Religion, or how I am easily confused

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Something that has really been on my mind since coming to Israel is religion. And I know, it's a little bit redundant for me to say that because everything in this country is about religion, you can't get away from it. As a Christian, I am really confused about the lack of Christianity in this country. I know that there are a decent number of Arab Christians but I haven't met any white or anglo-saxon Christians yet. I feel like this demographic is really under-represented and I don't really get why.

Another religion I don't understand is Islam. I don't mean to sound racist or prejudiced but I really don't understand the appeal. Our guide in Bethlehem, Hamdan, told us the story of how he his parents kept him locked in a room until he was 12 because of his disability. I am still having trouble comprehending how or why parents would inflict that type of pain and suffering on their child. Hamdan explained that his parents did this to keep the “shameful” secret of a child who was disabled. In addition to the fact that disabilities were considered shameful his parents also didn’t want possible suitors for Hamdan’s older sisters to think that the condition was genetic.

I have such conflicted feelings about Islam and Hamdan’s story only adds to these feelings. I’ve never really liked Islam, I always thought that the fact women were forced to cover themselves was horrible. And then in college I knew a few Muslim women who said they chose to cover themselves and they chose to follow Islam, which made the pendulum of my feelings swing the other way, that maybe Islam wasn’t so bad it was just different. And then I come here, and everything changes all over again.

One of the girls in our group asked Hamdan when girls start to wear the veil or when they choose to wear it. He answered in a very specific way, stating that “they have to start wearing it around 14 or 16.” The girl in our group had asked about choosing when and Hamdan very specifically said they had too. She then asked when they started learning about Islam and the veil and he said around seven. Do these girls really get a choice then? Do they have a choice not to wear the veil or are they so indoctrinated that they don’t have a choice or don’t know any other way of life?

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