"The Mid West is More Religious Than the Middle East"


A non-Christian blogger faces American religion
Virkam Keskar lays it out. Emphasis added.

Coming to the US my biggest shock was how seriously people took religion. It was a form of religious intensity that I had never encountered. In Saudi I had endured a totalitarian theocracy (is there another kind?) but I had never seen the man on the street be so wrapped up in their religion. I had never met people who defined themselves, first and foremost, on the basis of their religion. Yeah living in the Middle East I was aware of all the extremist fundamentalists. But they were the fringe. They were like UFOs. You only heard of them, you never actually met them in real life. None of my Muslim friends listed the Koran as their favorite book. They never included any suras as their favorite quotes. Sure there were Muslim mullahs on the TV but no one really actually listened to those programs. Anyhow they were TEACHING the Koran as opposed to PREACHING it.

So when I came to the US I was shocked, absolutely stunned at just how absolutely people believed the Bible. This was the first time in my entire life that I had a religious text cited to me during a scientific debate. When one of my dorm-mates tossed out the "Evolution is an unproven theory whit a lot of holes" line at me I didn't even realize that it was the opening line for a serious debate. For a second I thought it was a throwaway one-liner. He doubted evolution! Not just one odd guy, but dozens upon dozens came at me that night. I actually have met 3 different people since that night who actually doubt that the earth is more than a few thousand years old. I still can't wrap my head around this concept.

Another thing that has shocked me how strongly people feel about converting non christians to Christianity. This driven by the constant overarching belief that all non christians are wrong and are going to go to hell (something I have been told bluntly to my face). There is an inability to conceive of the fact that they might be the ones who are wrong. No one, not one single person in my 8 years in the middle east ever tried to convert me to Islam. Not once did anyone suggest that not being Muslim meant that I was going to suffer.

I was raised on the edge of an evangelical Christian tradition. I chose another path. You can imagine the fireworks. Atheism and agnosticism were accepted, but not encouraged. But a non-Christian god? Heresy. Literally. And the closest I ever saw some of my relatives come to violence without cause. I suspect that a few decades earlier, I would have been soundly thumped a few times by my relatives.

Religious belief is far stronger in the U.S. than it is in Europe. All things considered, it is remarkable how little religious violence has come to America. We've learned to tolerate our differences, even as we debate them. We argue, but we seldom come to blows.

Personally I don't care what someone else believes as long as they don't try to force me to believe what they dictate. Debate is another matter, and when provoked I can give better than I get. Try finding a national tradition of toleration, debate, and strong religious convictions anywhere else. In the words of the the song, "Perfect it's not, but it's the best thing this world's got."

Warts and all.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - April 6, 2007 at 02:03 PM  Tag


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