Just came back from the library with a book I reserved some time ago. The Faith Club, by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner. I've only had it in my hands a few minutes and already I'm to page nine.
These women, a Muslim, Christian, and Jew, began writing this book shortly after the 911 attacks. Each of the women wrote their own prologue and I have read them all. Ranya's was the one which touched me most, as she and her family had to suffer the repurcussions of being blamed for something others had done in the name of her faith. I kind of know the feeling. Lately, I've been reading posts and comments in which the authors are showing great anger and disgust with my faith. Sadly, it is not without reason. But like those men who flew those planes back on 911, the preachers and other hate mongers who spout off venom in the name of my faith do not represent my faith. But how is anyone outside my faith to believe that?
The public gets nearly all of its information from the press. And no matter which country you live in, your national press is probably replete with editorialism which tells you how evil everyone else in the world is. The American press s*cks. I used to be part of it.
Like the innocent people of Islam, it's frustrating when members of my faith behave, or speak, badly. And the press will run with any negative thought regarding true faith. If the faith is phoney, the press will treat it as real. If the faith is real, the press will accuse it of hypocrisy.
I don't particularly like posting on serious issues. I'm neither important enough nor qualified enough to do so. But I don't want people judging my faith because some fools have left it in order to preach hatred. On my new blog, Faith in Forgiveness, I wrote about taking my faith back from the hijackers who wish to use it for political purposes. The world of Islam has the same malady. Hijackers of Faith get all the headlines. The True Faithful are relegated to personal blogs, private cable stations, and little known publications.
The press will not publish the truth. Not without editorializing it so that it becomes a lie.
At the same time, I am confronted by my own "shortcomings". I am hardly a perfect person. In many ways I am a hypocrite. What right do I have in condemning even those who condemn? I worry that people will think I'm no better than the messages I speak and write against. And the truth is, I'm not. That's why I am not afraid to reveal my neurotic emotions on my blogs. I want people to know that I understand a good many of my imperfections.
The three women who wrote The Faith Club seem to have achieved a new level of understanding. I won't know what that level is until I finish the book. The Preface was a shared one between them. In it, they talked about making a commitment to behavior I wish we could all share.
"So we made a commmitment to meet regularly. We talked in our living rooms over cups of jasmine tea and bars of dark chocolate. No question was deemed inappropriate, no matter how rude or politically incorrect. ... Somewhere along the way, our moments of conflict, frustration, and anger gave way to new understanding and great respect." (emphasis mine)
I honestly believe this is the way to get past prejudice and hatred: speaking the truth (in innocense) to each other. Don't stab. Don't accuse. Just speak the truth as you understand it, and accept the truth from others as they understand it.
The truth can be painful. But ultimately, I believe it will bring us together. After all, isn't God truth?
6 comments:
sounds like a book worth reading.
I wrote a poem Do You Hear . I was questioning ALL religions, and there were a few people, I'm ashamed to say, twisted it to imply that it was questioning the ones that they felt were to blame.
I was horrified when someone, supposedly a 'good christian' referred to some devote woman, wearing either a burka or otherwise black garb, and called them 'ninjas'. Sigh . . . I let the person know that I felt their comment was hateful. Oh my, the way they SAID ninjas was most disturbing.
"someone, supposedly a 'good christian' referred to some devote woman, wearing either a burka or otherwise black garb, and called them 'ninjas'."
They may have been a 'good christian'. They may also be terrified. At the least, they have forgotten Christ's message of love.
People are afraid. Some for good reason. They live in places where they are physically threatened.
Others are told to be afraid daily by their political and social leaders. Fear is how those in power control those without it. It's how they remain in power.
The inevitable consequence of fear is the divisions between people become large chasms instead of small cracks. Truth becomes distorted, or broken into a lie.
People begin doing and saying things they would find abhorent, if they would only stop to watch and listen to themselves.
We need to find ways to calm the fears of those who are afraid for no reason other than because they were told to be afraid.
We need to allieviate the real fears of those who are in danger.
This is a big task for all of us. The only way I know how to proceed is to act on my own beliefs and encourage others to remember God loves us all, and that we need not be so afraid, despite what the politicians, press, and other social leaders are telling us.
It's a radical idea, but I'm thinking we should let the banks and things fail. Level the playing field for us all and we can rise up together, instead of trying to stand on each other's heads.
Don't worry. I have no power. It won't happen.
Pity.
Bevie, I really think that the antidote to all fear is knowledge, and the solution to people fearing those from different backgrounds is to know them. It's harder to hate people you know. In college I had a little sister who was from Kuwait--I had no idea that I would eventually convert to her religion, but just knowing and adoring her set the stage for me to be open to it. Whenever anyone said anything bad about Arabs or Muslims, I always had her in my mind and knew it wasn't true.
And by the way I hope my latest post didn't come across like an attack on Christianity. It was only meant as a comment on people who think they are doing something in the name of God--something I find somewhat less than empowering. It is of interest to me because it is one example of faith and gender intersecting.
Very nicely put.
What sort of genre do you write? I'd love to read what you write - you have quite a nice style and eloquent way of putting things.
You're right, Jennifer. I kind of was trying to say that, but in a back door way. I was trying to point out that if we can let each other ask honest questions, we can inform each other of the truth. Then we learn about each other.
You're so right about it being harder to hate someone you know. What we learn is that, while we have different triggers to lauch them, we all have the same feelings.
No. I was not referencing your post. I read the one before it, but I was short on time and decided to leave your last until today.
I visit between twenty and thirty blogs every day. In fact, some days it's more than thirty. More and more I am finding myself confronted by people who are fed up with people spouting hatred in the name of Christianity. What's sad is that some of the these hatred-spouters really are Christians. They're just mixed up, and/or walking away from the faith.
I appreciate your concern about being offensive. I share them when I write about serious issues. There is always the risk of coming across as an attacker or, just as bad, a condescender. (Is that a word?)
I hope you and I are now (or soon will be) past that. I trust your motives, Jennifer. You are not an attacker. Neither are you condescending. Do not fear to offend me. You are my friend now. You can say anything you want.
Hi, Lisa.
My main focus is fantasy. Medieval fantasy. I don't talk much about it here, on A Voice in the Wind, but I do a lot on The Great Sea and SOF-The People.
Right now I'm still unpublished. If you want to read anything from my current work you'll have to settle for background stuff on one of my characters, Tavaar. I posted a lot of background story on her on SOF-The People. I quit because I think my readership lost interest. If you go there and find the label Tavaar you'll see I have 35 posts. That's not even half of her background story. It's all rough draft stuff.
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