Voluntary Work in America and Religion

“Volunteerism is the name given to that set of activities in which people engage, usually without pay, on behalf of others in need, such as assisting the elderly, providing staff assistance for neighborhood groups, or coaching Little League”[1]

Voluntary work is very much common in America and many people are involved in doing some sort of voluntary work. I found this quite interesting since from the beginning of this semester I have been hearing about American individualism and how ‘I’ is important in American society. Still we do see people volunteering to help one another. However, individualism does not impede voluntary work since it does not mean that you only care about yourself or you are selfish. But, as Dr. Mousavi was once saying these kinds of activities may be done for some sort of self satisfaction. I don’t think this is exclusive to Americans since I myself once felt that all the things I was doing were just to make me feel good and to give me self satisfaction. So I continued doing them just to get that feeling. But, I think the nature of voluntary works differs from simply helping others. You allot your own time and resources to other people and this is not merely done for self satisfaction.

When Dr. Ameli was talking about voluntary work in America, Arezoo asked him why voluntary activities were so rare in our society despite the fact that our religion, Islam, encourages people to take part in such activities. Her question made me think of the role that religion plays here. John Wilson and Thomas Janoski in their article The Contribution of Religion to Volunteer Work state that most religions "encourage altruistic values and behavior" (Fischer and Schaffer 1993:60). It therefore comes as no surprise that "[t]throughout much of our history, religion and giving have been closely linked..." (Wuthnow1990:3).[2] According to Wilson and Janoski, Wuthnow (1991:322) finds that "By a margin of 35 percent to 26 percent, Protestants were more likely than Catholics to be currently involved in charita­ble and other social service activities." Jews, especially those belonging to the more liberal Reform denomination, have a strong tradition of service to the community, while ethnic Jews "lacking denominational identification are much less active in general community voluntary associations" (Lazerwitz and Harrison 1979:662). [3] So, religion plays a great role in the involvement of people in volunteer work.

Voluntary works like community service are a good way of improving societies by reducing the gap between upper and lower classes and increasing the intimacy among people.
Now I wonder why in our society these activities are fading away while after the Islamic revolution and during the years of war between Iran and Iraq, many people were involved in voluntary work. Should we be helpful to our community just in times of trouble? Well, this is the way our society has gone. I don’t know why we changed so much throughout time. A friend of mine believed that today our people don’t trust the government as much as they used to do in the past. Moreover, their demands are not met, thus, they want to get paid for whatever they do. Right or wrong? I don’t know. I just hope that the spirit of help and volunteerism gets back to our society.
1. http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.
2. Ibid

3. Ibid

AMERICAN IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE

Who am I? Who am I supposed to be? Who do I want to be? Why am I here? Where do I belong to? What is my identity? These are the sort of questions that man is trying to find an answer for in the 21st century. When it comes to America, we are always asked what American identity is or what distinguishes American identity from British identity and so on. As a student of American studies, I am trying to find an answer for that question although many Americans may not have an answer for it. But I believe the problem of identity is not only for American people. I mean identity problem regardless of which nation one belongs to, is the crisis of mankind and once you have managed to find the answers to the above questions, you are on the right track.

Anyway, let’s get back to American identity. But is there a definition for identity? When I was in the library I saw a book named sociology themes and perspectives and I looked for the definition of identity in that book. Identity as sated there is “a sense of self that develops as the child differentiates from parents and family and takes a place in society.”[1] The important sources of this identity are nationality, ethnicity, gender and class.[2]

Though there are different types of identity, my concern here is national identity. I was thinking if language was part of this identity. Then I thought about my own country. Our official language is Farsi but suppose a person is from Tabriz and does not know Farsi at all. Does he/she have an Iranian identity although he/she does not speak Farsi? My answer to this question was yes. I could not say that his/her identity was different from mine maybe because we both belong to the same land. But then I got back to American identity. Is English language a part of this identity? This question has actually been a matter of concern since in America there are many immigrants who become American citizens but they may not be able to speak English. Regardless of race and ethnicity, is English language an essential component of American identity?

