People do harm out of their own pain. When we see people causing harm to other people, we ought to ask ourselves and ask them: “Who hurt you?” Sometimes the answer to that question is difficult to know. The answer to the question may be entangled in several different strands of personal, political and historical factors that are too complicated to disentangle. We are perplexed by a Gordian knot of our own psychological pain that cannot simply be undone by the stroke of a sharp sword and an indiscriminant mind.

Opposition to the Park 51 Community Center revolves around the sensibilities of people who lost loved one on September 11, 2001 and the sensibilities of a nation that suffered one of the most horrific attacks of its history. When someone we love dies, the world is never the same. Even if they die full of years with their family surrounding them with love and prayers, the pain is palpable. Even if we have a grave site to visit, their passing leaves a space that can only be filled with memory and hope. It is especially difficult when the someone that we love dies suddenly, violently, needlessly. It is difficult not to have a place to visit, a headstone to talk to, a stream of water, ocean, a green field, or beautiful landscape to visit and remember the moment we scattered the ashes. There is nothing that anyone can do or not do that will make the ache stop. And our tears have a will of their own.

The controversy over Park 51, captiously misnamed the Ground Zero Mosque leads us to ask the national question: “Who hurt us?” I say: A group of terrorist criminals hurt us, not Islam itself. (I have written about this in two blogs at the Washington Post On Faith blog and at God’s Politics.) Most people know with their rational minds that this nation was attacked by criminals whose actions were a desecration of Islam and all that is holy. Islam teaches that Allah is merciful and compassionate. He is all powerful. Logic tells the believer that an all powerful God does not need humankind to kill. Islam teaches that God wants us to compete as in a race toward all the virtues. Yet, when we seek an answer to the question of who hurt us, we find it difficult not to lay responsibility at the foot of Muslims. We see them as different, as dangerous and Other. Thus, we do not want to see an Islamic Community Center anywhere near ground zero in New York City. Our pain is still too raw and too real. And the political exploitation of this pain is an abomination.

However, I think something more may be at work here, something beyond the willingness of people to set aside the Constitutional protections of freedom of religion in this case in the name of wisdom, propriety and sensitivity. There is something more than a culture war or clash of civilizations at work here. I think the pain that many Americans feel at this moment is the fear that the September 11 signaled the end of America’s supremacy in the world.

Originally published in Patheos.com

WAJAHAT ALI

In 7th-century Arabia, the storyteller was valued more than the swordsman. The audience sat on the floor surrounding the gifted orator as he captivated the eager listeners with beautiful poetry narrating their history. In the 21st century, the art form may have evolved to include motion pictures, TV shows, theater productions, novels, and standup comedy, but they all serve the same function: storytelling.

Ideas and principles are most effectively communicated and transmitted when they are couched in a narrative. Stories, whether they concern the etiquette and biography of prophets or the trials and tribulations of America’s founding fathers, inform and influence a cultural citizenry of its values and identity.

Stories of the Prophet Muhammad most effectively communicate the Quran’s eloquent exhortation to tolerate and embrace diversity: “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise [each other])” (49:13). The Prophet’s cordial diplomacy and communication with the Christian, Abyssinian King yielded one of the first alliances of the young Muslim community. Furthermore, the Prophet displayed unconditional love for his diverse companions, who comprised the gamut of Arab society including former slaves, orphans, widows, wealthy dignitaries, and non-Arabs.

Similarly, the story of a biracial man with an Arabic name and a Kenyan father elected to the highest office in the land reminds the world that indeed America can live up to its cherished principles of freedom and racial equality, and her citizens are capable of reflecting a magnanimous and egalitarian spirit bereft of prejudice.

American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron is our source of spiritual wisdom this week. Pema Chodron is a respected teacher in the Shambala tradition. She is also the founder of Gampo Abbey, a Buddhist monastic community in Canada. These quotes come from her book When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times:

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. ”

It’s amazing how insensitive some people can be.

