Quakers, Muslims, 9/11, and Homosexuality

I had an interesting conversation with someone who works in development at a Friends School the other day. This person and I had been in high school together, but didn't really know each other, and just recently reconnected. I was telling her about some of the work I had done in Wheaton, IL with Evangelicals around HIV and GLBT issues (see http://www.mosaicinitiative.org/ for more). She asked for some guidance on the following:

After 9/11, the school she works at made a point to reach out to a local Muslim private school, and build a relationship for peace and understanding. The day before we spoke, her son (in 6th grade at the school) came back from an exchange day at the Muslim school, and reported that this school holds firm beliefs that condemn homosexuality. She said the Friends school is now challenged to re-examine its relationship, and how to respond, given that they have a firm commitment to being fully accepting of the glbt community and rights.

This story raises, for me, interesting questions about the role that different parts of community play in values, morals, education, and beliefs, and the gift that Quakerism (somewhat uniquely, but not exclusively) as a Peace community can bring to the world. I also like to think that questions can help guide our responses by being an effective tool for engaging listening and thoughtful dialog into the process as opposed to reactive arguing. So, in this case, an introspective question for the Friends school is what can you learn from this about reactive engagement in relationship building? In response to a perhaps fundamentalist Christian targeting of Muslims as bad people (or "terrorists"), and a desire to make a statement of peace to those who are being targeted, it created a blind spot to the fact that there are some fundamental differences in beliefs between many Muslims and liberal Quakers. What does this tell us about blind spots in our vision of the world?

There are also some good questions to be raised through this experience about the role of Quaker schools in teaching values. I think the greatest asset Quakers have to offer the world are in the Peace Testimony, and in that, can we always ask ourselves "How can I infuse greater peace to this current situation, while minimizing the risk of violence in the future?" In this case, rather than be reactive to the issues raised, perhaps foster greater understanding of the Muslim faith, while having a faith that one's own beliefs are not being threatened. I have found a deepening of my own Quaker faith by actually engaging in dialog with people who have a fundamentally different belief. There are some wonderful questions to be raised here. For example, there is always the question of "nature vs. nurture" when it comes to homosexuality. Can we also pose the same question about religion. Are people born inherently Muslim or Christian, or is this a choice? If it is a choice, what is it like to be discriminated against and condemned for this choice, as the Muslims are in this country? How is this similar or different from discrimination against homosexuals? And what about those who say that homosexuality is not a choice -as most gays and lesbians feel is the real truth (and is backed by most science on the topic)? What would be the right religious and social response to them?

The important thing I suggested to my friend is for the school to be open to dialog, and not to choose sides - and not just with the Muslim school, but within the Friends school. There are going to be many issues in which there is disagreement, and schools are the best place to teach people to hold dialog. I think ultimately, the job of schools is not to indoctrinate, but to insure that students have the ability to think, and the Quaker faith is that this ability to think rather than react and be indoctrinated blindly into a set of beliefs is the essence of the Peace Testimony that will lead us to a world with less violence.