Trego's Mountain Ear

In Suriname, I saw the largest mosque in the Americas set peacefully next door to the country’s oldest synagogue.  I was told that the parking lot is shared.

While I was there, the Hindu Holi Phagwa was going on – a festival of colors celebrated by tossing colored water and powders at each other.  Knowing it was going on, I dressed in my grubbiest cut-offs and T-shirt . . . I don’t recall any Jews hitting me with color, but Hindus, Muslims and Protestants all seemed to take the Hindu practice with equal enthusiasm.

A photo of one of my graduate students and her daughters, taken recently in Hawaii, shows the Holi festival takes place in the US, too. 

As I think of Israel and Gaza – a place we regard as the holy land – I remember that I have known tolerant people, in a spot where Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Animists and Jews can live together, in relative harmony, enjoying each other’s religious festivities.

I think of Bob Mendelsohn – Bob was Jewish, and he loved both Christmas – particularly the music -and deli ham.  As I look at the Holy Land, I think of the actual tolerance I’ve seen and known in our country.  Part of it is sharing the experience.   I’ve been included in smudging by folks whose worship was directed to Wakan Tanka – and my best translation is “the great unknowable” or “the great mystery.”

And my thoughts go to Israel and Gaza – and my long ago Sunday school classes put Samson in Gaza.  There’s a long history of strife and combat in that neighborhood.  If I remember my Sunday school correctly, the Canaanites didn’t have a good time when Moses brought the children of Israel in. 

Personally, if you’re happy with your religion, I’m happy for you.  I’d just as soon not be victimized by missionaries – but different religious beliefs and practices just aren’t worth killing people over.  Behavior is a different thing – on October 7, Hamas pulled some crap that earned them the hostility they’ve been experiencing.  Rape and murder aren’t things a polite society should tolerate – whether the conflict is religion or not.

But I’m glad that I have seen the mosque and synagogue in Suriname – I know there is at least one place where  the Abrahamic religions can get along.