I found today's workshop presentations on Arab Americans very interesting. The first group that presented on teaching ideas gave a very thorough explanation of the similarities between the Muslim faith and Christian practices. Some of these I had not considered, but had in my own mind exaggerated the difference between the two faiths. Although I doubt that the percentage of Whitworth undergraduate students who are Muslim is very large, learning about another faith in relation to my own was very enlightening.

It made me think of a passage in The Reluctant Fundamentalist where Changez discusses the work ethic and attitude of his immediate supervisor, a vice president of the Underwood Samson firm, "I could not respect how he functioned so completely immersed in the structures of his professional micro-universe" (145). This valuation firm manager seems to be allegorical for the American public. We go about our days unaware of political happenings outside of our personal realm of the workplace or classroom and refuse to explore information on religions and cultures other than our own. An ignorant respect of "other beliefs" is not what is necessary for multicultural intellectual harmony. An informed interest and reverence must come first.