The Power of Symbols
When in Rome... Can anyone really find fault with that admonition? It simply calls for respect. An acknowledgement that not all customs and traditions are universal, although most are deserving of a modicum at least of respect. Do not insult your host. As a guest it is incumbent on one to accept that a different tradition than one's own requires a muted approach. That is, if one is determined to bridge a gap of cultures to attain mutual acceptance.King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia travelled to Italy, to attend to the Vatican, to an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. This represents a first of its kind. An attempt to bridge a gap of acceptance and understanding between two great world religions. In essence, Mohammad decided to go to the mountain. Now, the question is, did King Abdullah issue an invitation to the Pope to visit him in Saudi Arabia?
Better yet would be if King Abdullah opened the potential for a wider avenue of conciliation, and invited the Pope to Mecca. And why not, if King Abdullah was welcomed into the sacred precincts of the Vatican? Not much, it would seem, has changed, since that time in the 19th century when the British adventurer Sir Richard Burton disguised himself as an Arab to assuage his curiosity about Mecca, risking death.
In the interests of tolerance and fairness, something that actually existed during the Mughal Empire and earlier in Islam, there is no tolerance for the presence of religion other than Islam in Saudi Arabia. No visible symptoms or symbols of another religion; Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, is permitted; no temples, churches, synagogues. Rigid disallowance of presence, lest the holy precincts of Islam be diluted, insulted, unsanctified.
Yet elsewhere in the Middle East another drama was enacted when fourteen Austrian bishops were forbidden to enter Jerusalem's Old City's Western Wall, the most sacred site in Judaism. Refusing to shield their crucifixes under their garments in sensitivity to Jewish sensibilities as requested, the Archbishop of Vienna and his coterie chose to remain outside the barrier to the prayer area adjacent the Western Wall plaza, their own affront palpable.
The Western Wall's presiding authority, Rabbi Rabinovitch, laid claim that previous Catholic delegations, as well as one that included Pope John Paul II in 2000, took pains not to give offence to Jews praying at the Wall by not displaying that most critical symbol of their belief. There is no stated ban on the wearing of crucifixes but there is a common understanding among tour leaders of Christian pilgrimages that when entering the holy precinct crosses are placed underneath outer garments to avoid confrontation and offence.
When entering a Buddhist sanctuary or temple one removes one's street footwear. Similarly, when entering an Islamic mosque street footwear is removed as a sign of respect for the house of worship, just as Jews wear yarmulkes when entering a Synagogue. Custom, the dignity of tradition, humbling oneself before the deity, honour accorded God.
But it is in the human psyche to continually throw up walls of separation between religious beliefs, ideological underpinnings, socially-divisive traditions, political beliefs. That steadfast resort to ensuring that another culture or tradition or belief does not approach too near, lest contamination occur ensures that we remain socially and culturally fragmented, unapproachable, distant and singular.
This too is symbolic of humankind, our propensity to apartness, suspicion, cradling our distinctions as a symbol of our superiority over others.
Labels: Political Realities, Religion, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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