Hindu v Christian in the U.S. Senate
Thursday, July 12, 2007

TPM Cafe has a great report on the showdown today in the U.S. Senate after a first-ever Hindu invocation was offered in the morning and some Christian activists interrupted it.

Today was a historic first for religion in America's civic life: For the very first time, a Hindu delivered the morning invocation in the Senate chamber — only to find the ceremony disrupted by three Christian right activists.

The three protesters, who all belong to the Christian Right anti-abortion group Operation Save America, and who apparently traveled to Washington all the way from North Carolina, interrupted by loudly asking for God's forgiveness for allowing the false prayer of a Hindu in the Senate chamber.

"Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight," the first protester began.

"This is an abomination," he continued. "We shall have no other gods before You."

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Posted by B Feiler at 3:53 PM 0 comments

African-American-Muslim-Episcopalian Priest Defrocked
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The new frontier of Interfaith Relations?

An Episcopal priest who announced that she is also a practicing Muslim has been suspended from the priesthood for a year.

The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding has been a priest for 23 years and until March was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle. In a story published in The Seattle Times last month, she said she also has been a practicing Muslim for 15 months after being profoundly moved by an introduction to Islamic prayer.

Redding said she removed her priest's collar last week in a meeting with the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, who suspended her in an e-mail received by church leaders in Seattle on Thursday.

Redding should "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," Wolf wrote in an e-mail to church leaders.

For the next year Redding "is not to exercise any of the responsibilities and privileges of an Episcopal priest or deacon," Wolf added.

She has maintained that she did not violate any of her baptismal or ordination vows.

"I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both," she said.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:06 AM 0 comments

"Jews Are Overreacting"

A reader writes in response to my post, "Is Latin Bad for the Jews?"

I was a devout Catholic until I was about 20 years old. I am now in my 60's. After many years of thinking about it, I converted to Judaism about 15 years ago.

Jews are overreacting to the reemergence of the Latin Mass. I was raised with it and I don't believe that, in and of itself, the Tridentine mass was an agent of anti-semitism. In fact, I think that the Catholic Church made a big mistake when it dumped the unversality of Latin, in pursuit of a kind of faux multiculturalism. It was divisive, not unifying.

Jews have nothing to fear from people who love the old Latin Mass. Jews should NOT get involved in protesting this. It won't stop anything, but it might make some mad at us for no good reason.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:03 AM 0 comments

Is Latin Bad for the Jews?
Monday, July 9, 2007

The controversy about the return of Latin to the Catholic mass, which first stirred up controversy at FeilerFaster last week, has now stirred up a much bigger problem, as Jews from New York to Jerusalem got up in arms. Here's a bit of background.

A decree by Pope Benedict allowing priests to say the old Latin Mass more frequently has sparked criticism within both Catholic and Jewish ranks, with one Italian bishop saying he was "in mourning."

The decree, a nod to traditionalists which the Pope said was meant to heal divisions within the Church, was regarded by some as a blow to reforms introduced in the 1960s that promoted mass in local languages and understanding with non-Catholics.

"I can't fight back the tears. This is the saddest moment in my life as a man, priest and bishop," Luca Brandolini, a member of the liturgy commission of the Italian bishops' conference, told the Rome daily La Repubblica in an interview on Sunday.

"It's a day of mourning, not just for me but for the many people who worked for the Second Vatican Council. A reform for which many people worked, with great sacrifice and only inspired by the desire to renew the Church, has now been cancelled."

The Pope, in a letter to bishops on Saturday, rejected criticism that his decree could split Catholics and reverse the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

Some Jewish leaders have sharply criticized the decree, which revives a passage from the old Latin prayer book for Good Friday calling for Jews to be converted.

And more on the prayers.
The old prayer, contained in the 1962 missal of the Tridentine rite, read: "Let us pray also for the Jews that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you do not refuse your mercy even to the Jews; hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness."

