Religious ethnic variation hits students
By PATRICIA PRUITT
Suddenly the world speaks another language, eats different food and worships a different God.
Or is it a different God?
For the KU foreign student, the ethnic influence of religion is made very real when he enters a society which perhaps has a basically different orientation. And this question may become very important in his life.
Middle and Far Eastern and African students especially may be exposed to habits specifically forbidden in their religions.
FOR RELIGION IS A WAY of life, including not only ethical code and worship instructions, but also point of view, tradition in human relationships, food and clothing.
Once here, the foreign student must to some extent adapt himself to a dominating Protestant
Last of a four-part series
ethnic and "think American" at least enough to understand the import of connotations.
Some manage to retain their native way of life with minimum contact with Americans.
But many more have constant exposure and become assimilated to varying degrees. They notice and wonder about differences.
For practical purposes, only Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu students were questioned, since they form the largest group.
A PAKISTANI SENIOR who has been here four years says, "Trust in God and right conduct are common in both Christian and Muslim societies, yet Christians are more liberal in their changeability.
"I used to observe the fast and go to pray five times a day," he
continued, "but now I haven't time and religion has become a very personal thing which I don't often discuss. Now, I drink, but I don't eat pork and I have the same beliefs about Islam as when I came. Religion does play a very important part in my life," he said.
His roommate, a Hyderabad, India, senior and Muslim, reacted differently. He commented, "Back home, I accepted everything, but I didn't investigate it. But now after I have had a little training in a different culture for five years, the outlook changes. I question Islam as a historical thing, as to whether it is still applicable today.
"TODAY MAN HAS A DIFFERENT purpose. He must explore nature, which is God. And we haven't explored nature, so we don't know what God looks like.
"I just want to know," he said, "where I fit into the thing. The main thing is what I am doing here—which I never questioned before."
The newly arrived foreign students thought he was crazy, he chuckled.
Indeed, two novices answered that in the first few months they made observations and comparisons, but they had not altered their views. And the Western culture would not ever change them. At the same time, they have dropped their orthodox observances of praying, for practical reasons.
SOME WHO WERE ONCE fanatics become liberal here, and some who were liberal interpreters at home now can exercise their philosophy uninhibited.
"We must adapt ourselves," said a Saudi Arabia senior, "but we
want to find out and retain the relevant Muslim doctrines in which we believe. It's a matter of combining these aspects." And he was a Muslim fanatic when he arrived in America, he said.
Zafar Israeli, Moradabad, India, graduate student, heads the KU Muslim Society and leads prayer weekly. He reports that only about one per cent of the Muslim population turns agnostic, and that the rest retain their religion with varying attitudes towards the orthodox law.
"I cannot judge whether a man is Muslim or not," he said. "Only God can do that. But as for practicing the law, I know that time can be made for such things, because I have done it."
He himself rises at 4:30 a.m. daily to pray, never drinks or eats pork, and is now fasting 12 hours daily during the holy month.
HINDU STUDENTS range from the veteran foreign student who is faithfully vegetarian and has a miniature temple in his apartment—to assimilated young men torn between cultures and perhaps, as a result, are agnostics.
An Indian Hindu graduate student ate beef the first day he arrived in the States. He said he would have eaten it at home, if it were available.
"My viewpoints on religion remain the same," he said, "and are even more pronounced now. My religion is modern Hinduism, based on a scientific attitude. My path of reaching God is by duty
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Daily Kansan Monday, January 9, 1967
New upheavals hit Chinese mainland
TOKYO—(UPI)Radio Peking reported sabotage in Shanghai and travelers arriving from Red China today said there was violent street fighting in Canton and Nanking between factions supporting and opposing Mao Tse-tung.
Fragmentary dispatches and eyewitness accounts indicated widespread disorder and unrest in the world's most populous country. But the 3 million-man Red Chinese army appeared to be remaining aloof, although
units were called out in Canton to quell street fighting. "Crimson Guard" units were said to have organized to combat the pro-Mao militant Red Guard.
INDEPENDENT and rightwing Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong speculated on the possibility of civil war in this first major upheaval in China in 17 years of Red rule.
A number of Chinese Communist diplomats abroad have been ordered home without explanation.
--and work. God is right here in my lab, as he is everywhere. I see no conflict."
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religion just as we take names from our religion."
A young Buddhisth woman echoes his thought, although she sees superficial differences, such as the formal, bright clothing Americans wear to their churches.
"THE PRINCIPLES ARE THE same, however," she said, "and there are similarities. You worship Christ as we worship Buddha. I see people's names derived from
Whether tolerance or doubting are the reaction, relevancy seems common to all. As to the search for universality, Israili said, "Many religions claim to be exclusive, but I believe that all the paths are leading to one place, even though some may take the longer way. But who am I to judge?"
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