Buxton Initiative Blog

Lessons for Muslims and Christians from Alamo Day

2009-03-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today, March 6th, is Alamo Day. Texans young and old take this day as an opportunity to shout "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!!!" as loudly and triumphantly as possible. During my several years of Texas history in middle and high school, I learned that today is the anniversary of the slaughter of Texans at the Alamo fort in 1836. The Alamo was held by about 150 volunteers including Davy Crockett, James Bowie and William Travis (a relative of mine). For almost two weeks they were besieged by thousands of Santa Anna's soldiers (i.e., the Mexican Army) who eventually overwhelmed the fort, sparing only 15 women, children, and servants.

When I remember the Alamo, palpable feelings of pride and affinity automatically well up within me. Though I know that there is another side to the story (i.e., Texans were essentially taking Mexico's land by violent means), those contrasting points of reference rarely impact my consciousness with any kind of emotional force. I grew up "playing Alamo" and proudly wore a Davy Crockett raccoon fur cap. I think of Davy Crockett like I think of Santa Claus. Intellectually I know that my favorable characterization of the freedom fighter from Tennessee is essentially false, but I cannot help but have a positive emotional response when I hear his name uttered.

Similarly, while I know that wholly negative characterizations of Santa Anna are overly simplistic and historically incorrect, his name still bears a sinister connotation in my mind, like the Rat King in the Nutcracker or the Wicked Witch of the West.

Now to my main point: It is often said that "hard-line" Muslims and "fundamentalist" Christians need to rethink their overly narrow interpretations of the Koran or the Bible. While rethinking is important and necessary, "re-feeling" may actually be the real challenge.

The tragic recent beheading of Aasiya Zubair Hassan by her husband Muzzammil Hassan has spawned shock and outrage from everyone from imams to college-age Muslims throughout the country. Of the several articles I have read, the vast majority have presented passages from the Koran which condemn such acts. While I am glad to see these kinds of articles in circulation, they miss the bigger problem. Even if a panel of the most well-respected imams had convinced Mr. Hassan that the Koran does in fact condemn domestic abuse and violence, their successful persuasion would still be in vain unless the new interpretation of Scripture significantly impacted Mr. Hassan's deepest feelings, desires and passions.

Consciously or not, all of us have experienced the frustration that results when we attempt to align our emotions and passions with what we know to be true. As far as I can tell, this very human inability to re-orient our feelings is what Jesus is talking about when he says to his disciples: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Re-thinking everything from our view of Santa Anna to our understanding of the Koran may not come with great difficulty; however, "re-feeling" them just might require an act of God.

Luncheon featuring Imam Hendi and Rabbi White from Georgetown University

2009-03-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

A Month of Transition

2009-03-11T11:25:00.002-07:00

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

The past two months at Buxton has included many new additions to our team as well as a departure. Adam Cohn, the Jewish fellow, took a position at a financial firm in DC. While Adam’s departure has been hard for us all, we have add some great new additions to our team. Mac and Alex have joined us from various areas in life. They both bring a new energy and insight to the mission and work of Buxton.

With the changes at Buxton occurring recently and the instability of my life at the moment, I have been contemplating the meaning of transition. Many people in my life are in a state of transition right now. For those of us who just graduated from college and are setting up in a new area with a new community, it is time of uncertainties. It is in this time that we are learning to let go of our parents and follow our own instincts and intuitions. We must not completely dismiss their advice and wisdom, but there is a call upon us to blazing our own path through the journey of life. It is in this place that I find myself very unsettled and honestly frightened. During this time of trepidation and uncertainty I am looking for something in my life that is stable, familiar, and provides me with a foundation with which I can understand how to view the world.

I realized in this time that the very thing that defines what I live for, my faith, provides me with both consistency and a foundational understanding of the world. It is my faith that allows me to engage my culture while at the same time not conform to the culture. It is through my faith that I can turn back to find myself when I find myself changing through many identities. It is also through my faith that I can still connect with whatever community I find myself surrounded by.