The prayer used in the New Mass according to the Pope Paul VI missal reads: "Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption."
But David Rosen, one of the most respected men in interfaith relations, who is a character in ABRAHAM, says Jews should not be alarmist.
In the wake of controversy over the recital of a Catholic prayer concerning the conversion of the Jews, David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee said Sunday that Jewish groups' responses were exaggerated.

Rosen said that while the Pontiff's move demanded clarification, the inclusion for conversion of the Jews contained in the old form of the Latin Mass was an implementation of a decision made by his predecessor pope John Paul II in 1998.

He added that very few worshipers recited the said section on the conversion of the Jews.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:15 AM 0 comments

"The Poisons Are Spreading"

Catching up on a few things after the holiday: Tony Blankley writes a thoughtful piece about the new book by our mutual friend Akbar Ahmed.

His new book, "Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization," is thus particularly heartbreaking for me. As a trained anthropologist, he took three of his students on a six-month journey around the Muslim world to investigate what Muslims are thinking.

His conclusion: Due to both misjudgments by the United States and regrettable developments in Muslim attitudes, "The poisons are spreading so rapidly that without immediate remedial action, no antidote may ever be found." And Dr. Ahmed has always been an optimist.

He divides Muslim attitudes into three categories named after Indian Muslim cities that have historically championed them: Ajmer, Aligarh and Deoband.

Ajmer represents peaceful Sufi mysticism, Aligarth represents the instinct to modernize without corrupting Islam, Deoband represents non-fatalistic, practical, action-oriented orthodox Islam. It traces to Ibn Taymiyya, a 14th-Century thinker who lived when Islam was reeling from the Mongol invasions. He rejected Islam's prior easy, open acceptance of non-Muslims.

In short, Dr. Ahmed is an Aligarth. As a young man he was one of new Pakistan's best and brightest, led by Pakistan's founding father and first president, Dr. Jinnah. They hoped to build a modern democracy, overcome tribalism and the more obscurantist aspects of Islam while still being "good Muslims." The Deobands are the Bin Ladens and all the other Muslims we fear today.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:01 AM 0 comments

The Separation of Church and Thailand

It would be nice to think this debate would spread around the world, but not that many countries are likely drafting constitutions right now. Which reminds me, a second constitution in a decade??

The group drafting Thailand's new constitution voted Friday against a proposal to include a clause designating Buddhism as the national religion.

The decision triggered protests by Buddhist monks and others who have been staging rallies and hunger strikes in favor of the measure.

The Constitution Drafting Assembly voted 66 to 19 against the proposal to recognize Buddhism — followed by about 90 percent of Thailand's 64 million people — as the official national religion.

The assembly was appointed in January to draft a new charter to replace the previous 1997 constitution that was scrapped in a military coup last year.

"It is not appropriate to register Buddhism as a national religion in the constitution simply because we will lose more than we gain from it," said Jaran Pakdithanakul, a member of the constitution drafting body.

The vote sparked an outcry by hundreds of Buddhists, including monks, who have been staging an around-the-clock rally outside Parliament. They threatened to vote against the constitution when it is submitted to a national referendum, probably in September.

They say that Buddhism has been under threat by an Islamic separatist insurgency in the country's Muslim-dominated southern provinces, and its official recognition is necessary to guarantee it will continue to be the country's main religion.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

The Return of Latin
Thursday, June 28, 2007

I'm hardly an expert in Catholic liturgical practices, but I have to wonder if what the Catholic Church needs at this moment is to bring back more Latin to church. Is this way to grow the faith? I don't have to wonder at all, as a supporter of Interfaith relations, if dialing back on Vatican II is good for religious dialogue today. It would be a disaster.

Pope Benedict XVI has approved a document that relaxes restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass used by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries until the modernizing reforms of the 1960s, the Vatican said Thursday.

Benedict discussed the decision with top officials in a meeting on Wednesday and the document will be published in the next few days, the statement said. The meeting was called to ''illustrate the content and the spirit'' of the document, which will be sent to all bishops accompanied by a personal letter from the pope.

