Lately I've been thinking about our human tendencies to mistrust and fear those people we see as fundamentally different from ourselves. It's nothing new, but seems to become even more apparent during times of world unrest and political debate. I'm wondering whether laughter can help us restore the reasonable civil conversations that maintained our democracy in the past. The epidemic of war and insurrection, using the world's best technology to kill, does not make it easy to laugh and repudiate our irrationality. In the world today, both entertainment and the news have made our fears, laughable in cartoons, realistically bloody.
These ruminations got me to remembering some of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoons I used to watch with my 10 year old son back in the 70's. We laughed hysterically at the ridiculous antics of that bunny, who, at his best, reflected the funniest parts of ourselves. I dug around online and found some cartoons. I'll tell you about one that really resonated with me: "Bugs the Bullfighter," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvy_s-GfDxA
But first, If you have already ready the column you may be interested in a Muslim/Christian dialogue with Bible study in Hardin. Please call or contact me at graberdb@gmail.com for information on location and time we are meeting. We have already been in contact with one Muslim interested in this dialogue. We will focus on listening to life stories for understanding instead of discussing differences or debating. Anyone desiring civil, respectful dialogue as an alternative to the flood of arguments for/against Islam in the media and in our community is welcome. The column continues:
While burrowing through miles of terrain Bugs makes a wrong turn, left or right isn't clear, in Albuquerque. He ends up in a Mexican bullfight arena just as the bull breaks through the gate and charges the matador's cape. The trembling matador chooses flight over fight, and races around the arena with the bull breathing down his neck. Desperate to get back to Albuquerque, Bugs easily strides up beside the fleeing matador, map in hand, trying to pry out the location of Albuquerque.
With his narrowed focus the matador doesn't even see Bugs. But the Bull does; he switches attention to the fancy cottontail wagging ferociously in his face. Bugs stops suddenly to read his map against the arena wall. The bull charges right up to his fancy backside, his noisy breath flattening the fibers. Bugs repeatedly swipes the map at the bull's nose, yelling for him to stop wrinkling his tailpiece, each yell and swipe escalating. Finally the bull marches to the center of the arena and turns as Bugs contemplates his map, cottontail facing the bull. The bull's ferocious charge launches him into the stratosphere, his cottontail mutilated. On the way down past the clouds he is heard to announce, "This! —means! —war!" In a moment Bugs pops up in matador regalia complete with cape. And there, still pawing the dirt, is the enemy the original matador fled. The war commences with scene after humorous scene of total annihilation impossibly survived every time to fight again.
I wonder whether we can continue to bombard each other with hateful rhetoric in the media day after day and jump up unscathed as a nation. A recent lent-related survey of elderly Americans, quoted last Sunday by a local pastor, asked this question, "What failure do you regret most in the span of your life?" The response with the highest rate was, "my preoccupation with fears that never became reality." We are conditioned to believe Bugs' response to his encounter in the arena is the only one possible. Our ability to laugh at ourselves has waned over time and we no longer find Bugs Bunny as funny as we used to.
Islamic extremists, assuming the worst of Christians and our Bible, are teaching millions that Christians want to exterminate Muslims because the Bible tells them so. Actual Islamic extremist rhetoric is no longer easily accessible. This atheist site quotes repulsively violent Bible passages: http://godisimaginary.com/video2.htm
Such information, now accessed by Islamist extremists, has spread over the world's media, and in the materials burned recently at Bagram Air Base, along with copies of the Koran. This is not the first time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Q3dOWomVI
Christians hear the same types of distorted assumptions about Muslim beliefs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V9kzQQf-G0
The popular book, God's War on Terror, by Walid Shoebat, formerly an Islamist trained in a terrorist school, was recently sold out on Amazon. It asserts that the Koran teaches all Muslims to annihilate Jews and Christians . http://www.amazon.com/Gods-War-Terror-Islam-Prophecy/dp/0977102181/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330370912&sr=8-1)
The result of these parallel tactics is to spin the "enemy" in monstrous terms, and then, since for every action there is a reaction, we spin ourselves into acting out our enemy's worst behavior. Extremist Islamists have twisted understanding of the term "Jihad"—intended to be an internal spiritual struggle against such an evil bent of our human nature—into a battle of flesh and blood against human enemies.
I have a bias that we Christians have the best answer the world can know to the problem of dealing with people different from ourselves, made laughable by Bugs Bunny, deadly serious by jihadists, and answered for all eternity by Jesus in his ministry and teachings. The story that ended with a walk to the Roman cross and a victorious resurrection was not a cartoon. Jesus' teachings take us in the opposite direction of fear-mongering jihad. He commands us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and to overcome evil with good. Those who follow Jesus' commands show the enemy pure humanity, thereby taking the wind out of sails of hate-filled distortions.
We who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior can, with Him, resist the temptation to dehumanize another race or religion. This is the old-fashioned Gospel of Jesus. A compelling new biography by Ahmed Ali Haile, Teatime in Mogadishu, brings Jesus' Lenten story into recent times. Born and raised a Muslim in Somalia, Haile became a Christian, yet retained a deep respect for his Muslim tradition. He recounts in life events how the Koran, like the Hebrew Old Testament, pointed him to Jesus. As Easter approaches, let's strive to be more like Haile and less like Bugs Bunny.
The book by Haile includes a Bible study and guide for Christian groups interested in understanding the experiences of Muslims behind their religion. The goal in the book is to get accurate information and begin civil dialogue. This could spark a movement to avert our next war, and keep our next Big Horn County generation from harms way in Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia or any other Muslim majority nation with oil. Our expectation is to use this book as a guide to our dialogue because it helps focus on useful questions and relevant Bible passages promoting a rational, Christ-centered peace instead of war.
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David Graber
Hardin, MT 59034
graberdb@gmail.com
www.greenwoodfarmmt.org
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