Praying for Today's Summit on Anti-Islamic Attitudes & Behaviour

                                Four members of Muslim family murdered in London Ontario hate crime 

Today the Canadian government is convening a summit on Islamophobia as a response to a series of violent attacks that killed or injured Muslim Canadians. According to the Globe and Mail: 

Diversity Minister Bardish Chagger says the summit will be an opportunity for Muslim Canadians to express their ideas and insights on how Ottawa can stop these attacks and implement policies that protect their communities. She says there is a need for more work to protect Muslim communities against hate and discrimination fuelled by Islamophobia and the government has worked with national Muslim-led organizations to convene the summit.

 This summit has me thinking about my first encounter with Muslims. At the age of 19 I headed off to Great Britain for a few months with an excursion to Paris for ten days. I arrived in the City of Lights on my own, the obligatory Canadian flag on my backpack. Late in the afternoon I arrived at a hostel which turned out to be for women only and I had no idea what to do next. As I wandered the streets three young Black men approached me and commented, in excellent English, on the Canadian flag -- was I need of any help? They were former Nigerian military officers attending the Sorbonne and they took me to the hostel they were staying in which was for African and Asian students. I was not a student at the time and I was neither African nor Asian, but I was allowed to stay, a Godsend. 

There were bunk beds in my room with several other residents and I was surprised to wake up my first morning to the sight of some of them outstretched on mats on the floor. This was my first encounter with Islam, a religion I have barely heard about to that point in my life (1973). I doubt that I'd ever met a Muslim, at least not by introduction or conscious interaction. As an earnest, fairly evangelical Christian at that time, I wasn't sure what to make of what I was seeing, although I was quickly impressed by their devotion to prayer. They were also very kind to me and helped me navigate a strange city, including making sure that I was fed.

Looking back, this probably shaped my outlook on Islam through the decades. As a United Church minister I participated in interfaith events with Muslim leaders from mosques, including imams and invited some of them to the congregations I served. When Bridge St. United Church and a coalition of congregations and faith groups sponsored Syrian refugee families we worked closely with members of the Muslim community who were, as I was inclined to say, an Allah-send. We broke bread together on a number of occasions and  we were always received graciously. 

While I realize that Islamophobia exists the term suggests that the issue is hateful and aggressive acts toward Muslims, such as cowardly attacks on women wearing hijabs or actual murders. This is a real threat, but I wonder if it would have been better to term it as a summit to address anti-Islamic attiudes and behaviour. There are many people who would never consider overtly violent attacks yet hold attitudes toward Muslims rooted in  destructive stereotypes and prejudices. These attitudes create the societal climate in which hatred festers and manifests itself. Sadly, these views are often held by Christians, those who claim to follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace. 

Let's pray that concrete action and the funding to support it comes out of today's summit.