The decision comes after months of debate. Some cardinals, bishops and Jewish leaders have opposed any change, voicing complaints about everything from the text of the old Mass to concerns that the move will lead to further changes to the reforms approved by 1962-65 Second Vatican Council.

The 16th century Tridentine Mass was sidelined by the New Mass that followed the council. The reforms called for Mass to be said in local languages, for the priest to face the congregation and not the altar with his back to worshippers and for the use of lay readers.

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Posted by B Feiler at 9:34 AM 1 comments

Bagels and Jesus in Atlanta
Monday, June 18, 2007

The AJC runs this review of the "Cradle of Christianity" exhibition at Emory. And a reminder, I'll be giving a talk next Tuesday at Atlanta in association with the show.

"Cradle of Christianity," which opens today at the Carlos Museum, traces the live of Jesus and the evolution and growth of Christianity in the Holy Land. Like bagels, however, this fascinating archaeological exhibition should appeal to everyone.

It is, in fact, an interfaith moment. The larger goal of the Israel Museum, which organized the exhibition, is to demonstrate the shared history of Judaism and Christianity. Jesus and his disciples were Jews, after all. At the outset, they were among many sects under one umbrella.

Israel Museum director James Snyder sees the two religions as fellow travelers on the road of monotheism whose routes begin together, run parallel and diverge. The Carlos will elaborate on that perspective with a complement of programs during "Cradle of Christianity's" run, through Oct. 14.

The exhibit's ecumenical aims notwithstanding, the objects on view are interesting, even thrilling, in their own right. The yellowed parchment from a Dead Sea Scroll dating to the first century B.C. and a fragment from the Second Temple (destroyed in A.D. 70) are among the rare artifacts on display.

So are the only three known objects that correlate with people and events during Jesus' life, and they are here. Two confirm the existence of Pontius Pilate and Joseph Caiaphas, the priest said to have helped engineer Jesus' crucifixion. The third, an anklebone with an embedded nail, is evidence of the use of crucifixion.

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Angelina Jolie Demeans Danny Pearl
Saturday, June 16, 2007

If true, this post by Roger Friedman is a revolting abuse of the legacy of Danny Pearl, a great American, a daring Jew, and brave journalist.

Reporters from most major media outlets balked Wednesday when they were presented with an agreement drawn up by Jolie's Hollywood lawyer Robert Offer. The contract closely dictated the terms of all interviews.

Reporters were asked to agree to "not ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships. In the event Interviewer does ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships, Ms. Jolie will have the right to immediately terminate the interview and leave."

The agreement also required that "the interview may only be used to promote the Picture. In no event may Interviewer or Media Outlet be entitled to run all or any portion of the interview in connection with any other story. ... The interview will not be used in a manner that is disparaging, demeaning, or derogatory to Ms. Jolie."

If that wasn't enough, Jolie also requires that if any of these things happen, "the tape of the interview will not be released to Interviewer." Such a violation, the signatory thus agrees, would "cause Jolie irreparable harm" and make it possible for her to sue the interviewer and seek a restraining order.

I am told that USA Today and the Associated Press were among those that canceled interviews, and eventually Jolie scotched all print interviews when she heard the reaction.

Update: Jolie apologizes on Jon Steward, blames her reps.

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Posted by B Feiler at 1:04 PM 0 comments

Bujew v. Hinjew
Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I went to a dinner tonight above the Fairway Market in Manhattan and ended up in a delightful conversation with a group of veterans and current employees of the Asia Society. The mix of cultures was fascinating, including an American Jewish woman formerly married to an Indian Hindu; a Hindu woman (rasied in Anglican schools) married to a Jewish man; and another couple of iterations of the same theme. The conversation turned to this question: Which is a better match, a Bujew relationship, meaning one member of a couple who's Jewish and one who's Buddhist, or a Hinjew relationship, meaning one couple is Jewish and the other is Hindu.

