Discussing religion in a politically correct world

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This article was published 05/11/2018 (2537 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — How do you do talk to others about their beliefs, customs and practices without giving offence?

That was the question addressed in a session at the Parliament of the World Religions in Toronto, which started Thursday and ends Wednesday.

“For those of us who are drinking the interfaith Kool-Aid, that’s not an issue,” moderator Marham Khan said.

“But a whole wide world out there isn’t drinking the interfaith Kool-Aid,” she added. “It’s a real issue for them.”

Khan, a journalism instructor at Harper College in Palatine, Ill., spoke about the time a student named Mark found it hard to ask if she was a Muslim (she is). She also mentioned how her hairstylist, Angie, said that as a white woman, she didn’t know what to say to people from minority groups.

As a former National Public Radio journalist, Khan said she was perturbed when the broadcaster fired Juan Williams in 2010 for saying on Fox News he was nervous when he saw people in Muslim garb.

“He was not attacking Muslims, he just responded honestly to a question,” Khan said.

Khan said she understood the decision but also thought NPR could have “created a great teaching moment for its audience.”

By firing Williams, Khan said, it sent the message some things aren’t safe to talk about.

“We’re here today for the Angies, Marks and Juans of the world,” she said. “The stakes are high right now. How do we make it safe again to talk about religion? We need to start having candid conversations again. We need to allow for even those conversations that make us uncomfortable.”

Panellist Parth Bhansali, a Hindu and sales manager for Groupon, spoke about how he tries to let co-workers know it’s OK to ask him about his faith by doing things such as bringing sweets to the office to mark the celebration of Diwali.

Bhansali admitted to worrying after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, wondering if it was OK to ask Jewish colleagues how they were doing.

He ended up asking. “It turned out to be amazing,” Bhansali said, adding it led to a wider discussion in the office about faith, “all because I as brave enough to ask.”

Panellist Elyse Brazel is a faith and spirituality education co-ordinator at the University of Calgary, where she helps students break down religious barriers.

“Canada is very secular. We don’t talk about religion,” she said, adding this made it hard to discuss the subject.

Because it’s “politically incorrect to talk about things like religion, stereotypes and misconceptions are perpetuated,” Brazel said.

She runs a program at the university where students can participate in what she called “dynamic dialogue,” asking each other questions and going deeper into each other’s lives and beliefs.

Even in that “artificial space,” it’s a difficult discussion, Brazel said.

People say they “are afraid they are going to offend” if they ask a personal question about beliefs or dress, she said.

“We are terrified of that in our Canadian culture,” Brazel said. “We are so afraid to offend, we avoid it. We need people to engage to break down biases.”

Panellist Lora East worked in a hospital in San Francisco as a spiritual care provider. Even in that city, where inclusion is seemingly on everyone’s mind, people are “hesitant to talk about spiritual and religious matters,” she said.

Khan suggested the best way to overcome politically correct culture and the fear of giving offence is to “spend quality time with people of other faiths.”

“If we meet them, we can lose our fear, see them as human beings like everyone else,” she said.

Political correctness has shut down a lot of important conversations, Khan added.

Inviting people to say whatever is on their minds can be uncomfortable, she said, but if it helps us “understand the motivations of others, it is worth my discomfort if I am to grow and so are they.”

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