Today we talked about our understanding of heaven according to our different faith traditions. We commented on the fact that there are many who hold onto their faith traditions for fear or hope of the next life. I find myself drawn to the idea of living out my faith tradition not only for the idea of the future, but for the here and now. It is in this time of transition when what my faith is built upon will either fail me or compel me to find hope and press on. I am looking forward to the next stage when my time on earth is over, but I am very much clinging to the hope offered through my faith for the here and now.

Buxton Reflection

2009-03-11T11:25:00.001-07:00

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Reflecting upon the events of the past weeks, I have learned some valuable lessons that I fully intend to apply to both my everyday life and religious perspective. Two events in particular have really pushed me to re-examine my own beliefs, especially given the current economic turmoil and uncertainty in the world.

This past week, the Buxton Initiative hosted a Luncheon on the topic of the divisions of the world, featuring four incredible gentleman, Senator Bill Brock, Ambassador Samuel of Ethiopia, Dr. Oz Guinness, and Imam Magid. The event was truly enlightening as we received perspectives from three different spheres, including political, social, and religious.

Although, each speaker offered an intriguing interpretation of the different issues facing our country and specific tools to address these problems, Senator Brock’s interpretation really hit home with me. He delivered a unique analogy between his recently defeated Republican Party and his faith, Christianity. He exclaimed that while both groups are currently having internal strife and striving to find a true identity, he believes that the solution does not require any real reform or new platform of ideas. The true problem yet exists because individuals within the groups are failing to live up to the ideologies that they are inherently preaching or that which encompasses the foundation of their organization. We are not taking enough ownership of our ideas and actions, but must see these ideas out and really make sure they are implemented properly.

The second event which also provided me with great insight was during a discussion at The Falls Church by the founder of the Buxton Initiative, Douglas Holladay. Doug shared some of the most important lessons that he has learned throughout his lifetime. The first lesson was to take calculated risks. Without taking risks, one cannot really move forward in life and even in religious scriptures it is looked down upon to not take these risks and maintain stagnate. Doug offered that without taking risks, there is not even really a need for faith.

The second piece of advice that Doug advocated was to surround yourself with people who truly care about you. To really enjoy life, someone must people able to love and be loved by other people in their life. This allows one to lean against someone when times are inevitably tough and to have someone to share the really special moments. He also mentioned that most religions stress to having deep, meaningful relationships in one’s life.

The last lesson provided was to completely take the pressure off regarding employment, whether it came from one’s parents or even undue stress from yourself. Providing himself as a prime example, Doug demonstrated that life takes you along many different paths but if you keep pursing something that your passionate about there is a good chance you will eventually succeed. Oftentimes, parents are extremely upset to find that their children pursue options that they are not accustomed to, and therefore immediately reject the idea. Doug advised the group they must always love their parents but ultimately it is up to the individual to decide their life course, and only they can truly make that tough decision.

A Season of Hope-from Jessica

2009-03-11T11:24:00.001-07:00

This holiday season I have found myself reflecting on the meaning of Christmas. Usually this season is filled with a time when we are all trying to meet deadlines and buy gifts for those we love. Although I enjoy the time of celebration with friends and family, there is a part of me that wants to know the deeper meaning of this holiday. There was something that happened 2,000 years ago that changed the world forever. The time leading up to the event was one of anticipation. Anticipation of what would happen and what the implications of this event would be. Ultimately the feelings of anticipation were feelings of hope. Hope that this world could be redeemed and that even in the midst of sorrow there are reasons to be joyful.

Working at Buxton I see myself working through this hope. At a small level seeing my relationships with Abbas and Adam grow provides me with the hope that if relationships between the three of us from different faith traditions work than it can work at a larger level. We work to put together these events in the belief that there is hope for how we can understand and relate to one another. Hope that there can be peace between nations, communities, families, and ultimately between each individual. Through this anticipation of something better, we can press on to understand one another, to learn how to appreciate our differences. It is this anticipation, this hope, which provides me with a drive to continue moving forward for change.

