By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald
College course to study religion and terrorism
DULUTH, Minn. -- In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Americans are still grappling with the religious overtones of the terrorist attacks. The College of St. Scholastica will be offering a new course next semester to help students learn about the connection and give them a forum to exchange ideas on the subject.
"Rethinking Religion After Sept. 11, 2001" will be taught by Neal Keye, an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies.
Keye said the idea for the class arose in early October during a lunch with the dean of faculty, Susan Tarnowski. "I made the statement that I really think that it would be helpful if the students had some kind of historical background to these events in terms of the way Islam has been viewed by Western Europe and the United States," said Keye, "not to justify the atrocities by any stretch of the imagination, but to begin to come to terms with the fact that they did not happen in a vacuum."
Keye, who is teaching a world religions class this semester, told Tarnowski that he was deeply saddened and horrified by what happened Sept. 11, but not shocked. "I think that lack of shock has something to do with the studies I've done in terms of the history of religion and culture in the modern West and the way that religion has been used as a mode of power and a way of classifying -- particularly non-European others."
Keye said Tarnowski suggested they try to do a course on it, even though it was rather late for the next semester. Keye has been working on it ever since.
St. Scholastica "takes seriously the need for citizens to work towards peace and justice," said, Keyes, and that is one reason why the course came into existence. He added that CSS is also one of the few institutions that could get a class into the schedule on such short notice.
There has already been a lot of response from students, including many in majors outside of the Department of Religious Studies. In addition many people not affiliated with the college have expressed interest. Keye said he is hoping to locate a larger space to accommodate 50 to 60 students. Classrooms at CSS typically hold 30 to 40 students.
Keye said his classes are usually a combination of lectures and student discussion. Students will probably read part of the Koran as well as some other books. Keye also plans to invite guest speakers to talk about Islam and other topics and hopes to get permission to use tapes of Minnesota Public Radio programs on the subject.
Keye, who began teaching at St. Scholastica this fall, has a master's and doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His area of study is religion and culture in the modern West. Although he is not an expert on Islam, his studies of the implications of European discourses on religion in various colonial histories have focused on India and its split into Pakistan and India when the British left.
Keye said, "The course really isn't on Islam, although we will be discussing Islam because it tends to get dragged into discussions of Sept. 11 in terms of why does Islam seem to promote and legitimize violence -- which I reject. I don't think that Islam had anything to do with the atrocities that happened Sept. 11."
Students in the course will discuss the place of Islam in the global order and the history of Western attitudes toward Islam. Keye said, "During the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, discourses on religion were designed to differentiate between Europeans and non-Europeans. Much of that discourse was quite anti-Semitic ... including anti-Islam as well as anti-Jewish."
Keye said it is important to consider the origins of Islamic fundamentalism, but not use Islam as a scapegoat.
"To characterize Islam as almost intrinsically violent and intrinsically promoting martyrdom is a mistake and historically inaccurate," he said. "We don't characterize Christianity by virtue of what a certain group of what I would call advisedly 'extremists' have to say or do in the name of Christianity. The same should be true of Islam."
Keye said students will also consider the question of why violence seems to be the only answer available. "Is bombing Afghanistan going to solve the problem of terrorism?" he asked. "I'm very concerned about the cycle of violence and vengeance that we seem to be moving into."
Keye said he is also concerned with the dangerous rhetoric coming from the White House and some Christian groups about "good versus evil" and a "clash of civilizations." He said his course will explain why this attitude is wrong and why people have to stop dividing the world into "the West" and "the rest."
Students will also discuss what has happened on college and university campuses since the attacks. Keye said the treatment of some students from India and other countries has been so bad many have gone home. He added that free speech on campus has been another victim. There has been some self-censorship because any criticism of the United States government is seen as unpatriotic, he said
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001