I myself think English is an important part of American identity because the moment that I hear a person is from America, I cannot imagine that he/she speaks any other languages apart from English. As Samuel Huntington states the core elements of American identity are Protestantism and English culture and law. English culture brings English language with it. So perhaps a true American is a person who is protestant, keeps his English culture and speaks English. Nancy Morrow who has written an article about language and identity says in America “Many people claim that designating English the 'official language' would ensure cultural cohesion in an increasingly diverse society, while others argue that such policies would almost certainly infringe on individual rights to self-expression. Efforts to dismantle bilingual education or to establish 'English-only' laws in the workplace and elsewhere depend on several questionable beliefs about language and culture. Among them is the widespread belief that a common language is essential to creating and maintaining a coherent national identity. As journalist Michael Lind argues in his critique of multiculturalism, 'Of all the elements of a national culture, language is by far the most important' (Lind, 1995, p. 264). Many recent academic publications in American cultural studies share the premise that 'Nations are not born, but made. And they are made, ineluctably, in language' (Looby, 1996, p. 1)”.[3] Morrow believes that “English, as the common language, is the instrument that reconciles differences of race, ethnicity, creed, and national origin and thus creates a common culture and common values.”[4] Most Americans also believe that an immigrant has to learn the language of his/her adopted nation. So I think language is one of the aspects through which American identity can be defined and this language has to be English.

[1] Haralambos,M, Holborn, M & Heald, R, 2000, sociology themes and perspectives, HarperCollins Publishers Limited, p 885
[2] Ibid
[3] Morrow, N, 1997, Language and identity: women's autobiographies of the American immigrant experience, Journal of Language and Communication, Vol. 17, No. 3, p. 177
[4] Ibid

Dr. Zafar Bangash at FWS

Last week FWS was the host of Dr. Zafar Bangash. Dr. Bangash is a noted Islamic movement journalist and commentator and a leader of the Muslim community in Ontario, Canada. He is the director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), and the president of the Islamic Society of York Region, a suburb of Toronto. Bangash is also imam at the Islamic Society of York Region's mosque and community centre in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He is the former editor of Crescent International newsmagazine.

Dr. Bangash came to our faculty on Saturday, 7th of October. He started his speech by giving us some information about Canada, its government and people. He introduced Canada as a good example of a middle level power which has influence on the world stage. However, he believed that Canada was also an imperialist power wanting to project its military power. As an example he said that Canada had actually entered the Second World War two years before the United States.


Canada is the second biggest country in the world and as Bangash said its population is divided into three categories. The English and the French comprise the first two categories and the third category consists of immigrants from different parts of the world such as Eastern Europe, India, Pakistan, China etc. About the government, Canada has a British style government and now the conservative party is in power, said Bangash. The present prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, as Bangash noted is more extreme than Bush in his policy and unfortunately hostile to Muslims. He said that Muslims had been targeted in Canada especially after September eleven but still he believed that the situation of Muslims in Canada was much better than the Muslims in the U.S., England and France.


The other issues which the Canadian journalist referred to were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the involvement of the Canadian government in those wars. Canada was not directly involved in Iraq as a result of the massive protests against the Iraqi war in Canada. However, its navy and officers were involved in supporting the U.S. military continued Bangash. In Afghanistan, there are 3000 Canadian soldiers but 60% of the population is against the presence of Canadian military in Afghanistan. However, as Dr. Bangash mentioned, the present government of Canada still continues to follow the extreme policy of George Bush. Canadian government also supports Israel and has declared Hamas as a terrorist organization. So, overall Muslims are not treated well in Canada although Canadian people are not hostile toward Muslims like the government. In fact Canadian people are fair- minded and an average Canadian is more decent than a British or an American, said Bangash. He pointed out that the Canadian society is quite tolerant since there are many immigrants there.


