Tagged
Stizzyocayce tagged me to do the following:
- Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
- Find Page 123.
- Find the first 5 sentences.
- Post the next 3 sentences.
- Tag 5 people.
I think the closest book was the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I was consulting recently for an email conversation. It was towards my left, but I also have a stack of books towards my right, the top of which is Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel, which I just bought today after hearing Dr. Patel speak at a conference of the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS). I think that book is maybe a few inches farther away from me than the Catechism, but because it’s so close, I will quote it too.
First, from the Catechism :
440 Jesus accepted Peter’s profession of faith, which acknowledge him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man. He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man “who came down from heaven,” and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the cross.
Now from Acts of Faith:
It was Azim’s job to develop young Ismaili scholars. The only time I had ever detected pride in his voice was when he told me about Ismailis who had gotten jobs at major universities in North America and Europe, and he mused about the impact they would have when their work started to be published. I thought perhaps he would be excited about my new career focus.
Ok, I’ve done 4 out of 5 of the bullets. I’ve never been one to pass along things like this, so I won’t make any promises on the fifth obligation.
By the way, here is a little information about Dr. Patel. He is a young American Muslim from India who has founded an organization call Interfaith Youth Core, which seeks to promote discussion of religion among young people. There were several things in his talk that impressed me:
- His approach to interfaith dialog is not a process of watering down religions to a minimal and meaningless commonality, but for people who are passionate about their religion to discuss and learn what is common and what is distinctive about theirs and other’s religions.
- He said regardless of your particular religion, or your view of religion, it is clear that knowledge of religion is necessary to understand the world we live in. Classes on religion, that do not seek to convert students, but to inform them, should be a part of a good education. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that such classes in public schools do not violate the principle of separation of Church and State.
- He has found that an effective way of getting students interested in religion is to show how many people who have made positive changes in history were inspired by their faith. He names people like Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day as inspirations in his own life. When he teaches about religions, he takes certain values, such as “mercy”, and shows what the various religions teach about the subject, and then how it is worked out in civilization, and in individual people’s lives.
- He compares the religious situation of today to the race situation in the 20th century. Just as courageous people were willing to cross the “color line”, he is calling people now to be willing to cross the “religion line”.