Islam isn't about good vs. bad: Column
It looks like we are having another Muslim moment.
Sept. 11 drove up book sales of the Quran and course enrollments in Islam. It also prompted President George W. Bush to play theologian in chief. "Islam is peace," he said repeatedly, insisting that Americans were at war with terrorism, not with the Muslim world.
Now the so-called Islamic State (or ISIL) and its brutal beheadings have prompted another Muslim moment. Islam is being debated in social media, on television and even in the NFL, where Husain Abdullah, a Muslim and Kansas City Chiefs safety, was recently penalized for celebrating when he was praying after a touchdown.
Like Bush, President Obama is determined to let the world know that the United States is not at war with Islam. "ISIL is not 'Islamic,'" he said in a prime-time speech last month. "No religion condones the killing of innocents. ... ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple."
#Notinmyname
Bill Maher, comedian and atheist provocateur, disagrees. On his Oct. 3 Real Time program with actor Ben Affleck and atheist Sam Harris, he said ISIL was typical of Islam: "It's the only religion that acts like the mafia that will (expletive) kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book." Harris called Islam "the mother lode of bad ideas." Accusing Maher and Harris of "painting the whole religion with that broad brush," Affleck said, "It's gross. It's racist. It's disgusting. It's like saying 'Oh, you shifty Jew.'"
Meanwhile, Twitter is hosting a battle of hashtags. Some Muslims are using #Notinmyname to denounce ISIL as "totally un-Islamic." Others insist ISIL has nothing to do with Islam so there is nothing to apologize for. Via #MuslimApologies, they are apologizing satirically for Islam's contributions to world civilization — for algebra, coffee and the Taj Mahal.
As a religious studies professor, I am glad Americans are turning their attention to Islam. But couldn't we do it with more care? All too often, our discussions devolve into Maher-style shouting matches where one side yells, "Islam is peace" and the other yells back, "Islam is war."
Long term, the solution is education about Muslims and Islam. In the Pew Forum's 2010 U.S. religious knowledge survey, only about half of the participants knew that the Quran was the holy book of Islam, and only about a quarter knew that most people in Indonesia are Muslim.
If we read the Quran, we might see for ourselves some of its beauty rather than simply being told of its ugliness. If we had more high school courses on the world's religions, we might learn about the Sunni/Shiite split inside Islam, a division that is driving much of the violence in the Muslim world.
A diverse group
Short term, it is important to remember that "Islam" is not a thing. It is a term pointing to a group of people — 1.6 billion, in fact, 23% of the world's population — who are just as diverse as those clumped together under "Christianity."
With that in mind, I propose three rules for discussions about Islam during this Muslim moment:
Every religion has "bad guys." Not every believer is a saint. Sorry, President Obama, but ISIL fighters are Muslims. Their understandings of Islamic law are twisted and rejected by the vast majority of Muslims, but they are part of the Muslim world nonetheless. Similarly, members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, who hold up signs at funerals saying "God hates (gays)," are Christians, however extreme.
Every religion has "good guys." Not every believer is a terrorist. Sorry, Maher, the boy kicking a soccer ball to school in Indonesia is a Muslim. So are the 72% of Muslims who say violence against civilians is "never justified."
If members of one religion (or irreligion) want to criticize others, they have a responsibility to criticize their own. Muslims need to attack readings of the Quran that justify injustice and lift up readings that foster mercy and peace. Atheists have a parallel responsibility — to reckon with their own sordid histories of brutality. When is the last time that you saw Maher tweet #Notinmyname about the murderous ways of the atheist Stalin?
Religions are complicated, made up of people who interpret their beliefs and practices in very different ways. To borrow from Affleck, let's try not to paint them with too broad a brush.
Stephen Prothero, professor in Boston University's religion department, is author ofThe American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation.
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