Zafar Bangash also talked about some Muslim Canadians whose rights had not been protected by the Canadian government. At the end, Dr. Bangash answered a few questions. A question was asked about how Canada has been able to project the image of a peaceful country despite the fact that its government does not have that peaceful attitude. As an answer Bangash referred to two prominent figures who very much contributed to this peaceful image of Canada. They are Lester Pearson, the 14th prime minister of Canada who won the Nobel peace prize in 1957 and Pierre Trudeau, the 15th prime minister of Canada whose motto was “reason before passion”.


Zafar Bangash came to our faculty for the second time on Sunday and we were hosting him in our ethnicity class. He came there to talk about Canadian identity. He described Canadian society as a mosaic in which you can see the English, the French and people from other parts of the world. Native Canadians, the original inhabitants of Canada, are not very much in number said Bangash. They are about one million people and live in poor conditions away from the major cities. They have their own government and Canadian law does not apply to them. Bangash stated that Canada has a multicultural society in which people are encouraged to retain their own identity. However, there is a problem here. People do not know what Canadian identity exactly is.


The main clash in Canada is between the French and the English at political, cultural and linguistic level, said Bangash. The French feel that they are overwhelmed by English culture and most immigrants to Canada tend to speak English. So to retain their own identity, the French are striving for Quebec’s independence and they encourage immigrants to learn French. Regarding the influence of American culture on Canadian culture, Bangash believed that Canadian culture is more influenced by English and French cultures rather than American culture.


Finally, Bangash described Canadian people as relaxed, self-deprecating and moral people who also have unique literature, art and cinema.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zafar_Bangash
http://www.crescenticit.com/
http://crescent-online.net/editorials/15-zafar-bangash.html

Imam Musa at FWS

Our history class was not held on that day. It was around 10:30 on Tuesday 6th of October that we were told about a guest from America who was going to come to our faculty. In the 2nd week of my American studies course, I was so glad that that I could meet the 2nd guest from America.
Imam Musa, one of the Islamic leaders in the U.S. and the head of As-Sabiqun organization was our guest. Before meeting him I had a chance to get to know a bit him by reading the website of As-Sabiqun organization. I was flabbergasted when I found out that he had once been a criminal and a leading drug-dealer. So I was very eager to listen to his speech and find out how he had been converted to Islam.

Imam Musa, as an African-American began his speech by talking about how Africans were captured and sent to the U.S. by Europeans. He said that they had not only being taken away from their own country but also their history, culture, language and religion were taken away. In other words, they had been uprooted. So they couldn’t actually grow and reach high social status considering the fact that they were also kept illiterate. In fact, they reached a point where they did not know who they were and then they were given new identities. These Africans were being treated as inferiors and Imam Musa remembered the song he had grown up with and that was:
” if you are white, you are alright,
If you are yellow, you are mellow,
If you are brown, stick around,
If you are black, get back”
He said that their continent, Africa, had been presented as a dark continent and a barren place to them and they were told that Egypt was in the Middle East and not in Africa. As a result of all these actions, the black people in America gradually developed an inferiority complex. Imam Musa stated that at the time of the civil rights movement, a group of young black people including him who felt that the movement did not actually bring about freedom for them, decided to become criminals because criminals had power and freedom. So in order to gain freedom and power he became a criminal and a very wealthy person. But as he mentioned “all human beings have a God seeking nature and as soon as he heard about Islam, he liked it.” He said that Islam was viewed as a way of transformation among American blacks just as he had gone through this transformation.

Imam Musa then referred to a notion that was very interesting to me. He continued by talking about self-image psychology. By self-image psychology he meant that our expectations and our image of ourselves determine our actions. So, if somebody always gets an A grade and once gets a B, he/she would try its best to get back to his/her previous position. He stated that this was how Imam Khomeini managed to unite people in Iran to overthrow Shah. Imam Khomeini was successful at trying to help Muslims improve their self-image, said Imam Musa.
Regarding American people, Imam Musa believed that they are basically good but their identity is being taken away from them. The media and movies tell them who they are and in fact they are slaves just like his ancestors had once been. About the situation of Muslims in the U.S he said that Muslims were threatened to death and lived in a state of perpetual fear. The media tell them who they are and unfortunately some of them believe it, said Imam Musa.
Finally he talked a bit about the situation of Iran in the world and how popular the president of Iran is among other nations. He gave us some hope that although many countries are against us, this setback is not bad and it makes us stronger. He also told us not to have any hopes in American government because America does not allow a good person to become a president and this is against the system. He actually preferred Bush to Obama because Bush managed to unify Muslims.

