At the recent IFYC Conference, Eboo Patel, Founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, spoke about World Faith, and specifically about the work happening in India under the World Faith’s National Director of India, Abdul Shakeel Basha.
While I was at the IFYC conference this past week, I reflected on the myriad of ways that the Interfaith Youth Core, and it’s awesome staff, has supported me as an interfaith leader, and World Faith as an organization.
First of all, as a member of the Fellow Alliance, they gave the NYU chapter of World Faith funding for interfaith service programs on campus.
Starting with the Fellowship, they have flown me four times to Chicago for trainings, meetings, and other leadership development programs. This training was wide in scope, including media engagement, dialogue training, and institutional and campus involvement.
I have had several media opportunities through IFYC, including being interviewed on Good Morning America, Chicago Public Radio, and an hour-long interview on the online radio show Embracing the Journey.
The contact network I have built both directly through IFYC, and as a product of the credibility of association with IFYC is immeasurable, but includes world-class leaders in the field, funders, and best of all, other activists who joined in the World Faith cause, including Joshua Stanton, Soofia Ahmed, Mustafa Abdullah, and Abdul Shakeel Basha, just to name a few.
Eboo has been a mentor to me since the end of my Fellowship, giving me insightful advice that I need to hear, when I need to hear it. He has been a true advocate, putting me in touch with people who otherwise probably wouldn’t give me the time of day. One of my favorite things is that Eboo can give me blunt criticism one moment (which I need and ask for), and yet gives World Faith shout-outs, further opening up possibilities.
The IFYC staff has played a vital role in our development in the previous few years. They each rotate between being a friend, psychologist, ally, and advocate, often more at one time. I probably email, call, or skype chat with an IFYC Staff member at least once a week, sometimes multiple times a week. Despite my constant questions or requests, they still respond quickly and with patience that I myself may be incapable of. This includes (but isn’t limited to) Megan Hughes, Amber Hacker, Cassie Meyer, Erin Williams, Hannah McConnaughay, Hind Makki, Jenan Mohajir, Zeenat Rahman, Charles Levesque, and April Kunze.
For anyone who is following World Faith, please take a look at the Interfaith Youth Core. I consider them a strong ally in the struggle for religious common action, and I hope that every World Faith leader is trained by IFYC in some capacity. Be sure to check out the IFYC website.
I am quite excited about the IFYC conference coming up next week in Evanston, Illinois. I will be leading a workshop on using technologies, and I hope to post my presentation on here afterwards, or just a link to it.
Also, I want to challenge myself to keep up with my blogging that I have so horribly ignored for the greater part of this year. Check in for updates!
Shakeel is our awesome National Director of India. Starting a few months ago, he has switched to running World Faith India full-time. He sent me a letter explaining the work they are doing, so far with only $1,000 and I wanted to share it with all of you:
Dear Frank,
Just wanted to update you on recent events in India.
The funds has been transferred. that;s a great relief bcos my team was not able to go on streets for street contacts bcos of lack of money plus the non-formal education center we started was also in danger closing down. BIG THANKS for sending the funds. With this money we were able to buy some books and stationery for the children ( from ragpicking community) attending this education center.
Now we are having 7 members working actively for world faith India Chapter- Haq A Campaign for the rights of Homeless. Nobody is paid salary we all are working for it for free. the names are shakeel, akbar, nandlal, radheshyam, jaiprakash, zenab and lalit. we also have a working group of 21 members which met once a month.
That’s some update. Please let me know any developments from your side on the funding thing. The Indian Chapter is really growing in a very short time. Without any institutional support it will be difficult to sustain it for longer period.Now we need a office, a helpline to deal with crisis, some staff to handle emergencies arising at night, So there are many things where we are not able to intervene due to lack of funds.
Do keep me posted on any development.
thanks and regards,
Shakeel
Photos from informal school:
In an interfaith movement, what are we fighting? On one hand, there is the explicit mission statement of World Faith, which states we are countering “religiously inspired hatred, war, and division.” So that is simple enough. But this is perhaps only part of the story.
