This choice quote comes from a young white Christian American Boy Scout upon reflecting on meeting young brown Muslim American Boy scouts at a Scouting Jamboree. Its from a very interesting article in Time Magazine about Muslim Boy Scouts. Its jarring for me to realize that in the US Boy Scouts have been affiliated with the Christian faith. Growing up in Karachi I was a cub and a boy scout as part of our Jamat Khana activities and never once thought of it as being a Christian Institution. Strange. Any way Scouting is one way for integration between various communities.
Related Posts
Eboo Patel on Mumbai
My friend Eboo writes a piece for NPR on how to reach out to Jews during this most recent Eid al-Adha. I appreciate the sentiment, my daughter and his son are about the same age, and I think it is an important way to bridge the gap. Where I disagree is that this is an opportunity for inter-faith dialogue. In so far as religions share certain basic principles we can reach out, but the loss and horror of Mumbai is far more primal. His story highlights the more basic, human losses we share and support we need. It’s not about…
Architecture, Hebron, and the Relevance of Awards
Haaretz has an interesting take on the Aga Khan Award for Architecture prize to a restoration in Hebron. Can we make these types of awards more relevant and organic? Technorati Tags: Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Hebron, Islamic Architecture
One thought on ““I’ve only met two other Muslims in my life, and they both smelled like incense.””
Comments are closed.
My own brown, Muslim 8-yr old son is a Wolf (or is it a Bear?) cub. I’ve been hoping he’d get bored with it, but no luck so far. I don’t think the Boy Scouts are specifically a Christian institution since there are majority Muslim packs up around Dearborn (isn’t everything?), MI, somwhere. Since my son’s pack is associated with his Catholic parochial school, Roman Catholicism appears to be the dominant theme (priests opening meetings, the Our Father recited — nothing too heavy). I don’t mind — I can hardly complain about Catholic prayers at scouting since he attends Catholic school.
P.S. — I don’t think my son smells like incense, but more likely “Downy” dryer sheets. : ^)