I wrote this a few years ago for an English Language, Pakistani publication in the UK. Its called "The American Creed": I often wonder what many Muslims around the world feel about America. I fear that they view the United States as an avaricious empire perched on their borders ready to launch some type of “crusade” of conquest. In many ways this is a justified point of view, but this view does not really show understanding of what America actually is. You see, the problem is that America is full of Americans, and Americans are Christians, but they are also Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Hari Krishnas, Scientologists, Wiccans, and any other faith group that one could imagine, and they are also atheists. Yet Americans do share one belief in common, an American Creed. On August 17, 1790 George Washington, the acknowledged Father of the United States, wrote that the newly formed government of the nation would give, “To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” He went on to say that at its base the United States was by no means a Christian country. This may seem a perplexing assertion, how could a country that was at the time almost entirely made up of Christians of one denomination or another not be a Christian country? The seeming legions of Christian fundamentalists that appear to most of the world to rule the United States would stand at odds with President Washington, for the missionary nature of many Evangelicals’ religion makes it a priority to assert their own understanding of morality into the political debate of the United States. Yet the simple fact remains, aside from the assertions of Jerry Falwell, Christian Evangelicals are by no means the majority in America, nor do their views alone form the American Creed. The results of the interim Congressional election of 2006 demonstrate that America is a place of nearly unlimited views and when the majority senses that one group has gone too far in their political aims the nation reacts. The average American has no need for war or conflict, or to impose a single belief system upon the world. Yet the wars go on, and the question remains what is the American Creed? At most times, Americans could not verbalize what it is. For them it is a sense, it is hard to explain. For me it is simple, the American Creed is to live in peace with your neighbor, though you may not agree on everything, or even anything. The United States has a long history of contention and tragedy when it comes to religion. Starting in the 1830’s Catholics were persecuted in the North by the politically organized Nativists, a convent for nuns was even burned to the ground by an angry mob in Boston; yet after the tumult of a century Catholics are Americans. In the 1840’s Mormons were violently driven from three states, their prophet Joseph Smith murdered while in jail, they even fought a war with the United States government; yet after the tumult of a century Mormons are Americans. Japanese Zen Buddhists were interned in prison camps during World War II; yet after the tumult of war those of Japanese descent are Americans. On September 11, 2001 a group of religious radicals again challenged the validity of the American Creed. Looking from the outside, Al Qaeda asserted that the people of the United States believe in nothing but greed and imperial domination. Unfortunately, this is the view of many in the world, but move away from the geopolitics and away from the wars that play out as almost prime time entertainment and you will find another America. This is the America of the lone citizen, of those that have no will to take up a gun, or the malice to justify it. It is true that most Americans were possessed with the thought of revenge after the World Trade Center tumbled to the ground, but who in this world does not initially rage at being struck? And in reaction some in America relish in the fanning out of the US military into Islamic nations, of that there is no question; but this is not the majority view in America no matter what many media outlets say, and it is not the American Creed. The people of the United States are in general unhappy with the war because they seek peace, though I sometimes question whether there is ever any “peace through war”. Many Americans believe we are fighting in order that we may live in peace with our neighbors throughout the world, but the cycle of violence makes that impossible and I fear that we face war without end, violence without cessation. This is certainly not the American Creed. After the attacks of September 11 the Masjid of Rochester, New York came together with the Catholic Diocese of Rochester to sign an Agreement of Understanding that both Catholics and Muslims would work together for peace and understanding. Though each side came from historically conflicted religions all quickly moved to present no doubt that we would live together with our neighbors, no matter what transpired. I was there that day the Agreement was signed and I did not simply stand in a room divided, with one-half being Muslims and other Catholic, instead I stood in a room with my neighbors. I am a Catholic, but I did not see Muslims standing next to me that day, I saw my former college professor, my Turkish barber, and my friend Wahlid whose son Karim, and daughter Jumilla I taught at one of the city’s high schools. And I was far from an exception in that room. Rochester was not alone. The will to live in peace with our neighbors was reflected in Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Louisville, and has echoed throughout communities in the United States. Yet the wars still go on. However, in early October the Amish of Lancaster, Pennsylvania reminded us of our American Creed. The Amish believe that the modern world is so corrupt and sinful that they refuse to live in it. They still do not use electricity and even drive the horse and buggy of the early 19th century. These, however, are just the visible signs of Amish Christian religion. Going along with their views on the corrupt nature of modern society they choose to neither participate in the American legal system, nor in the American educational system. Instead, they educate their own children in one room schoolhouses, and it was a tragedy that unfolded at one of these schoolhouses that reminded Americans of what we truly value. On October 3, 2006 a very troubled man named Charles Roberts entered an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster and took the young girls of the class hostage. That day he shot eleven innocent girls most no older than ten years old, killing five before he turned the gun on himself. One outside of America might question what is so different about this slaughter than the terrible events that transpired at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado? The answer would be what happened in the days that followed. America was, as it still is, in the midst of these wars and stories of vengeance, futility and violence were all that dominated the news. The voices were the same, from the middle “we have to stop radicals from destroying peace in Iraq,” from the extreme, “we have to have vengeance for September 11.” Conflict and reproach were the only words that most of America heard. Then the Amish spoke. The Amish stood with their neighbors, with every soul in Lancaster County and said that there was no option but to forgive. The very night that Mr. Roberts committed his unspeakable act an Amish neighbor came to the home of his widow not for vengeance, not to reproach, but to comfort a neighbor in need no matter what her husband had done to their families. That Saturday, when Roberts was buried, nearly 80 Amish showed up to mourn him and to pray for him, not to gloat over his dead body, but to heal their community. And with this act, a group that seems so outside of the American experience reminded all Americans and the world of the American Creed. Though we may have contention it is enough to live together with your neighbor in peace, because then there is a chance at understanding. America is where all the cultures and peoples of the world live in one place. Looking out from my country at the world it seems in many ways perplexing how all these seemingly opposite cultures and views do not tear it apart, after all it seems to happen everywhere else? Then at once I am reminded that in the end we must live with our neighbor in peace. And I sincerely hope that there is, in fact I know there is, when we look beyond governments, sectarian violence and rallying cries, a way to live with our neighbors in peace no matter where they may live. This is the creed of the Americans.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 04:27:12 +0000
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