As with any organization with any message. In order to “fight” an idea or societal ill, we have to mobilize against it. This requires those who agree with the mission that take action. This is where things get tricky. While many or perhaps most people form most societies would agree with the basis of our mission statement, not many are willing to take a stand. In fact I would say that over 90% of youths in religious diverse societies agree with our mission statement. Yet, I would also venture to say that the religious extremism still holds the attention of the world because of their superior mobilization.
So then what must be done to mobilize those who remain inactive? While not everyone needs to be a revolutionary, more people must take action, but sometimes it just reguires the right people, not the masses. For instance, policy makers need to become aware of the importance of cross-religious understanding as a building block of national identity and as a safe guard from communal violence. We still often times hear of conflict in the cosmic war sense… that “this is us versus them and we must win.” Also, we need to engage the media, and not just intellectual media, but all media. These concepts can be woven into pop culture, such as tv shows, movies, and music. There are many examples of where this is true, but its a matter of sheer quantity. Until more quality media content framing the story of religious becomes predominent, it will continue to be an uphill battle. Thus, we don’t only fight the fear and anger that inspires communal violence, but the apathy that allows it to continue unchallenged.
As this time of year rolls again, World Faith is glad to announce that we are continuing to expand. We have several chapters in development in India, and we are expecting new locations to take part in the Days of Interfaith Youth Service this year.
I know that I am hardly blogging these days, and that my posts have been infrequent, short, and more of a World Faith update system than a blog about relevant issues in the interfaith movement. Give me some time and I will remedy the situation. I just moved, am working several jobs while still developing World Faith, and find little time to keep up some of the small things. Thank you to those of you who still read these!
So, a friend and former roommate of mine, Daniil Leiderman, posted a valid and often unanswered question very eloquently on World Faith’s new Cause on Facebook. He has been the source of many great conversations that force me to articulate myself in different ways, and so I felt it would be interesting for you who read this. I attempted to respond with my personal thoughts, but I think this is a discussion that will continue on without a clear answer, but is still worth exploring.
Daniil Leiderman wrote:
True understanding between faiths is an admirable and worthy goal which has numerous precedents in human history. However the trouble comes in as religions seem to go through cycles of moderation and extremism.
In cycles of extremism seemingly moot issues become perevalent and make open discourse difficult–i.e. the Biblical and Koranic prohibition on idolatry, while apparently anachoronistic, became a major issue in the last decade or so beginning when the Taliban destroyed ancient statues of the buddha causing world wide protest in Christian and Muslim countries alike, followed by protests around the issue of Mohammed being visually represented in a Dutch political cartoon. How does one accomodate each dogma along with each possible degree of religious fervor–from the tolerant to the statue-exploding, to the western (quite possibly Eurocentric) willingness to treat nothing as beyond satire?
Another problem is that of interfaith tolerance between say Catholics and Satanists, or even the status of such faiths as satanism, wicca, astarte,Thelema or Scientology within the general question of religious tolerance. What to do about such “cults”, especially (back to satanism) when their foundation is defined by antagonism?
Frank Fredericks responds:
Very Good Question Daniil,
While I am no authority on the issue, There are some things I have stumbled across some concepts and approaches that allow for both maintaining religious strictness while acknowledging irreconciliable differences. Essentially, enough common ground can be made between two faiths which contain “exclusivity” clauses (e.g. Christianity or Islam).
Essentially, we can start by exploring shared values… While many paint religious relations in a dialectical manner, the religious with the most conflict have the most in common, in values and in shared history. This often leads to the creation of shared experiences… I as a Christian may have experienced the same questioning of my faith, or persecution for my faith, or what have you, as a Hindu, Satanist, or Athiest may. This is essentially shared humanity.
The next step is where I like to leave the common dialogue path, and why I don’t even like the term “dialogue.” Often times people feel they have to leave with something in agreement. I don’t. I think more important than “understanding” the opposing faith, is discovering the humanity of someone of the other identity. This is why at World Faith we focus less on talking, and we just want to get young people working together on community service projects (a shared value of faith traditions), as a means to build friendships with the “other.”
I think the problem lies is when people abuse religious language for politic gain. Your examples illustrate this effectively. Often times, among all religious traditions at some point, people will step forward with a tainted message that promotes fear, judgement, and ultimately hate. Yet when we look at religious traditions, if there is judgement, it is only for their god(s) to carry it out, or a spiritual law (e.g. Karma). I have found this true of virtually everyone religious tradition I have looked closely at.
