05/19/2007

Working toward a better understanding

By Gretchen Murray
Local columnist
gmurray@
record-eagle.com

Read Gretchen's past columns here

The old saying that politics and religion don't mix went out the window on 9/11. Since that day, politics and religion have been as intertwined in American conversations as the words "extremists” and "Muslim.” Since the war in Iraq began, news analyses have provided Americans with crash courses in the history of holy wars, background information on the various political and religious stances on terrorism, introduced words like "jihad” and "al Qaeda” to our vocabularies, and caused many Americans to come away from their television sets puzzled by the violence they see there being credited to a religion — much less Islam, a religion whose basic tenets are built on peace and understanding.

In Traverse City, about 50 people turned to the Rev.Thomas Jasperse, pastor of The Community of Joy Church for answers. Community of Joy is a member of the Reformed Church in America, an evangelical Christian denomination.

Jasperse had been studying the Koran, and his friend, William Church, had done mission work in Muslim countries. Together they recently held a two-part community forum titled "What Matters about Islam.”

"I told folks, it's important to see our world in a bigger way,” Jasperse said. "In Traverse City probably very few of us even know a Muslim. It's a very different world view that's often confusing to understand.

"We're Christians, so we have a Christian bias, and we don't apologize for that. We also looked at it from the government's point of view, asking what can we, as a nation, do to be more engaged with moderate Muslim countries,” he said. "We need to have a rudimentary understanding of each other.”

While some try to get a handle on Islam through theology, others are signing up for David Van Hammen's beginning Arabic class at Northwestern Michigan College. So far, his classes have been full and he hopes to offer another 10-week course this summer.

Van Hammen served in the Peace Corps in Yemen in the 1970's and went back after college to work in private industry from 1983 to 1994. His daughter was born there.

He says his students tell him they want to learn what's going on in the Mideast. "They say this (language class) is their first step in learning about the region,” he said. Van Hammen thinks the best thing to do is approach the issue with an open mind.

Van Hammen often calls his friends in Yemen for reassurance. "I ask them, is the place going to hell or what? But as I talk to people they tell me, life goes on there.”

"They say to me, 'you have Virginia Tech and Columbine, TV shows like CSI with all the sex and drugs' and they ask me, 'How can anyone live in America? It's so violent there.' In general,” Van Hammen said. "There's a lot of misunderstanding.”

Working through the misconceptions might not solve all the problems, but the more we know about each other, the better the chance we'll find a starting point for peace.

Reach Gretchen Murray at gmurray@record-eagle.com.