Can’t we all just try to get along?
By Jessica M. Smith
West Roxbury and Roslindale Transcript
How can people of different faiths peacefully co-exist?
It is a question that brought a group from Kyrgyzstan to St. John's Chrysostom Parish in West Roxbury last week.
Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country the size of South Dakota near China. Formerly belonging to the Soviet Union, the country's 5 million Russian-speaking citizens are largely Muslim and Russian Orthodox.
The group visiting Boston was made up largely of students and university professors who are on a government-sponsored trip to the United States. In addition to visiting Boston, the men and women spent time in Washington, D.C., and will soon head to Chicago in their quest to learn how Americans handle religious differences. They are traveling with two translators.
The travelers, who spoke of ethnic clashes in their homeland, were joined by members of greater Boston's religious community who represented various faiths such as Christians of different denominations, Jews and Muslims. According to Father David Michael of St. John's, a Catholic church, the Boston group is successful because its members are committed to promoting positive relations even if hey sometimes agree to disagree. They meet often, know each other as friends and promote tolerance together.
After learning about the missions of organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Islamic Council of New England, the Kyrgyzstanis asked questions of their Boston counterparts.
Of concern to everyone in the room was how to solve the problem of negative images of Islam in the media.
In the United States, some blamed the lack of government control.
"The media likes to have everything sensationalized. The government has no control on the media - they say what they like to say and often they talk against Muslims and Islam," said Dr. A. Karim Khudairi of the Islamic Council of New England.
For Nancy Kaufman of the Jewish Community Relations Council, religion is being used as a weapon.
"Religion is being used against people because there's terrorism and people are afraid. It breeds fear, but we have to speak out against negativity," said Kaufman.
While issues such as the role of the media are often discussed, the visitors from Asia wanted to know how successful interfaith is and whether people object to it.
According to Father Michael, the post 9/11 response to interfaith dialogue has been immense.
"After 9/11, there were interfaith dialogues everywhere. There were open synagogues, open churches. The activity really paid off. More people supported that activity and initiative," said the religious leader, giving hope to the guests he was hosting.
Diane Rosenbaum of the ADL further encouraged the visitors.
"You're not responsible for completing the task, but you have to move it along," said Rosenbaum.