So to break it down further, it is not that we do not promote (or discriminate) Moral Relativism. It is that we all are in pursuit of truth (which may be the lack of absolute truth for Moral Relativists). So let’s say one comes from a religion that forbids the consumption of pork. This moral believe does not require that the person admonish others for their swine-eating transgressions. Rather, they should live their life by their moral assumptions, and then use their interactions to show grace, humility, forgiveness, or whatever religious instruction they have on the topic. This, despite what many say about it, is the call by most faith traditions.
Now, I don’t believe we will ever get together and sing koumbaya, and I am generally annoyed by those who have such idealism (must be the New Yorker in me). However, right now, the extremists of all colors dominate the conversation of faith in society’s media and politics, though they are a tiny minority. We just have to mobilize well enough to reveal to everyone in the middle that they should not fear their neighbors, but that interaction, cross-religion friendships, and common action are safe, possible, and closer to the intent of faith traditions, so that the shared values and experience become mutual respect.
From the discussion board of the World Faith Cause on Facebook:
Wait, don’t run away! I know it sounds incredibly boring… but it’s… ok well it is boring.
For those of you who are wondering why I haven’t written in a while, it is because I have been focusing on the less glamorous side of non-profit work: accounting and fundraising. Between going back and forth with Citibank about our new account, setting up Paypal Donations and Facebook Causes, I have been applying to endless lists of grants from various foundations.
While having money in the bank for the first time in nearly a year is a good thing, we have only raised about $6,000 we need to go towards the $200,000 budget that we’d like for 2009. Step by step, I hope we can come up with enough to at least mantain infrastructure for the growth we have had, which right now we are not able to do. We are at a point where the lack of employees has began limiting our effectiveness, which is why I am focusing so much on fundraising.
So this is why I am writing less… I figure that banking strategies and grant proposals are less interesting than touring Sudan or being adopted by Syrian Druze (see previous posts). I will be going to India for three weeks in January for the Humari Dunya project, and I am looking forward to that!
So I had an interesting response that someone wrote to me on my last post. I will quote it here then respond below. The response said:
“An Alternative Christian Response to Anti-Islamic Extremism”
Mr. Fredericks,
As your brother in Christ, I must fundamentally disagree with your article’s ideology. As with the Obsession video, when exposing individuals to a particular religion’s worldview, which promotes and encourages a certain type behavior, inherently evil in nature, are we then to merely classify the exposure as an “US vs. Them” manipulative dialectic rhetoric? In an attempt to appear tolerant and loving, should we as Christians sacrifice Truth on the altar of political correctness, dense with the aroma of non-confrontationalism?
The Muslim faith is wrong: It’s God (Allah) is false; its alleged historical beginnings distort the promise our Father established with our Jewish brothers and sisters; it supports necessary violence against “infidels” – like Jews and Christians – as well as tyranny. It’s a false religion, cleverly disguised by the enemy with subtle cloaks of moral truth.
Frank, what exactly do you think Christian Love is?
Is it Christ explaining what happens to the ‘wicked and lazy servant?’
Maybe it’s Christ calling the Pharisees “empty” and full of “dead men’s bones; or how about calling them “wicked” and “children of the devil?”
Better yet, what about Christ driving the money-changers out of the temple with a bull-whip. Is that Love?
The Answer: Yes, it’s Love.
Not your definition; not mine; but the Lord’s.
As can be biblically demonstrated, part of God’s Love is making people aware of the Truth – right and wrong; good and evil. The difference between where He is, where they are, and where they should be.
Just because I don’t agree with someone’s religious view, and I openly express it, does not make me or any other Christian a “hater.”
You cited the following as a “general message from the Middle-East:”
“We don’t hate you, and we love your democracy, we are just completely frustrated by the American foreign policy, don’t trust you to spread democracy (with US support of such non-democratic regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt), and feel humiliated by the western ignorance of our religious and cultural identities.”
Call it whatever you prefer: when “frustration” leads to violence that is a sin, identified as “hate.” Finally, I do believe that Muslims love democracy – not our kind, but theirs; the kind of one-way democracy that says Muslims can say and do whatever their faith promotes. However, no other religion is afforded that same right, especially when the views of the opposing religion are critical of Muslim beliefs.
