A Recent Conversation 17 December , 2008

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:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?app_id=2318966938&xid=cause_122628_board&c_url=http%253A%252F%252Fapps.facebook.com%252Fcauses%252Fcauses%252F122628%252Fdiscussion_board%253Fm%253Dc60e0f72&r_url=http%253A%252F%252Fapps.facebook.com%252Fcauses%252F122628%253Fm%253Dc60e0f72%2526recruiter_id%253D1027601&sig=31983ded73753b17558c13766ce10b6e&topic=544

Comment on my Last Post 6 October , 2008

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

A Christian’s Response to Anti-Islamic Extremism 2 October , 2008

This is an op-ed I am distributing.  We will see if it gets picked up.

 

For those of you who missed it, a Dayton, Ohio mosque was attacked by a chemical irritant that a was reportedly sprayed into a window during a Ramadan prayer of 300 people, many of which were women and children.  It has so far received little media attention.  Occurring last Friday, September 26, it came at the end of a week where Dayton saw thousands of copies of the anti-Muslim “documentary” Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West was distributed in major newspapers city-wide.  This demands both some critical thought, and a clear response from the those who passionately abhor communal hatred and violence, no matter who’s the victim or perpetrator.  

So a little more back story for those of you who didn’t see Obsession.  I remember when I first saw the film at New York University, with fellow interfaith activists Imam Khalid Latif and Rabbi    Yahuda Sarna.  Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike were appalled at the constant abuse of history to lump secular independence movements with religious, Sunni with Shiia, and Political Islam with Terrorists’ Extremism, giving a message that, “They hate you, so you should hate them.” 

Us v. Them

This dialectal rhetoric has been used on all parties to demonize “them,” victimize “us,” and create a common enemy by abusing religious language for political gain.  Obsession gives light on the domestic example of this, where presidential and senatorial candidates encourage fear-mongering to bolster support.  Ignorant Fear breeds ethno-religious hatred, which in turn inspires communal violence.

As an American, I am ashamed.  Our American values does in fact have influence from religious traditions, and those traditions were used to inform equality, securing freedoms for minorities, whether religious, political, or ethnic.  Many of those victims of the Dayton Mosque attacks were Iraqi refugees, who came to the US to escape a regime that used chemical gases their own citizens.  One mother asked, “If not here, where can I go where my children will be safe?”

Countering this, we need to challenge ourselves, both personally, and as a nation.  With some estimates counting over 5 million Muslim Americans, it is time we include this diverse group of South Asian, Arabs, and African Americans into the fold of the American identity, as we have with Irish, Polish, Chinese Americans, and more.  Those of us of the Christian faith do not have a monopoly on religious values that promote freedom and equality, but share them with our fellow Muslim Americans, among others.  It is time we acknowledge our shared values (including freedom and democracy), respect our differences (like culture), and celebrate our common humanity. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a faith-hero of mine, is the quintessential voice on the matter.  His relevance to those times and now is because he did not simply write off on Jim Crowe laws as some morally-ambiguous “wrong,” but addressed the issue by expounding how such laws were unAmerican, and that continued inactivity was unChristian.  His letter from Birmingham Jail was written to religious leaders, which inspired even non-Christians, such as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who soon joined the movement.   

Taking action in my own life, the post-911 world inspired me to begin filming a documentary while on a 6-nation Middle East tour developing projects for the NGO World Faith.  The premise was conversations between me, the white Christian American, and different people from various communities, mostly Muslim and Arab.  What ensued are conversations that leave me with 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.”  

The worldwide Gallop poll, representing the thoughts of a billion Muslims, support these findings.
   

Eboo Patel, my friend and a leader of interfaith activism, defined the issue of the Faith Line: it’s not a divide between those of different faiths, but between anyone that uses faith to divide and those to heal.  As comedian Maz Jabroni says it more simply, “There are haters of all kinds…”

So the question is, are you a hater?  Then let’s see some love.  Start with your neighbors, and maybe we can replace “us and them” with “now and then,” making Islamophobia a brief chapter in American history.