There are at least six theaters within a few blocks of Ford’s Theater, Ground Zero in Washington DC where Abraham Lincoln was shot. One would think that any self-respecting actor would have the sensitivity to realize that Americans don’t want to be constantly reminded of that other actor John Wilkes Booth who assassinated a President.

And what religious insensitivity would result in a Buddhist Temple less than 1 mile from Ground Zero at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (ignore the fact that it has been there since 1902)? Human decency would have dictated that the place should have been closed down and moved to a new location after 12/7/1941.

Part 1 of this mini-series was posted here.

NVC in Support of Social Change
Most often I almost forget that NVC is an acronym that contains the word “communication.” Instead I tend to think of NVC [Nonviolent Communication] as a set of principles and practices to integrate the consciousness of nonviolence into all levels of living:

• Personally, practicing NVC offers one way of accepting Gandhi’s invitation to bring nonviolence to one’s thought, word, and action.
• Interpersonally, NVC conflict resolution and dialogue tools can contribute to the conversations, negotiations, coalition building, and other organizing efforts which are indispensable for any attempt of working with other people towards structural or systemic goals.
• On the group level, using NVC for facilitation and decision making can contribute to effective functioning for groups and organizations working for social change.
• On an organizational level, NVC provides a framework and offers concrete steps for transforming use of power in ways that attend to everyone’s needs.
• Finally, on the systemic level, an NVC perspective allows for envisioning and creating structures, policies, procedures, and hopefully some day even laws that make for a world that works for all.
  
  

http://goatmilkblog.com/2009/01/22/ramadan-blues-a-short-story-by-wajahat-ali/

A child prepares food for Iftar (evening meal) before the breaking of fast on the first day of Ramadan. (REUTERS/Athar Hussain)

The story originally appeared in the anthology, POW-WOW (Da Capo Press, 2009).

“I promise.”

The young boy – ashamed, dishonored, and fearing the wrath of a vengeful, omnipotent Allah – promised his Pakistani immigrant father with conviction and resolve.

“I promise not to eat during my fast. I will only eat at maghrib, after the sun sets, with every other fasting Muslim.”

This previous promise fell victim to a delectable and treacherous “M & M.” Like Eve and her apple, the young boy discovered his “fall from grace” stuck to the inner linings of his Husky pants’ pocket covered with a still edible chocolate-y goodness. His first attempt at fasting was hijacked by a stale, melted candy.

But, that was 2 days ago on the 27th of Ramadan. The blessed month – the young boy was taught – in which Muslims fast from eating, drinking, and being bad people, so Allah would be happy with them and forgive their sins and let them enter heaven and not go to Hell, where they would burn forever and ever and ever.

During the month of Ramadan, fasting Muslims were also forbidden from engaging in “adult activity” and “fornication” until sunset. The young boy asked his parents, “What does adult activity and for-nee-katyon mean? Is that what happens when men and women go to their rooms, lock the doors and it sounds like they’re hurting each other? ”

The parents, flushed with concerned, grave looks blindsided by a question they hoped to avoid till the boy was a teenager, sharply answered, “We’ll tell you when you’re older! Who taught you this word?”

“It’s in the book you gave me about Ramadan.”

There are two very important aspects to the holy month of Ramadhan:

First, it was during this month that God revealed the opening of the Qur’an to a simple merchant in 7th century Arabia. Muhammad was given the prophet-hood and the religion of Islam was born setting off a chain of events that changed the world forever. This month is holy to us because it reminds us of the most precious gift of the Qur’an and the thrilling story of the birth of our ummah.

But the other important aspect of Ramadhan has to do with social justice. An orphan himself, Muhammad was sensitive to the needs of those who didn’t have all the advantages of pre-Islamic Arabian society. After he established a community of Muslims, it was decreed that this holy month would be one of fasting and charity. Thus, we are reminded during Ramadan that the very foundation of our religion is intimately tied to our ability to empathize with and relieve the distress of the less fortunate among us.