Merry Christmas!

The Month of Anticipation (Abbas)

2009-03-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

As I say goodbye to 2008, I realize how unexpected and wonderful my work at Buxton would have seemed to me a year ago. A year ago I was at the foot of the Himalayas, living amongst Tibetan refugees, Kashmiris, and working at an art studio. Between bowls of tsampa (roasted barley) and cups of honey lemon ginger tea, I felt like I had a pause in the hectic path of college life. At that time, I was excited for the second half of my senior year, and more nervous than anything else about the work I would do after graduating. This December, I have an appreciation grounded in faith and an excitement for the year to come.

Some of this appreciation comes by way of my Christian coworkers in the office. As I see the joy they get out of the Christmas season, and particular religious significance this occasion marks for them, their joy is my joy. Although we do have differences on the nature of Jesus, Muslims too accept his miraculous birth to the Virgin Mary. This blessing of God is something I have a renewed and strengthened appreciation for this year.

As for the year to come, I know it holds many unknowns. The interns’ time at Buxton is at its midway point, and it really seems like just yesterday we came to 1717 and tried to get a grasp of just how powerful and challenging our work this year would be. Now that we have hit a pace of programming, of talking with one another, and of growing as individuals of faith, I am more aware than ever that our time in certain places, with certain people is limited.

I don’t quite know what I’ll be anticipating at the end of 2009. I don’t know how the events of next year will impact the direction I take in my life. What I do know is that even after four months this experience has had a powerful influence on my thinking about faith in my life, and sharing my deepest convictions with other people. I know that Adam and Jessica have shared personal insights with me, for which I am grateful. I know that January will be a time to readjust, refocus, and make the most of the time we have left at Buxton.

Many Reasons to Give Thanks

2009-03-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

Since the last blog we have hosted four events at Buxton. Our first event was for the Young Buxton and we should a film produced by Unity Productions Foundation title, On a Wing a Prayer which documented Monem, a Muslim gentleman who wants to learn how to fly. The story centered on him and his wife, Iman, and their life as Muslims raising a family in a very small town in Washington.

On October 20th we were honored to have Dr. Eboo Patel from the Interfaith Youth Core speak at a luncheon on his book Acts of Faith. Eboo did an incredible job with giving the audience a deeper meaning and vision for interfaith dialogue. For someone with little background in interfaith dialogue like myself, I could easily follow Eboo’s passion and drive to see the positive outcomes that interfaith dialogue could produce. I do not think anyone walked away from that luncheon without some hope for the future and a tangible idea of how we can bring about peace.

Lately I have begun a project on the history of interfaith dialogue. Finding an exact time that interfaith dialogue started has been a challenge because there was never one decisive moment in which interfaith dialogue was created. The World Council of Churches website has an interesting article on the history of interfaith dialogue. According to them the difficulty with defining the beginning is largely due to the fact that, “the history of Christianity is also the history of Christian relationships with other faith traditions.” The World Council of Churches has dealt with interfaith dialogue issues for nearly a century.

During the meeting in Jerusalem in 1928 the growing amount of secularism caused the conference to affirm “’values’ in other religions and called on Christians to come together to impact secular culture.” After World War II the environment of the world was changed and there was a revival of nationalism and religious traditions. New churches in the newly independent countries had to work and struggle with people of different religious traditions. By 1967, with the meeting in Sri Lanka, there was serious talk of interfaith dialogue. In 1970 the first multifaith dialogue convened under WCC support of Hinduism, Buddhism, Muslims and Christians.