Overall, I think Imam Musa’s speech did not only make me become more familiar with the U.S but also made me realize how my country is viewed from outside. Meeting Imam Musa was a great opportunity for me to find out more about America and I am really grateful to the faculty members who make these meetings possible.

http://www.sabiqun.net/join.html

My Perception of America and American Studies

I have just started my American studies course and I don’t know much about America. However, one thing that I have realized is that it’s not so easy to find out what America is like once you are seeing it from outside. Of course, it is not possible to get to know much about any country once you are not within its society. However, regarding America some people try to describe it simply by giving their opining which is based on the information that they get from mass media. This is something I do not like to do and it’s one of the reasons why I have chosen to continue my education in the field of American Studies.

Now, at the very beginning of my course, I can’t picture America as it really is but what is interesting to me about American society is how different ethnic groups have formed a ‘supposed union’ there. I don’t know to what extent people are united there and what it is like to be an American. I see America as a country which has been able to make advancements in different fields over a short period of time and I would like to find out how they managed to do so. I hope that the course of American studies gives me an insight into the American society and I hope to find out the answer for “why America came to be what it is today?”

INTERNET GAMBLING: TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Gambling has been one of the favorite American pastimes and as some people claim “Gambling is in America’s blood”. [1] Up to 1890s, different forms of gambling especially lotteries were popular. However, they were all made illegal by direct prohibition until 1920s when gambling was reintroduced to American society and this time it was more accepted due to holding bingo sessions in churches and building racetracks. Gradually different states legalized gambling and riverboat casinos, poker clubs, Indian reservation casinos, and state lotteries developed throughout the United States. [2]

With the development of Internet, traditional gambling gave way to online gambling and the first on line casino began business on August 18, 1995. Since that time, the number of online gamblers has increased drastically and today it is believed that half of the world’s online gamblers are in America.

Since the start of this new industry, there have been attempts to limit online gambling such as Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997 and 1999. However, the IGPA of 1997 did not pass through the congress and that of 1999 did not become a law due to objections against it. Now, internet gambling has become a controversial issue. Should it be prohibited or legalized?

The attempts to limit online gambling show that the government does not embrace this new industry. In September, 2006, congress placed a ban on banks making payouts to online gambling services.

Some people like Ryan D. Hammer in his article about online gambling and its effect on economy argue that Internet gambling should be curbed to reduce its negative impacts on American economy. “Many state and local governments are dependent on tax revenues associated with traditional forms of gambling. However, online gambling sites are not taxable for their income nor are the gamblers who visit these sites. Thus, Internet gambling not only deprives the economy of these valuable tax revenues, but also costs the economy valuable jobs and assorted fees associated with traditional gambling.” [3] Also banks and credit card companies suffer from the results of online gambling. “Credit card charges for Internet gambling are often posted as cash advances, which carry higher interest rates than ordinary purchases. The cash advance rate for most credit cards exceeds 20%. Numerous lawsuits are filed by individuals who have lost money gambling online and who refuse to pay their gambling debts. These lawsuits could leave banks unable to collect debts from individuals who partake in Internet gambling.”[4] In addition to that “Gamblers can conduct illegal activities such as computer fraud over Internet by using anonymous name, resulting in tractability problem that is difficult to trace the identities of gamblers.” [5]
Another thing which we have to keep in mind is that the internet causes an increase in compulsive gambling, thus, exacerbating gambling addiction and gambling by minors. Despite all the problems mentioned some people like Congressman Barney Frank are still hoping to pass a bill to legalize online gambling which will provide the government with significant tax revenue and replenish the budget deficit. [6]

But, whether to legalize or prohibit online gambling still remains a challenge for President Obama who is now taking the battle of healthcare reforms.

