We had this semester's round of student presentations this week. I think it's my favorite week of the year. The presentation prompt is to choose someone successful who you admire, and talk about how they may have used the principles we've learned in class to get to where they are. I didn't have quite as much variety this time as last time, but we still had a good mix of sisters, mothers, fathers, and uncles, as well as more famous people.
The most interesting choice (two of my students, in different sections, chose him) was Zinedine Zidane.
Of course these young Arab kids love him because he's a football star, but it goes beyond that. One of my Emirati students gave a very compelling presentation on how Zinedine Zidane is a good example of living the religion of Islam in the West. I don't know how accurate a representation of Zidane's practice of Islam this is; me fact-checking my students' presentations was beyond the scope of this assignment. In any case, the students in that classroom seemed to agree with what the presenter was saying.
After the presentation, the students continued to discuss Muslims living outside of the Middle East, particularly in France. They talked about how hard it seemed to be for the members of their faith to live their religion fully in countries where the Muslim tradition is misunderstood, or unappreciated, or even legislated against. One of my students spoke of how moved he was to hear of a Pakistani Muslim in France who volunteered to pay the fine levied on any woman wearing the hijab in public. Others spoke of religious discrimination against friends and relatives in the US or Canada. There was a definite undercurrent of a persecution complex running through the classroom.
And you know what? It was so familiar to me. Mormons are good at this, too. It's hard to get made fun of at school because your parents wear "magic underwear." It's hard to know that there are people out there who will look down on you once they know you're a Mormon. No, we don't drink alcohol. No, we don't have sex before marriage. No, we don't practice polygamy anymore. YES, we're weird.
But unlike my Muslim students, I actually find it easier (in many ways) to live my religion outside the land of its restoration. The truth is, the Middle East is a place where no one thinks it's strange that I dress modestly, or abstain from alcohol and premarital sex, or even that during a certain time in a certain place, members of my faith practiced polygamy. They get it. In fact, if they're weirded out by anything, it's by the fact that I do all these things and I'm not a Muslim.
I think the Mormon persecution complex, like the Muslim one, exists largely in the Western world. So who is our Zinedine Zidane? I can think of a few possibilities. Mitt Romney, because whatever you think of his politics, he is taken seriously in the US despite his religion (see also: Harry Reid). Brandon Flowers, maybe? Who is that person we look at and think wow, even with how awkward and difficult it sometimes is to be a Mormon, especially when you're in the spotlight, [so-and-so] is doing it really well.
(Answers such as Christina Aguilera, Keri Russell, Eliza Dushku, Jewel, Tal Bachmann, etc. may not be accepted.)
The most interesting choice (two of my students, in different sections, chose him) was Zinedine Zidane.
After the presentation, the students continued to discuss Muslims living outside of the Middle East, particularly in France. They talked about how hard it seemed to be for the members of their faith to live their religion fully in countries where the Muslim tradition is misunderstood, or unappreciated, or even legislated against. One of my students spoke of how moved he was to hear of a Pakistani Muslim in France who volunteered to pay the fine levied on any woman wearing the hijab in public. Others spoke of religious discrimination against friends and relatives in the US or Canada. There was a definite undercurrent of a persecution complex running through the classroom.
And you know what? It was so familiar to me. Mormons are good at this, too. It's hard to get made fun of at school because your parents wear "magic underwear." It's hard to know that there are people out there who will look down on you once they know you're a Mormon. No, we don't drink alcohol. No, we don't have sex before marriage. No, we don't practice polygamy anymore. YES, we're weird.
But unlike my Muslim students, I actually find it easier (in many ways) to live my religion outside the land of its restoration. The truth is, the Middle East is a place where no one thinks it's strange that I dress modestly, or abstain from alcohol and premarital sex, or even that during a certain time in a certain place, members of my faith practiced polygamy. They get it. In fact, if they're weirded out by anything, it's by the fact that I do all these things and I'm not a Muslim.
I think the Mormon persecution complex, like the Muslim one, exists largely in the Western world. So who is our Zinedine Zidane? I can think of a few possibilities. Mitt Romney, because whatever you think of his politics, he is taken seriously in the US despite his religion (see also: Harry Reid). Brandon Flowers, maybe? Who is that person we look at and think wow, even with how awkward and difficult it sometimes is to be a Mormon, especially when you're in the spotlight, [so-and-so] is doing it really well.
(Answers such as Christina Aguilera, Keri Russell, Eliza Dushku, Jewel, Tal Bachmann, etc. may not be accepted.)