Where I live. Where they live.

Twisting streets, a churning sea of motorbikes, plastic chairs, beeping horns, amazing coffee, delicious street food, early morning flower parades, etc. – Hanoi can certainly be described with a plethora of things. It is where the 90-percent-humidity weather is blamed for almost everything: from headache, backache, heartache to being tired, being late and so on. Born and raised in this frantic city, I have learned how to blend into this sheer madness and chaos of life.

But if anything Hanoi is an ancient city with a lot of old traditions and practices. Most people in Hanoi, and even in Vietnam, consider ancestor veneration to be of utmost importance. People have altars in the houses to honor and remember their ancestors. The predominant religion in Vietnam is Buddhism, but Catholicism, Protestantism, Caodaism, Hoahaoism and Muslim have their own religious followers in Vietnam as well. However, almost all Vietnamese people consider themselves atheists. Buddhism is indeed influential, but it is viewed more as a philosophy or a way of life or even a study of the mind than as a religion in Vietnam. Of course this greatly depends on how one defines “a religion” in the first place. Nevertheless, it certainly does not influence the political arena. We have a tendency to dissociate religious activities from those of the state.

In the Middle East, on the other hand, the role that religion plays is arguably embedded in the politics of the region. After all, the Middle East is the cradle of three prominent monotheist religions in the world – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Religion has been the heart and soul of Middle Eastern societies for thousands of years. The Iranian Revolution in 1979, Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem in 2000, etc. remind us of the important role that religion plays in politics. States such as Israel rely on religion for national identity, leaders use religion to rally support, radical groups recruit members in the name of religion and politicians cite guidance from religious commandments. Religion does matter, but perhaps not to a degree some people may believe. There is a misconception that religion is responsible for the violent conflicts that are plaguing the Middle East today. But conflicts always result from a cocktail of problems, not just from a single variable or issue.

A hindrance on my path to understand the Middle East lies in the way I have been raised to view religious practices. As mentioned above, religion is indeed present in Vietnam, but Vietnamese do not traditionally consider it as the most important factor in life, let alone in politics.  Middle East Studies does not even exist in my country as the public is generally unfamiliar with the region's cultures and history. Nevertheless, these barriers can be overcome as cultural exchanges can happen every day and the internet also makes it easier for people to get access to information. There is definitely more to Middle East than trouble or violence. It is the multifaceted nature of the cultures in the region that always seems appealing to me.