IN THIS ISSUE
Plainfield, 10/7/2006::: Melina Kennedy, former Deputy Mayor of Indianapolis and Democratic candidate for Marion County Prosecutor, addressed over 300 Muslim Hoosiers at the Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) Annual Iftar on Saturday, October 7, 2006 at the Islamic Center in Plainfield, Indiana.. Over 300 Muslim Hoosiers attended the Iftar (breaking of the fast). The Iftar was attended by City-Councilman Patrice Abduallah, Deputy Mayor Melina Kennedy, ISNA President Dr Ingrid Mattson, Shaikh Muhammad Nur Abdullah, Dr Syed Imtiaz Ahmad, Professor Muneer Farid, Altaf Husain and IU Professor AbdulKadir Sinno.
Kennedy first met with area youth, community leaders and ISNA leadership and discussed concerns that Muslim Hoosiers currently face. MAI leadership expressed their concern over the rising number of hate crimes that are being directed at the Muslim community. Kennedy, who was wearing a scarf, broke fast with the attendees and observed Maghrib prayer led by Shaikh Muhammad Nur Abdullah. Kennedy addressed the attendees committing to work more closely with the Muslim community. She discussed her role in being a part of the Peterson administration that was supportive of the Muslim community after 9/11.
After maghrib prayer, Kennedy went from table to table to meet the various attendees to give them an opportunity to talk with her further. The Muslim Alliance of Indiana Annual Iftar invites public officials from across Indiana. Invitations are emailed to over 100 public leaders from both parties. Past attendees included Eric Holcomb, the Director of mymanmitch campaign and now Governor Daniels Director of Intergovernmental Affairs; Mayor Bart Peterson; City-Councilman Patrice Abduallah and Dan Parker, Executive Director of the Indiana Democratic Party.
Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that seeks to connect over 280,000 Muslim Hoosiers with each other and their public leadership. For more details about Muslim Alliance of Indiana, please visit www.muslimalliancein.com.
Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) is planning its first Annual Convention, that will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana in the Spring 2007. Dates and locations are in the process of being finalized. MAI is seeking suggestion for a theme to this convention. People should think of themes that bring together the ideas of civic and political engagement, interfaith dialogue and the importance of Muslims being a part of Indiana society. The people who suggest the themes should provide the theme as well as a Quranic ayah that reflects the theme. Some possible ideas that have been suggested so far include:
- Muslim Hoosiers for vibrant Indiana
- Better Indiana Muslims for a Better Indiana
- Indiana Muslims for Moral Excellence
- Indiana Muslims at a Crossroad
MAI will consider all themes suggested and retains the right to change any theme suggested. The person who suggests the final theme will be recognized during the MAI Convention.
Theme's may be emailed to:
muslimalliancein@gmail.com
The election of 2006 is only few days away. Many American will not vote for one reason or other. Eligible American voters, who do not vote, allow those who do vote, to elect officials who will influence our lives by policies and decisions they make on local, national and international levels, in terms of employment. education, pollution, prices, defense, morality, war and peace. Sometimes evil flourishes when a few good people do nothing to oppose it.
The religious communities should realize that participation in the political process is not only their right but their duty. If unopposed, the secular forces in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness will prevail to establish the ever-changing and conflicting rule of man. On the other hand, we the people of faith, also support the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, the one as defined by our Creator. What is good for us is also good for mankind. In this regard, all religions are on the same side of the fence. Instead of opposing each other, they should join hands in their common fight against crime, homelessness, immorality, injustice and racism.
We should not only concern ourselves with self- preservation and/or homeland security but join their other Americans in their fight against social issues such as crime, violence. Teenage pregnancy, discrimination against women and minorities, better education, housing and employment for all. United we stand and divided we fall. People of faith, must come out of hibernation and let others see them, have their voices heard and opinions known. We must actively participate in improving community relations and political advocacy.
We should vote on issues and not necessarily for a political party. We vote for the candidate who is righteous and whose ideology is close to our own values. He must support a welfare state, taking care of the poor, the needy, the homeless, the minority and spending on education and health care. He must be able to fight violence and crime.
