Gary Crooks: Look inward, Islam critics

It’s Sunday, and you’re comfortably situated in the pew awaiting the sermon. Instead, a stranger strides to the pulpit. He isn’t a member of your church and doesn’t belong to your denomination. He may not even believe in God.

But there he is telling you what your church stands for and what you really believe. He calls your beliefs dangerous and insists they don’t align with American values. How does he know? Because, he says, he’s read the gospels that form the foundation of your church. Then he recites some passages shorn of the context and perspective your regular minister provides.

You think, we’ve never been taught that, so why does he think so? Why, indeed? He’s not a religious scholar, but he drones on with an impassioned certitude that makes you uncomfortable.

In the real world, this wouldn’t happen at your house of worship. But it does occur. Ask any Muslim. They’re bombarded with lectures on their religion. How they have no choice but to hate. How their beliefs inevitably lead to violence. The lecturers don’t show up at mosques to learn about Islam, but they read the Quran or selected excerpts and then hold forth.

So ask yourself this: Is everything you need to know about your religion in scriptures? Is that Sunday sermon unnecessary? Never benefited from the pastor’s insight? Is Bible study a waste of time?

Before selecting your religion, did you conduct a comprehensive survey of all the world’s belief systems? Most likely, you’re Catholic or Mormon or Jewish or whatever because your parents were. You joined as a child when you didn’t have a choice. You stayed and learned a lot about your denomination, but you can’t speak with authority about other religions.

If one could pigeonhole a religion with a cursory reading of its holy works, why are there so many denominations that spring from the Bible? Why don’t Christians interpret Scripture the same? Why all the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants?

How can some fundamentalists believe the age of Earth is 2,500 to 10,000 years, while other Christians believe it’s 4.5 billion years?

It’s in the Bible! There can be no dispute!

Finally, why aren’t differences among Muslims acknowledged? “You obviously haven’t read the Quran,” I was told last week. As if the religious practices of all Muslims were the same. As if there were no debates among Muslims about the Quran and other texts. As if “Islamic extremist” were redundant.

It takes toxic levels of hubris to tell someone else what they believe and then treat them like a con artist when they object. It takes humility, a cornerstone of every religion, to focus inward.

THE PROPOSITION. To find the answers to last week’s question, check the following page. Some of the answers inspired what I wrote above.

Nobody said straight-up that Muslim-Americans should be singled out for their beliefs. Nobody said we should exempt Islam from the religious liberty passage of the First Amendment. But I have to wonder why after reading commentary on how mayhem is inevitable.

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION. The Salary Review Commission raised Spokane City Council pay from $31,200 to $45,100. In 2008, it was raised from $18,000 to $30,000. Before that, it hadn’t been raised since 1991.

Which leads to a couple of questions: Should a council position be full time or part time? What is the appropriate pay, and why?

Send me an email with your reply. Need your name and town. Be nice to hear from current and former council members.

Opinion Editor Gary Crooks can be reached at garyc@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5026. Follow him on Twitter @GaryCrooks.