So when I was at the library a few weeks ago this book and it's title stood out to me. The Faith Club, A Muslim, a Christian, a Jew- Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner was written out of the great fear and confusion directly after the events of 9/11. Ranya, a Muslim of Palestinian descent began to fear passing on her beliefs to her children out of apprehension about how they'd be treated. Ranya had for many years become disenchanted with the extreme voices in her religion who seemed to be drowning out the majority of Muslims who do not believe in Jihad or demonize the West. She didn't believe in covering her hair, or the segregation of men and women.
Ranya had the idea to write a children's book along with a Jewish and Christian mother to show the link between the world's three big religions. From there she started the project with Suzanne, a convert to the Episcopalian faith from her Roman Catholic upbringing, and Priscilla - a Jewish mother who had experience writing children's books. They are basically strangers in the beginning.
They began to meet weekly but soon found that the project was in danger because of the deep held resentments and misunderstandings that have always bubbled beneath the surface of all three faiths. They decided before they could begin to work on the book, they had to work on understanding each others religions.
What is so beautiful about this story is you see clearly the common thread between the three religions, as well as the common womanhood and friendship that keeps these three woman caring about one another in spite of their differences. It's another lesson in knowing and loving those we may believe have nothing in common with us. I don't know if this is the answer to world peace, but I do know it would be a lot more difficult to declare war on a people who had names and a face who you respected and cared about. If you can't demonize a culture, then you can't seek for their annihilation without turning your hearts into hard stones that no longer possess the divine knowledge of common brotherhood.
This book informed me in many, many ways. Being a Mormon and living in a pre-dominantly LDS state means coming into contact less with those that share dissimilar viewpoints. I am also quite shy by nature and have often felt like raising my voice and asking questions of those I know do not believe the same way as I do but have kept quiet for fear of offending the person or making them believe I want a confrontation in some way. I'm just a curious individual. One of the things I learned is that the Jewish religion offers no promise of an after-life. Most believe there is something but have no doctrinal support. I believe it would make practicing your religion and living according to it's principals that much more difficult. It would take a huge amount of faith and love of God to follow His commandments with no promise of reward after this sometimes sorrowful earthly life.
One Jewish prayer in particular that Priscilla shared touched me. The prayer is usually said in Hebrew and is said at funerals. It goes like this: We are like a breath; our days are as a passing shadow; we come and go like grass; which in the morning shoots up, renewed and in the evening fades and dies. If some messenger were to come to us with the offer that death should be overthrown, but with the one inseparable condition that birth should also cease; if the existing generation were given the chance to live forever, but on the clear understanding that never again would there be another child, or a youth, or first love, never again new persons with new hopes, new ideas, new achievements, ourselves for always and never any others - could the answer be in doubt?
1 comment:
hmmm sounds like an interesting book.I'll have to call you about it I want to hear more about it. since I probably won't read it.
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