At my university: Saudi students and Christian proselytizing

[TheWalkingContradiction]

Hello.

I thought you might be interested in the problem Muslim students in the ESL (English as a Second Language) program in my New York City university have: Proselytizing Christians.  To make my 40 colleagues and our bosses aware of the issue, I sent this e-mailed memo a week after I sent one that explained Ramadan and why our Saudi students were fasting.  It was generally well received, although one colleague (yes, a professor) sent us all Bible verses in response.  Happily, two others identified themselves as atheists, one identified herself as a Christian and one identified herself as Jewish; they all said that we needed to respect our students' beliefs--as teachers students trust and as human beings.

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Two students (one from this semester and one from a past semester) have expressed on separate occasions their hurt and even outrage over Christians who have approached them and tried to tell them that Islam was not the right religion.

Arabs from other countries may or may not know how to handle this situation, but Saudis don't because proselytizing is illegal (and severely punished) in Saudi Arabia.  Foreigners are allowed to practice their own religions in private or in groups behind closed doors, but there is no public display of any religion but Islam.  Therefore, when our students are approached by a friendly person who engages them in conversation, their only thought it is that it is a good opportunity to practice English and perhaps make an American friend.  When they are handed pamphlets about Jesus or have their religion insulted, they feel betrayed.  It feeds into every stereotype of Americans (Read that as Crusaders) they have heard.

I don't know if any of them will speak to any of you (and I ask that you not say I said anything since I don't want them to think I break confidences).  Nevertheless, I wanted to give you another heads up in case one of your students mentions it.

I handle Saudis the way I handle all my students--with kid gloves.  In one Summer-1 class, a Saudi strongly disagreed with a liberal stance made by an author we had read.  He said that his religion told him what to believe, and that was all he needed.  I smiled warmly and said, "That's fine.  We don't have to agree."  Later in the semester, this same student softened and was open to other ideas.  I can see how even the type of article we English teachers love to use to make students think and debate could be threatening.  Once it was clear that I was open to his religious ideas, he could open himself up to parts of what authors were saying.

Similarly, in the spring, when I took one of my classes on a three hour walking tour of Lower Manhattan, I took the entire class (including the two Saudi women in hijabs) into Trinity Church.  I had told the class a week before where we would go, and I had made it clear that no student had to go into any building that made him or her feel uncomfortable.  I had also personally told the two Saudi women that I would gladly stay outside with them if they did not want to go in the church, and that they did not have to decide until we were there.  (Some Muslims will not enter a church for religious reasons.)  Happily, they chose to go in.  It was the first time one of them had ever been in a church, and she was pleasantly surprised by what she saw.  Since Trinity Church has nineteenth-century neo-Gothic architecture drawn from elements of older European cathedrals (which are based on Islamic architecture as observed by Crusaders in the Middle East), I asked her what parts of the church looked like a mosque to her.  We then had a very interesting conversation, one that extended beyond Islamic architecture.

This is the way I try to build bridges with Saudi students.  So much is new and strange in New York; of course they will retreat to what is familiar and comfortable before opening up to diversity.  That is part of being human and hardly unique to Arabic students.  

In addition to helping Saudi (and all foreign) students adapt to life here and feel less alienated, I think such encounters represent both NYC and the U.S. well.  Americans are not the most popular people in the world--particularly not in the Middle and Near East--and one never knows what a student who enters a key position in the future might do based on a more positive view of American life.  Anything that stops even a tiny bit of stereotyping and hate is worth it.  

If the only thing Saudis go back with is the story of Christians who tried to convert them, that is a tragedy.

[Crow]

I like your style. However I think they need to be exposed to proselytizing regardless of what it is, the US has freedom of speech and they need to see that those people are free to express their views and so are they without consequence.

edit: Well as long as it doesn't break the law, and that they need to be prepared to defend what they say.

[Firebird]

I like your style. However I think they need to be exposed to proselytizing regardless of what it is, the US has freedom of speech and they need to see that those people are free to express their views and so are they without consequence.

edit: Well as long as it doesn't break the law, and that they need to be prepared to defend what they say.

Agreed with this. I think you handled your students very well though. It would be hard for me to be as non-judgemental as you were, admittedly.
My family has contributed to a scholarship at a university in New York. One year my mother found out the student who won the scholarship at the beginning of the year had expressed homophobic opinions in class, which was extremely upsetting to us. He was a foreign student.
However, later in the year he apparently began expressing doubts about his views and regretting what he had said. Part of this was because he met fellow students who were gay, part of it was his exposure to American culture. Whatever it was, it was gratifying to hear that.

[markmcdaniel]

I like your style. However I think they need to be exposed to proselytizing regardless of what it is, the US has freedom of speech and they need to see that those people are free to express their views and so are they without consequence.

edit: Well as long as it doesn't break the law, and that they need to be prepared to defend what they say.

Agreed with this. I think you handled your students very well though. It would be hard for me to be as non-judgemental as you were, admittedly.
My family has contributed to a scholarship at a university in New York. One year my mother found out the student who won the scholarship at the beginning of the year had expressed homophobic opinions in class, which was extremely upsetting to us. He was a foreign student.
However, later in the year he apparently began expressing doubts about his views and regretting what he had said. Part of this was because he met fellow students who were gay, part of it was his exposure to American culture. Whatever it was, it was gratifying to hear that.

I have to agree that exposure to new ideas and people is the best way to learn.

[OldGit]

Well, I suppose there are different shades of proselytising.  Telling Muslims their religion is the wrong one is not the best way of going about it, maybe other more tentative approaches are less offensive.  You seem to be taking a helpful line; pity not all your colleagues do likewise.

[Synapse]

I have to agree that exposure to new ideas and people is the best way to learn.

Yeah. It's best when people arrive at their own conclusions from first-hand information instead of simply being told what to think. I've been around enough shitty teachers to know that those students are lucky to have someone like you to learn from.