Hatred against Islam, and against religions

Today, I was a little bit shocked during the conversation with my classmate over the lunch.

I don’t know why we came to have that kind of conversation, but she said she disliked Islam. I was shocked, probably because she is one of my best friends, and she openly showed her hatred and prejudice toward Islam. She said that she thought Islam sometimes drove people into terrorism, and it is the most dangerous religion.

She basically doesn’t believe any religion. And she thinks that it would be much reasonable to invest money to alleviate social issues such as poverty, rather than, say, donating to build a church. And she continued her discussion, saying that she thought some religions were bad because they do not admit the right of abortion, and allowed poverty escalated because of increase of population. And she said that she felt disgusted after watching “A Mighty Heart” starring Angelina Jolie, and it increased her hatred toward Islam.

To be honest, as a person who also does not believe any religion, I personally and partly can understand what she said. But do not ever take me wrong. Although I do not believe any God, I do respect religious values and religious people. I don’t think religions themselves are bad at all.

I disagree with her, especially because she thinks religions (especially Islam) themselves are bad. My viewpoint about religions is always the same, which is that religions can be a double-edged sword. We can use religious values and believes positively to make the world better. But unfortunately, in this world, there are some pseudo-religious people like Bin-Ladin who misapply religions to promote anti-social activities such as terrorism…

I never think that Muslim are bad, nor be Islam, nor be religious people in general at all. I think mass media sometimes (or often) exaggerate negative stories and over-represent a few bad people like Bin-Ladin. I believe from the bottom of my heart that those evil people are not majority, rather, probably they are only .0000001% (or more zero?) of total Muslims. I cannot say many things about the film, because I haven’t even watched it. But it is clear that her antagonism against Islam was strengthened by the film. Here is the clear evidence showing mass media’s bad effect.

She is actually a Mongolian. And I heard from her that in her country, Muslim (Kazacs) represent only 5% of its entire population, and never be willing to communicate with the other majority of Mongolian. They never get married each other. They always complain that they are unfairly mis-represented in the national congress. So there might be unconscious (or conscious) hatred between those two. Being born and raised in that kind of environment, it makes sense that she got such hatred. In that sense, I can understand why she said that.

And as an atheist, I can understand a little bit her opinion saying we should invest money more practically, rather than for religions themselves. But I cannot be that much of atheist. I understand that we are human beings with heart and mind. We are not totally materialists. That’s why we still have and need religions in the 21st century. The role religions play is never small. If we invest money to a church, its effect could be bigger than directly investing money to the poverty. Its religious believes might keep people in the social cause longer. Who knows? There is no solid answer about this.

And also, as a person having studied multi-culturalism, I respect religions. I want to, and I do. Without respect, we cannot have truly diversified society. In a sense, diversity and multi-culturalism are a religion that I believe in.

I cannot quote religious leaders’ words. But here’s a word coming from one of the singers that I respect. “Respect each other. Respect the difference.” It’s so simple. But all the more, it is so strong and meaningful to my heart.

Looking at my best friend showing antagonism toward Islam is such cynical to me. Actually, she is the one who was really afraid of being marginalized in some level after Virginia Tech’s shooting, because she is an Asian. Just because she was an Asian, she was afraid that she might have some bias after the incidence. But, now she is kind of offending Islamic people, just because they are Muslims. It does not make sense at all to me… So today’s lunch was disappointing to me.

But from this experience, I learned that why activities of Religions for Peace are so important. I had underestimated how strong hatred is between people who have different religious understandings. I had thought if we have much education and information, it can be overcome. But when I encountered her opinions, I realized the wall is much higher than I thought…