On Christianity and Islam

The Seattle Times did a piece on a former priest from my church recently, about the fact that she is both Christian and Muslim, and from what I can tell a lot of peoples' heads are about ready to explode because that is just not allowed.

Personally, I'm more disturbed by the fact that budgetary concerns forced the layoffs of her and two other staff members (including the priest that married Sweetie and me).  I always enjoyed her sermons; in my opinion they were always the most intellectually involved sermons, and she always provided a thorough analysis of the topic being discussed.  That sort of thing always reinforces my faith.  Partly because of the fact that one of the things I like about Episcopalianism is the fact the intellectual side of it is embraced and encouraged, and partly because the rector at the church I grew up in was also very intellectual.  So the African-American Muslim woman of the present helped connect me to the Caucasian former Roman Catholic man of my past.

I DO understand that if you are one who takes a literal interpretation of holy texts that you may have difficulty coming to grips with combining the two faiths.  But I am not one of those people, and will never be one of those people, because, personally, I don't think you can take an intellectual approach to holy texts and not admit they were written by human beings as INSPIRED by God (and social forces at the times, and personal agendas, and all sorts of other influences).  Redding admits that there is struggle, and she is still coming to terms with how the two work together, and she is working through it all as she goes.  Me, I'm more likely to incorporate bits of Taoism or Buddhism into my faith. 

The thing that really gets to my gut about all this, though, is that if we can start to accept people like Redding, and listen to the perspective she can bring from her two faiths, perhaps we can start to address some of the bigger issues facing the world at the moment and NOT let the terrorists win.  Because, if you haven't noticed, there are a fair number of Muslims and a fair number of Christians in the world who would like to see the other group exterminated.  There's a lot of conflict going on in the Middle East, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of end in sight.

But if we can listen to people who can bring an informed, enlightened perspective from both mindsets, wouldn't that be the sort of person who might be able to tap into the bigger issues that face everyone?  Help us find a common ground?  Help create the bonds that might lead to a lasting peace?

Yeah, I know it's just crazy talk.  But to me that's a lot more intriguing than what's going to happen to Redding's soul, or where or how she chooses to pray on a Friday afternoon.

Comments

[tommyspoon]

You know what you're problem is, Swankette? You're reasonable. Many folks who consider themselves "religious" are unreasonable. Those of us who are on the sidelines of this debate are cheering for the people of your ilk. The reasonable folk always make sense.

Problem is, the unreasonable folks have the better looking uniforms. And the better theme song. And the better marketing campaign...

[WaroresePam]

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