| Tolerate Thy Neighbor |
22 December 2003
|
Headscarves, Skullcaps, Crosses and Foreskins
Last week, French President Jacques Chirac decided that a ban on headscraves, skullcaps and crucifixes in French schools was a good idea, and Dr. Abdul Hamid Othman, who advises the Malaysian Prime Minister on religious affairs, suggested that non-Muslims should be invited to celebrate their circumcisions with their Muslim friends. God himself is probably laughing at His creation's ability to miss the point entirely.
In matters spiritual, the wisest words were uttered by Frederick the Great who said that all religions must be tolerated for each man must find his own way to heaven. Since the decline of human sacrifice, one tends to find few grounds for objection. If one's neighbor chooses to believe that the world is merely the giant egg of some spacefaring monster emu and that on Hatching Day all mankind will be eaten and live forever in the Great Aviary beyond, one cannot reasonably care. "It neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket," as President Jefferson put it.
However, religion has often been a source of power in human history, and the separation of matters temporal and matters spiritual is a new, and imperfect, concept. President Chirac and Dr. Othman address the issue of public display of religion in very different ways. The French say the display is inappropriate, still reeling from the anti-clerical aspects of the Revolution no doubt. In Malaysia, the rising popularity of circumcision as a hygiene issue among non-Muslims offers a way to reach across the divide in Malaysian society and for the nation to become more inclusive -- upon which the clever Dr. Othman has seized.
While one is clearly in sympathy with the Malaysian approach, there is a better solution to the problem. Unfortunately, it would require a great change in the behavior of most of humanity. Rather than display symbols of religious attachment, it might be an interesting idea to live by the teaching of whichever faith one espouses.
Imagine a world where a good Catholic is not judged by the quantity and quality of his confessions but by his "doing unto others." Who could argue that a Muslim was not a good citizen when, by his alms-giving, he builds hospitals for sick children, buys books for libraries or feeds the hungry? And which Lutherans, Baptists or Presbyterians will win souls for Christ, those who house the homeless or those with the biggest crosses around their necks?
Merry Christmas.
Home