(In response to Kevin Fisher’s editorial “Islam Turns Back the Clock on Women’s Rights”)

We’re not one big happy family. But everyone around you is in some way your relative. We share the same DNA. We all originated from the same place. In a vast dark universe, we share the same tiny blue reflection of light. We breathe the same air. We all bleed the same color.

It is as natural for us to cooperate as it is to compete. We are complex beings, and getting along is not always easy. We inherit a legacy that is both positive and negative. We have learned how to survive together and we have climbed to the top of the food chain. Far too often, we have fought each other in order to do so.

Perhaps more than any other chapter in history, the past hundred years have shown us how incredibly intelligent we are. We have glimpsed just a flash of our collective potential. We have cured diseases. We have learned to fly, even to put a man on the moon. We have constructed great societies. And we have also seen our darkest side. Two world wars killed countless millions of people. We have seen some of our best and brightest leaders gunned down and taken from us. We have watched lunatics fly airplanes into buildings. We have looked at ourselves and seen our best and our worst.

It would be hard to call our fear of each other irrational. It would be even harder to look within and to confront the fear of our own selves. We live in an age of anxiety—an anxiety that is stimulated and stirred daily by powerful media forces. Our house is not in order, and it has been said that a house divided will fall.

When I walk down the street I see people who are different from me. Some of them talk differently, some of them dress differently, some of them believe in things that just seem crazy to me. And I am often tempted to think I am somehow different, or better.

And yet every single one of us is part of the same creation. Our global society, as well as our local communities, are in fact a collaboration. We’re all in this together. It’s easier to believe otherwise, but it isn’t true. Separation is a trick of the mind when we operate from a place of fear. And we all do it.

I personally feel that this country some of us live in, the United States of America, is a pretty amazing place in spite of all our faults. We are a young country and still something of a social experiment. Perhaps one of our greatest assets, what has caused us to innovate and to excel and to make so many important contributions to the world, is in fact our cultural diversity.

Your neighbor, the one you really don’t like, may be the most important teacher you will ever have. They may be teaching you patience, tolerance, compassion. If you disagree with that statement, move somewhere else and you will find another version of that same dreaded neighbor living right down the street, or in the office next to yours, or as the parent of your child’s best friend. You almost have to wonder if there is something karmically perfect about how it is all constructed—as if a Divine force, with a sense of poetry and a sense of humor put it all together.

Separateness is a complete illusion, and thank God, because being all alone is just no fun. And being with only people who are exactly just like you just gets dull after a while. If we want to hang on to what is good in this world, we must recognize that absolutely everything that is positive is the result of relationships with other human beings. If you really let it in, it becomes plain to see that we are all in fact a family—a dysfunctional one perhaps, but a family nonetheless.

What makes a family strong is that one thing that often seems most impossible and that is love. We don’t have to like each other all the time, but when we tune into a sense of love, there is no telling what we can do. And if we don’t, I think it’s pretty clear where we are headed.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if, over the next hundred years, we learned from the past hundred years? I’m not saying that we don’t need to defend ourselves from those among us who would seek to blow themselves up or blow us up. There is danger in the world. But when I think about the seven billion people who currently occupy this planet, I also see that there is so much love—perhaps more of that actually than fear. And it is maintaining that balance that holds the whole thing together. I see how horribly we have treated each other in this world and even in the community where I live. And I feel like we can do better.

Eric Allen Bell
eric@bellmedia.org

As a Muslim woman, I’m always pleased to learn from non-Muslims all the ways I am being oppressed without even knowing it. It’s very eye-opening to learn about all these things I have NEVER EXPERIENCED. Tell me, Mr. Fisher, have you ever checked any non-fiction sources for information about Islam?
Layla Hantouli
susevastra@yahoo.com

Dear Mr. Fisher,

There are two different points at issue here. One is women’s rights and the other is freedom of religion.

Concerning women’s rights, yes, even the Muslim community is concerned with this issue, and yes, women’s rights in this country are still relatively new and an ongoing battle. It is not just the Qu’ran that restricts women’s rights. The Bible and Jewish law also place women under the control of men. The difference is that, culturally, most Americans have changed their views of the equality between men and women. The passages in the Bible have not changed, nor have Jewish scriptures changed. WE have changed, and with these changes we have CHOSEN to place more emphasis on the scriptures that emphasize respect for women, rather than focusing on the ones that subjugate them. The Qu’ran has many verses that emphasize respect for women, as well as verses that subjugate them. Islamic communities are just now beginning to struggle with the same shift in gender values that we have been struggling with for more than two centuries. This is one issue.

