Recently,
the social media's been buzzing about Tahera Ahmad, the discriminated Muslim
Chaplain. The flight attendant refused Tahera an unopened can of soda while
flying United Airlines, whereas her neighbor was offered an unopened can of
beer. When Tahera protested, she was verbally abused by another passenger. [1]
Being a
prominent figure of inter-faith dialogue, Tahera rode the social media
bandwagon to drum up support as well as hatred.
Then
there’s Monifa Sterling’s predicament.
Monifa’s a US
marine and a professing Christian. She was court-martialed for refusing to
remove the Bible verse - “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isaiah
54:17) - she had posted in three different places in her workspace. [3]
Monifa was convicted
with a bad conduct charge, demoted in rank, and discharged from the Marine Corps.
Since then she has been unemployed and will be ineligible to receive government
funds and benefits as a veteran.
Monifa
Sterling did not ride the social media bandwagon to mobilize support in her
favor. But Liberty Institute [4], the largest legal organization dedicated to
defend and restore religious liberty in America, is serving as her legal
counsel and striving to restore justice and to protect her.
Let us
examine these discriminations from a few perspectives:
First - the
perspective of location.
On one
hand, we have Tahera, possibly discriminated for being a Muslim and on the
other hand, we have Monifa, certainly discriminated for being a Christian.
These discriminations happened in America that was founded on Judeo-Christian
values, which appeals to loving the neighbor and blessing the enemy.
Intriguingly,
America is considered a top racist country.[5] If America, which brands itself as
the most tolerant and progressively postmodern (absolute truth being relegated
to favor relative truth), is the location of racial discriminations and
religious persecutions, then there need not be any safe zone in this world -
immune to religious persecution and racial discrimination.
It doesn’t
matter where you are, you could be persecuted for your faith as long as you profess
your faith in no uncertain terms. Of course, those that are ashamed to proclaim
Christ in public will have a nontoxic life amidst vultures circling to devour
the devout.
Second,
let’s observe this from the perspective of the persecutors.
The flight
attendant probably had a negative image of Islam and hence went ballistic on a
Muslim chaplain. The staff sergeant, who possibly had an unholy aversion to
Christianity, persecuted a devout Christian.
It just
takes one person consumed by certain hatred to unleash evil upon humanity. In
other words, the source of evil a.k.a Satan merely contaminates the weaker
human open to destructive indoctrinations to transform them into potential
disaster breeding force.
The
stronger force of evil, thereby, consumes the minions of potentially weaker
servile subordinates to subtly yet intensely destroy life. So beware of that
one vengeful human in your domain baying for your blood, especially if you profess
your faith.
Third - the perspective of gender.
The
instances of Tahera and Monica were of women persecuting fellow women. So we
should no longer think of women as immune to persecute or discriminate.
Women are
as culpable as men for any rogue action or sin on the face of this earth. Sin
does not discriminate between genders.
Fourth, were
Monifa and Tahera victims of racial prejudice?
Monifa’s persecution
need not be construed as an instance of racial discrimination.
Apparently,
Mikey Weinstein, one of the 50 most influential Jews in America and one of the
100 most influential people in U.S. Defense [6], carries out a secular humanist
agenda in the U.S defense. Evidently, Mikey advocates for punishment against
Christians in the U.S military for professing their faith. [7]
Recently, Army
Chaplain CPT Joseph Lawhorn was [wrongly] disciplined for offering spiritual
guidance to a soldier in need.[8] If an army chaplain, who is the face of his
religion, is persecuted for carrying out his role, then what is to become of
Monifa?
However,
Tahera’s persecution, since she is Indian born, [9] could be a conflation of racial
discrimination and religious intolerance.
Tahera was
wearing a hijab in the aircraft. Moreover, the flight attendant used the term
‘weapon’ to justify her refusal to offer an unopened can of soda. Thus we could
reason out that this was more an instance of religious intolerance than racial
discrimination.
So it seems
that religious intolerance is more in vogue than racial discrimination,
especially within this context.
Finally,
let’s observe this from the perspective of response during persecution.
Monifa’s
courage to take on the mighty U.S defense is to be applauded. But having lost
almost everything (pertaining to her vocation), were there any other legitimate
options for her to pursue?
She may as
well protect her first amendment rights to religious expression as well as the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to defend her posting of the verses as
a form of religious exercise.
Although
Tahera’s response may have been cognitively and circumstantially pertinent, there
could have been a different response.
Importantly,
irrespective of the strength or weakness of the reason of conflict – an
unopened can of soda – there could have been more thought applied to the damage
that the publicity may have caused.
The pro-Islamic
and the Islamophobic entities are, in no uncertain terms, firmly present and extraordinarily
unyielding in their ideologies. This is a serious divide.
Our endeavor
is not to widen this divide. On the contrary, Tahera’s publicity would have
solidified and widened this divide. This is the bitter truth.
Tahera’s
profile as the Director of Interfaith engagement would be to construct a
peaceful rapport between any two or more polarized theological divides. Hence
she could have ideally refrained from any activity that could possibly, even
remotely, disrupt this peace.
Therefore
for the sake of peace, she need not have publicized this matter. As a Director
of Interfaith engagement, she could have swallowed the bitter pill of public
humiliation and could have focused on the bigger picture of constructing a
peaceful rapport between Islam and the other world religions.
Endnotes:
[1] http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/30/us/united-flight-muslim-chaplain/index.html
[2] https://www.libertyinstitute.org/sterling
&
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/05/21/after-court-martial-marine-cites-religious-freedom-in-continued-legal-fight/
&
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/05/26/marine-court-martialed-for-refusing-to-remove-bible-verse.html
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://www.libertyinstitute.org/about
[5] http://www.thetoptens.com/most-racist-countries/
&
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/The-Top-12-Most-Racist-Countries-in-the-World-20150320-0019.html
[6] http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/about/michael-l-mikey-weinstein/
[7] http://allenbwest.com/2014/12/disturbing-christian-persecution-us-army/
[8] http://www.christianpost.com/news/army-chaplain-wrongly-punished-for-offering-spiritual-guidance-bible-scriptures-during-suicide-prevention-session-say-24-members-of-congress-134053/
&
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2014/12/10/army-chaplain-joseph-lawhorn-ranger-training-complaint/20213399/
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahera_Ahmad
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