Usually it has to do with conflict, war, separation of “church and state”, politics, science verses religion, hypocrisy, violence done in the name of someone’s god, abuse of power...there is even a rock band called “Bad Religion”!
At a certain large university’s Department of Religious Studies there is the “Center for Religion and Conflict”. Many now proclaim they are ‘spiritual and not religious’. It seems the majority of people these days do not feel the need for religion, or have any use for it.
But for many, religion is a big part of their lives. I think the majority, much like the media in American culture tends to over-emphasize the negative, especially in religion. They forget the multitudes of GOOD things people have done because of their religious / spiritual beliefs and ways.
What about helping others, the poor, the sick, the homeless? How many schools, hospitals, care facilities, retirement homes, soup kitchens, etc. have been opened because of those living out their religious and spiritual beliefs? Or those that work for peace, justice, helping the oppressed, the voiceless and so on? Let us not forget about the beauty in music, the arts, architecture and their closeness with spirituality and religion.
Religion has been around in all its forms since the beginning of time. There is not one culture in the world or time in history that has not had some form of religion or spiritual practice! And I will venture to say, it will always be so.
I have been teaching Religious Studies and History classes at a large local community college for the past nine years. The majority of the classes I have taught are Religions of the World, also known as “World Religions” which interestingly is one of the most popular classes on campus.
I have also taught Native American Religions, Intro to Christianity, Intro to Islam and History of the Modern Middle East. But the majority of my classes have been teaching World Religions.
It has not been dull!
The first year I started teaching, about two weeks into the semester, 9-11 happened. Need I say more.
I am about to begin my tenth year teaching at community college. Year after year....I get older....and the students (for the most part) all stay the same in age!
Many of my students over the years have been from other countries, cultures, many years older than me. Some have even had PhD’s. Some are so intelligent and talented it blows me away. Other times I wonder how they got through high school. One student I had, he was an older student who finally was able to get himself in college, so smart, talented and kind, was killed mid semester. Oh that just broke my heart.
One semester, the students were doing their presentations, and one student went to the front of the class and opened up a bag and out he took was what looked like a large baggie of marijuana!! I was sitting in the back of the class, the entire class turned their heads backward to look at me and see my reaction. There was a brief moment of silence. I asked him, “That is not real pot is it?” “Oh no, this is really oregano, I am just using this as a visual aid. I am doing my presentation on Rastafarianism!!”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Another time, I think it was my first year teaching I had a student go up to the chalk board and he wrote in Arabic the first verse of the Qur’an’s surahs (chapters) and many a Muslim prayer, the ‘Bismillah” بسم الله it is called. (In the name of God, the most merciful, the most kind.) I was so taken by this I wanted to learn Arabic.
I was asked the following year to be the faculty advisor for the Muslim Student Organization. I am not Muslim, and I am female. Would this be OK? The students were fine with that. And so I attended their meetings, getting to know some young Muslims. They were very friendly, and I remember one young man said to me ‘I just want people to know that not not all Muslims wear grungy beards and want to fly airplanes into buildings.’
I began to take classes at the local university in Arabic and more classes in Islamic Studies. My first semester of Arabic, our instructor said in his heavy accent "Ahdabik vedi eezy". Well, I can tell you, Arabic is not very easy....!
I really learned a lot and got to know some very interesting people taking these classes. I wound up taking four semester of Arabic and a cultural study tour to Jordan one summer for six weeks.
The following year, I developed a new class, Intro to Islam. I still teach it to this day.
I do love teaching and I do love the students. I love to learn. Little do many students realize, I am learning many times right along with them, just from a different perspective! It keeps me fresh, and keeps me young at heart!
I also enjoy watching them learn. But not just learn the material, but learn. You see, I teach for head and heart (intellect and spirit).
I also teach so we can better understand each other (different cultures, ways of thought). For when people do not understand each other, they easily become ‘the other’. The result usually is usually fear. And this can easily result in violence. The better we all understand each other, the better chance we have of respecting each other and getting along.
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