This is important for all Muslims to realize, because the disparity between the rich and the poor in the world today is something we cannot in good faith ignore. A very small percentage of the planet holds the majority of its wealth (and if you are reading this it is almost certain that you are among them).

Giving charity isn’t just about writing a check to your favorite non-profit organization in order to “increase your rewards” during the holy month. It’s not about sponsoring an iftaar at the masjid. It’s not about handing out alms to panhandlers. It isn’t about sleeping through the day to gorge yourself on rich food at night, or throwing lavish parties for your friends. True charity is about looking after the well-being of the disadvantaged throughout the year, and making sure they have the tools they need to improve their situation when they need them.

We fast each day during the month in order to remind ourselves that this state of discomfort is a way of life for many. But if the discipline of fasting doesn’t inspire us to long-lasting action, what good is it? While Ramadhan is a time to renew our focus on charity and social justice, it cannot be the beginning and end of our efforts. Charity and good stewardship is a year-round obligation.

The old saying, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life,” illustrates this idea. Our efforts toward charity should not just be about making sure the poor have good meal during Ramadhan or new clothes to wear on Eid, but in creating institutions and programs for the poor which will empower, educate and inspire them forever.

Judge Vaughn Walker (photo by Mike Linksvayer)

 Since Judge Vaughn Walker overturned Proposition 8 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional, much has been made of Walker’s sexual orientation and what Proposition 8 supporters see as his inevitable bias as a gay man. Never mind Walker’s conservative credentials, or the arguably weak case made by Proposition 8’s defense team. It’s a matter of simple pro-homosexual bias and therefore a morally wrong outcome.

Some progressive bloggers have retorted that the bias claim is ridiculous, and that a religiously conservative heterosexual judge would have been just as biased. Most of us progressives would likely agree, but by moving so quickly to this retort we are missing an opportunity for public discussion of a key way that social inequality of all sorts works: by pegging members of “special interest groups” as inevitably biased, while “individuals” who don’t belong to such groups get to view reality as though they were inevitably impartial. Those in power get the “view from nowhere in particular;” those who are disadvantaged are immediately particularized and “socially located.” Like dehumanization and devaluation more generally, this is a moral issue and spiritual progressives should take it up.

I led a nature divination workshop in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum a few years ago. I asked the group first to ground and center, then remind themselves of their oracular question, and then simply look around at the marshland where we had gathered. One woman decided to ask two questions rather than just one.

She stationed herself on a boardwalk overlooking the marsh, closed her eyes and asked: “How can I find the time and energy to enjoy my life, given the fact that I am extremely busy with work right now?” When she opened her eyes, she immediately noticed the swaying grasses and rushes in front of her and realized that she, too, could be flexible like these plants. She could go with the flow and fit pleasure into the small cracks in her work life.

Then she closed her eyes again and asked: “What should I do about my nephew?” Opening her eyes on the same scene less than a minute later, she noticed a large tree in the middle distance that appeared sturdy and deeply-rooted. Yes, she thought to herself, I could provide this teenager with the kind of stability this tree represents if I open my home to him.

My student’s experience exhibits the extent to which her insight depended on her own perception. Because she was looking for different types of feedback, at the same place and at almost the same time, she noticed two very different images.

To see more divination cards, visit the Tikkun Daily Art Gallery.

This is exactly the type of experience I wanted to foster when several years ago I proposed a project to my daughter, the painter Linnea Vedder. My idea was a deck of divination cards that helps people access their own insight. Linnea illustrated the cards and I wrote the accompanying book. We call it The World Is Your Oracle.

“THE GOATMILK DEBATES” will be an ongoing series featuring two debaters tackling an interesting or controversial question in a unique, irreverent manner.

Each debater makes their opening argument. They can elect to post a rebuttal.

