The Cincinnati Beacon - Does Christ’s Mother Look Like a Terrorist?

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Does Christ’s Mother Look Like a Terrorist?

Recently, I rented disc 1 of season 1 of the show ”30 Days,” and in the episode where a Christian went to live with Muslims, I heard a tid-bit of information I’d never heard before—that the Virgin Mother is always depicted wearing a hijab! This has been percolating in my consciousness for several days, so I thought I’d list some resources here.

Catholic nuns, too, wear a form of hijab. But for some reason, I have never heard of people talking so arrogantly about how nuns are dressed. And I’ve never heard anyone criticize how the mother of Christ was dressed. But for some reason, many American Christians view the hijab with scorn, which is probably a result of their minds being manipulated by anti-Islamic cultural biases.

Here is an article on the issue of Mary’s hijab.

In my opinion, the most pervasive example of this cultural bias is our refusal to translate the Arabic word “Allah” into “God,” its English equivalent. As a result, so many people think that Muslims worship “some other God,” when really they worship the same God as the Christians and the Jews—Yahweh. It is widely understood that Jews worship the same “God” as Christians, so why not extend this understanding to Muslims?

This would be like fearing Mexicans because they worship “El Dio.” Or even more absurdly, this would be like a Christian fearing that someone who worships “Yeshua” would be destined to hell, or something.

Here is an interesting experiment. Go to Google Translate. Type in the word “الله,” and select “Arabic to English.” (Just copy and paste the Arabic text from this page.) I got that text from this article, which claims it is the Arabic spelling for “Allah.” And guess how Google translates it? “God”!

What’s so difficult about the concept.

To recap: the mother of Christ wore a hijab, and instead of worrying about “Allah,” we should start freaking out about all the Mexicans worshipping El Dio.

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says:
08 Apr 2008 at 10:13 pm | #

Dean,

You gloss over essential differences between three related, but distinct, faith traditions: “As a result, so many people think that Muslims worship ‘some other God,’ when really they worship the same God as the Christians and the Jews—Yahweh.”
Christians can be said to worship Yahweh; but more to the point, they worship Yahweh’s son, Jesus; that distinguishes them from Jews. Muslims honor (but do not worship) Jesus; they worship a god whose final manifestation was in Prophet Muhammed, distinguishing them from Jews and Christians.
Monotheism is a common trait among the three traditions, but each has a distinct appreciation of the particular characteristics of the one god.

says:
09 Apr 2008 at 05:51 am | #

Greg,

Yes, I know that Christians worship Jesus. But you have simplified things.

Firstly, the “Lord’s Prayer” begins “Our father...” That “father” is Yahweh.

Secondly, don’t forget the book of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Yes, there are differences in the religions (obviously), but my point remains: Allah=Yahweh=the same God of those three religions. Refusing to translate the word “Allah” into English is a form of anti-Muslim hegemony.

NtotheC says:
09 Apr 2008 at 08:04 am | #

Greg, don’t Christians actually worship God the father? I’m pretty sure that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are supposed to be one in the same...this is what is meant by the trinity...and how St. Patrick taught the Irish about this concept was through the shamrock (three leaves, one stem)...essentially, they are all the same. Therefore, Christians do not “worship” Jesus any more than they worship “God.” The difference between Christians and Jews is that the Jews are still looking for their messiah, while the Christians found theirs.

I am not as familiar with Islam...but doesn’t the religion come from the same base and just went a different direction following the prophet? Don’t they recognize Jesus as a holy man?

JFD says:
09 Apr 2008 at 09:51 am | #

Does it really matter who calls what deity by which name? Religion based on a deity that can never be verified; can allow those with faith and a serious commitment to their spirituality, a framework to engage that spirituality. It also allows those with less pure motives the opportunity to manipulate those who simply want to feel good about their lives and what they do with them, without doing any serious introspection. Which brings us to the relig-o-tainment industry. Here in Cincinnati the prime example would be Crossroads; where large throngs of the well heeled can purchase the appearance of salvation, simply by showing up, watching the show, having a cup of super fine coffee, sending the kids off to play on the “righteous” climbing wall, and last but certainly not least, donating heavily. At this point you may ask yourself, how is that going to make someone feel like they’ve earned salvation? The answer is a mega facility called CityLink to “help” the down trodden. We’re not talking about some cheap little storefront out reach; we’re talking about forcing a giant, over the top facility on a community, that will give the givers not just regular salvation, but the perception of mega-salvation; and who wouldn’t want to head into eternity believing you have mega salvation going for you? The problem with this kind of endeavor is, it has a higher probability to hurt more people than it helps, and this runs counter to the tenets of the religions I’m familiar with. I can’t support the concept of, religion based on helping a few and hurting the rest; all in the quest for bigger donations.

