I know far more than any of those people!

Religion has always been an interesting thing to me. It's one of those subjects that has so many facets, no matter how long you study it, there is always something new to learn. So, when I got the chance to sign up for the Culture: Religion and Identity course my college offers, I jumped at the chance. What better way to spend electives than on courses that you're interested in taking?

At any rate, while I do enjoy the class, I have to confess that I'm quite irritated with it, particularly after discussion this week. Our first seminar of the term began with the general instructor notes. No biggie... until we got to his note that says (and I quote) "In many, many areas, I know far more than the authors of the textbook."

That bugged me. While it may be true (I've yet to see it so can't make that claim), it's far better to let the students reach that conclusion on their own. Proclaiming your superior intelligence doesn't do much for the students. Why, when that's nearly the first thing from the instructor, even bother reading the textbook? If we're going to learn more from him than from the combined authors of that text, might as well just dump the text and save the misinformation. But whatever.

The next comment to raise my hackles was during a discussion of theocracy. Someone mentioned something about China and his response was (and again I quote) "Yes, screw China." The student that mentioned China had said nothing along those lines. His response was inappropriate for the discussion, did not take into consideration that our classmates come to us from all over the world and from all backgrounds and his apology 10 minutes later (after half the class had already left) was rather ineffective. But again, whatever. I could have lived with that one, irritated or not.

This week, however, we're discussing Islam. The subject naturally turned to the American perception of Muslims and the conflicts of Islamic faith with contemporary society. One of my fellow classmates argued that the first pillar of the Islamic faith didn't cause conflicts with contemporary society. I disagreed. Simply being openly Muslim, even 6 and a half years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, isn't necessarily an easy thing. Countless polls and studies have pointed to the obvious mistrust Americans have of Muslims, as have many of the discussion we see here, on the news and elsewhere.

One study by Cornell University showed 44 percent of respondents believing we should curtail civil liberties for Muslim Americans. A 2004 Pew Center poll had 37 percent of respondents viewing the Islamic faith unfavorably, with another 42 percent (linked above) believing that between half and all of Muslims were anti-American. In a 2006 poll, only 41 percent of respondents believed the Muslim community was cooperating in the fight against terrorism.

Quite outside of the poll numbers are the very real hostilities and ignorance that Muslim Americans have endured throughout society. We've had several members here on ProgressiveU talk about the things they've had to contend with as Muslim Americans. One girl, who was in high school during the attacks, said that for weeks after the attacks she was treated like a suspected terrorist by her classmates. Another discussed the issues and comments that Muslim women face for wearing the Hijab. Another has discussed the issues she faced outside of school for simply being Muslim. And we all know about the Muslims who were rounded up and held without charges after the attacks and about the anti-Islamic commentary from public figures (as well as private citizens).

So anyway, the instructor chimes in with the argument that most Americans are tolerant of Muslims and then offers for consideration (he said he wasn't saying he agreed or disagreed with it) the argument that Muslims would do their cause more justice if "rather than decrying their victimhood, they were to take to the streets, in large numbers, to rally in protest against Islamic fanaticism and terrorism."

I hate that argument for a variety of reasons... the biggest being that it's a ridiculous standard to me. Why is the Muslim community only worthy of tolerance and respect if they go to such lengths when extremism in other religions has not cast clouds over those entire religious communities and is, in fact, rarely ever mentioned? Why if we don't demand the Christian community take to the streets to speak out against Christian extremism should it be any different for the Muslim community? That question was very much along the lines of my response to him. I mentioned both the Christian and Jewish communities in my response.

Both have, contrary to popular opinion, had their share of extremist sects and extremist actions. One website has an entire section devoted to idiotic quotes from Christian extremists. We know about extremist groups such as the Army of God, the Aryan Nations, and the Christian Patriots. We've read about the bombings, shootings and general rotten actions of extremists in the United States. We've heard reports of Jewish extremist sects in Israel, know that the Jewish Defense League has been linked to bombings in New York during the 70s, and have heard first hand accounts from Jews about Jewish extremism and the terrorist actions they carry out.

But despite all of this, we still cannot fathom admitting to the fact that these oh so peaceful religions have their own share of crazies and that those crazies are, indeed, quite happy to kill people. It's far more pleasant for us to pretend it's only the Islamic faith that breeds extremist sects. Our ignorance on the matter of religious extremism at the hands of non-Muslims is no-where as more evident as it was in my instructors post script on my grade for the week.

That irritated me. Not because he laughed, I'm Pagan... I'm quite used to striking the funny bone with my comments. What irritated me was that this man, this we-can-learn-more-from-him-than-the-textbook man seems to be absolutely clueless and yet, is teaching. And not only is he teaching, he's informing students that they can learn more from him than they can the 3 authors of the textbook. That's a problem for me. Actually, it's a very big problem. But I'll get back to that in a moment.

His response made me curious, so I had to Google him before jumping to conclusions and ranting about him. Can I just say my opinion of the universities decision to hire him is now firmly cemented?

This instructor is a "philosophical counselor." In the FAQ section of his website (which I'm not linking here since I'm trying not to give his name), he negates that psychological issues arise from medical conditions, going so far as to say that "most depression is not caused by a chemical malfunction in the brain. It is due to one’s outlook on life." Call me crazy, but the vast majority of research I've seen over the course of my years paints a rather different picture of the causes of depression.

At any rate, the entire situation has really frustrated me. When we enter a class, we expect that the person standing at the podium and passing out grades is doing so because he or she is knowledgeable enough to have the ability to do so. I'm no longer sure that is the case, at least not in this particular situation. When one can't even admit what is in front of one's very nose and is teaching anyway, it’s a problem.

There is, even in the academic world, room for disagreement. At some point, however, one has to be willing to entertain the notion that the disagreement stems not from an educated position but from ignorance of the facts. When that one refuses to entertain the notion that extremism and terrorism happens in all religions and when one refuses to entertain the notion that the majority of depression isn't caused by one's outlook on life and can't be cured by simple discussion alone; one is swimming in dangerous waters. And when the swimmer can’t even support his claims with anything aside from a post script ending with “thanks for the laugh,” that swimmer has no business standing in front of a podium professing to know "far more" than anyone else

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