The winner will be decided by the online audience and judged according to the strength of their argument.

The motion:“”Muslim Americans Should Not Oppose Legalization Of Same Sex Marriage”"

For the motion: Sabir Ibrahim [Read his post here] and Michael Muhammad Knight

Against the motion: Mahdi Ahmad[Read his post here] and Sister A. [Read her Opening Argument here.]

MICHAEL MUHAMMAD KNIGHT: FOR THE MOTION

First things first: this is not an attempt to reconcile the Qur’an, Prophetic tradition, or classical Islamic thought with the cause of LGBTQ rights. Others more qualified than myself are doing that work. In fact, my argument depends somewhat on such a project being impossible.

Let’s take for granted that Islam has no room for the accommodation of homosexuality – ignoring not only the efforts of reformist scholars, but also the numerous queer Muslims who are at peace with their bodies, hearts, and Creator. For a moment, let’s pretend that these intersections do not exist. If the question of Islamic doctrine has already been answered, then our next question is how the Muslim community should treat a community with which it shares nothing.

Prop 8′s overturning interrupted the latest anti-Islamic hysteria, the proposals to ban niqab in Europe and uproar over New York’s so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.” I oppose niqab bans and support the Cordoba House, because I believe in the rights of Muslims to live among non-Muslims and be recognized as full citizens. I believe that Muslims should support same-sex marriage because this respect is not only something we take; we must also give. American Muslims do not have an argument against same-sex marriage that is morally superior to objections against the Cordoba House. It’s the same issue: America is debating itself as to whether minority communities can live openly and proudly by their own values.

If there is one thing that characterizes American politics today it is the idea that leftists are idiots. This, of course, is a long-term derivative of the original idea, formulated in the late forties, which was that leftists are traitors. The original charge has been endlessly repeated, worked over, softened, even sublimated so to speak, so that now it seems benign: oh yes, the leftist, still in the playpen, the charming but no longer dangerous idiot of American politics.

Given the widespread assumption that the real action in American politics lies in the struggles between “realistic,” “mature,” “problem-solving” “progressives” and Neanderthal Republicans, one has to wonder why it is so important for defenders of Obama to scapegoat leftists. Why, in other words, they have to explain that there are “limits” to what any President can do, that it is “necessary to compromise,” that previous periods of reform also had “fits and starts,” as if they were speaking to children who know nothing of politics, history and human nature.

Rabbi Michael Lerner has helped lead a growing chorus of American rabbis who are voicing their support for the Park51 Islamic community center (often mislabeled the “Ground Zero Mosque”) in Lower Manhattan. His video of support, featured here, is a call for people of all traditions to recognize the holiness in each other. It also touches on the singular hope that Americans have of honoring each other’s freedoms and affirming each other’s beliefs.

Please join Rabbi Lerner in doing the same! Whether you are a rabbi or a nun, a lay leader or proud humanist, the need to protect religious freedom in America has never been more important. Religious Freedom USA, the organization that first featured Rabbi Lerner’s video, is quickly becoming an interfaith movement to support of Park51 as a praiseworthy center that must be protected as an expression of religious freedom.

Religious Freedom USA, of which I am proud to be a founding member, has started a petition in support of Park51. It affirms,

Since the first pilgrims reached the shores of Plymouth, America has shone as a beacon of religious freedom, illuminating the path to liberty for the oppressed from every land, in every generation. Extreme criticism of the proposed Muslim community center in lower Manhattan is an affront to the religious freedom that our Founding Fathers fought to secure. We stand by our belief in freedom of worship and freedom of expression and consider the Park51 community center to be an expression of both. We are proud to unite behind it as a symbol of religious freedom.

Join the movement. Religious freedom is either guaranteed to all or safe for none. It is a cause vital to the entire Tikkun community, as Rabbi Lerner has made so tremendously clear.

