Islam class: Pastor Robert Flaherty hopes to educate locals beyond stereotypes about Islam

PAUL CRAIG

January 6, 2005
The Rev. Robert Flaherty once had a Muslim man in Saudi Arabia call him "the closest thing I've ever seen to a Muslim in a Christian."

That feeling of brotherhood and humanity is what Flaherty hopes to convey with a series of classes on Christianity and Islam beginning Jan. 3.

Flaherty, pastor at Roseburg's First United Methodist Church, will lead the five-class discussion on the two philosophies. While they have coexisted as two of the world's oldest known religions, they are often characterized by their differences.

Flaherty even put that to a test on an Internet message board. He asked Christians there what the word Islam made them think. Answers included, "terrorist," "Shiite," "Taliban" and "jihad."

"Until we, on both sides, are willing to stop these negative characterizations ... we're just perpetuating animosity," Flaherty said.

Flaherty has firsthand knowledge of many religions, including Islam. He helped organize a "gathering of many faiths" for more than a year in Roseburg, through May 2004.

In July, he attended the Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona, Spain. Around 8,000 people attended and Flaherty said he learned about spirituality, fundamentalism and Islam.

Flaherty also served as an active duty Army chaplain for nine years, acting as supervisor for all religions, including the Muslim community.

It was in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War that Flaherty encountered the aforementioned Muslim man who accepted him, even calling him his "Muslim brother."

"One doesn't have to be an expert on Islam to hear their message loud and clear," he said.

That message, he said, is that Muslims think the western world is corrupt and trying to dominate the economic system and lives of the rest of the world.

Following Sept. 11, 2001, Flaherty again saw the beliefs of Islam and Christianity collide. He was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas and saw the way Muslim-American troops were looked at.

News stories described "Muslim terrorists," which made American troops look at fellow soldiers who were Muslim as possible terrorists.

"The guys ... were wearing the same uniform, had taken the same oath," he said.

Flaherty sat in on Muslim prayer sessions there. He couldn't lead them, but he describes being there as a learning experience.

Flaherty eventually learned some Arabic and Muslim prayers. He wants people to understand the meaning of common Arabic words and sayings.

A traditional Arabic greeting, for example, is "As-Salaam-Alaikum," which roughly translates to "peace to you." A standard Arabic "goodbye" translates to, "God protects you," and many names are rooted in beliefs.

"A lot of their names have something to do with religious devotion -- and that's a cool thing," Flaherty said.

Learning about other religions has long been a passion for Flaherty. He describes it as like learning another language.

"Learning about another religion helps me understand my own religion in a different way," he said.

Flaherty has already passed that feeling to parishioners.

Ray Sims attends Flaherty's church and will attend the classes, which will be twice weekly for five weeks. In 2001, he took a trip with his wife to Thailand on an expedition of Christian-Buddhist dialogue planned by Flaherty.

That was like being a part of a two-week, everyday class, Sims said. Now, he's looking forward to the Islam class to better understand some of the current world conflicts.

Not many people understand how Islam started, developed and why there's such a conflict in ideologies between Muslims and Christians, Sims said. There isn't a better person, he added, to take on that subject than Flaherty.

"He will hold this as an open-type of session," he said. "The Catholics, the Jews, any of the faiths ... would benefit from it. It's not designed to particularly emphasize the Methodist church."

In fact, Flaherty hopes to reach as many people as he can. It's a crucial point in the world's history, Flaherty says, and people need to be able to understand one another.

He imagines the possibilities if just one-third of his class has conversations about Islam with others during the next year.

"Maybe they change one of the people's minds about some of the stereotypes," he said. "That would be quite an accomplishment."


* Paul Craig- News Review

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