[LINK] Al Jazeera on religion among American Druze

[rfmcdonald]

In her article "Keeping the faith?", Liana Aghajanian takes a look at the strategies used by American Druze to try to keep young people within the faith. Given that constraints of the Druze religion, including opposition to intermarriage and homophobia, are problems for these young people, the religion seems to have plenty of work.

Calling themselves Al-Muwahhidun (believers in the oneness of God), the Druze stress a strict monotheism that incorporates Greek philosophy and Vedic elements such as reincarnation. The religion is sometimes regarded as secretive because of its distance from outsiders and because of its strict adherence to endogamy, or marriage within the community.

The roots of these beliefs can be traced back to the 11th century, when Egyptian ruler Al-Hakim, a central figure in Druze cosmology, disappeared under mysterious circumstances and was succeeded by his son Ali az-Zahir, who sought to wipe out the religion. In an act of self-preservation, the Druze went underground in 1043 and haven’t accepted converts since. There are now roughly 1 million Druze around the world, the majority of whom live in Lebanon, Syria and Israel; 30,000 to 40,000 members are in the United States, with the largest American group in California.

The Druze have persisted for over a thousand years, but for American Druze, ensuring that their community will survive past the 21st century has meant facing difficult questions about striking a balance between religion and secular culture.

There are a number of challenges. For many Druze growing up in the U.S., religion isn’t part of daily life. Second- and third-generation Druze Americans are often assimilated into American youth culture, and many move further from the faith when they enter high school and college. Alcohol is forbidden in the religion — which can present a challenge — and only very few young Druze choose to become members of the uqqal, a group of spiritual leaders knowledgeable in Druze doctrine. As a result, the majority of Druze Americans are relatively uninformed about their faith, and many don’t even have Arabic language skills.

The religion has also struggled with restrictions that some consider out of step with contemporary life in the U.S. According to Michael Malek Najjar, a professor of theater arts at the University of Oregon and a second-generation Druze American, prohibitions on intermarriage and being openly gay are “driving a lot of Druze away.” He added that these issues “are frankly causing a major schism in the American Druze and Western Druze societies that are going to lead to a gradual diminishment of the faith.”