[To learn more about this topic, check out Rabbi Lerner's post on the ADL's opposition to the mosque and Josh Stanton's previous post on the controversy.]

Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami has released a new album entitled Flowers of the Heart, offering western ears a small window into the heart and soul of the subcontinent.

Having left Islamabad two years ago to teach at the University of Texas on a Fullbright Scholarship, he was able to gain asylum in the U.S. for himself and his family just this year. Now living in Austin, Texas he is in the process of establishing a school of music.

Nizami is a 17th generation musician and has mastered the sitar, tabla, harmonium and his own exquisitely flexible voice. On Flowers of the Heart, Nizami presents a variety of songs ranging from traditional rags, Rajasthani folk songs, and even a track containing instructional tabla variations.

Nizami’s music is deeply rooted in his Sufi beliefs. Mesmerizing, passionate, and spiritually ecstatic, the songs on this disc will reverberate with your soul even if you’ve never experienced this type of music before.

Nizami is available for performances in communities around the U.S. You may hear samplings from Flowers of the Heart on his official website, and can buy the album at cdbaby or digstation.

As the Progressive movement has grown, we have become increasingly proficient at influencing the passage of legislation. We’ve learned to place strategic calls and ads as bill move through committee. We’ve learned about reconciliation and other parliamentary procedures. We have pushed stimulus funding, a health care reform bill, and a financial regulatory reform bill over the legislative finish line. But alas! we are still a nascent movement. And as such, we have not learned to attend to the details of the regulatory process AFTER our bills are passed.

Homeless man (photo by Matthew Woitunski)

In carrying out one of my first writing assignments for seminary (which has been going on for a week and which is just awesome), I began thinking about what for me is a somewhat new approach to the connection between spirituality and politics. These ideas are still in process, but perhaps they might be of value to some spiritual progressives.

Most writings on social inequality (racism, sexism, class inequality, homophobia, and ableism, among other types) that I have read have a particular focus. They pay attention to the financial penalties of being in a disadvantaged group, or the threat of physical violence that goes with such a group membership. Certainly, most such writings document the externally limited life opportunities of being a person of color, or poor, or female (for example). These are critically important aspects of inequality, but devaluation and dehumanization are equally important – and equally present – in any form of inequality that has both structural and cultural elements. And devaluation and dehumanization have profound spiritual implications for how social inequality works.

Many of us who practice nonviolence carry a vision of a world that works for all, where everyone’s needs matter and people and the planet are cared for. None of us know what will or could bring about our vision. Will it be a miracle of a single leader transforming the cultural assumptions and practices? Will it be a world collapse which will create a void and an opportunity to restructure society? Will it be a critical mass of people who inhabit different forms of human relationship? Will it be a nonviolent revolution? Will it be alternative structures that gradually attract more and more resources and people to them? Or will it be something else none of us can imagine?

Is “Being the Change” Enough?
Not knowing, how can we predict what actions that we engage in could potentially lead to social change? Here’s how one reader has expressed this challenge: “I don’t have the clarity I would like about your distinction between personal growth and social change work. Particularly within the NVC [Nonviolent Communication] framework, where we intend to create change without coercion. We can model the values we want to see; we can invite, request, even try to persuade or instruct when the occasion seems appropriate, but we’re not forcing change on anyone. And so a big part of the force for social change that I am imagining comes from being the change that you want to see in the world, which to me sounds like personal development.”

Not knowing what leads to change, I am holding great humility regarding what I am about to say. I really don’t know.

Of course anyone who reads this blog or Tikkun magazine, especially our current issue at right, knows that. But it seems best-selling author Anne Rice, who followed up her vampire novels with novels about Jesus, isn’t so sure. It all hinges on the definition of “Christian:”

“I remain committed to Christ as always,” she explained further on Facebook, “but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

The Christian Science Monitor reports that

Rice made headlines in 1998 when – already famous as the author of vampire, witchcraft, and erotic fiction – she returned to Roman Catholicism, her childhood faith. In her 2008 memoir, “Called Out of Darkness,” she wrote: “In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from [God] for countless years. I simply let them go.”

