There's a Ghanaian proverb that goes, roughly: "Plenty of meat and fish does not spoil the soup." The saying suggests that diversity and robust faith can thrive, all mixed together. Looking at the debates swirling about during these dog days of summer in America, it's worth asking whether such a commitment to energetic religious diversity, a covenant that is an integral part of America's heritage, is alive and well today.
In my early days of working on development and religion, a priest friend urged me to remember that religion is not cuddly. It is often raw, demanding, provocative, and, as we know all too well, violent. Religion is fundamentally, as the important Common Word initiative reminds us, about love: love of God and love of neighbor. But it is also about passion, deep belief, and, for many, the very crux of identity and purpose in the world. We see that every day in the comments on On Faith, many of which come with a vehemence that takes us, the writers, aback. But they are a good reminder that religion does indeed arouse passions. Figuring out how passion and diversity mix is rarely easy but never has the challenge seemed as important as it does today.
The floods that are happening in Pakistan are causing one of the worst humanitarian crises we have ever witnessed. The United Nations Secretary General was there last week, and described the flooding as the worst disaster he had seen, a "slow moving trunami". The disaster is causing, right now, before our very eyes, suffering on a scale that is hard to imagine. Millions of people are slogging through water and mud, their homes and livelihoods gone, in vast swaths of land in this huge country. The worst is not over: more flooding is predicted, in even wider areas. The immediate challenge is the humanitarian demands for food, shelter, and health care. But not far off are the challenges of rebuilding and rethinking how to revive an economy and society threatened by such devastation.
Help is coming to Pakistan, albeit slowly. Public and private commitments of funds and material help are starting to pour in. But this colossal disaster has received far less attention and promises of help than, for example, the Haiti earthquake or the 2004 tsunami. Disaster fatigue is one explanation; timing (August's sleepy news cycle) another; and there is something approaching cynical despair about the magnitude of the challenges that face Pakistan. But even more worrying is the framing of this disaster as part of a "clash of civilizations" more than a human tragedy and the chance to work together.
Reports suggest that the "first responders" are local Islamist groups and some have greeted this development with concern. They portray the swift move of Islamic groups to help as a piece of a "battle for hearts and minds" that pits "Islamist" groups against forces aligned against terrorism. Surely this is a case where common concern for the welfare of suffering people could and should bring people together. Islamic charity is one of the deepest commitments of the faith, one of its most admirable features. Should not the focus be on building bridges at this time of need? These are not trivial issues: there are vast differences in approach and deep passions, but we know well that crises can bring people together as well as they can divide.
The New York Islamic Center debate also, sadly, has brought to the fore a frightening polarization of American views about Islam. Andrea Riccardi, wise founder of the lay Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio, lamented with sorrow in an Italian newspaper that finding a place to pray could be so contentious: yet we need places for prayer more than ever: "prayer to face the evil that was done, the pain that is remembered, and the uncertainty that lies in the future."
Courageous leadership to reframe the debates about religious diversity is sorely needed. Religious literacy is something we all need to advance: literacy that goes beyond cursory understandings and bland promises of tolerance. We need somehow to face up to the demons of division and hatred and work for a deeper commitment to a robust respect for religious diversity as a core part of our heritage. Because indeed religion is not bland, and religious pluralism is demanding in any society. We clearly have a long way to go.