Answers fell on both sides, but the best came from one person at the table who suggested that Buddhism and Judaism are more compatible but a Hindu and a Jew are more compatible. The main reason seem to fall back on the idea that Jewish mothers and Hindu mothers are similar. Hmmm. Thoughts?

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 0 comments

The Pope Joins the Party
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

In praise of flip-floppping.

In a surprising about-face, Pope Benedict has decided to restore power and prestige to the Vatican department that oversees dialogue with Islam a year after he controversially downgraded it.

The department's return to its former status occurred as Catholic-Muslim dialogue is still suffering the negative effects of Benedict's Regensburg speech last September in which he appeared to equate Islam with violence.

Catholic and Muslim officials on Monday hailed the decision as a positive step that could help improve relations.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said in Italy's La Stampa newspaper at the weekend that the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue would again become "a separate department".

Benedict downgraded the office in March 2006 by putting it under joint presidency with the Vatican's culture ministry and removing its president, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, a Briton.

"This would be a very positive thing for Muslims," said a senior Muslim official active in inter-faith dialogue who asked not to be named. He said Muslims had seen the council's downgrading as a sign Benedict was not very interested in Islam.

"I think it's a great idea," said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center and a world-renowned Vatican expert.

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"No Chicken Was Safe in Falwell's Grasp"
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

I've been looking for an unexpected comment about Jerry Falwell -- beyond the glorification of the right and the vilification of the left (in my view, both have valid points here; he was both powerful and full of hate) -- and finally I found one. It's by Zev Chafets, who has written about evangelicals and the Jews. After a wonderful riff about Falwell loving to eat ("No chicken was safe within Falwell's grasp, and he liked them deep-fried. I dined with him several times, and he ate with the aplomb of a fellow whose cardiologist was Jesus.") he settles in to his main point.

Falwell's Zionism was by no means inevitable. Before him, evangelicals reluctantly acknowledged that the Jews were God's chosen people, but many didn't quite agree with the choice. Falwell embraced the Jews of Israel (who appreciated his friendship) just as he embraced American Jews (who, by and large, spurned it). He could be acerbic about Jewish leaders — he called Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League a "damn fool" and pointedly told me that the comment was on the record — but he never let Jewish hostility shake his philo-Semitism. American Jews who now take evangelical friendship for granted need to know that it is, to a large extent, a grant from Jerry Falwell.

Falwell was always aware that he was under scrutiny. He hated crooked TV preachers like Jim Bakker, and he didn't have much use for hypocrites like Ted Haggard either. He was married to the same woman for nearly 50 years. He took in millions of dollars during his lifetime without a scandal — not bad for a televangelist.

Not everything Falwell said and did was commendable. He sometimes said stupid things, like his famous crack that 9/11 was the product of American immorality. He knew he was wrong, and he said so (just as he apologized for the segregationist views of his youth). Not every man of God has "I'm sorry" in his vocabulary. He never apologized for his beliefs, though, or his tough partisanship. He was a born-again Christian, an American and a Republican, in that order, and if you didn't like it, well, there were plenty of other places you could spend Sunday morning.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:41 AM 0 comments

Open the Door, Please
Friday, May 11, 2007

A reader writes in response to my post on "Knocking."

Dear Mr. Feiler,

The next time Jehovah's Witnesses come to your door, please give them a hearing hear for a few minutes; if your busy, you can request that they come back at a more convenient time for you. These people volunteer their time to spread the good news from the Bible. Whether you agree with their position on the Bible or not, it is always good to have a friendly dialog with others. Not everybody will agree with what you write in you books, but that does not mean that they should not be read by anyone that wishes to.

Often people that claim that they do not agree with the message of Jehovah's Witnesses have never actually allowed one to converse with them; they base their opinions on what they hear from others. Before one issues an opinion on any subject, they should gather all the available facts. Not allowing Jehovah's Witnesses to speak and then having an opinion is not unlike someone having an opinion on one of your books without having had the benefit of reading it.