A candidate should have sound moral character in his own personal life, in his family life as well as his financial accounts. If he cannot be trusted by his family in his character or by financial institutions in his financial matters, then he should not be trusted by me either in making decisions for the country. Thus their response on domestic political issues is derived from religious convictions. In the international field, their political decisions at home should not be based on global interests. We support the human rights movement in all parts of the world, including USA. . We must oppose oppression in any form. The height of patriotism is to oppose the ruler who is doing things which are not in the best interest of the land or the people.
If we say that we believe and trust in God , then we must make Him our ruler in all our affairs. Mixing politics with religion is not only permissible but it is possible, as politics is subservient to religion itself. Voting is our right. We should not give up our rights to forces opposed to us, who can damage our cause more. We should vote for candidates who endorse our views.
Dr. Shahid Athar is founding member and past president of Interfaith Alliance Indianapolis. He can be reached at sathar3624@aol.com
At the young age of 10, Waseem Albaba of Elkhart is not required to fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
But he chooses to do it anyway because he is not too young to feel the spiritual elevation that comes when he focuses on Allah instead of the needs of his body.
"It makes me feel good inside," he says of the daylong denial of food and water his parents allow him on weekends. "It's better than eating."
Waseem and his sister Sara, 14, sit with their mother Saturday in the downstairs social hall at the Al Noor Mosque in South Bend. It's almost 10 p.m. and Imam Mohammad Sirajuddin, of the Islamic Society of Michiana, is leading congregants in a recitation of a section of the Quran and Ramadan prayers. The praying, which will continue for another 20 minutes or so, is heard through speakers downstairs.
Waseem's mother, Safa, says all her children are devout. Her youngest son, 8-year-old Tarek, has started fasting this year in short stretches. Her oldest children, Sara and 16-year-old Kareem, began fasting at a young age of their own accord.
Sara insists it's not difficult, especially if people keep busy during the day. Plus, "It's a holy month and God makes it easy on us," she says.
Ramadan started with the first sliver of the crescent moon on Sept. 22; fasting started the next day. It is the most important time of year for Muslims because it was during that ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar that God revealed the holy scripture, the Quran, to the Prophet Muhammad.
During this time, healthy adult Muslims abstain from food and liquid from sunup to sundown. Youths are required to fast after reaching puberty.
Muslims also abstain from sex and try not to fight, lie or curse during Ramadan. However, they go to work and perform daily duties as usual. Even if Ramadan means denial, it brings such joy and fellowship,
Muslims are sorry when it ends.
'The Albaba family comes to the mosque Saturday night to break fast, eat and pray with others.
And while Muslims are encouraged to go to mosque every night during Ramadan, families also open their homes and make room at their dinner tables for others.
Mohammad Hamad, 34, of South Bend, a native of Gaza, says one of the tenets of Ramadan is to invite anyone you come across -- even strangers on the street -- to share a meal when the sun goes down.
"The streets are empty" in Muslim countries because of that charge, he says.
On Friday, Hamad and his family have invited another family, the Othmans of South Bend, to celebrate the seventh night of Ramadan.
At 7:35, Hamad passes around a bowl of dates. This, he explains, is in accordance with sunnah, the "way of the Prophet." Muslims break their fast by eating a date, following the Prophet's example. Water or milk commonly accompanies the date.
Rehab and Heshab Othman and Hamad lay prayer mats on the floor. They are joined by Hamad's daughter, Fridarose, 3, and the Othmans' children: son Hazem, 6 1/2, and daughter Noha, who's almost 5.
Unable to kneel, Hamad's sister Farida Hamad, who is visiting from Gaza, sits on the couch to pray.
Hamad's wife, Heather Gilvary-Hamad, who is Catholic, holds their 11-month-old son Obadah while the others pray.
Mohammad Hamad leads the prayer, the maghrib, which praises God for His mercy and compassion. Even the children silently mouth the familiar words to the prayer.
Heather's mother, Catherine Gilvary of South Bend, then joins the group for dinner.
Farida has been busy in the kitchen. She hands her brother dish after dish to set at the table until there are at least 13 to choose from.
Farida has stuffed five or six chickens with rice and seasoned them with cardamom. She's prepared rolled grape leaves and cabbage leaves with ground beef and spices. There's couscous and fatayer. The most savored delicacy is Farida's homemade pita.
