Religious Freedom

Most of us know the 1st Amendment because it gives us the right to free speech. As a writer, I appreciate that right and honor the responsibility it conveys. Thankfully, that amendment also gives us the right to freedom of religion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Because of this amendment, in this country we are free to practice our various faiths as we see fit. I'm especially aware of this freedom since if I lived in another part of the world, notably in Iran or Egypt, I'd face serious persecution since I'm a Baha'i. I'd be denied an education and denied the right to marry. My property and material possessions could be taken away by the government. Or if my next door neighbor decides to steal my car, as a Baha'i in those countries, I'd have no legal recourse.

Yes, if I lived in another part of the world, I might be arrested and imprisoned because of my beliefs. Tortured. Executed.

As a teenager, I was horrified by the story of Mona Mahmudnizhad, a young Persian girl executed for teaching Baha'i children's classes. She was only sixteen and was hung along with nine other Baha'i women.

Thankfully, because of our First Amendment, I don't have to worry about that. Here in this country, someone might be mean to me and tell me I'm going to hell, but compared to the possibility of being hung or shot by a firing squad, I can deal with that.

Despite the persecution of my Baha'i brothers and sisters taking place in countries that are majority Muslim, I have nothing but love and respect for those who practice Islam. I believe that all of the world's great religions come from the same source, God, and are truly only one faith, even if some of the social laws of the religion may change.

Of course, not everyone feels that all religion is the same truth. Even among Christians, there is lots of fighting and arguing about which version of Christianity is better. Some people trash Catholics. Others trash Baptists, Methodists, and so on. Atheists and agnostics get lectured, and likewise do their share of lecturing.

We clearly have not yet learned how to be unified and respectful of each other's beliefs, which is the exact opposite of what religion actually teaches.

As I listened to the news today, I found myself thinking specifically about how as a nation we have not addressed our religious prejudices against Muslims. In fact, we are guilty of a great deal of religious prejudice toward our Muslim brothers and sisters.

I thought about all this while listening to a couple of news pundits debating the use of Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. A typical statement was, "Well what's wrong with saying his middle name?"

Nothing's wrong with Barack Obama's middle name but what is wrong is the intent behind saying it over and over. It's used to fan the flames of anti-Islamic fears and prejudice in the hope that people will erroneously believe that the man is a Muslim.

Months ago, someone forwarded me one of those, "Freak Out Because Obama's a Muslim" kind of emails and it made me feel profoundly sad. The email was full of horrible lies and needed some serious fact checking. The emails have been circulating and circulating like a toxic poison in our collective conscience.

No, Obama's not a Muslim. But if he was, so what? What's wrong with that?

I wish the talking heads on TV would say this. I wish Obama would stand up and say it.

Instead, he passes out fliers featuring images of him at church. Instead he mentions being a Christian in his rallies. He should do those things because being a Christian and going to church is an important part of his life. I hope this is why he's doing this. He should not have to do it because he has to soothe our fears and pander to our national prejudices. The sad reality is that because of our nation's prejudices, if Obama was a Muslim, he wouldn't even be on a ballot right now.

Funny we can take folks' oil but we decry and demonize their faith.

Islam is a beautiful religion in its own right. Sure, there are people who justify their wrong, immoral and evil actions by cloaking them with the mantle of Islam. But that doesn't take away the original intent of Mohammad. If some Muslims say they hate Christians, they need to pick up their copy of the Koran and re-read how Mohammad venerates and honors Jesus.

I'm also quite aware that the same twisting of purpose was also done with Christianity.

Or have we all forgotten how people chose to interpret certain passages from the Bible to justify slavery? Decided that black folks were only 3/5 human? Denied women the right to vote?

People have done terrible things in the name of religion. But we can all do our part to create greater understanding. For example, for many years my parents have been part of an interfaith organization designed to create partnerships between the diverse faiths that should co-exist in this nation of religious freedom. Surely these sort of organizations exist in lots of cities.

On a day to day level, how many of us in our personal lives check those around us when we hear them subtly making comments that imply that all Muslims are terrorists? What do we do when we hear people say Muslims are going to hell because they don't have Christ in their lives? Do we agree if someone says Muslims are weird because they pray five times a day and don't drink?

In the face of such prejudice, I hope we can all bring it back to that all important first amendment and truly honor our freedom of religion. We can't take it for granted.

The Devil Made Me Eat That Whopper Jr.

My sons came home from school today with a letter from David L. Brewer III, the Superintendent of Los Angeles' schools. It explained that the school district has ceased serving all food items containing ground beef until further notice.

What brought on this decision?