Best regards,
[Signature]
First of all, I am blessed to get emails from readers. From time to time, I get an email that is rude, and sometimes openly hostile. I find that the ruder people are the more likely they are not to sign their name. I was deeply impressed by the tone of this note and by the fact that this person signed his name. Already, this note made me respect Jehovah's Witnesses more. If the only thing this faith does is teach its followers to be polite, that's not a small thing.

I also believe, as anyone reading this blog surely knows, in open dialogue among people of different faiths. And I believe each of us should be blunt and critical about our own faiths before, and maybe even as a precondition, for applying that standards to others. So I agree about the need for more knowledge.

Having said that, I would still prefer to have that conversation at a time of my own choosing. Especially as someone who devotes most working hours in my day (and many at night) to this topic, I don't find it to be a sign of intolerance that when someone knocks on my door unrequested on a Saturday afternoon, when I'm either working, or napping, or doing dishes, or playing with my children, or whatever I'm doing, that I chose not to speak with them. This scenario, which, if you didn't read my initial post, just happened to me, is not like someone having an opinion about my books without having read them (a very common position, by the way), it's like me walking into someone's bedroom when they may not even be dressed, asking them what they think of my books, then considering them ill-read and rude when they tell me to go away. With respect: There's a time and place for everything, even interfaith dialogue.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 2 comments

Where The Moderates Are

Still one of the of the most frequent questions I get on the road is, "Where are the moderate Muslims?" Answer: Here. Three heavyweight friends of mine are joining together in Washington, DC, next month to discuss interfaith relations. Here's the invitation:

Globalization, the war on terror, Islamic fundamentalism, and Islamaphobia have left many wondering if friendship between Islam and the West is possible. In our continued efforts to promote inter-religious dialogue and intercultural understanding, the Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation is hosting a panel discussion to openly address the escalating tensions between Western Nations and the Muslim world. I hope you will join Bishop John Bryson Chane, Rabbi Bruce Lustig, and Islamic scholar Professor Akbar Ahmed on Thursday, June 14, from 7- 9 pm in Perry Auditorium* for a discussion of Dr. Ahmed’s new book, “Journey Into Islam” which examines the need for dialogue and deeper understanding across religion and culture. Together the panelists will reaffirm the power of dialogue and forming friendships across religion, race, and tradition to create lasting peace.

We would very much like you to be a part of this evening of inter-faith sharing and discussion. Please contact Katherine Wilkins at (202) 537-5737 or kwilkins@cathedral.org, with your response by Wednesday June 5th.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

"Dispel Every Shadow": Vatican Revisits Antisemitism
Monday, April 30, 2007

News that should make both Jews and Catholics happy: The Vatican is planning to revisit its groundbreaking but controversial 1965 document Nostra Aetate that first took some responsibility for anti-Semitism. As pioneering as it was, many Jews were dissatisfied. Now, the Vatican seems to agree.

The need to step up the fight against anti-Semitism will be a key issue for the world's Roman Catholic bishops at a meeting at the Vatican next year.

An entire section of a preparatory document released by the Vatican on Friday is devoted to the Church's relationship with Jews, noting the "close associations of the two in faith" and calling for efforts "to overcome every form of anti-Semitism."

The 60-page document, which was approved by Pope Benedict XVI, outlines the suggested topics and includes a questionnaire to be answered by local bishops.

After asking if priority is given to dialogue with the Jews, the questionnaire calls on bishops to investigate the use of biblical texts to "ferment attitudes of anti-Semitism."

'"Much has already been done, but everything must be done to dispel every shadow," the

synod's general-secretary, Bishop Nikola Eterovic said.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:03 AM 0 comments

Kentucky Abraham Salon
Tuesday, April 24, 2007

From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Highland Baptist Church, 1101 Cherokee Road, will begin a four-week study on the common ground among Jews, Christians and Muslims based on Bruce Feiler's book "Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths" at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Information: www.hbclouky.org or 451-3735.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:00 AM 0 comments

The Greening of Church
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

From Rick Warren to the Southern Baptist Convention, unusual coalitions of religious figures are now turning their attention to the environment. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on one local movement that's crossing faith boundaries.