But, Mohammad stresses, Ramadan is not about food.
"It's a spiritual thing," he says. "It's about how you feel when you fast. It's about strengthening the faith with Allah."
Heather, who sometimes fasts for Ramadan, adds: "It's reminding you of people who don't have food or don't have food when they want it."
"At 3 in the afternoon, someone will make a demand on you, and you want to lash out at them in your hunger or frustration. But if you do, you're wasting it," she says of the point of the fast. "It helps you look at them with compassion" because as others may not be aware when someone is fasting, we are often unaware of others' hunger or suffering.
Saturday night at the mosque is a larger version of the Hamads' celebration the evening before.
Barefoot and shoulder to shoulder, in separate areas of the mosque's prayer room upstairs, men and women stand, kneel and bow their faces to the floor.
The food downstairs is just as diverse, much of it Pakistani because those assigned to make it are from Pakistan.
The quiet chanting of the prayers upstairs contrasts with what is occurring below during dinner: nonstop chatter, laughter, drinks spilling, and kids running around or helping themselves to chocolate cake while their mothers clean up.
When prayers are done, when the mosque is clean, they'll go home and sleep. Then they'll rise and breakfast in the dark before turning to God to help them through another day of fasting.
Staff writer Christine Cox:
ccox@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6173
Since the days when Roman Emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes.
Constantine the Great, who became Emperor in the year 306--exactly 1700 years ago--encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine . Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome, who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the Emperor accept his superiority.
The struggle between the Emperors and the Popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Some Emperors dismissed or expelled a Pope, some Popes dismissed or excommunicated an Emperor. One of the Emperors, Henry IV, "walked to Canossa ," standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication.
But there were times when Emperors and Popes lived in peace with each other. We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present Emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderful harmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a world-wide storm, went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism," in the context of the "Clash of Civilizations."
IN HIS lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he sees as a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity is based on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah.
As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It is much beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli living near the fault-line of this "war of civilizations."
In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by the sword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born of the soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul?
To support his case, the Pope quoted--of all people--a Byzantine Emperor, who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the 14th Century, the Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had--or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt)--with an unnamed Persian Muslim scholar. In the heat of the argument, the Emperor (according to himself) flung the following words at his adversary:
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
These words give rise to three questions: (a) Why did the Emperor say them? (b) Are they true? (c) Why did the present Pope quote them?
WHEN MANUEL II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat.
At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of the Danube . They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece , and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire . On May 29, 1453 , only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul ) fell to the Turks, putting an end to the Empire that had lasted for more than a thousand years.
During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is no doubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christian countries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was serving politics.
In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present Emperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil." Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe , this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union.
IS THERE any truth in Manuel's argument?
The pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith."
How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes--Christian, Jewish and others--in Arabia , when he was building his state. But that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith.
Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: How did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"?
Well, they just did not.
For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece . Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.
True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosniaks. But nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favorites of the government and enjoy the fruits.
In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith--and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians.
THERE IS no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the faith by the sword"?
What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics re-conquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire ) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust.
WHY? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book." In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll-tax, but were exempted from military service--a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion--because it entailed the loss of taxes.
Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for 50 generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith.
THE STORY about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims--the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna . I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions.
Why did he utter these words in public? And why now?
There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "Global War on Terrorism"--when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade.
The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences?
Uri Avnery is a peace activist.
URL: http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/avnery/avnery9.html
Pope Benedict took another step on Monday toward mending relations with Muslims, saying he understood their indignation over his controversial comments and assuring them of his respect for their "great religion."
The Pope's latest attempt at clarification of his comments, made in a September 12 lecture at Regensburg University in his native Germany, were in footnotes to the original speech posted on the Vatican's website.
In the lecture, the Pope quoted 14th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus who spoke of the Prophet Mohammad's "command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
In the footnotes, the Pope again said that his comments had been misunderstood.
"In the Muslim world, this quotation has unfortunately been taken as an expression of my personal position, thus arousing understandable indignation," he said in one footnote.
"I hope that the reader of my text can see immediately that this sentence does not express my personal view of the Koran, for which I have the respect due to the holy book of a great religion," he wrote.
