This Land Was Made for You and Me, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

February 5, 2016 Victor El-Khouri 0 Comments

President Obama visited an American mosque this week and made a speech. He talked about our tradition of religious freedom, and how important it was to accept all of our fellow citizens for who they are.

Naturally, this radical position drove some people crazy.  To quote the link:  “But Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, one of the country’s oldest and largest pro-Israel organizations, denounced Mr. Obama for visiting a mosque whose leaders, Mr. Klein said, have among other issues criticized Israeli military actions.”

You know, I’ve criticized Israel’s military actions.  Most of the Jews I know have criticized Israel’s military actions.  This is not to say we are the majority (we probably are not) but rather that it is an issue that is not a test of patriotism or terrorism or even of being a Jew.

Others didn’t like Obama’s message of inclusiveness and tolerance.  Again, quoting from the link:  “The most ominous thing Obama said in this speech full of treacle and humbug was this: ‘We’re not going to strengthen our leadership around the world by allowing politicians to insult Muslims or pit groups of Americans against each other. That’s not who we are. That’s not keeping America safe.’ So what is he going to do? Destroy the First Amendment and disallow politicians to insult Muslims?”

I didn’t read that as an order.  Rather, Obama said that if we want to “strengthen our leadership” we have to do certain things, in this case, not insult Muslims.  He might have said that if we want to strengthen our leadership, we need to wear pants.  That, too, would be a tactical suggestion, not a command.

In any case, I think the ways in which we discuss these issues are a big part of the problem.  Americans who are Muslim are not only Muslim.  They are also Democrats and Republicans and Independents, Northerners and Southerners, people who like hip-hop and people who like NCIS.  If we insist on defining them only by their religious heritage, we will deserve the consequences if they choose to act as if that is all they are.

The neighborhood in which I grew up was almost entirely Jewish.  Really, the public school teachers allowed that handful of students who showed up on Yom Kippur to bring comic books and bubble gum to class.  I only felt that being Jewish was a major part of my identity when I went to an Episcopalian school and was reminded, five times a week at required chapel services, that I was different.  I also felt profoundly Midwestern in Connecticut, and really really nerdy for liking science fiction and comic books when no one else seemed to.

Let’s talk to Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists, Buddhists and everyone else as if they are Americans first and foremost.  Members of our community with rent to pay (or a mortgage), families to feed, and opinions about how best to do these things.  If we start our relationships like this, our differences won’t feel so profound.

On the same day Obama went to the mosque, I taught a Muslim woman to knit, at the hospital where I volunteer.  I knew she was Muslim because of her hijab.  She was not American, but visiting from the United Arab Emirates.  She spoke hardly any English, but we managed just fine, with simple demonstrations and lots of laughter.  I suppose there are Presidential candidates who would want to keep her out, because of her religion, but I doubt that religion was foremost in her mind.  More likely, she was worried about her child, who has cancer, and what she could do to make him whole again.

If she needed to pray to her God to do that, I’m fine with that.  Because those are the kinds of American we’re supposed to be.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases is also very fond of the Muslim patient, a young girl, who didn’t want to knit but did want more glitter.