About 50 local churches and synagogues are expected to take part in a march and rally in downtown Seattle as part of Step It Up 2007, a day of planned public events nationwide to call for action on climate change.

Earth Ministry is one of several local environmental groups coordinating activities in the Seattle area. Beres sees this as the next step for involvement by faith communities in environmental issues.

For some congregations, Step It Up is but a first step. And for those already involved in environmental matters, it's an opportunity to go from more congregation-level actions — such as choosing fair-trade coffee — to more public actions, such as rallying and calling for political change.

"It's the move to advocacy," Beres said.

Earth Ministry was founded by three Seattle-area people who saw that caring for the environment was important to some churchgoers, said the Rev. Jim Mulligan, a Presbyterian minister who's one of the founders. But the topic wasn't often mentioned in church and there weren't many resources to link theology and care for the environment.

Now, Mulligan sees faith groups focusing far more on the environment. For instance, local Christians, Jews, Muslims and those of other faiths are organizing an Interfaith Creation Festival from May 31 to June 3 at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. The festival is intended to launch a year of environmental activities.

Some say this flurry of activity has come about because of all the information on global warming, the release of the Al Gore documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" and the way Hurricane Katrina showed the effects of climate intersecting with racial and economic disparities.

"I think there's been something of another leap forward," Mulligan said.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:00 AM 0 comments

Beards For God
Monday, March 19, 2007

I was in L.A. this last week (in the next few days I'm going to post a long report on my visit to "American Idol") and one of the novel things I saw was a curious ad campaign running on my hotel television in which a woman in a slinky outfit, sitting by the fire, her bare feet tucked underneath her, you get the idea, advertising a local number where you could call and meet "other single people staying at sophisticated hotels," or something like that. It was basically an upscale hotel pick-up scheme playing on your loneliness, anonymity, and desire to hook up with someone in your same economic status. Niche marketing at its best?


Somehow I was thinking of that campaign when I came home and stumbled onto an Internet chat of another niche market. There is certainly no sexual overtone to this one; if anything, it's very thoughtful and serious. But there is a site called "The Beard Community" where men in beards discuss anything and everything. I happened on to this site when I noticed they were discussing my new book, WHERE GOD WAS BORN, and idea that I write about in depth there (and often on Feiler Faster) about how moderates must reclaim religion. Check it out.

Here's the post that kicked off the discussion.

In his new book Where God Was Born : A Journey by Land to the Roots of Religion Bruce Feiler says the only thing strong enough to withstand the force of religious extremism is religious moderation. He notes that secular humanists seem to think that the only other choice is religious extremism, and that fundamentalists seem to think the only other choice is secular humanism, but that these polar sides include only 10% of people each. The 80% somewhere in the middle - religious moderates, are who he addresses his interesting compliation of Middle East travels, theology, and biblical studies. He makes a case for tolerance as found even in the Old Testament.

The board has its divisions already, so I'm not intending to start a religious debate. I'm just curious what people think of this kind of idea. I find it very compelling.

Charles



"There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He returns headlong to his beard." Jean Cocteau

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"A Jewish School Where Half the Students Are Muslim"
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I sent an American friend who is heading off to Britain with her Scotish husband and three kids for three weeks a link to the news about Churchill that broke out over the weekend. She sent me a link to this amazing article, "a nice contrast to the piece on Churchill and the Jews."

It's infant prize day at King David School, a state primary in Moseley, Birmingham. The children sit cross-legged on the floor, their parents fiddling with their video cameras. The head, Steve Langford, is wearing a Sesame Street tie.

A typical end-of-term school event, then. But at King David there's a twist that gives it a claim to be one of the most extraordinary schools in the country: King David is a strictly Jewish school. Judaism is the only religion taught. There's a synagogue on site. The children learn modern Hebrew - Ivrit - the language of Israel. And they celebrate Israeli independence day.