A Brother in Christ,
Eddie
Brother Eddie,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. While I usually write representing World Faith, I will take advantage of this opportunity to address you as a Christian, in theological terms. Firstly I would like to address your confusion of Love and Judgement from a theological point of view.
Christ, both of the carnes and the logos of God (God in word and flesh) (e.g. John 1:1-3), represents both Love and Judgement. The instances you mentioned are examples of Judgement, while Jesus called him to follow Him in his examples of Love.
So what is Jesus judging? Hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who judged others by laws not in line with God’s intention, false teaches, and pride. He judged the money changers in the Temple, who abused what is Sacred for personal gain.
Interestingly enough is noting who Jesus didn’t Judge: First, Jesus did not judge the woman caught in bed with man (John 8:1-11), but rather chose this opportunity to teach us the association of judgement and hypocrisy. He announced, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” Thus, in an opportunity of condemnation, Jesus chose to love. His expression of love occurs while acknowledging her wrongdoing, but chooses forgiveness. Jesus makes a pattern of this. Another example of this is when He met the Samaritan woman at the well, who was divorced and living with a man not her husband (John 4:7-28). What is so telling about this verse is that Jesus was bestowed love to one who was not a Jew, but a Samaritan, a religious community consider apostates by Jews (they were former slaves by the Persians, taken from Israel at the end of Hoshea’s rule in 722 BC [2 Kings 17:1-2]). Thus, Jesus’s love and judgement are two seperate expression we must understand.
So we know from both the “the first stone” and from “the speck plank in your eye” that judgement is reserved for God, and our duty is to live our live by God’s law, and not judging ourselves, but loving others. Jesus calls us to love. He taught, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12-13).
Eddie, you asked ‘what is love?’ Specifically referring to God’s love, let’s use the New Testament as our basis, which is written in Koine Greek. While Classical Greek had some seven words for love, the New Testament uses three words for Love, one reserved only for God. The first is storgas, which means natural, family-like love (see 2 Tim 3:3). The second is phileo, which is friendship, based on knowledge and appreciation (see John 21:15-17). The final Love, which Jesus embodies, is agape, which is unconditional, perfect love, which requires sacrifice (see Mark 10:51). This is what we are to strive for, and this is how we as Christians should base our love, off His Word, and His example.
Know that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), and we can’t ”cast the first stone” with sin, we are not fit to judge, and must love. Now to address your comments on Islam.
While I personally have several irreconcilable issues with Islam theologically speaking, which would deter me of ever converting, I find your comments to be highly misinformed. While I am not the authority on Islam, I have studied the entire Quran over a two-year period, and have spent 8 months in majority-Muslim countries, often while doing independent research on Christian-Muslim relations. There are several key things you are mistaken on, which give rise to a deeper issue of misunderstanding.
To address specifics, first you stated that Islam “supports necessary violence against ‘infidels’ – like Jews and Christians – as well as tyranny.” Firstly, the Quran plainly states that “whosoever killeth a human being, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind,” (5:32). Many fatwa’s (religious rulings) have been issued reiterating this point, but you won’t see it on the evening news. Furthermore, in Islam, Christians and Jews are not considered Kafir (infidels), but are Ahl al-Kitaab, or People of the Book. POTB were said to be the blessed. The Quran states, “Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day and do righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve,” (2:62). This elucidates a lack of exposure to the theology, history, and the debate therein of Islam on your part.
Teaching of violence you say? Acts of violence? Ironically a friend of mine was suppose to meet me in Beirut, but got stuck in Chicago for the weekend. That weekend, 18 were shot to death in Chicago, Beirut none. Yet that isn’t the story as we seem to hear it from the media. Or extremist clerics? Try this quote:
“You’ve got to kill the infidels before the killing stops. And I’m for the leader to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Allah.”
Sound familiar? It’s actually: ”You’ve got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I’m for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord.” -Pastor Jerry Falwell
So is Christianity now a religion of violence because one man invokes God to support communal violence? I pray not, and I know the Bible well enough to know better. But if I didn’t? Perhaps if all i heard were the crazy pastors (who are plentiful) spewing edicts of hatred, I would fear Christianity as a violent force. Now let’s bring it back around: If you don’t know the teachings of Islam, and the media focuses on those who teach unislamic violence, then you probably have a skewed image of a religion of over a billion people.
