Prejudice and the Holiday Season

The New York Times reported recently on Muslim girl scouts (”To Muslim Girls, Scouts Offer a Chance to Fit In” by Neil MacFarquhar.) American Muslims are adapting the Girl Scouts model to help girls preserve their religious traditions and learn new skills — and also to help them cope with the religious prejudice they face.

The opening paragraphs describe twelve-year-old Asma Haidara, who explains that she wears her scouting uniform even to non-scouting events, because she faces less prejudice that way:

She has discovered that the trademark green sash — with its American flag, troop number (3009) and colorful merit badges — reduces the number of glowering looks she draws from people otherwise bothered by her traditional Muslim dress.

“When you say you are a girl scout, they say, ‘Oh, my daughter is a girl scout, too,’ and then they don’t think of you as a person from another planet,” said Asma, a slight, serious girl with a bright smile. “They are more comfortable about sitting next to me on the train.”

How sad that a 12-year-old girl has to endure “glowering looks” of religious intolerance as she goes about her daily life.

MacFarquhar also relays the story of 10-year-old Alexis Eastlund, who is not Muslim and has to defend her participation in a mostly Muslim troop:

“I never really thought of them as different,” Alexis said. “But other girls think that it is weird that I am Christian and hang out with a bunch of Muslim girls. I explain to them that they are the same except they have to wear a hijab on their heads.”

Children are not immune to prejudice. Already, the girls in this article are experiencing prejudice because they are Muslim, or hang out with Muslim friends. And some of the prejudice comes from other children (as Alexis alludes to).

This is an important lesson for the holiday season. While some religious groups will be participating in interfaith celebrations and learning about the range of holidays celebrated this season, you can be sure there will be other groups speaking a message of intolerance.

Get ready to hear that shops, schools, and other institutions are waging a “War on Christmas” because they choose to acknowledge the religious diversity of America (or because they follow the law regarding the separation of church and state).

Unitarian Universalist blogger Peacebang had a great post earlier this fall, noting the hate speech flying around the internet about a stamp commemorating the Muslim holiday of Eid. Disgusted by the anti-Muslim e-mail she received, Peacebang announced that she would be using the Eid stamp on her holiday cards this winter.

The holiday season presents a unique opportunity for Americans to learn about the different religious holidays celebrated in America, and to celebrate one’s own holidays (secular or religious) in a spirit of welcome and tolerance.