But half the 247 pupils at the 40-year-old local authority-supported school are Muslim, and apparently the Muslim parents go through all sorts of hoops, including moving into the school's catchment area, to get their children into King David to learn Hebrew, wave Israeli flags on independence day and hang out with the people some would have us believe that they hate more than anyone in the world.

The Muslim parents, mostly devout and many of the women wearing the hijab, say they love the ethos of the school, and even the kosher school lunches, which are suitable because halal and kosher dietary rules are virtually identical. The school is also respectful to Islam, setting aside a prayer room for the children and supplying Muslim teachers during Ramadan. At Eid, the Muslim children are wished Eid Mubarak in assembly, and all year round, if they wish, can wear a kufi (hat). Amazingly, dozens of the Muslim children choose instead to wear the Jewish kipah.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:05 AM 0 comments

Abraham's Path: Getting to Yes
Friday, February 23, 2007

A few years ago I was asked to give some advise to Bill Ury, the quixotic and visionary Harvard professor, who had an idea to open an Abraham Path across the Middle East, from Turkey to the Palestinian Territories. The idea was rudimentary then but has becoming more real through his dogged efforts. The Christian Science Monitor has a major, behind-the-scenes piece about their efforts:

The two researchers – one British, one Jordanian – are tracing the footsteps of the ancestral patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the hope that people today will rediscover the common roots of many generations past – and inspire coexistence and understanding in the present.

This is the making of the Abraham Path, a route that will start in Harran, Turkey – the place where many sources suggest Abraham heard "the call" from God – and will continue into Syria, down through Jordan, across the river into the West Bank, winding through both Israeli and Palestinian territory before ending in Hebron, or Al Khalil, described in the Book of Genesis as Abraham's burial place.

Eventually, the route would go to Egypt, where Abraham was also a sojourner. In the much longer term, the founders hope to have the path go into Iraq – Abraham's birthplace was Ur – and possibly to Mecca, the home of the kabbah, the holiest site in Islam, which Muslims believe Abraham helped to build.

To its initiators, the dream of building the path presents an endless array of possibilities: for religious pilgrimages, for developing the region's underrealized tourism potential, and, most important, for breaking down barriers of fear and misunderstanding between East and West. To skeptics, however, it sounds like an idealistic peace plan that doesn't easily fit into the landscape of a volatile Middle East, where even different sects find themselves embroiled in conflict.

But the project, conceptualized and studied for several years under the auspices of the Global Negotiation Project at Harvard University, doesn't intend to ignore or overcome the political realities of the Middle East. Rather, it seeks to increase contact between average people, on a point of reference to which followers of all three major monotheistic religions can relate.

"We're not creating this path. This path already exits. In some ways, we're just dusting off the path so you can see the footsteps," says Harvard's William Ury, a world-renowned expert on conflict negotiation and a co-author of the bestseller, "Getting to Yes." The concept of the project dawned on Professor Ury after decades of working to bring warring sides together, from the Middle East to Northern Ireland.

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Feiler Faster EXCLUSIVE: Inside Interfaith Peace Talks with Iran
Friday, February 16, 2007

I received the following email this week from John Chane, the Bishop of Washington, who gave me permission to post this news.

I recently returned from Tehran where I spent three days in inter-faith dialogue with former president Khatami and many high level religious leaders in that country. We will be meeting again in Switzerland this Spring to continue our discussions and to find ways in which we can lower the rhetoric between the US and Iran. Was in New York Monday for a social gathering at the UN with the Ambassador of Iran to the UN and many in leadership positions within that country.

I met with President Bush several weeks ago, not to reveal the confidential discussions had with Iranian leaders, including the head of their nuclear development program...but to let him know that we intended to keep the conversations going. He gave a thumbs up. It was he who signed the order to allow Khatami to visit Washington last September.

Our next round of discussions in Switzerland will address the anti-Israel, anti-semetic stance taken by the current Iranian president and to further discuss Sunni/Shiite violence. Have been meeting as well with all ambassadors from Middle Eastern countries now serving in Washington to remind them that although religion cannot be blamed for the current crisis in the Middle East, it is in fact the "fault line" and therefore it needs to have a place at the table for ongoing negotiations that seek peace.
For more on this story, click here. Meanwhile: TALK. TO. IRAN.