Getting specific on Obsession, I know the organization(s) that made the film, namely the Clarion Fund and Aish HaTorah International, and met a representative of theirs during the showing at NYU two years ago. Fittingly, it was the Jewish students who so vehemently opposed the film, saying, “How dare they (Clarion/Aish) represent us with such a hateful message!”
in Obsession, the message was clear, “don’t love your neighbor, fear your neighbor.” Is fear included in love? Quite the opposite: John 4:18 tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Fear, as we know, is not of God.
How is this wrong? Well fear is aroused for no reason, but they serve a purpose. Whether political, financial, or personal, they abused the Sacred for personal gain. They, whether Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, are the moneychangers in the Temple. They are the haters.
So this bring me back to the essence of the op-ed I wrote. All religions have a those who abuse religious language for political gain. Rather than getting caught up in that and doing hurtful things, like attacking a filled mosque with gas irritants, rendering scores into hospitalization, we should do something else. We should take our Muslim neighbor out to coffee, ask our Jewish friends questions about their faith, read about a faith you know very little. We should love.
Brother Eddie, it is not despite my faith that I have dedicated my life to developing opportunities for young people to understand each other across faith identities, but it is because of it. This is my mission field, and as I have explained above, it is in pursuit of loving as Christ loved. I am taking a stand as a Christian and saying I am not a hater. A god that taught hate and fear would be no god I could worship. So, Eddie, are you a hater? If not, then join me for a discussion in a service project sometime.
In Faith,
Frank Fredericks
PS parting quote: ”You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out God hates all the same people you do.” -Anne Lamott
Well this last week has been a great journey. Someone once told me that the best way to evaluate where you are at any given point is based on these three questions: Are you giving? Are you learning? Are you having fun?
I feel this past week definitely fulfilled the three quotas. A World Faith Chapter is starting with great support in Khartoum, I learned tons about the history and current issues that Sudan is facing, and I met great people who both further inspired me and made the trip enjoyable.
First of all, there is something a bit ironic about meeting anyone from Sudan… They are the most peaceful and amicable people as a culture that I have found in my travels in some 20 countries now. It is damn near impossible to imagine these same people, whether from the north or south, Port Sudan or from Darfur, as capable of what we hear on in the western media, which at time is misleading (I plan on writing another post just on this subject). As arrived on the tarmac this irony became apparent, as the warm smiles greeted me as I arrived, with pieces of Sudan Air wreckage in the background.
I spent my first few days in Omdurman, being hosted by Gihad Abunafeesa, now the Regional Director of Sudan for World Faith. Gihad’s family took great care of me, as I as staying the male side of their gender-separated home, which I shared with her cousin Midu, who is suffering from Sickle-Celled Anemia, and an old Darfurian Sheikh who was deaf, neither of which spoke English. Because of the extreme heat, us three slept outside every night, in the guys’ courtyard, while a light breeze would cool me off.
I met with students from Gihad’s university, Ahfad University, where she is her fourth year as a medical student. I worked from there most days, ironically sticking out as a tall white guy in an all-girls school in Africa. I met many young people interested in the World Faith chapter, and things really solidified when Gihad introduced me to the awesome people of Cafa, a local organization that works on a grassroots level to address issues in Sudan such as AIDS education, peace-building with IDP camps, and training volunteers who are placed in humanitarian projects. After a meeting with Cafa’s Director Yassir Ibrahim, Cafa agreed to host a World Faith Chapter, and has a four-person committee working on how to develop the project, while I am working on promoting the volunteer base.
I feel like I am missing so much but it was one of those experiences, which has some many details, such as my new Sudanese friends, one of which runs an ad agency and I went into a meeting with him, when I should I stayed quiet I instead proposed that this construction company think big, using buildsudan.com (which they bought that day). Or the wedding I went to, where I spent an entire afternoon learning the 50 words necessary to greet a Sudanese person properly (the greetings go on and on, it’s great!). Too much occurred in this period to full articulate, so I guess this is just an ambiguous post…
In other news, I am 3 weeks away from returning to the states. Unless we get funding between now and then, I will have to begin jobhunting… time to start preparing my resumé. L