Over at her Jesus in Love blog, Kittredge Cherry writes an open letter to Rice:

I love Jon Stewart. He makes me laugh. After a long day of reading and thinking and writing about the ethics of public discourse, and considering the various issues that are the subjects of our national and international conversation, I need a laugh. “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on Comedy Central allows me to have a good laugh before I turn out my light and go to sleep. The segment “I Give Up” on the August 4, 2010 program at once makes me laugh and shows the absurdity of what Stewart called “craven political expedience.”

WE WILL ALL PERISH, No. 18. (From the picture): "October 15, 1942. We left our house for good and walked down to the road. Mottel sat in the front wagon holding the Torah. My parents went to join him while my brother helped my little sisters settle into the rear wagon with my aunt Trushel, her sister Golda, my uncle Ruven, and my five little cousins. Suddenly Mottel's daughter-in-law stood up and cried to my mother, 'Rachel, we will never come back! We will all perish!' Everyone began to cry. Mania and I followed quickly behind the woman who was to take us to Dombrowa and the house of Stefan, my father's friend. The wagons left for the Krasnik station, and we never saw our family again." Embroidery and fabric collage, 1998. To see more "Through the Eye of the Needle: Fabric of Survival," visit Tikkun's gallery.

In the 1970s a Holocaust survivor with no formal art training tried to show her daughters what her lost childhood home and family looked like. Trained as a dressmaker, Esther Nisenthal Krinitz used embroidery, fabric collage, and fabric wash to recreate images of 1930s Poland, and her parents, siblings, neighbors, community, and friends who died under the Nazis. Over the next two decades, the project transformed into a visual narrative of her story, entitled “Through the Eye of the Needle: Fabric of Survival.” Her work takes the viewer from her happy childhood, through Nazi occupation, to the loss of her loved ones and the resourceful daring that kept her alive, and finally to a new life in the U.S. Most pieces include brief hand- stitched captions, but the images alone tell a moving and remarkable tale. You can view the whole series sequentially, as it’s intended, in our gallery or on Art and Remembrance’s website. Art and Remembrance’s online gallery also includes expanded audio narration of the work.

Krinitz’s art tells of how, at 15, she resisted the Nazi command that all the town’s Jews board trains for “relocation.” Instead, she and her younger sister turned to non-Jewish friends and neighbors to hide them in exchange for work. Soon this became dangerous, however, and briefly taking refuge in the woods, she and her sister disguised themselves as Catholic farm girls. With their new identities, they found work in a new town and hid in plain sight for the rest of World War II. Neither ever saw the any of their other family again.

What began as a personal memorial became a mission to educate about injustice, war, and genocide. Krinitz passed away in 2001, but her work lives on through Art and Remembrance, a nonprofit founded by her daughters. Art and Remembrance oversees exhibitions of Krinitz’s complete work, as well as educational programs. In particular, the organization focuses on educating children. Krinitz’s vivid images and accessible storytelling allow even young children to learn about the Holocaust. “Through the Eye of the Needle” has also been made in a children’s picture book called “Memories of Survival.”

Visit Tikkun Daily’s Art Gallery to see more of Esther Krinitz’s fabric art.

April 8th, 1990

20 years and four months after our marriage in the First Presbyterian Church, and 2 years after the County of San Mateo issued our marriage license and the minister who had married us 20 years earlier got to sign our marriage certificate, a federal judge declared today that our marriage remains legal (we weren’t the plaintiffs in the case, but were married in San Mateo County during the brief window when California allowed gay marriage). And… he declared the ban on gay marriage passed by voters in California to be in violation of the United States Constitution.

Pass the chocolate cake – it is time to celebrate… and get back to work after the frosting is gone because there’s a whole lot of work to do.