Well, the meat distributor for district cafeterias, Westland Meat Company, is being investigated by the USDA for, as the letter says, "slaughtering non-ambulatory cattle". There's no denying that these cows were being abused because it was caught on tape.

The letter made me think about how I became a vegetarian.

In a Burger King.

At two in the morning.

It was my freshman year of college and although I'd like to say I was motivated to put down my Whopper Jr. by a sudden desire to save cattle from the slaughterhouse, I can't. Sure, I'd read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle"back in eighth grade but I didn't think too much about conditions in meat packing plants. In fact, at the time I had no idea that animal activists even existed.

However, I am a highly competitive person and a gauntlet had just been thrown down.

"You couldn't stop eating meat if you tried!"

Actually, let me back up. I believe the whole of what was said was, "You're such a devil, you couldn't stop eating meat if you tried!"

How did the devil come into the conversation? Well, I was dating a guy whose cousin was hardcore into the Nation of Islam. Needless to say, thanks to mon père irlandais, I was not popular with NOI Cousin. Clearly, if my Irish dad was the devil, I was, by extension, half a devil and therefore a bad influence.

In a college town there aren't many places other than a 24 hour Burger King to hang out at 2 AM. And the security guard, Sam, was a chatty old guy who could play a mean card game of spades. It was not unusual for me to hook up with a couple of friends, go get a bite to eat at the Burger King and end up talking and playing cards with Sam till the sky started to get light.

On one of these nights, NOI Cousin happened to be driving past the Burger King and spied my boyfriend standing up, laughing with two other friends of mine. (I'm now married to one of those friends but that's another story.)

NOI Cousin parked his car and came into the Burger King, full of disapproval for our little late night fast food and card game excursion.

I wasn't too bothered by his critique of our playing cards because I've known people my whole life who believe playing cards is sinful. But I didn't get what the big deal was about eating Burger King. I pointed out that I knew Muhammad had not restricted Muslims from eating beef, just from eating pork.

NOI Cousin explained how as a member of the Nation, he was committed to all forms of discipline. That discipline included avoiding fast food. He then ridiculed my Whopper Jr. to the point that I'm convinced he could have written "Fast Food Nation".

I was barely eighteen and more than willing to challenge his statements. He didn't like my lack of passivity so he started up with his, "Your devilish side keeps you from being able to see the truth!" He began to loudly preach about how I was corrupting the black males in my company by eating poison put out by Burger King, a corporation owned and operated by white devils.

Looking back, I can't believe I sat there and debated whether I was part devil or not. But the discussion escalated to the point where he pulled his final piece of proof out of his back pocket just as I was about to take another bite of my Whopper Jr.

"You're such a devil, you couldn't stop eating meat if you tried!"

I remember saying, "Oh really? Is that right?"

NOI Cousin had no idea that even though I ate burgers, I rarely ate beef growing up. My mom is very health conscious and only occasionally fed us hamburgers. She read Dick Gregory and Adelle Davis books regularly and only fed us whole grains and all natural products. She did not fry food. She did not cook pork. There were no ribs ever served my home. No brisket. No pot roast. Instead, we ate a lot of chicken and fish. I used to joke that she was the first person in the Midwest to eat tofu.

So I put the Whopper Jr. down and announced that I had so much discipline I'd never eat a burger again. NOI Cousin didn't believe me and said that my devilish side was prone to lying and I'd say anything to trick the black man.

Guess he was wrong because I've kept my word all these years. That night was the last time I ate beef.

A couple months after I stopped eating beef, I felt so much better physically. Then I stumbled on an article that described the conditions on a chicken farm and how the chickens were fed a mixture of sawdust, growth hormones and seed. A few months after that, I read something about mercury levels in fish.

Before I knew it, I was a vegetarian. All these years later I have a hard time even looking at meat, whether it's raw or cooked and I'm seriously considering going completely vegan.

But my husband and my children are not vegetarians. They eat poultry and fish. And call it my devilish influence, but my seven year-old loves hamburgers. He only eats them at school because there's no way I would ever cook them. And now it makes me ill to know he's been eating beef from sick cows that are being mistreated.

Earlier tonight, I read that letter from the school district to my son and he's disgusted. He's torn because he doesn't know what to do. He loves the taste of hamburgers but he doesn't want to eat animals that are being hurt. My son is, at the age of seven, more mature than I was at eighteen when all I thought about was whether or not a burger tasted good.

Sometimes I wish I could track down my old boyfriend's NOI cousin and thank him for inadvertently pushing me back in a healthier direction. And then I'd sic him on an LAUSD school board meeting. Maybe he'd be able to somehow bait LAUSD into serving students grass fed, free range beef or more vegetarian lunch options.

But however the lunch menus change, let's all hope the devil stays out of it.