Hello fellow co-bloggers. This is a step aside from my regular (well, not exactly regular, if you have read me before) coverage of sports stuff. But this is an attempt to inform, enlighten and stretch my own writing and thinking abilities---while relating it back to the sports world!

Normally I leave religious stuff for my other blog (edclinchsaint). But in this case I wanted to use my more "secular" blog to talk about what I consider to be a vital issue for Americans and sports fans everywhere. I hope you can see why you as a reader matter in my post here.

Also, in justification of the religious theme of this particular post, I do it for two main reasons:

1) My "edclinchsaint" blog is currently covering Day 13 of the World Cup, which is going on right now (HOL/ARG 0-0, 1st half...)

2) I try to focus on more secular or "state school" issues here (I have attended IU and UCLA and I am a huge fan of the former), but all good state universities have religion departments, right? So religion and it's implications obviously affect all of us, whether devout in one faith or not.

I have seriously considered being a chaplain in the US military the last couple of years, and I consider myself qualified to do so. The recruiters with whom I have spoken, based on current regulations, think I need more religious specialization training or a "professional" degree in religion to qualify. While I wholeheartedly agree that I could stand much more education in many subject matters religious, I find the current government qualifications redundant in my case, and in my particular faith system. And as much as I would love to earn another Graduate degree paid for by the military for a Seminary Degree or higher masters or doctorate in Theology, I wish the military would foot the bill since I already scraped through a Masters program on my own private bill, paying back all the loans I used on a teacher's salary and with a small family.

Having explained all this, I hope you don't get the impression that I am demanding of the government something that I don't deserve; rather I would hope you might understand my point of view: I think the US military would love to spend money on a guy like me, since I have already paid my academic and even religious ministering dues!  They should be chomping at the bit to get me "trained" adequately as a professional in an area I believe I am already up to snuff in (if you have specific questions as to my qualifications as a chaplain/pastor, feel free to comment and ask). They should be begging me to be a non-gun carrying, will-fight-when-attacked,spiritual guide/counselor US military officer (who happens to speak Arabic among a few other languages...) Anyway, enough of me! On to the subject at hand:

Understanding Islam

Trying to heal some wounds that misunderstandings of this world faith system have perpetuated. And relating it to...sports?

For lack of a better format to start off with, I am going to number my points. Oh, and there is politics in this, too. Are you ready UltraMega?

1) Islam, as an umbrella term for people who submit to God as interpreted in the Koran, an Arabic document miraculously received by the Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century AD, is a faith practiced in varying degrees by some 1.5 billion people in the present (2006). 

The United States has between 4-6 millions Muslims to date, different census counts vary. The followers of this faith come from many diverse cultures, many languages and ethnic groups. The countries that represent Islam the most in the world are Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangaldesh and Egypt, more or less in that order.  And of the top five listed, only Egypt speaks a form of Arabic natively. The other nations have vastly different languages, including Turkey and Iran, which both are similar in population to Egypt.* [see edited note below]

2) Approximately 90% of Muslims are of the Sunni sect. Many Sunni believers do not consider Sunnism a sect at all, but the one, true Islam, and the other 10% of the Muslim world is mistaken and not adhering to the true form of Islam as iterated by Mohammed the Prophet. This is not true of all Sunni Muslims, but I personally know highly educated Sunni Muslims who believe as such. This causes some friction and hostility within the Muslim world.

3) The three Muslim countries with the highest number and/or proportion of Shia Muslims (the biggest minority sect) are in this order: Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. (There might be a couple of Gulf States that might have more; I emphasize Lebanon more for effect, perhaps, but there are many Shia there, and that presence has a greater political influence than other small nations with significant numbers of adherents of Shia Islam.)

4) Sunni believers, some 1.35 billion strong, believe that there is no central authority for their religion, or that God is the only authority. Shia (also known as Shiites), on the other hand, a "minor" 150 million or so, believe that there are holy clerics and descendants of the Prophet Mohmmed, holy men, who lead their true faith. Both are adamant in their positions and occasionally (or at the present time, often) there is open violence between the sects. This has manifested itself tragically in the holiest site of Islam: Mecca, Saudi Arabia, among many other places, particularly Lebanon and Iraq.

