Education, Government and Religion

Every Christmas Day, there is a re-enactment of the Continental Army's crossing of the Delaware River, during the night of December 25-26, 1776, going from Pennsylvania to a spot near Trenton, New Jersey to make a surprise attack on a British stronghold there. General George Washington led the troops across the Delaware River, with boats ferrying 2,400 soldiers, 200 horses and 18 cannons through a sleet and snow storm and high winds. The troops then marched 8 miles downriver before battling Hessian mercenaries, working for the British Army. Washington reported the patriot victory to the Continental Congress, saying, "In justice to the Officers and Men, I must add, that their Behaviour upon this Occasion, reflects the highest honor upon them. The difficulty of passing the River in a very severe Night, and their march thro' a violent Storm of Snow and Hail, did not in the least abate their Ardour. But when they came to the Charge, each seemed to vie with the other in pressing forward, and were I to give a preference to any particular Corps, I should do great injustice to the others." Trenton was the first great victory of the Revolutionary War, and Washington framed it in military terms, but like all the Founders, Washington was deeply Christian, holding the Christian faith to be intertwined with patriot acts : "While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian." The US Constitution enshrines these Christian principles because Americans were not only Christian but wanted their nation to reflect the principles of Christianity - personal liberties and economic self-sufficiency, but also a people concerned for the welfare of others and eager to help when trouble strikes. The Constitution's key is the enlightened self-government that is based on education for all and the principle of human equality. President Obama, in his 2013 Christmas message to America perhaps put too much emphasis on cookies, basketball and military service. But he also called on Americans to embrace the ethos of service to others, saying : "So many people all across the country are helping out at soup kitchens, buying gifts for children in need, or organizing food or clothing drives for their neighbors. For families like ours, that service is a chance to celebrate the birth of Christ and live out what He taught us – to love our neighbors as we would ourselves; to feed the hungry and look after the sick; to be our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper. And for all of us as Americans, regardless of our faith, those are values that can drive us to be better parents and friends, better neighbors and better citizens." ~~~~~ In Dakar, the capital of Senegal, every night, 13-year-old Cheikhou and his younger brother Bamba would make their way to a wooden shack they shared with dozens of other barefoot child beggars, sleeping the floor. One night a candle toppled over and the shack went up in flames. Neighbors doused the fire with plastic buckets of water, struggling in vain to put it out. Cheikhou survived but his 10-year-old brother and three younger cousins perished. The tragedy again focused attention on the living conditions of the tens of thousands of Senegalese "talibes," Islamic religious pupils, who are forced to double as street beggars. In this West African country, Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 50,000 boys are forced to beg while spending years in boarding schools called daaras. The government says it tries to ban the practice - even though there were no arrests after the fatal fire in Dakar - and the daara system remains deeply embedded in Senegal, where many poor parents view it as the only way to provide an education for their sons - sons who beg on the streets from dawn for eight hours and then spend the afternoon and evening reading the Quran and copying it in arabic script. The "marabouts" who are their teachers pocket all the money from begging, about $500 per month - more than civil servants make in Senegal. For the boys of the doomed Dakar daara, recreation meant occasionally watching soccer matches on a neighbor's TV. Although their marabout insists he was humane and generous, neighbors say the boys often went barefoot, wearing men's filthy hand-me-downs and scrounging leftovers at a nearby restaurant. "I cannot imagine a mother letting a tiny child live like that," the restaurant owner's wife told AP. No one knows just how many children lived in the doomed shack shared by boarder students of three different marabouts. The government says it recorded 41 survivors and nine dead. The Marabout Mountakha Diallo, says eight children died, including four nephews of his. Cheikhou, now back in Ndame near his parents, but going to a daara school nearby, where he must sleep according to the rules, only says, "Dakar is not a good place." Cheikhou's sole surviving brother, now 8, is still a talibe at another daara. His parents plan to keep him there, despite all they have lost. "It is the will of God," says his father. Set this against the Five Pillars of Islam - five basic acts in Islam, considered mandatory by believers and the foundation of Moslem life. They are summarized in the famous hadith of Gabriel, which contains the important teachings of Muhammed. The Five Pillars include prayer, concern for the needy, self purification and the pilgrimage. ~~~~~ Dear readers, these are two very different stories - one of America's 18th century Revolution and the other of today's misery and ignorance among Senegalese Moslem children. My message is not that George Washington was "better." My message is not that Islam is "heartless." My message is that there are values in every religion. Christian values. Islamic values. And these values always include love of our fellow human beings. Children. Women. Soldiers. All are human and deserve our love. The problem in Senegal is that parents, who are not themselves educated, see the value of education and are trying to educate their sons. The Senegal state does not help. Is it lack of funds or indifference? I can't answer. But, I do know that educated children are not as likely to be mistreated or become adults who are left as paupers because others exploit them. And I do know that many of the world's gravest religious and political disputes could be resolved if people of good faith of all religions simply practiced the tenets of their own religion. We are proving that military power can hold off enemies. But it cannot prevent hatred among adults or exploitation of children. It is time to take our future out of the hands of governments whose goal are domination of its people and destruction of "created" imaginary enemies. We must build our future ourselves. Dialogue. Education. Economic Development. Mutual respect for each other based on a self-respect that refuses to be mistreated or exploited - that refuses to accept hatred and killing in the name of religion - that refuses to ignore its religion's call to love and help our fellow human beings. Hatred cannot save us. Truly practicing our religions just might. It's worth a try.