"I intended solely to draw out the essential relationship between faith and reason. On this point I am in agreement with Manuel II, but without endorsing his polemic," the Pope wrote.
When he first gave the speech in Germany, the Vatican said it would eventually publish a version with footnotes.
The footnotes were at least the fifth time the Pope has tried to make amends over the speech, which sparked violent protests in several Muslim countries and handed him the toughest international crisis since his election in April, 2005,.
The leader of more than one billion Catholics has several times expressed regret for the reaction to the speech but he has stopped short of the unequivocal apology wanted by Muslims for the speech.
Some have accused him of undoing decades of bridge-building by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
Two weeks ago, he met with ambassadors from predominantly Muslim countries and assured them that he was committed to dialogue with Islam.
Church sources have said the Vatican's annual message to the Islamic world to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan due for late October, was being rewritten to address the tensions that arose after the Pope's lecture.
The Vatican has said the Pope's trip to predominantly Muslim Turkey at the end of November, which some Turks want to be called off, would go ahead as planned.
The Muslim-Christian Initiative on the Nuclear Weapons Danger works closely with the National Religious Partnership on the Nuclear Weapons Danger and Sojourners. Those two organizations have just released a statement entitled "Words, Not War" signed by over one hundred Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious leaders. The statement calls for direct talks with Iran and condemns military action as a solution to the nuclear standoff.
To view the statement and the list of signers, click here: www.wordsnotwar.org.
Dr. Louay Safi of the Islamic Society of North America said, "Many Americans, and many Muslim Americans, are alarmed that the administration appears willing to repeat the mistakes of the Iraq war . . . [which] has already demonstrated that relying on military power is wrong."
Jim Wallis, President and Executive Director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal summed up the statement, "We, as people of faith, take the threat of nuclear weapons very seriously. But in the present nuclear standoff and showdown between the U.S. government and Iran, we don't believe there are any military solutions."
While explicitly rejecting anti-Semitism and threats against Israel, religious leaders agreed that direct talks with Iran are the only solution to the nuclear standoff. Dr. Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Chair in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, said, "My hope is the United States can find the right kind of language-the language of diplomacy and the language of the heart-to try to avoid military conflict with Iran."
The religious leaders signing the statement include heads of denominations, faculty at seminaries and religious schools, and the heads of state councils of churches, regional religious bodies, and national religious groups. Over one hundred clergy within the United States have also signed onto the statement.
Faithful Security and Sojourners invite people of faith everywhere to sign the statement today. To sign on, go to www.wordsnotwar.org.
We are still eager to increase the numbers of people who endorse the Muslim-Christian Initiative on the Nuclear Weapons Danger. Please urge Muslims and Christians who you know to go to www.mci-nwd.org.
Thank you for your consideration.
Mohamed Elsanousi, Islamic Society of North America, and Rev. Richard Killmer, Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy
for the Muslim-Christian Initiative on the Nuclear Weapons Danger
| Muslim-Christian Initiative on the Nuclear Weapons Danger |
The Islamic Society of North America
P.O. Box 38
Plainfield, IN 46168, USA
Phone: (317) 839-8157
Fax: (317) 839-1840
On the Web: www.isna.net
Contact person: Mohamed Elsanousi - melsanousi@isna.net |
The Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy
4500 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016, USA
Phone: (202) 885-8648
Fax: (202) 885-8559
On the Web: www.cctpp.org
Contact person: Richard Killmer - killmerrp@aol.com
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INTRODUCTION
The relations between American Muslims and the American media are somewhat uneasy, as most people in television and print media are non-Muslims. They cover many stories about Islam and Muslims related to events in the Middle East as well as American events. Most American Muslims and their organizations consider the American media (print and television) their foe because of its occasional negative presentation of Islam and Muslims. That causes American Muslims to react unfavorably toward the media. American Muslims must accept the fact that they are new players in this 200-year-old American political scene, and must create their true place with hard work and wisdom.
Media people are also human and have human weaknesses, knowing that the public thrives on sensational and negative news more than on the factual news. However, they will listen to the voices if they can recognize them. Muslims must let their presence be known.