So what’s the lesson to be learned here? It matters less who calls what deity by which name; and more what the individual seeker does in the honest pursuit of spiritual well being.

? says:
09 Apr 2008 at 10:03 am | #

Jason,

I think you need to make a distinction between what people wore 2000 years ago (Mary), what a woman wears in a chosen profession/calling (a nun), and what women are forced to wear under fear of punishment from the state’s religious police (women in Saudi Arabia and some other very fundamentalist Muslim countries. You’re oversimplifying a lot, and I really don’t understand what point you’re attempting to make. All the Abrahamic religions are essentially one in the same? I suppose there’s an element of truth to that. But not all Muslism women wear a hijab. And for that matter, not all nuns wear a habit. Further still, Jesus Christ is almost universally depicted as a bearded, Aglo man, when there’s virtually no evidence, based on his birthplace and lineage, that he would have looked like that. So we can’t really take a lot of faith in what Mary was depicted wearing, either.

Bearman says:
09 Apr 2008 at 03:38 pm | #

Pretty much agree with what NtotheC said...with one addition. I have yet to meet a single Jewish person who uses the term Yahweh.

says:
09 Apr 2008 at 04:53 pm | #

Bearman: Who said Jewish people call God “Yahweh”?

Comment #5: Are you saying that no Muslim woman wear hijab of their own free will? And what has that to do with prejudice against the style?

Special Ed says:
09 Apr 2008 at 08:06 pm | #

JFD, thanks for a thoughtful comment. I have a relative who’s an over-the-top Jeezy Wig who used to attend Crossroads. Said relative has since moved on to an even more extreme “House o’ Gawd.” (Not sure how their coffee compares!)

Question for JFD. I live out of state and would love seeing the Beacon post a video of what’s going on inside Crossroads. Would you be willing and able to attend a service and sneak in a camera?

For that matter, I’d like to see much more video on the Beacon. How about it folks? There’s plenty of inexpensive or even free fun for all in that direction!

Bearman says:
10 Apr 2008 at 03:38 am | #

Bearman: Who said Jewish people call God “Yahweh”?

Well you were certainly referring to it as such.

says:
10 Apr 2008 at 05:48 am | #

Of course. That’s because the name of the God in the Bible is “Yahweh.” Some translate that word into “Jehovah.”

In the original Hebrew, in the Books of Moses, whenever you see the word “God,” that was originally “Elohim,” a word meaning “my special God.” Whenever you see the word “Lord,” that wsa originally “Yahweh,” the name of the Israelite’s Elohim.

The Lord my God = Yahweh my Elohim.

JFD says:
10 Apr 2008 at 08:27 am | #

Ed, there’s no need to sneak in a camera. They film it and will give their propaganda to you for free. However, you will get the edited version; they never include Brian Tomes negative comments about those who want to save their neighborhood from CityLink. http://www.crossroads.net

? says:
10 Apr 2008 at 11:07 am | #

Having never said there were no women who wore hijabs on their own free will, I’ll rephrase it as a question. Do you honestly see no difference between a woman being forced to cover herself for fear of being publicly and brutally beaten by so-called religious leaders and a nun wearing a habit? Are you honestly perplexed as to why there are people who see a hijab as a tool of oppression and a symbol of what’s wrong with extremists in ultra-religious sects or countries?

says:
10 Apr 2008 at 07:20 pm | #

I made no mention of women who are forced into anything, nor do I intend to change the subject.

If, as you say in your final question, a “hijab” is a “tool of oppression” and a “symbol of what’s wrong,” then I would think that the Virgin Mary’s hijab would be the same.

If she gets differentiated because you claim that she was not forced, well then neither are the Muslim American woman who choose to wear hijab.

? says:
10 Apr 2008 at 10:59 pm | #

No, as I already mentioned, you can’t compare the way people dress to the way people dressed 2000 years ago. The nuns are the ones I said chose to wear a habit. And that’s an occupational requirement in most cases.

Do you defend Fred Phelps this aggressively? Members of that sect chose to be involved.

Vera Z says:
10 Apr 2008 at 11:48 pm | #

I know a number of women personally who wear a hijab, right here in the USA. They wear them proudly, not because they are forced to wear them, but as a symbol of their faith. Vera Z

Brian Tomb says:
11 Apr 2008 at 05:45 am | #

dear JFD,
Good comments on Crossroads.
I saw City Cable’s piece on Bortz’s attempt to put a resolution to fight the oversaturation of social service agencies.
They had a bunch of folks with many great arguments against CityLink.
I heard the Mayor is using his “pocket veto’ to quash Bortz’s good idea.
Crossroads hurts economic development.
Sounds like the Mayor is bought and paid for like brother Dale.

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Tuesday, April 08, 2008