5) The sectarian violence that occurs in Iraq is largely due to this dichotomy. But it is by no means exclusive. Within Iraq there are many other cultural, linguistic, political, tribal and economic factors that foment the animosity, competition and "terrorist" acts. This is not the forum nor do I have time adequate to break down that miasma (quaqmire).

6) Our country (the US) is affected by these issues and rifts by virtue of our current military obligations and commitments. We lose about two soldiers per day (60 per month, 750-800 per year) due in part to the inabiltiy to corral or adjudicate many warring factions of Iraqis and non-Iraqis within and without the borders of this "new" democratic state. The foreigner insurgents are largely Sunnis who have a war with the 60% Shia majority of Iraq, at times as much as with us "non-Muslim" western "crusaders". That is how most of them view us, despite our forces having devout Muslims, Buddhists and every other type of belief system represented. We have after all, 4-6 million Muslim Americans from all the Muslim and non-Muslim world, amny of whom are quite patriotic and humbly serving their nation, our nation.

Okay, I don't want to go on ad nauseum, but I wanted to communicate this basic information so that we all (including myself) might be a little better informed and understanding of what is going on in the world that can appear very messy, confusing and unnecesarily violent and cruel.

I understand. I also strongly hold that understanding more about humanity can heal wounds, perceived and real. 

Now I don't naively expect all of us to suddenly come together and proclaim "We are the world" like the nice cooperation of British artists in 1985 to alleviate hunger in Ethiopia. Rather, in my own small but  hopefully convincing (or thoughfully persuasive) way wish to suggest a few considerations of action:

A) Talk to a Muslim. Show interest in them and ask repectful questions. Do it out of goodness or genuine interest, not because someone told you to do so, or in order to attack them or feel justified in your own beliefs. (Although in the past I must admit, I think I operated more like that, regrettably. That's natural).

B) Be accepting of differing opinions. Practice some on-line diplomacy so that we can learn to be more diplomatic, less hostile or jerky in general (Again I must admit, it is very easy to do this and I know I do it too much, especially over glib subjects, like "sports"). Perhaps the writing and communicating skills we engage in here will translate to our own skills in the real world? Interesting thought, no?

C) Don't be afraid of learning of others' core beliefs and values. I, for example, as a potential chaplain in the military, would give aid, succor and guidance to a soldier or civilian of any faith or belief system, irregardless. 

To finish this unusual post, I want to expand on my "edclinchsaint" bio:

I am pro faith, pro people, pro humanity. I am pro-Christian (I consider myself Christian), I am pro-Muslim, I am pro-Jewish, I am pro-all religions. I also recognize the wisdom and validity in ecumenicism (faiths uniting), agnosticism (those who are not sure), atheism (the belief in no God or gods) and almost every other belief system and faith. I can think of maybe two exceptions, but this is not the time or place to discuss those things... In short, there is enough room for all of us on this planet, in this all too fragile life, faith or no!

Thanks for reading if you made it thus far.

All right, folks. As one great blogger says:

That's all I've got!

* Wrong...Post-post edit: It's funny what I think of while in the shower: spelling errors, factual inaccuracies, unfair emotional rants, hostile diatribes, glowing flatteries, etc.

*Thinking about Egypt: I forgot that while Egypt has a comparable population with both Turkey and Iran, it has between 10-20 % Egyptian Coptic Christians! Therefore, Egypt should rank 7th in the list of top Muslim nations. That makes the point even more strongly that Islam is by practice not simply an "Arab thing", although the grand majority of Arabs are Muslim to varying degrees.

Also. Nigeria has a ton of people (maybe over 130 million and counting, and at about half of them are Muslims, living mostly in the north...)

US and Ghana today, now...Can we qualify to face Brazil?