Mid-East ideals in a Western world

By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

Reza Aslan is a scholar, a journalist and - most recently - an author.

Aslan is also an Iranian-American and a Muslim. But when Aslan spoke to professor Norman Provizer's political science senior seminar class on Jan. 18, he spoke, simply, as a crusader for truth and human rights.

In a time when Americans continue to renounce Middle Eastern ideas suggesting the U.S. is a Christian nation, and global arguments revolve around the legitimacy of an Iraqi democracy and the "inherent evils" of Islam, Aslan, 33, attempted to set the record straight.

Aslan is currently a graduate student in History of Religions at the University of California at Santa Barbara and has a bachelor's in Religion from Santa Clara University, as well as a master's in Theological studies from Harvard University.

In his lecture to Provizer's class last Wednesday, Aslan spoke about the truth of democracies, secularism and human rights, both around the globe and in Islamic states.

"I think that the hope for true understanding amongst the three fates of Abraham (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) rests in the United States," Aslan said. "This is the country that could form the model for a kind of inter-religious incorporation and dialogue. It's up to us to make sure that it happens, and that it can spread to the rest of the world."

According to Aslan, the idea of a secular state is relatively non-existent and, for that reason, Islamic states deserve the same rights as Jewish and Christian states.

"Nowadays it's impossible to discuss issues of democracy without talking about what role religion plays in a democracy," Aslan said.

Aslan noted the importance of addressing the blurred outlines of democracy and separating fundamentalism from the true democratic values of most religions.

"What good is it to have free elections, what good is it to have popular sovereignty, what good is it to have separation of powers if there's no human rights?" Aslan asked in his lecture.

When comparing Western society to Islam society, Aslan said that Americans tend to believe that there is no separation of church and state. Aslan insisted this was not true.

"In every single Muslim country in the world, only in Iran do religious authorities have any kind of political authority," Aslan said in his lecture.

But, Aslan argued, throughout his worldly travels, America remains more religiously influenced than most global states.

Both Aslan and Provizer agreed that religious influence is all but inevitable in any kind of democracy.

"I think (Iraqi democracy) is clearly going to be influenced by religion," Provizer said. "Their constitution really tries to finesse certain points. Things can't go against Muslim principles and yet they can't go against the principles of democracy."

"What the principles are and who defines them-that's for the future," Provizer added.

Aslan argued that this is the reason why the idea of a Muslim democracy must be respected and that Islam needs to be seen as separated between democrats and fundamentalists. According to Aslan, an Islam reformation is right around the corner, especially in a growing democracy such as Iraq's.

"The issue is what the U.S. will and will not allow," Aslan said. "I think we're going to see, as the Iraqi society continues to evolve, a far greater openness and far greater ideas about the role of religion in society."

Such things, Aslan argued, take time.

"Just think about the United States. We've had 250 years to work on this and we still haven't figured out the role of religion in our society," Aslan said.