Obsession with Extremism

An organization called The Clarion Fund, which describes itself as "an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to educating the public about national security issues" is currently distributing 28 million copies of the one-hour version of a film entitled, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." Copies of this DVD are being direct-mailed to individuals and distributed as advertising supplements to newspapers in 13 states including Michigan. (The DVD has been included in the Detroit Free-Press, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press and Lansing State Journal.)

We received two copies of the film here at LOL. Deeply concerned about matters of interfaith understanding - especially the portrayal of minority communities - I sat down to view this film. While words fail me, my colleague, Pastor Martin Zimmann - who had previously received the DVD - articulated my feelings in a letter to the editor of the Toledo Blade, which was published on September 19, 2008. I share the the bulk of Marty's letter with his permission:

After viewing the "Obsession" video that came with this morning's Blade, I feel a deep sadness. This film offers up plenty of reasons for people to fear and be hostile to Arabs without offering any practical solutions to our foreign policy dilemmas. If we want to dismantle the message of religious extremism (in all the Abrahamic faiths), it cannot be done by simply showing stylized clips of angry Muslims burning American flags. Certainly, the film pretends to acknowledge peace-loving Muslims, but only gives their voices one-tenth of the air time it spends displaying graphic images of bloody victims and the rants of a radical minority. The solution to our seeming impasse with the Islamic extremists must come through educating ourselves about the complexities of US and British foreign policies that have fomented this tension in the Middle East since the end of the Ottoman Empire after WWI. The solution is not through creating more fear, but offering opportunities for dialogue and understanding across cultures...

The Gallup organization - well known for its facility in political polling - has established the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, " a nonpartisan research center dedicated to providing data-driven analysis, advice, and education on the views of Muslim populations around the world." In March, the Center published Who Speaks for Islam? in which it presented the findings of a multi-year study that included interviews with tens of thousands of Muslims in 35 countries that are Muslim or have significant Muslim populations. Their findings shatter the stereotypes perpetuated by movies like "Obsession." The Center's research reveals what many (but sadly, not enough) of us know from personal experience:

• Muslims criticize or condone nations based on politics rather than religion or culture.
• Muslims around the world are as likely as Americans in general to believe that attacks on civilians are morally unjustified.
• Extremists who condone or carry out acts of terrorism are generally no more religious than the majority that rejects such extremism.
• When asked what they most admire about the West, Muslims elsewhere in the world offer the same answers as Americans: technology and democracy. (See Counterintuitive Discoveries in Who Speaks for Islam?)

Ambassador Carlos Pascual, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, puts it this way: "Yes, there are extremists and there are extremists who use religion in the name of their extremist cause but it doesn't mean that religion is the driving factor behind their extremism."

Ambassador Pascual's observation was directed at extremists who use Islam "in the name of their extremist cause" but he could have easily been referring to other faith traditions. We seem not to have questioned that Jim Jones, David Koresh and others distorted - perverted - Christianity for their own extremist purposes: domination and control of others. Why, then, is it more difficult for us to recognize the same dynamic at work among extremists who claim to be acting in the name of Islam?

The question, of course, is rhetorical. If we are to understand that "Islamic terrorism" is an oxymoron, we must learn about Islam which values compassion, tolerance and mutual respect. When we act out of fear and anxiety fostered by third-parties rather than first-hand knowledge, we are more likely than not to obliterate the 8th Commandment. Those of us who count ourselves among the disciples of Jesus Christ are called not to bear false witness against our neighbors but to reach out across perceived divisions and to build bridges of understanding that will span the chasms of xenophobia.

We are a church "reformed and always reforming." Let us once again commit ourselves to re-forming the manner in which we understand those whose faith differs from our own. For Christ's sake.

Pastor Sue