Vanuatu

Culture and Religion

So, a lot of times, while in North America, we talk about the difference between culture and religion. Especially for those second-generation kids whose parents are from another part of the world, e.g. South Asia, Middle East, Africa, etc, but they themselves have been born and raised in North America, there is more often than not a struggle between the two about what "brand" of Islam is correct. Up until coming to the Pacific, I think I was of the conventional idea that the Islam we are trying to practice in North America is the "true" kind, while all the rest are those strongly-influenced by the surrounding society's culture.

But, while staying here, I've been exposed to a lot of church groups. For the first time I've truly started to understand the difference between the many Christian denominations I've also learnt about a lot of "traditional" or "conventional" church-related activities. And slowly, I've started realizing that the kind of islam we are preaching/spreading in North America is also, undoubtedly, colored by the surrounding culture. By forgetting that, we think that other, culturally-influenced interpretations of the religion are in someway less "priveleged" or less "progressive" than us. but then seeing progressiveness as a virtue is also dictated by one's culture. In addition, it is becoming very obvious that a lot of activities that Muslim youth groups are doing in Canada specifically are certainly ideas borrowed from Christian churches, and have been introduced by those who converted to Islam from Christianity. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with any with this. But I think, generally, we as young Muslims in Canada sometimes forget that our interpretation of the religious text is also almost always colored and biased by the culture and the daily life-style we are exposed to. I guess it's just something to keep reminding ourselves of.

posted by faa-T @ 5:10 PM