Tolerance

Congressman Juan Angara recently filed HB 270 seeking to include the Moro culture, identity and history in the curriculum of elementary and high schools throughout the country. The bill was hailed as a good initiative in the continued efforts of the government to attain peace in Mindanao, by giving us non-Muslims a deeper level of understanding of the Muslim way of life and culture.

Information is power, so everyone says. By keeping people informed, they begin to understand things they never did get before. Or in my case, things I swore before that I would never get. 

I grew up Catholic, was raised by devout parents and attended a Catholic institution for 11 years. In hindsight, I can say that perhaps it was only my mother who was devout, my father was not. He was just plain intolerant. Intolerant of other religions, any sort of "fanaticism" (his words) or any other belief. Naturally, his being this way rubbed off on me for I had always been a Daddy's girl. Growing up, although I mingled well with people with different religions, I did not care to understand or show interest in finding out the philosophies or teachings of other religion.

After the 9-11 attack and the Abu Sayyaff kidnapping incidents, I can honestly say I began to develop a bias towards Muslims, even though my knowledge of their ways was only based upon the actions of the extremists and militant groups. I have Muslim friends, don't get me wrong. But I've always wondered, My friends seem rational and plus, they are learned. How come they share the same view with these terrorist attackers?

I found out this semester that as it turns out, they don't. I was able to enroll in Prof. Sadain's elective class on Comparative Islamic Law and boy, what floodgates of information were opened! Hearing the Professor speak reverently of the teachings of Allah, and the Qu'ran gave me an insight I have never gotten before, not from watching the news about the Al-Qaeda or ASG and from watching too much Hollywood movies. I realized that I knew so little about a topic I was passionate about, and by being informed, I could formulate opinions more soundly and with more basis. An example of this was when I was watching CNN with a friend one time and the news was about the controversial structure of a Mosque near Ground Zero. I recalled commenting that these Muslims should not be held answerable to the crimes committed by the Al-Qaeda, who clearly does not represent their collective sentiment, and thus they should not be prevented from practicing their religion wherever they please. My friend shot me a look and said, "Uy, tolerant ka na ha?"

And I realized, yes, I had become tolerant. If one elective class turned me this way, imagine the kind of citizens we are producing when this curriculm is introduced to children at an early age? Then we'd be creating responsible, reverent and respectful citizens rather than bigots.