American Muslims should befriend the American media on a personal level through contacts, as well as just helping the media with the correct information about Islam. They must show by example that Islam is a religion of love and peace, and Muslims are also God-fearing, law-abiding citizens with a high moral code and will support all that is good for American society.
TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE MEDIA RELATIONS
We should realize that the news business is a bottomless hole which can never be filled. The media constantly look for news and will actually thank you for being a source of accurate information. Some reporters even expect you do their work by providing accurate information. If you provide the needed information about Ramadan, then you are likely to see an editorial as if a Muslim had written it.
He who controls the flow of information, controls the story. You must provide the data. Most Muslims read neither the daily newspaper nor magazines with detailed information. Thus when they hear or read one story, they just jump in out of reaction.
As a news resource person, you should always be truthful and accurate and always be available. Get to know the media personnel, offer them your phone numbers at work and at home, including your pager number, so they can page you in an emergency. You should be willing to do some of their legwork and should also be willing to give worthwhile information even if of an opposing view. If you have a legitimate title or position in your mosque or Muslim organization, mention it for authentication of your information.
If interviewed on television or by the press, remember who is in control of the interview. If you are uncomfortable with a question, ask that it be restated. Make your point very clear and short. After giving a concise answer, wait for another question.
Many Muslims interviewed become very emotional or excited if faced with provocative questions and lose their tempers. This does not favor you. Never accuse the media of being your enemy or being agents of Zionism, etc., unless you want to totally destroy the Muslim-media relationship.
The reporter's best interest is to make you and the interview look good. Summarize your points in no more than 20 seconds, and speak in short sentences. You should have a command of the English language and use stories to make your points. Never insert your blatant self-interests in the story. Do not complain about the coverage unless there is actual evidence of malice in it. Most reporters ask many questions but only include about five answers in the actual story.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Most Muslims write in negative rather than positive reaction to a story, another letter or a good editorial. The letters to the editor should be short ( less than 150 words), with full name, address and phone number, for the editors to call back, if they have a question or seek more information. Start the letter with a positive sentence, appreciating a previous column or editorial letter, and then come to your point. Be factual in nature and to the point. If your letter is not published in the next few days, you can call the editor or have another person to call to ask if your letter was received and if a decision on publishing it has been made.
NEWS RELEASES
A news release, like a letter, should be concise, up to date, and to the point and should be written about a topic or event, not about an individual. It should be on one page, have a summary headline, and be written in AP style so that it can be used as is, without modification. It should contain useful information for the community and tied in with the news of the day, if possible. Give your or your organization's phone number for those seeking more information on the subject.
The best time to hold a media event for a news release or a press conference is before 2 p.m., so that it will be on the 6:00 news, or after 7 p.m. in emergency situations, for the late-night news. You should understand that television journalists and newspaper reporters have busy schedules, trying to catch the news for the day, and therefore, they are not usually available after 2 p.m. because they have to prepare the news for that evening. They also arrive late in the morning, having worked during the night. Therefore, trying to reach them before 10 a.m. is useless.
Finally, you must have a media handbook of city, as well as of the national television stations, and you must develop a personal friendship with some of the key media people, inviting them to your community dinners and sending them free tickets for such, and after you have developed an acquaintance with them, taking them out for lunch. Once they do publish your story, feel free to send them a thank-you card, and do not forget to mention that their story was well received by your friends and neighbors.
If you enjoy good news for yourself and your faith, please remember that people in the media are also human, and they are also looking for good news and appreciation for themselves as well.
Presented on September 16, 2006 at the First Annual Muslim Alliance of Indiana Retreat, Islamic Center, Plainfield, Indiana. Dr. Shahid Athar is a physician, founding member of the Inter-faith Alliance Indianapolis and Muslim Alliance of Indiana Advisor on Interfaith and Media Relation.
Address: 8424 Naab Road, Suite 2D; Indianapolis, IN 46260.
