I attended a training on oral history yesterday and was struck with the idea that many of us are caught up in our community's story even if it doesn't quite equate with our own personal experience. This is obvious in the statements such as the one that came out from the Catholic Media Officer, Peter Kearney, recently about anti-catholic discrimination in Scotland. This is not my experience and luckily some Catholics publicly said it was not their experience either.
It struck me that this might also apply to the parents who pulled their children out of a visit to a Mosque in Edinburgh recently. According to the press the reasons given by the parents focused on the hate they thought was being preached in mosques and was influenced by the murder of Lee Rigby. This was a dreadful event which was condemned by Muslims as well as others and gave a field day to UKiP and other extremist right wing groups such as the British National Party and the English Defence League. I suspect these parents took on board the story of these groups without ever having visited a Mosque, meeting a Muslim or knowing something about Islam. Incidents such as that in Woolwich should surely make all sensible citizens determined to develop good relations between the different groups in our society and overcome hate with friendship and respect. What have the children learnt by the action of their parents? To be suspicious of Muslims, to see them as people to be feared, to see themselves as right and others wrong? And if the children learn this about Muslims they will no doubt transfer this suspicion to anyone who is different. What a way to bring up children! The parents were hoping to protect their children from harm but it seems to me they have harmed them in a very subtle way as they have harmed society. How different this story is from the heartwarming one about the Imam in York. But the parents, possibly unwittingly, have promoted the story of the BNP and the EDL and made our society less tolerant. The visit to the Mosque was to promote understanding and respect, not to ram religion down the children's throats as one parent suggested. Surely understanding and respect are the kind of values we want to promote in our children rather than fear and suspicion. I do hope the school organises a visit to the Mosque for the parents sometime and if the parents have the courage to step out of their own limited circle they might be surprised by what they discover. I am reminded of the story of a man traveling through the desert who sees an ugly ogre ahead coming towards him and is very frightened. As the ogre gets closer the man realises the ogre is not so big but definitely ugly and certainly frightening. Eventually the two come face to face and discover one another as brothers. The same of course could be said of sisters!
It struck me that this might also apply to the parents who pulled their children out of a visit to a Mosque in Edinburgh recently. According to the press the reasons given by the parents focused on the hate they thought was being preached in mosques and was influenced by the murder of Lee Rigby. This was a dreadful event which was condemned by Muslims as well as others and gave a field day to UKiP and other extremist right wing groups such as the British National Party and the English Defence League. I suspect these parents took on board the story of these groups without ever having visited a Mosque, meeting a Muslim or knowing something about Islam. Incidents such as that in Woolwich should surely make all sensible citizens determined to develop good relations between the different groups in our society and overcome hate with friendship and respect. What have the children learnt by the action of their parents? To be suspicious of Muslims, to see them as people to be feared, to see themselves as right and others wrong? And if the children learn this about Muslims they will no doubt transfer this suspicion to anyone who is different. What a way to bring up children! The parents were hoping to protect their children from harm but it seems to me they have harmed them in a very subtle way as they have harmed society. How different this story is from the heartwarming one about the Imam in York. But the parents, possibly unwittingly, have promoted the story of the BNP and the EDL and made our society less tolerant. The visit to the Mosque was to promote understanding and respect, not to ram religion down the children's throats as one parent suggested. Surely understanding and respect are the kind of values we want to promote in our children rather than fear and suspicion. I do hope the school organises a visit to the Mosque for the parents sometime and if the parents have the courage to step out of their own limited circle they might be surprised by what they discover. I am reminded of the story of a man traveling through the desert who sees an ugly ogre ahead coming towards him and is very frightened. As the ogre gets closer the man realises the ogre is not so big but definitely ugly and certainly frightening. Eventually the two come face to face and discover one another as brothers. The same of course could be said of sisters!
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