Tyler Cowen: belief

Transcript context

…I think it’s our job to show what Islam actually is. I’m happy about certain things that happened. I’m just talking about Southern California now. A number of the Islamic organizations have gotten together. They’ve gone on drives for charity. They’ve opened up homeless shelters and done things to show that they care about America, they can appreciate the way America functions, and it’s OK with them. As a Muslim, we have to show that we can get along with everybody. That’s not happening, unfortunately, in the other parts of the world. Here in America and Great Britain, as you mentioned, they can see how democracy works, and see that it can work. I was cultural ambassador for Secretary of State Clinton, and they sent me to Brazil. The people in Brazil were amazed that Barack Obama could be elected president. They said a black American could never be elected president, and we elected Barack Obama president. That gave them a different idea about what democracy actually could do and achieve in their country, in Brazil. Brazil is trying to make an effort to be more inclusive. The wealth is unevenly distributed between whites and black Brazilians. They want to change that. They want to educate the minorities and the black people in Brazil and bring them into the economy, because that will open up society to everybody. These problems aren’t necessarily exclusively coming from Islamic countries. All over the world, corruption and dishonesty by the ruling parties have made things more difficult. Let me try a question integrating religion and politics. As a Muslim, you must, in some ways, be a social conservative. I’m not saying the same way Jerry Falwell is, but in some ways, a social conservative. You’ve in some regards spoken out on behalf of Bernie Sanders, I think mostly on economic issues. But the Democratic Party, it’s mostly social liberals. Do you ever just wake up and feel that somehow there is no place you belong intellectually, and is this despairing, liberating, or what? Do you ever have these thoughts? No. I don’t have them, because within my own heart, I’m at peace with myself and how I’ve lived my life. I’ve tried to live it morally, but as far as Islamic communities are concerned, we’ve got work to do. It’s pretty simple, but all communities, really, have work to do. It’s not just Muslims. All of us — Muslim, Christian, Jew, or agnostic — we have work to do, because our Constitution and our traditions require that.…

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