Playing the Divine: The Kind of Bigotry That Knows No Bounds

by Sami H. Elmansoury

I want to put in a disclaimer that I am not trying to be a hero in writing this. I am writing it out of concern for my community, and for my world - and out of deep respect for those human allies who, time and again, have shown deep respect for both me, and for my faith.

I just got an e-mail tonight with the following subject line:

“Judaism and Christianity are not ‘Abrahamic faiths!’ The call to ‘Interfaith Dialogue’ is a call to compromising Islam!”

The e-mail goes on to state that it is being sent “in light of events established and statements made by misguided Muslims in America.”

It got worse from there. Yet this freakishly narrow worldview has been the routine of this individual, and of individuals who think like him.

First of all, I have absolutely no idea how I got on that e-mail list, and my requests to unsubscribe have repeatedly gone unanswered. Secondly, time and again, people accuse others of not standing up when their “coreligionists” (I am using that term loosely and with sadness) are blatantly wrong.

Let me say publicly as someone with, perhaps, some small level of influence: not even considering the already shaky climate of our world, this was one of the most bigoted-sounding, dangerously divisive, and arrogant e-mails that I have ever read, one that brandishly insulted the outreach and coexistence efforts of so many well-intentioned human beings. Bigotry and extremism do not know religious or racial lines - they are present in ALL groups - and they must be called out in ALL groups. I am proud of my faith, and it is a beautiful one, but I condemn such dangerous extremism, and I condemn divisive bigotry - no matter who they come from - whether it is the FFA, or such “coreligionists”. And I am not afraid to “air this out” when it becomes necessary to do so. One should not protect the dangerous. (And frankly, I have responded directly to this nonsense with my feedback in the past - and to no end.) In reading such an e-mail - and others that have come from this source - one would think that its misguided writer thinks himself to be “divine”.

We have a great deal of work to do to quell bigotry and to knock out such unbridled arrogance from the inside too - I do not want the past several weeks of efforts to demand that various corporate and industry leaders work against the influences of bigotry in their circles to be viewed as an alleged denial of that absolute fact. I am willing to continue to do my part, and I pray that all of us as PEOPLE on the only Earth that we must share, for better or for worse, are willing to STAND UP when others attempt to dehumanize or to lessen the worth of another human being, due to their system of beliefs, or due to a different, but still human, understanding of the world. Having a sense of pride in what one believes is one thing. Yet portraying such arrogance toward your neighbor, as seen in this disturbing e-mail and other rhetoric out there, is far short of human - let alone “Islamic”, or otherwise. It is precisely this type of dangerous rhetoric that leads people to see human tragedy and the loss of human life as more, or less, worthy of remembrance - depending upon who was affected, or who passed.

I cherish my faith. And I value my Christian friends. I value my Jewish friends. I value my Buddhist and my Hindu friends. I value my Atheist friends. I value my human friends. They are equal to me on the same human plain. That is my belief, while I hold my own religious beliefs. Using basic human sense, I find no contradiction in those beliefs. More people need to begin to speak up and to silence these irresponsibly divisive fools who roam among us all - and the media must work harder to shift its attention away from them, and on to those who are working daily on the ground to bring things back to human reason. This is not about sugarcoating differences or inventing a false “all people are identical” narrative - this is about identifying what is dangerous for human life, and stamping it out.

As the beating drums of ignorance continue to pound around us from various “faith groups”, political spectrums, and elsewhere, silence in the face of such divisive and dehumanizing bigotry is simply not an option. I am just one human being, and I, of course, have my significant share of faults, as one human being. But I choose to continue to speak up in the face of this, and I will speak out more and more to help weed this nonsense out.

While they speak with arrogance, it is these individuals that lack courage - as they intimidate others from underneath, and then declare that others should not speak out against them for the sake of their twisted understanding of the concept of “unity”. This is precisely what these folks, the FFA, and all those who are influenced by bigotry do. So, let us finally be unified upon what is righteous, humble, and certainly, what is just toward the other. That is the core of this or of any other faith.

We can all make a move toward WWIII, or WWIV, over senseless rhetoric. Or we can choose otherwise. Clearly, it is beyond time to make that choice, on a personal level in our hearts and in our actions toward one another - and to demand the same of and to hold accountable those who claim to have more “sacred knowledge” than the rest. Or we can live with the consequences of having people like this individual continue their frankly unchosen mandate over our global dialogue.

It is no longer enough to simply condemn. Communal courage must be galvanized. Collectively, there must be a rising tone and stronger action against both bigotry and extremism - no matter who it stands against, or where it is found in the discourse. “Anti-Semitism”, “Islamophobia”, xenophobia, extremism, divisive rhetoric - whatever one calls it. If not simply out of pride for the core of one’s faith, I hope that you will choose to speak out, too.  Publicly.

Sami H. Elmansoury serves on the Immigrant Rights Task Force for the Office of the Borough President of Manhattan, on the Board of Advisors of the New Leaders Council of New Jersey, and as an invited member of the Generation Change initiative for the United States Department of State.