A question and answer debate titled “Islam: Progression? Regression? You decide,” between Gideon Yago and Reza Aslan packed the UMC Glenn Miller Ballroom the evening of March 14.
Gideon Yago, an MTV news correspondent and Reza Aslan, author of the book “No god but God,” led a pointed discussion on Islam. They covered many subjects regarding Islam including: the geography concerning Islam, the United State’s perspective on Islam and the Middle East and oil and where change needs to come from.
To focus solely on the Middle East is narrow; you get a skewed perspective and skewed understanding of changes taken place in Islam, Aslan said. It is important to also look at geography.
In Denver, a Christian might describe Jesus as “blond, blue eyed, and wants you to succeed in business,” Aslan said. However, if you ask a Guatemalan the same question, Jesus would be portrayed as a warrior.
According to Aslan, a Muslim in Denver may see Allah as a scholarly warrior and a peaceful man, but to someone living in a Gaza garbage dump, the vision is different.
“Geography is very important to dictate religion’s role in political, economic and social forces,” Aslan said.
There is this impression that Muslims are different, that they are more religious than the average Christian or Jew, this labels them as fundamentalists, Aslan said.
“We expect our leader to talk to us in our metaphors and symbolism of religions,” Aslan said.
When Muslims do it, it’s seen as bad, Aslan said.
“There are very different immersion points where the young Muslims and Americans interpret history,” Yago said.
The historical perspective of a young person from the U.S. generally comes from 9/11 or maybe back to the first Iraq war. The young people in Iraq look at a very different history: the 1980 U.S. backing of Saddam Hussein, Yago said.
“We have to recognize religion is not just a personal, confessional experience. It is a totality of your identity,” Aslan said.
According to Aslan, there was a political divide and economic disparity in Iraq, and the Sunnis ruled ruthlessly. The Iraq war is more than just oil; it’s far more complex. The war is a doctrinal war that is spreading across borders.
“Wait until the U.S. fights with China over oil in Indonesia, this will make Iraq look like two Girl Scouts slapping each other,” Yago said.
Yago called on the audience to effect change.
“If you’re going to affect some change, it’s going to start with constant pressure,” Yago said. “A university grass roots movement is where to start this.”
The change also needs to come from the media. We need to get away from the “sexy” news and entertainment news, Aslan said.
“No matter what problem everyone looks at in the U.S., it goes back to the big stick theory of Roosevelt,” said Marlon Blake, a freshman studying health and exercise at CSU.
There was an isolation period during the 1920s after the First World War. “We’re going to carry this big stick as patrollers of the U.S. and not involve ourselves in foreign affairs,” Blake said.
Then, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and we were forced to enter the Second World War.
“There is a civil war and U.S. doesn’t want to accept it,” said Hassan Jazayeri, a political scholar. “The world power wants to carve out countries,” Jazayeri said.
They want to carve out countries just like they did in Yugoslavia, Vietnam and the Soviet Union, Jazayeri said.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Gary Black at gary.black@thecampuspress.com
