STRETCHING LIKE A MUSLIM
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You should see me doing my stretching
exercises at the gym. As I was seated on the mat with ankles crossed as in
a yoga position, my arms extended with palms on the floor, a rogue thought
flashed through my mind: “I hope nobody thinks I’m a Muslim.”
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Of course, probably
nobody notices or thinks anything of it. If anything, people might ask, “I
wonder whether that old guy is going to be able to get back up again.”
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I was thinking about
the chill that went through my body when I heard the news of the slain troops
on that Texas military base. The chill intensified as word was spread that
the killer was an Army psychiatrist…a Muslim.”
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You don’t need much imagination to know where that news was going to take
us. Was he another religious terrorist? The talk shows pretty much agreed
that the act was driven by religion.
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You could see blame directed at Muslims and resentment building toward anyone
associated with that religion. And fear. Who is next?
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So what if I was a Muslim, doing my obligatory morning prayer and someone
saw me? Would they know what I believed? Would they know that there are as
many Muslim sects as Christian? Would they know whether I accepted the Koran
as a rule book to be followed literally in all ways as some do? Would they
know that a Muslim thinks more highly of Jesus than do many Christians?
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Come to think about it, I hesitate to let people know of my clergy identity
for the same reasons. People think they know all about what I believe. They
put you on one shelf or another, and there you’re stuck. When I see the guys
who come to Starbucks for a morning Bible talk, or whatever they do, I also
judge and presume a religious perspective a bit different from my own. I
think I have an idea about what they think and believe, but don’t really
know.
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I do know that in much of the world “Christian” has come to mean military
force and power. It has been associated with torture and killing. Some Christians
support that kind of behavior. I think most do not.
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And I think most Muslims are not radical fundamentalists. In Iran, for instance,
the Imams seem quite worried about the moderates who go into the streets
to protest Islamic rule. The moderates would easily win any fair election.
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There is some discussion
about whether the Army psychiatrist was mentally ill. Some colleagues suspected
psychotic behavior. His apparently random shooting of people sounds psychotic.
Would religion have been mentioned had he been a Christian?
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There’s a book I’ve
marked and kept on my shelf for many years called “Religion May be Hazardous
to Your Health,” by Eli Chesen, MD. .” He asks whether “people get sick from
their style of religious participation or do sick people gravitate toward
certain religions?” He concludes that many participants in ultra-fundamentalist
religious groups have ongoing emotional difficulties. He adds, in words I
underlined many years ago, “There is no doubt in my mind that many ultra-fundamentalist
preachers are themselves suffering from a schizophrenic psychosis.” (p. 46)
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I would like to see
a couple of things happen. First, I would like our country to take mental
health as a serious issue. I think maybe the Veteran’s Administration has
felt this way for some time, but has not had the support it needs. Second,
I would like our country to grow up with respect to its understanding of
religions. The problems in the Middle East, especially between Arabs and
Jews…and Christians…will not be solved as long as religious fundamentalists
are allowed to lead.
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In the meantime I’m
telling people at the gym, I’m not a Muslim praying, but if I were I hope
you would still like me.
─ Art Morgan, November 13, 2009
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