About the Author

Frankie Fredericks is the Executive Director of World Faith, a youth-led interfaith community service non-profit active in five countries.  Frank was featured on Good Morning America with Eboo Patel as a Fellow of the Interfaith Youth Core, and interviewed by Al-Akhbar Magazine in Lebanon, Al-Jadid TV, and Nile FM in Egypt.  Residing in New York City, he works doing freelance online marketing, runs the independent label Conar Records, and is an active member of the Grammy Association.

blog:  worldfaith.wordpress.com            www.worldfaith.org        www.conarrecords.com 

A Week in Sudan 9 August , 2008

 

 

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  

بنروح لي لوبنان بوكرا 2 January , 2008

Tomorrow I am leaving for Lebanon.

This is a big milestone for World Faith (the interfaith service project organization we are starting here in NYC), as this is our first international project. We are taking 10 religiously diverse students from New York to team up with religiously diverse Lebanese students to do some service learning projects, including volunteering at a Palestinian refugee school, as well as leading interfaith dialogue trainings at a local university, which also may be televised.

This comes at a tamulchuous time, as Lebanon was put on the Travel Warning list for the State Dept again this October, and they currently do not have a president. Though I want to enjoy this project to its fullest, I realized that unlike my previous travels where I was alone, I now have responsibility for others, in a time and place prone to disaster. Disaster has been the greatest identifying mark for Lebanon in my mind, as my experience of the Lebanese evacuation in 2006 still hovers in the back of my head.

However, I look forward to what is in store for us. I will be staying an extra week after the project to meet with local leaders of the NGO and non-profit world in order to see if we can build a team of mobilized students to more consistently do work in Beirut, as we do in New York. If any one reading this knows people in Lebanon who would be interested in meeting, please let me know and feel free to email your contact and cc me (frank@worldfaith.org). Hope all is well with everyone and your families.

Happy New Year!

Faith, Religion, and Identity 17 October , 2007

For those who want a summary of what is to  come in this post, it is most easily classified as a rant.  Be warned.

 Faith and Religion are two words I often see used interchangeably, but I fear this may only be a sign of detriment of the current vanacular to explain phenomona which see outside the self, thus, religious people have been removed from the discourse.  This appears to be a product of the fact that in the name of freedom of religion, we have developed the concept of freedom <em>from</em> religion.  Beyond the obvious fact  that religious views have been removed from the conversation of the society, it also poses a second problem. <!–more–>

When the interaction exists in a discourse, the indentity of of a religious person is set in an idealogical framework.  Faith.  Faith in  this case is a indentity bound to philosophy.  The being is as such.  However, with the current situation, religious identities are not represented intellectually in the public discourse, therefore the society can easily create the identity on practices.  Religion.  Religion is seen a system of practices by which one can be identified.  Without the interaction and only practices to base assumption off of, manifestations of stereotypes should be of no surprise, as faith identities have been denied the opportunity to reveal their relative dynamicism.  This opens up a whole new discussion, as now the non-religious have grouped the people of faith identities in a single stereotype, for instance, of uneducation.  This gives birth to fabricated oxymorons, things completely possible and congruent yet considered anomalies.  Liberal Christian, White Muslim, or American communist.  Granted the desire to remove religion from conversation by means of making appear as folly is nothing new, the communities of faith have only fed the image by devoting what reach they have had on attacking eachother (especially those philosophically most similar), rather than uniting for a campaign of improving the image of faith in general.  Faith translates well, it takes faith to believe Marxist-Lenninism, Secular Humanism, etc, all the same of religions.  Religions are essentially theistic philosophies.  I would go as far to say it requires at least an equal ammount of faith to believe there is no god than to embrace theism, even in its most elemental form.

to be continued…