Obama’s Temple Dilemma

I don’t know whether it says more about Obama’s fear of controversy or America’s ignorance that the president may actually skip visiting one of the biggest attractions in India– all because some people might mistakenly think he’s wearing Muslim clothing, and consequently might think he’s Muslim (again).

The place: India’s “Golden Temple” (Harmandir Sahib) in Amritsar.  It’s the holiest site for adherents of Sikhism, one of the largest organized religions in the world with about 20 million followers (and also one of India’s major religions).  The Golden Temple is widely acknowledged to be a masterpiece of architecture and design and is one of the top tourist attractions in India.

The controversy: to enter a Sikh temple (known as a gurdwara), visitors must cover their heads.  Reports say that the White House nixed a visit to Amritsar because of fears that pictures of Obama with his head covered would circulate and give fuel to the minority of Americans (and others) who still think Obama is a Muslim– even though Sikhism is a completely separate religion from Islam and even though the headcovering wouldn’t necessarily have resembled something a Muslim might wear into a mosque, anyway.

So, is Obama scared of appearing to be a Muslim?  No one is saying for certain.  But if the White House holds fast to its decision not to allow Obama to visit the temple, it will be a great opportunity missed.

After 9/11, Sikhs were targets of hate crimes and threats from those who thought they were Muslim or terrorists (or both).  The Sikh Coalition has been working for the last 9 years to educate and inform Americans about the beliefs and traditions of Sikhism.  It would have been a great event for such a prominent leader to visit the Golden Temple and show Sikhism for what it is (a peaceful and generally stable religion for millions of people).

There are always going to be people who think you’re a Muslim, Mr. Obama, no matter what you do.  Stop giving in to them (especially when the visit was going to be AFTER the midterm elections) and seize an opportunity to educate by making a gesture of peace toward a major religion.

Religious Education: Not Just Sunday School

The AP reports this weekend that a group of Muslims arrived at Minnesota’s State Fair this year to hand out leaflets entitled “Islam Explained.”

It’s a sad but telling lesson that adherents of one of the world’s largest religions have to take to the streets to hand out 180-word pamphlets to explain the simplest facts about their beliefs to ordinary Americans.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is engaged in multiple world conflicts with deep currents of religious and cultural differences.  Islam is a major cultural and political influence in dozens of countries, not least the U.S.  But many Americans can’t even name the 5 pillars of Islam, much less anything more complex about the religion.  What’s a Shi’ite?  What’s a Sunni?  A lot of Americans don’t know– and so they can’t possibly begin to understand why the difference between the two cause numerous conflicts around the globe.

Until I moved to New York, I had never heard of Hasidic Jews, Sikhism, Santeria or many other religious philosophies.  Despite a “World History” class in 10th grade that included a unit on “world religions” (I did a minor project on Shinotism), the curriculum of my middle and high school was limited, at best.

This past summer, the national Sikh Coalition celebrated a victory in Texas: the state reformed the required school curriculum to mandate inclusion of lessons on Sikh beliefs and holidays.

But one small victory is not enough.  We can already see the consequences of an ignorant public majority: the lack of a nuanced debate on the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” (which is neither at Ground Zero or wholly a mosque); the automatic dismissal of right-wing religious leaders by many “liberal” politicians and analysts; the failure of many Americans to understand the influence and history of Islam, Judaism, or even Roman Catholicism in many countries around the world that are hotspots in cross-cultural conflict.

Separation of church and state doesn’t prohibit learning about world religions and it should simply be expected that American students study major world religions at all levels of public education.  If not, we risk proving some religious fundamentalist groups right: Americans really don’t understand foreign religions and cultures.  And if that’s true, what are we doing sending our troops abroad?