Interfaith Dialog

I have a Facebook friend who is Muslim. Just one. I met her a couple of years ago when Lynne and I participated in a small interfaith discussion group, five Muslims and five Catholics. We formed the group after a friend and I called on the Imam at the mosque (they call it a masjid) near our parish to ask if there would be any interest. The Imam made no commitment but referred our inquiry to his outreach committee. A few months later we had our first meeting. We only met four times and didn't stay in touch but recently one of the ladies from the group invited me to friend her and I did. She is interesting. Most of her posts are pretty standard Facebook fare, pictures of friends and such. But after the San Bernardino shootings we had a serious exchange. She has a different perspective. She has college age children who are constantly reminded that because they are Muslims, people don't trust them. Everywhere they go people eye them with suspicion. Her daughter can't get summer retail work because she wears a hijab, the distinctively Muslim scarf covering her hair. My friend doesn't worry about her own children. They are happy and well adjusted, and they get a lot of support from the community at the masjid. She does worry about young people who are less observant, those who don't get the right kind of support from their masjid. She sees them becoming bitter and resentful, susceptible to the kind of distorted, violent, hateful, and suicidal brand of Islam (she wouldn't call it Islam) they might find on the Internet. She thinks it's an urgent issue their leadership, Imams, intellectuals, and public figures need to address. I don't know if that was a factor in the Sam Bernardino shootings but I think she has a point. I also think it an urgent issue we all need to address. Like it or not we have at least three and probably five million Muslims living among us. They are here to stay and millions more are coming. We need to get to know these people and to understand that most of them, like my friend and her family, are decent law abiding citizens. We need to stop telling each other that Islam is inherently a violent religion. It isn't and we need to be respectful. We have to find a way to live peacefully with our Muslim neighbors. Else we are in serious trouble.

Terrorism in Russia

It isn't clear what motivated the killers in San Bernardino yesterday. Terrorism is certainly a leading candidate given what little we know about them. President Obama was quick to repeat his call for stricter gun control measures, saying these incidents don't happen with such frequency in other countries. If it was terrorism the President is clearly wrong. It is worse in Russia, much worse. Walter Laqueur, a prominent historian who has written extensively about Russia, says 50-60 people are killed every month in terrorist attacks in the province of Dagestan alone. Attacks are far from unusual in other parts of Russia. In 1999 somebody bombed residential buildings in Moscow, Buynaksk, and Volgodonsk. In 2002 130 people were killed in a botched rescue attempt of hostages held in a Moscow theater. And who can forget the 330 people, mostly school children, killed in 2004 in another botched rescue attempt in Beslan. In comparison such incidents are rare in the United States. There are twenty million Muslims in Russia and the number is growing while the population of ethnic Russians is in decline. Mr. Laqueur doesn't think Muslims will be a majority anytime soon but with a steady influx of firebrand preachers, many of them trained in Saudi Arabia, the prospect is unsettling. The strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction which kept the Cold War cold might not work with a deranged fanatic in charge of Russia's nuclear stock pile. Even a sizable discontented minority has the potential to destabilize the country if the central government begins to lose its grip. With economic conditions deteriorating that could happen. Muslims aren't new to Russia. Islam came to the Tatars centuries ago. But the terrorism really only dates to the breakup of the Soviet Union. The wars in Chechnya were initially about separatism but the brutality exhibited on both sides spawned an ethnic hatred that will likely prove lasting. It has gotten new vigor with the example of first the Taliban, then Al Qaeda and now the Islamic State. By now the suicide bombings and mass shootings have taken on a life of their own. If we aren't careful it could happen here. The San Bernardino shooters included an American born Muslim and his Saudi wife. The Boston Marathon bombers were Americans. The Ft. Hood assassin was an Army psychiatrist. But with a population of more than three million American Muslims, terrorism isn't wide spread, not yet. And of all the countries with large and growing Muslim minorities we probably have the best chance at keeping it that way. American Muslims are well integrated. In a 2011 Pew Research Center poll 82% of Muslims surveyed said they are content with their lives. Their income levels are about that of the general population. They express positive feelings about the country. They consider themselves American. The Muslims I know want no part of Radical Islam. (They hate that phrase.)