Even amongst the fears of syncretism, at the 1975 council meeting in Nairobi, 5 persons of other faiths were invited to a WCC assembly as special guests. There are still some who struggle with the meaning of interfaith dialogue especially within World Council of Churches, but most people at this point have come to recognize the necessity of creating meaningful ways to dialogue with those of differing faiths.

From the beginning of time people have had to interact with those of different faiths, race, backgrounds, economic status etc. Some people fear this interaction. My fear is not interacting with those who are different from us; it is when this interaction stops that I become fearful. It is in these interactions that we learn about our common humanity and through this it becomes more of a challenge to demonize one another. I felt at times apprehensive about engaging others of differing faiths because I do not speak their language, but this is exactly why I should. Interfaith dialogue, from my understanding, is not about ignoring that which sets us apart but acknowledging our different faiths, talking about the things that set us apart and using that platform to engage and learn from one another. It is an uncomfortable process, but once you start it gets easier. Everyone wants to be known and by starting with the faith that defines that person, you are closer to understanding who they are. My faith calls me to love without prejudice, Christian or Muslim, Jewish or Sikh. Jesus didn’t specify and so I am left with the only option of loving everyone as if they were myself. This is a challenging calling, but one worth trying with all my might to achieve.

Choosing our Path

2009-03-11T11:19:00.002-07:00

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

As I sat in the midst of a Bible study at the Falls Church last Friday, I began to think about what good interfaith work should entail, and how receptive others are to it. There I sat, amongst people with whom I have fundamental creedal differences. However, they showed me nothing less than a warm welcome and willingness to share their faith with me. My few months at Buxton have revealed some exciting possibilities when it comes to interfaith dialogue, particularly in a framework that doesn’t compromise religious beliefs.

I have faced two typical reactions when talking to others about the work I am trying to do. The first is a very vocal skepticism or dismissal of interfaith work altogether. I have heard reactions like “I don’t really believe in interfaith work…what use is it?” or “Don’t you just get the same people together who are already for pluralism, you aren’t really reaching the people that are the most antagonizing.” I was taken aback at first by this harsh resistance to interfaith work. Rather than respond with some sort of apologetics, my appreciation for the importance and impact of being involved in interfaith has grown, and it shows when I talk about what I do with putting together interfaith events.

The second type of response I get is “that’s so great; someone needs to be doing this kind of work. I wish I knew enough to get involved” or “I would love to do interfaith work, but I don’t necessarily feel comfortable putting my faith out there publicly.” People feel they need to pass a certain threshold of knowledge about other faiths, and they need to be ready to be attacked for their religious beliefs. These sort of fear-driven issues are completely understandable, and they keep a lot of potential champions of interfaith work from stepping up.

Others are taking the risks and seeing the positive outcomes of well-intentioned interfaith work. One is Doug Johnston from the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, who has attended our last couple of events and spoke at our last Young Buxton meeting. Another is a young woman, only a senior in high school, who I met recently at training with Unity Productions Foundation. Having someone of school-age passionate about the need to reach across religious lines truly inspires me to carry on.

I like to think back on the words of a visionary taken from this Earth far too early, Bobby Kennedy. Like those involved interfaith work today, he had to face both those who were exclusionists, and those who thought of interfaith cooperation as of secondary importance. In The Pursuit of Justice (1964), He wrote: “Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.” That religious freedom is something dear; it’s something we need more people fighting for.

New Experiences

2009-03-11T11:19:00.001-07:00

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

It is a great honor for me to be the newest member of the Buxton Initiative as the liaison to the Jewish Community. While I can share a great deal of insight about Judaism and the experiences I’ve had, I am very excited to learn much more about my religion and also educate myself on the other religions around the world. I believe that the foundation of the Buxton Initiative lies upon this notion of teaching others and introducing others to new ideas and different faiths.

