<< Back 8/14/02 Why the rage against understanding? By Scott McLeod It was more than a month ago when the issue of incoming UNC freshmen having to read Michael Sells’ book “Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations” blipped across my radar screen and ended us as the subject of a column. Since then, the debate about the summer reading assignment has created something of a national firestorm, and I’m still having a hard time grasping the opposition to the controversial reading assignment. UNC, like many colleges, told students to read a book before they reported for classes. Sells’ book was the choice. During orientation, they would discuss the book for a couple of hours. A UNC intern that works here told me the assignment isn’t even taken that seriously by a lot of students, and that the discussion seminar is not mandatory. As word got out about this assignment, however, the Family Policy Network — which bills itself as a socially conservative Christian education organization — began, pardon the term, raising hell. They argued that the assignment amounted to indoctrination and that a reading assignment of a Christian text would never be allowed. School officials said it was about understanding a religion that has become more important than ever for Americans. The Family Policy Network has now sued, joined by three incoming students who objected to the reading assignment. Just last week the House Appropriations Committee of the North Carolina legislature waded into the fray (this is an election year). On a 64-10 vote, the committee attached an amendment to its budget that bars UNC from using taxpayer money to force incoming freshmen to read the book — unless it also requires students to read about other religions. I’d call this an attack on the college’s academic freedom, but another side of me sends up a cheer: yes, make freshman read the Old Testament, make them study Judaism, make them read about Hindus and Buddhists, cram books about Native American religious practices down their young, impressionable throats. And while we’re at it, let’s look at some of this planet’s less popular spiritual history, perhaps the practices of remote tribes of the South Pacific and the Australian Aborigines, or the pre-Christian Druids of the United Kingdom. I would suspect that the UNC committee members who chose this book would encourage students to spend a few semesters studying the world’s religions and how they have shaped history. Remember the “Great Books” debate that has been festering on college campuses. Many academics — both conservative and liberal — have argued that making students read a list of 20 or so of the world’s most influential books during college is crucial to understanding the world we live in. Such reading broadens one’s understanding of the world. Differences about which books should be on such a list will never end, but most all educated people would agree that such an assignment would be beneficial. One of the arguments against reading this book has focused on its perceived shortcomings — it does not discuss the writings that fundamentalist Muslims cite as promoting the killing of Jews, Christians and others. That, says critics, gives a skewed view of Islam. The Asheville Citizen-Times editorialized against the reading assignment, and its argument was based on the timing and the events of Sept. 11, 2001. I disagree with the conclusion, but that paper’s argument at least holds a little water: “It could have been a purely academic pursuit that opened a welcoming door to those interested in expanding their knowledge of a roughly 1 billion-member religion. But in fact, it actually shut the door for many Judea-Christian citizens still smarting from a hate-filled attack on U.S. soil by a group of fundamentalist fanatics,” the paper’s editors wrote Aug. 2. They didn’t say the book was bad or that reading books about religions other than Christianity is some kind of indoctrination. No, the newspaper’s argument was based on the timing, the emotion that is still pulsating in hearts across this nation as we approach the anniversary of Sept. 11. But even that is something of a cop out, a dereliction of our duty as citizens. As long as we make Islam the enemy, there is only one way to win this war on terrorism, and it’s a prospect I don’t even want to consider. We must go the other way, and education is the place to start. I’m ordering my copy today. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)