Religon

I wanted to study religion because it affects people intrinsically through morality and it seems to be the only endeavor that covers this part of human nature. Religions define and divide the world into good or evil with lists of values that constitute good and evil. These lists, such as the Ten Commandments, restrain our dark sides and uplift us during our lighter moments. I also wanted to study religion because I wanted to know more about Islam and why it was being subjected to an interpretation that allowed it to be used against other people. The academic studies I have had have not been disappointing.

The last class I took at the University of Detroit Mercy was on Controversial Islam. Interesting topic considering that there is not the same topic for Christianity and Judaism. This, of course, is descriptive of the historical time we are in: wielded by those with their own agenda, Islam has become the belligerent child. There was a question on the final asking us to explore the idea of any compatibility there might be between Islam and democracy. We had talked of many things during the course of this class, but I was stumped on how to answer this question. It seemed like an easy question. Of course, they are compatible. According to the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Muslims who immigrate to the United States, have the freedom to become citizens, live in cities and suburbs, attend school, maintain a home and job, vote on election days, run for bureaucratic offices and worship as they please within the relative peaceful coexistence that is part of the fabric of this country.

I could not let go of the idea of compatibility between a religion, in this case, Islam, and government, especially a democratic one. What seemed so simple an answer haunted me since there was so much violence coming from the Middle East as seen every night on television and I wondered were Muslims so very different in their own homeland which changed while migrating across bodies...