Dave Stacy grapples with a number of concepts throughout his 30 day journey. His emotional journey is palpable. But what I found most interesting was the stark contrast between the seemingly limited amount of influence that Stacy’s Christianity seemed to exert upon his life compared to how central to everyday life the Islamic faith was to Stacy’s Muslim-American hosts. For example, Stacy attends a “bachelor party” for one of his hosts friends who is about to be married. Rather than a night drunken debauchery, these young men are playing basketball together in a local gym; an innocent “outing with the guys” designed to wish their friend well on the eve of his marriage. It is also interesting to watch Stacy trying (rather unsuccessfully) to justify to his Arabic instructor why it is ok for him, as a Christian, to drink alcohol. Stacy also comments several times that the Muslim traditions seem overly “strict” and wonders how and when his host family relaxes and has “fun.”
The item that struck me most, however, was Stacy’s inner conflict about the daily calls to prayer. Worried because he does not understand the Arabic words, Stacy refuses to participate initially because he fears that to do so would somehow be disloyal to his Christian beliefs. It seems that Stacy is not alone in this concern. This 2007 CBS News Report discusses serious opposition to the Muslim calls to prayer from Hamtramck, Michigan residents. In a country that many assert was founded as a result of an oppressed group (the Pilgrims) seeking religious freedom the idea that its citizens would be opposed to daily calls to prayer is astounding.
For Christians who consider the Islamic call to prayer “offensive” I have a suggestion. Instead of protesting, treating Muslim-Americans unkindly, or in extreme cases, making threats against these worshippers why not use the call to prayer as an opportunity to practice your Christian faith by praying to God in the name of Jesus Christ? For atheists or agnostics, why not pause to during those times to relax, meditate, appreciate nature, or perform a kindness to a fellow member of the human family? If everyone the world over took the time to stop and pray, meditate, or reflect each according to his or her beliefs five times a day, every day, how amazing would our world be? If we all had to stop, five times a day and simply refrain from arguing, cutting people off in traffic, flipping people off, abusing our spouses, berating our kids, cheating our customers, ignoring the old, the disabled, or the homeless, how much better would life on this earth be for everyone? By what percentage would robberies, rapes, drug-related crimes and even battlefield deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan be reduced if we all made the commitment to take a “time out” at least five times a day to engage prayer or some other type of positive thought or action? Maybe Morgan Spurlock’s next project should be to find out what would happen if everyone in the world made a concentrated effort to pray, meditate, or perform a conscious act of kindness five times a day for thirty days straight. We might all be amazed.