1.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/78658/the_legal_battle_for_online_gambling.html, retrieved on 7th Oct, 2009
2. Ryan D. Hammer. Does Internet gambling strengthen the U.S. economy? Don’t bet on it, retrieved at www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v54/no1/Hammer.pdf on 7th Oct, 2009
3. Ibid
4. Ibid
5. http://newmedia.cityu.edu.hk/cyberlaw/gp25/intro.html retrieverd on 10th Oct, 2009
6.http://onlinecasinospotlight.com/2009/08/will-obama-legalize-internet-gambling-in-america/ retrieved on 7th Oct, 2009

AMERICA TOO BIG TO BE SEEN


It’s the second session of our Introduction to American Studies course. We are told that the professor is late for 15 minutes. Waiting for the class to start, we are asked to go to the conference room. No, the class is not going to be there but we are meeting a guest from America. For me, it is a great chance to be able to meet an American at the very beginning of my American studies course. This is a great opportunity to find out more about American Society. I can’t wait for him to start and I see that eagerness in the eyes of all students in the room. He begins by introducing himself and the state where he lives, Iowa.

Mr. Christopher Merrill is a poet and a prose writer teaching at the English department of the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He directs an international writing program in which writers from around the world participate. "He has published four collections of poetry including Brilliant Water and Watch Fire, for which he received the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets."[1] He also has some non- fiction books "Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain (2005) and Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars (2001)"[2] , Which the latter is "A chronicle of the writer’s ten war-time journeys to the Balkans"[3].

Iowa, American heartland, is located in the Midwestern region of the U.S. It is famous for three things which are growing corn, growing writers and caucuses.

The idea of having presidential caucuses where people get together to come up with a decision about the next president, before the general election was quite interesting to me. Talking about caucuses led Merrill to talk a bit about Obama and how he appeared in the Iowa caucus. He said that Obama had come with the most well-organized team during the past 25 years and people actually got the feeling that his team listened to them when they talked.
People wanted many changes to take place after Bush administration and there came Obama who seemed very promising at the beginning of his term of office. However, Merrill believed that people were not as optimistic as they had been at the start of Obama’s office. “Now there’s a fear of where economy’s heading and people are worried about losing their jobs” said Merrill. When he finished giving a brief account of the current situation in the U.S., it was time to ask questions.

Different questions were asked about the U.S. politics, culture and literature. One of the questions was about American identity and how we can get to know it through American literature. He said that the best way to get to know people was through their literature. However, since in America there are many ethnic groups with their own literature people are led to believe in American identities rather than identity. So as he said “America is too big to be seen”. So I think there’s not really one America and inside this Union there are many Americas. The big question now is “where do I belong?” .

Regarding literature he believed that the issue of freedom and the relationship of individual with society were continuing themes of American literature while after September 11 we could also see writers reflecting the views of Americans about their place in the world through their works.
Mr. Merrill was also asked about his opinion about the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and some other issues related to Iran. Regarding the attitude of people toward Islam, he stated that after September 11 people very much wanted to know about Islam and the books about Islam became the fastest selling books in the U.S.

Overall this meeting helped me become a bit familiar with America particularly I learned two things about American people which I think not many people in my country possess them. The first one was that Americans are generally optimistic forward looking people who don’t like to look back and the second one was that they possess the ability to self correct. Mr. Merrill referred to the fact that no one could have imagined that an African -American could come to power one day which shows that people have such ability of self correction. Now I wonder if he had a journey to the Holy Mountain for some kind of self correction and if “the fence has four directions: up, down, right and wrong.”

I did look at some excerpts of Christopher Merrill’s works and I very much like to read them especially Things of the Hidden God and Brilliant Water.

[1] http://www.english.uiowa.edu/faculty/merrill/index.html

[2] http://www.christophermerrillbooks.com/

[3] . http://www.christophermerrillbooks.com/works.htm