A second, and completely separate, issue is that of religious freedom. Yes, there would be protest and discussion of a white supremacist church being built in the community, but there would NEVER have been a court case trying to stop them from building their church. As long as they did not behave in ways that threatened the community, they would be allowed to gather and talk about whatever they believe in. In fact, they DO gather and rally and have marches. When I was a kid, those marches used to be televised, cross burnings and all. They haven’t been outlawed. It’s just that fewer people give such groups any credibility—in part because they were allowed to openly show their true beliefs.

You express concern that there has been little discussion about the beliefs of the Islamic community. This is a concern that we both share. There has been much focus on certain passages in the Qu’ran and complete silence on others. There has been much focus on the behavior of extremist Islamic cultures OUTSIDE of the U.S. and little focus on the behavior of the Islamic community IN MURFREESBORO. Words are not beliefs until they are put into practice. Has there been a single honor killing within the Islamic community in Murfreesboro in the 30 years they have lived here? No. Do they bar their daughters from getting education, including college education? No. I have taught countless Islamic young women from Murfreesboro who are going to college and getting an education. I have talked to their husbands and fathers and brothers who are staunch supporters of their education and want my advice on how to help the women in their families be successful.

You’re right, there has not been nearly enough DISCUSSION about the Islamic reality in AMERICA—only accusations and examples from OTHER countries. Keep in mind, the Muslims who came here, came here to GET AWAY from those very practices you accuse them of believing in. When asked why they chose to come to America, they always say “freedom” as their first response and the “education for all of my children” second.

Should we be concerned about extremist Islamic groups because of their treatment of women? Yes. But the same can be said of certain fundamentalist Christian groups, too. THAT is a human rights issue, not a religious freedom issue. Let’s not confuse the two issues—we stand to lose far too much if we do.

Devora Manier
dmanier@comcast.net

Dear Mr Fisher,

I remember Amina Lawal’s case as it was going on many years ago, and you will be happy to know that she won her appeals and was set free! She will NOT be stoned to death in the upcoming weeks.

Furthermore, you should know that there is a slight difference between Shariah (sic) and Shariah Law. Shariah is a set of principals and protections derived from the Qur’an which include the rights to protect life, mental health, freedom of religion (including the freedom not to believe) and the family. Shariah Law is a combining of Sharia and humans’ interpretation of it, and unfortunately humans don’t always interpret things very well. Stonings and other oppressive laws were already in place in societies where Islam moved in, and were written into Shariah Law despite the fact that they aren’t actually Shariah compliant. Saying that an existing Shariah Law isn’t Shariah compliant is EXACTLY the same as saying that an existing American Law is un-Constitutional. In the movie Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, about the comprehensive Gallup Poll of Muslims worldwide, Dalia Mogahed does an excellent job of explaining how Muslim women are using Shariah to get the bad Shariah Laws thrown out. They are saying to the courts, “We want our laws to be Shariah compliant” rather than saying, “We don’t want Shariah Laws.” Muslim women are USING Shariah to gain their rights. I highly recommend that you watch the movie (you can view it at snagfilms.com).

Thank you,
Amy Stewart
ukalichick@yahoo.com

“During their monthly menstrual cycles, women are prohibitively barred from mosque grounds, the cemetery and from participating in any burial rituals or attending any services, as they are now at the current mosque on Samsonite Boulevard. In other words, if a Muslim woman dies, her daughter, if she is in her menstrual cycle, cannot attend her own mother’s burial and cannot assist in the washing of the body, a sacred rite of burial in Muslim culture, because she is considered ‘unclean.’”

This belief is not exclusive to Muslims. Orthodox Jews and some Native American religions also don’t allow menstruating women into Temple or other sacred places, in fact this is a religious and cultural tradition that pre-dates the religion of Islam by several thousand years and spans many cultures.

Kayti Rebekkah Butts
kaytikat_21@hotmail.com

(In response to the “Letters from 940” series)

I have really enjoyed this segment, partly due to the fact our 26-year-old son was recently released from 940 with similiar stories.

I have sent Jerry a correspondence wishing him well.

Charles Thomason
annettethomason@att.net

(In response to “The Vinyl Frontier” feature on Jim Laughlin of Digital Planet)

As a good friend of Jimmy’s, this is a wonderful article about our Jimmy. He truly is very passionate about our town, its history, its people and truly loves sharing his knowledge and memorabilia with everyone.

Glad to have him as my friend.

Virginia Chopko
evchopko@comcast.net

Jim Laughlin is my hero.

Corey Cummings
coreyallencummings@gmail.com

A very well-written story about my friend, Jim.

Ginny Williams
ginnyow@aol.com

I have known Jimmy for almost the full time he has been in Tennessee. He is a wonderful, caring guy. Our town and more personally, our family, would not be the same without Jimmy in it! Jimmy, you rock!

Annelle Gerbman
agerbman@gmail.com