Phone: (317) 872-5159 Fax: (317) 872-5150
What are the social, cultural, and religious implications at stake for Muslims to express their giving in America? Zak?t, the ritual of almsgiving, stands as one of the five pillars of Islam. Although it has historically functioned within Islamic states, it is now being adapted to a new setting in America. Muslim philanthropist Talat Othman and Muslim scholar Dr. Scott Alexander will lead a public conversation on Monday, November 6, 2006 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at Park Tudor School (7200 N College Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46240) about the tradition of Islamic giving and how its new world setting has led to adaptations and innovations in practicing zak?t. Admission to this lecture and discussion is free. The event is presented by the Lake Family Institute on Faith & Giving, a program of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, as part of the Spirit & Place Festival. For more information, please contact Lauren Wright at ltwright@iupui.edu or visit www.spiritandplace.org.
Roadblocks: Rita Staton, Indianapolis, says a state official suggested she would be better off if she cooperated with the child protection system. But Staton says her efforts to work with the system failed. "You can't work with them when they won't work with you," she says. - Sam Riche / The Star |
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A big caseload
Child Protective Services received 69,257 reports of abuse and neglect in 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Caseworkers substantiated 21,250, or 31 percent, of those reports.
The number of substantiated cases represents about 1.3 percent of the 1,574,396 Hoosiers younger than 18.
The rate of substantiated abuse and neglect cases involving children placed in substitute care by DCS is more than twice as high as that in the general population.
There were 1,233 reports of institutional abuse, with 332 substantiated. That represents 3 percent of the 11,176 in substitute care.
Seventy-three of those substantiated cases were in foster and group homes.
Source: Department of Child Services
What's next
City-County Councilmen Patrice Abduallah and Paul Bateman are organizing community forums to get details on problems people are experiencing in their dealings with the Department of Child Services. No dates or locations have been set.
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Rita Staton was taught that people are innocent until proved guilty.And she believed it -- until her family became entangled with the child protection system.
Indiana child protection workers have more power in many instances than police. They can enter homes without warrants and remove children based on quick personal observations, innuendo or hunches.
The reasons are well-intentioned: Caseworkers must be able to intervene on behalf of children who often are scared, isolated and unable to protect themselves or seek help.
The danger, some observers say, is that the confidentiality meant to protect children also allows caseworkers to abuse their authority. A new internal appeals process should address some concerns, state officials say. Critics go even further, arguing that grievances should be handled outside the agency.
The stakes are big: Indiana child protection workers removed 7,689 children from their parents in 2004, the most recent year for which state data are available. They returned 605.
Hoosier children living in poverty are removed from their families by Child Protective Services at three times the rate in Illinois and twice the rate in Alabama, two states recognized nationally for successful child welfare reforms. The national rate of removal for children living in poverty -- often a major factor in neglect allegations -- is 23.9 per 1,000 children. The Indiana rate is 31.1, compared with 9.9 in Illinois and 15 in Alabama.
Families have adequate opportunities to appeal the removal of a child after abuse or neglect has been substantiated, said Susan Tielking, spokeswoman for the state's Department of Child Services, which oversees CPS workers. She also said the agency is working on a new, expanded appeals process that will go into effect this month.
Protracted battles
Staton and her family fought CPS for six months after the agency took custody of Staton's granddaughter, alleging that the baby's mother was homeless, on drugs and allowing men to molest the little girl.
Staton said the family provided documentation that the allegations were untrue -- including drug test results and a report from doctors who examined the baby -- but the agency refused to reunite mother and child.
Then, after contending for months that the child was better off with her father's family, Staton said, the agency suddenly dropped the case against Staton's daughter and gave the child back -- without explanation or apology.
Tielking said she could not comment on the Staton case, noting that agency rules prohibit her from revealing details of cases that don't involve fatalities.
The fight cost Staton and her family more than $100,000, she said, and left her feeling as if her rights had been thrown out the window.
She's not alone.
A new parents' rights group, Honk For Kids, is calling for the creation of an independent review panel that parents can turn to early in the process. The group hears several new complaints every week, said Dawn Robertson, Indianapolis, its assistant director.
Robertson said Staton's experience is more common than most people realize, despite recent changes in the Department of Child Services, including a shift to a more family-friendly approach to dealing with troubled families.
She points to the case of Angela Henley, 23, an emotionally fragile single mother from Indianapolis who has lost two children to CPS.