Just yesterday, I attended the Rosh Hashanah Services at Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, DC. While I always look forward to attending services, especially at this particular synagogue, this year’s ceremony proved to be especially enlightening. Rabbi Lustig delivered an incredible sermon about the importance of staying in the present, because if you fail to, you will take for granted the common normalcy of everyday life. He stressed that one must appreciate every day as if it were your last and that we all have a responsible to reach out, as there are always others worse off than ourselves.

The discussion lead me to examine my own life and determine if I was indeed living everyday to the fullest extent possible, with an appreciation for life and the others around me. I decided that at times I tend to look too far down the road without truly appreciating my everyday existence. I hope this will motivate me to be a better individual and leader.

I am very excited about the upcoming year with the Buxton Initiative and having the ability to have an impact on the Washington, DC community. This will definitely be one of the most fulfilling periods of my life and I plan to make the most out of this extraordinary opportunity.

Turn of Events Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

2009-03-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

The last two months of my life have been loaded with interfaith activity and interaction, in a way I hadn’t foreseen at the beginning of the summer. In August, I went to the interfaith wedding of two people I had met just this summer, accompanied by a friend whose father is a pastor. They were able to beautifully combine both Christian and Hindu traditions into a wonderful ceremony. I found myself in India two weeks later where I had gone to visit a Jewish friend working there. In my luggage was a menorah and candles for him to use for this year’s Hanukkah.

All of these events have put me in the right mindset for my year as the Muslim Fellow at Buxton. I have experienced the ups and downs of working on interfaith dialogue at a student level in college, and I have seen the capacity of conversation to transform people’s misconceptions and prejudice into understanding. The biggest issues I saw during my previous interfaith efforts have been apathy, defensiveness, and lack of avoiding very contentious issues. All of these seem to be magnified in the U.S. public at large.

I have a few outcomes that I would love to see during my time here at Buxton. I wonder where the initial, cordial conversations will take myself and my colleagues as we struggle to explain our religious worldviews to one another. I would like to move toward understanding how interfaith dialogue is largely lead by male clergy and lay leaders and where women can be present in the dialogue, and not a woefully absent voice. I want to feel like I am being challenged on my views, taken to task for my generalizations about other faiths, and really understand what productive benefits can come out of all of this interaction.

I am definitely eager to learn more from JB (Jessica) and Adam about where they come from, how religious belief factors into their lives, and tools that they bring to the table for interfaith work. I want to learn from Doug and Kathryn about what has worked, what hasn’t, and learn more about being immersed for large amounts of time in the work of bringing different faiths together.

No religious community is a monolith. I possess personal convictions and opinions that may be altogether contradicted by some of my coreligionists. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t share an essential part of my identity with them. I am here because I believe firmly that people need to be given the space to practice their faith in the way they choose, and that they not be victimized or targeted as a result of their creed.

First month at Buxton

2009-03-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

It is hard to believe that my journey with Buxton only started 4 weeks ago. When I initially heard that I would be working at an organization that promoted interfaith dialogue I was excited and a bit nervous. Interfaith dialogue sounded like a wonderful idea to me but I had absolutely no idea what it was nor what would be expected of me.

At our first official meeting many of my initial fears were quickly dispelled as I was given the freedom to not completely understand interfaith dialogue. All that was required from me was a willingness to learn. As Kathryn said, “This is the time when you can just be a sponge and soak everything up.”

After day one at Buxton I realized I had more questions than answers concerning this thing called interfaith dialogue. I thought I was a very open minded person before coming to work here but I realized that I had never been put in a situation where faiths collide and religions have faces. I was caught off guard by how uncomfortable this made me at first, and how confused I was with my feelings. Things got better, though, after we all acknowledged the great big elephant in the room, our different faiths, and found things we had in common.

So far my time at Buxton has taught me to be more comfortable with questions than with answers. This is a time to grow in relationships and understanding, but not necessarily answer all the difficult questions dealing with our differences. Maybe those answers will come out of my time here maybe they won’t, but as of right now I realize that as long as I am open to asking and learning I can engage in this thing called interfaith dialogue.