The Conundrum of Religious Freedom for Jews

Written By

Lewis D. Eigen

The Jewish prisoner flinched at the accusations of the police officer.  Wearing a traditional white and blue Jewish prayer shawl and publicly praying was so offensive to public morality that for the sake of order in the community, the religious authorities and the police officer had to act.  He had nothing personal against the accused, but it was his job to maintain a level of public order and decorum.  So many people had been so offended by the accused that he had to act.  People took their religion very seriously.  God himself had told man how to behave, and this misguided Jew goes out in public and offends most of the serious, fundamentalist religious believers.  It was not just the clerics stirring up hate.  So many people thought that God and they were being mocked by someone who had no respect for the word of God or man’s religious traditions.

The date was November 18, 2009.  The place most of us assume was probably Saudi Arabia or Iran.  That the fundamentalist Moslem bigots would not allow a Jew to pray in public.  That is the so called law in those countries that blatantly flaunt standards of religious tolerance and commonly violate the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  But this particular gross denial of Jewish religious rights was not in those countries.  It was not even in a Moslem nation.  Nor a Christian one for that matter.  It took place in the Jewish state of Israel.  The police officers were themselves Jewish.

Islamic Dialogues: 5 The 100 Million Moslem Minority

This is a dramatization of the difficult position Moslem citizens of India were in when Islamic Pakistan attacked India in 1971. Many Indian Moslems were expeted by their fellow Moslems in Pakistan to support Pakistan if not overtly then at least covertly. Yet the Moslem minority of India had more freedom, a better standard of living, and a more honest government than the Islamic nation on their border. The drama illustrates the tension between loyalty to religion and loyalty to nation that people often face. It also illustrates the fundamentalistic Islamuc concept of religion and nationhood and its difference from most other religions and the views of more contemporary Moslems.

Turkish Discrimination Against Christian Schools–Or Is It?

Written by Lewis D. Eigen

 

Christian theological seminaries are currently banned in Turkey. Yet this is a prohibition with which some Westerners and Christians agree, and even those who do not, often understand. The complexity that has resulted from the clash between Islam and modernity is so great that it is almost impossible to tell what is liberal and democratic and what is not. The conflict between Moslem Turkey and Christianity with respect to theological seminaries is a marvelous example of things being in reality very different from what they first appear. This is the story of complexity where up can be down and wrong might be right.

Islamic Dialogues: 2 The Martyred Son

The Martyred Son, is a tragic playlet of a Palestinian family whose first knowledge of the radicalization of their only son is after his death in the process of murdering 7 Israelis. Their soul searching and recriminations developed while they rethink how such a thing could occur, provides a painful glimpse into the dynamics and impact of the extreme fundamentalists on what otherwise might be a normal society. One critic has observed, “anyone of any religion will tear up reading this poignant, intimate account of what we never usually consider when we hear of another suicide bombing.”

Islamic Dialogues: 1–College in America

A dramatic dialog of an American Moslem father and his son with two imams in Detroit. The boy has been at the Univeristy of Michigan and the father had visited for the first time and was somewhat shocked. He asked his old friend and imam to talk with them as he was not sure that he was being a good father exposing his son to the diverse and non-Islamic culture of a large modern university. The imams view the situation very differently and present a microcosm the range of viewpoints on secular modernism within Islam.

Islamic Dialogues: 0–Preface & Background

This is the preface to a series of dramatic dialogues expressing the diversity of Moslem political, religious, social opinion in a world where the second largest religion is percieved as the largest international socio-political problem for the world. The series of dialogues provides insights into many of the different personalities and viewpoints that go under the name of Islam.