After CPS received an allegation of inappropriate sexual contact between two of Henley's teenage cousins, who lived in an Eastside home with three generations of the family, a caseworker took Henley's 3-week-old baby because of alleged neglect.
Henley said the caseworker did not give her the option of moving out of the home, which would have removed the infant from the alleged threat.
Instead, Henley said, she was told that if she cooperated and signed documents -- which the high school dropout did without the advice of an attorney -- it would be easier to get her baby back. But Henley's cooperation was later used against her when she appealed the termination of parental rights. The baby has since been adopted by another family.
"I didn't understand what I was signing," Henley said. "I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do to get my baby back."
Henley now is fighting the removal of a second infant, born in August, who was taken by CPS because of an allegation that the mother has "untreated mental conditions which preclude her from providing for her child." Henley said she has been seeing a therapist regularly for two years, and the depression she is struggling with is largely due to the loss of her first child.
Robertson said she thinks many caseworkers take action based on impressions and their personal conflicts with parents, rather than facts.
"We need someplace where parents can take complaints that is truly independent from the agency," she said.
Avenues of appeal
Honk for Kids recently found allies in Indianapolis City-County Council members Patrice Abduallah and Paul Bateman.
"This is a very serious situation," Abduallah said. "People have a right to be heard, to understand the proceedings and to have due process.
But, from what I'm hearing from more and more people, that isn't what's happening."
As a councilman, Abduallah acknowledges, he has no authority over the state-run agency. But because the council pays $100 million a year to run the county's child welfare office, he thinks local officials have a responsibility to make sure their constituents are treated fairly.
Abduallah and Bateman are working to set up community forums this year where people can share concerns about their dealings with CPS.
Tielking, the spokeswoman for the state's Department of Child Services, said Hoosiers already have access to two avenues of appeal.
Parents cited by the agency for neglecting or abusing their children can seek an administrative review of their cases. The process begins with an examination by the local office director and can progress up the chain of command to the state office.
If parents are not satisfied with the results, they can go to court and seek a judicial review to have their records expunged.
Parents also have the opportunity to present their side as cases move through the court system.
And starting this month, Tielking said, a new agency review process will be put in place as part of continuing efforts to reform the agency. Under the new plan, which will take effect Sunday, parents unhappy with the results of an appeal to agency officials can take their cases before administrative law judges.
Although the judges will be DCS employees, she said, they are bound by strict rules of conduct and must act as independent arbitrators.
As part of the new process, parents also will be given forms explaining their rights and the appeals process in simple, easy-to-understand terms.
Some people still see a need for independent review that comes earlier in the process, before parents and children are separated for months.
"If you leave it up to the state to govern the state, it's like letting the fox guard the henhouse," Bateman said. "Law enforcement agencies have citizen review panels, and I don't see why we shouldn't have something similar for this agency."
A push for open records
Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said he understands the frustration in Indiana. But Wexler said he is not aware of any state that has an independent review process and is not sure the idea is practical.
Several barriers -- including the confidential nature of most child protection documents and the fact that those records, even if they were made available, do not provide an objective account of events -- would make reviews nearly impossible, Wexler said.
Rather than a citizen review panel, he suggested, state officials should open most records, provide meaningful legal representation for parents and require all interviews conducted in the course of investigations to be tape-recorded.
None of those things happens now in Indiana.
So families such as Staton's are forced to take whatever steps they can to fight back.
Staton said she wrote more than 8,000 letters and e-mails, to police, DCS, the governor and the media.
Few of the recipients replied, she said, and some who did respond just made her angrier.
Inspector General David Thomas told Staton she would be better off going along with the agency's actions.
"I have seen many people fight the . . . system and most often lose," Thomas wrote. "I have seen people be more successful when they cooperate with the caseworker."
But Staton said her efforts to work with the system also failed. Twice during her and her family's struggle to regain custody of her granddaughter, they requested access to agency records and were denied.
Staton filed complaints with the state's public access counselor, who ruled the Department of Child Services violated the Public Records Act.
One violation came when agency officials told Staton that personnel records she sought could not be released without a request from her attorney; the other involved the agency's failure to reply to a request within the mandatory time frame.
"You can't work with them," Staton said, "when they won't work with you."
Call Star reporter Tim Evans at (317) 444-6204.
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