei (English), Zuola (Chinese), and Zonaeuropa EastSouthWestNorth ( English and Chinese). In covering the Tibet unrest, they point out inaccuracies as they can, and add photos and observations. As yet, the clearest opening for resolving the conflicts seems to lie in reconciling China's historical claims to a framework for Tibetan Autonomy, although it's not clear whether it's too late to reach a compromise for the new generation.
Meanwhile, the authorities are pointing fingers. During a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, China's Premier Wen Jiabao accused "the Dalai camp" of organizing, plotting and instigating the riots in Lhasa that began on March 10. He said he had "enough evidence to prove" the accusation, however no evidence was given.
On the same day, in Dhåramsala, while pleading "both China and the Tibetans — don't commit violence," the Dalai Lama theorized that "it's possible some Chinese agents are involved there. Sometimes totalitarian regimes are very clever, so it is important to investigate." An implausible theory given how desperately Beijing wants to keep human rights issues out of the news with the upcoming Olympics.
The cyber voices in China are largely "harmonized" – on major Chinese commercial websites one can only hear uniform shouting such as "Resolutely oppose separatism!" Fortunately though, there are a few individual websites and blogs providing multiple points of view and objective assessments; one of them is Zuola.com. This site operates on a principle that "media should not be owned by government; from government comes propaganda. We all know, as common sense, information from CCTV is not all that believable. Treat it similarly with Westerners' quoting of RFA."
While Beijing's blocking of international journalists and blog sites is plain stupid, if not unexpected, it is a bit more surprising that the preponderance of U.S. news reports have not been that insightful either. Mainstream media is quoting unverified or unconfirmed casualty figures and showing inappropriately edited photos. In one case, CNN cropped a photo that originally showed Tibetans throwing stones at a Chinese military vehicle. By cutting the right side where the Tibetan crowd is, the remaining part of photo becomes a scene of the vehicle chasing running people. This biased reporting was also caught by posters on Zuola.com, and it angered Chinese cyber readers, effectively pouring oil on the fire.
The U.S. media noticed that the unrest began on the day of the 49th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, which resulted in the Dalai Lama's exile. There has been little, if any, mention however of the role of the CIA in supporting that uprising.
Given government and media biases, independent bloggers and tourists became more credible resources. An American blogger cyber-named Kadfly whose eyewitness photos are now widely spread on the Internet, gave first-hand accounts from Lhasa on March 14.
"I want to make one thing clear because all of the major news outlets are ignoring a very important fact. Yes, the Chinese government bears a huge amount of blame for this situation. But the protests yesterday were NOT peaceful. The original protests from the past few days may have been, but all of the eyewitnesses in this room agree the protesters yesterday went from attacking Chinese police to attacking innocent people very, very quickly. They appeared to target Muslim and Han Chinese individuals and businesses first but many Tibetans were also caught in the crossfire."
Because of this post, a few commentators insinuated that Kadfly was a Chinese agent, and he took down some of the photos yesterday.
A report by The New York Times' Jim Yardley asserts that "Tibet was effectively independent for decades before communist troops entered in 1950." This view is commonly held by Westerners, while the Western media fails to acknowledge the Chinese view that China has a historical claim of Tibet tracing back to Yuan Dynasty (13-14th century). During the Qing Dynasty, the government of China formally conferred the titles of Tibet's two spiritual and political leaders, the Dalai Lama and the Banchan (Panchen) Lama, one for "Front Tibet" and the other for "Rear Tibet." However, the act of conference is not considered significant from the Tibetan perspective today.
Because of these historical factors, to ask China to let go of Tibet's territorial rights would be as difficult as asking the United States to give up the American West.
On the other hand, the Chinese are not justified in denying their cultural and ideological intrusion of Tibet since 1950, which appears to be the historical reason for the Tibetans' anger today. In the dynasties from Yuan to Qing, Tibet's cultural and religious practice had been largely left alone by the emperors. The Dalai and Banchan Lamas effectively controlled most internal affairs. This changed after the Chinese army marched to Tibet in 1950 and, in the process, built a highway for the first time, through which the Chinese brought in goods, people and Communism without asking the Tibetans. Had the Communist government left Tibet as autonomous as it was during the dynasties, Tibetans might have had less modern but more independent lives.
While the Chinese cultural and political intrusion to Tibet is factual, the issue of Tibet's territorial rights may never be agreed upon by both sides. Unlike the Westerners who hear only one side of view and firmly support Tibet independence, the Dalai Lama knows better. Apparently realizing the infeasibility of requesting jurisdictional independence, the Dalai Lama maintains his high ground and calls for Tibet's autonomy instead.
In fact, Tibet's autonomy, provided its jurisdiction remains within China, may not be as far away as it seems. In the 1980s, a relatively more open-minded leader of post-Mao China, Hu Yaobang, visited Tibet to investigate policy and returned with strong recommendations for change. He subsequently carried out a political reform to allow more religious freedom in Tibet. Unfortunately, this reform was cut short by a series of riots in Lhasa and, in part because of this, Hu Yaobang was purged and the policies reversed.
China is under transition today and political reform is again called for. The current Tibet unrest and the Beijing Olympics may have actually provided an opportunity to China's leaders. When asked by Western reporters, Premier Wen Jiabao mentioned in Tuesday's press conference that his government would consider inviting independent international investigators to Tibet, a welcome gesture. It would be even wiser for Beijing to invite the Dalai Lama to negotiate the terms for Tibet's autonomy.
Yet Beijing is not the only obstacle to the Dalai Lama's mission; he is also facing a dissenting voice within the exile-Tibetans' camp. A Western blogger with unidentified nationality, China Hand, spotted the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph report on Tuesday that quotes Tsewang Rigzin, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, as saying,
"There is a growing frustration within the Tibetan community, especially in the young generation." "I certainly hope the Middle Way approach will be reviewed. As we can see from the protests here and all over the world, the Tibetan people remain committed to achieving independence."
China Hand points out on his blog China Matters that, as the leader of the largest Tibetan emigre NGO, with 30,000 members and over 80 chapters, the TYC’s stated objective is to “restore Tibet's lost independence.” Tsewang Rigzin is working to "marginalize the Dalai Lama and undercut him as the leader of the worldwide Tibetan movement," says China Hand.
Tibet is not unique in presenting a complex set of political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious challenges. Single-minded solutions do not seem likely to work.
Articles on Tibet
Articles by Viji Sundaram
A Tibetan in Nepal
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