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Posted by B Feiler at 12:49 PM 0 comments

When the President Blurbs Your Book ...
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

I'm going to have a lot more to say about this later, but suffice it to say that we're all still abuzz around here about this unexpected bouquet I received from the White House yesterday.

February 12, 2007 INTERVIEW OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
BY STEVE SCULLY, C-SPAN

Q And, finally, what books are you reading these days?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I just finished a book called Abraham," by a guy named Feiler. And it's a really interesting book that studies the prophet Abraham from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim perspective. And the lesson is, is that if you -- you can look at Abraham as a unifying factor. In other words, all three of our -- all three of those religions started from the same source, which means it's possible to reconcile differences. And I was impressed by his writing. I really enjoyed the amount of study he did on the subject. And I appreciated his lessons that sometimes as each religion appropriated Abraham to suit their own needs, but, ultimately, we could view Abraham as a way to find a common God.

Apparently he mispronounced my name, saying Feiler as "Feeler" not "Filer," but who cares?!

Update: And one consequence already. C-SPAN's BookTV is going to reair a Booknotes interview I did with Brian Lamb a few years back about ABRAHAM this Saturday, February 17th, at 2:30 PM EST.

Please check back for more news about this soon!

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:18 AM 2 comments

BREAKING NEWS: When the President Blurbs Your Book
Tuesday, February 13, 2007

This just in:

February 12, 2007 INTERVIEW OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
BY
STEVE SCULLY, C-SPAN
Library
11:41 A.M. EST

Q And, finally, what books are you reading these days?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I just finished a book called Abraham," by a guy named Feiler. And it's a really interesting book that studies the prophet Abraham from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim perspective. And the lesson is, is that if you -- you can look at Abraham as a unifying factor. In other words, all three of our -- all three of those religions started from the same source, which means it's possible to reconcile differences. And I was impressed by his writing. I really enjoyed the amount of study he did on the subject. And I appreciated his lessons that sometimes as each religion appropriated Abraham to suit their own needs, but, ultimately, we could view Abraham as a way to find a common God.


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Posted by B Feiler at 5:59 PM 0 comments

Showing Christ's Love to Muslim-Haters
Monday, February 12, 2007

I got an email this week that reminded of something I've been thinking for some time but haven't written about publicly. Let's start with the email, in response to a notice from me about the paperback publication of WHERE GOD WAS BORN:

Great to hear from you. It's amazing how God's timing is so relevant. I have had discussions over the last few months with a fellow from our church regarding Islam, or for more clarity "Allah-the Moon God". He was upset with me when he found out I was delivering food hampers to a new immigrant community in our area comprised of 80-90% Muslim families. I gave him some research I had, to attempt to educate him that the moon god position is not true as stated. I was unable to locate your book "Abraham" that I had lent out after reading it, and emailing you previously.

Two days ago, a friend came by and returned the book, without me calling him (I couldn't remember who I lent it to). I will ask this fellow from church if he would like to read it when I see him at church on the weekend.

I am finding it more difficult to show Christ's love regarding faiths like Islam to fellow Christians then to followers of Islam. Somehow that seems backwards to me, considering how open the Muslim families are to talking with us over "groceries" about our faiths, and the similarities of them; i.e. "The God of Abraham". Baby steps, I know, but one has to learn to walk before they learn to run.
I have been traveling around the country talking about religion, politics, and geography for almost six years now. At the start, pre-9-11, when I had just published WALKING THE BIBLE, I would say the conversation was more personal for me, and for most people I met. What is the role of the Bible, and religion, in my life. After 9-11, of course, the topic became much more political. When I published ABRAHAM in the fall of 2002, and it appeared on the cover of TIME, I would say the country was still thirsty for interfaith relations.

That hunger, and that need, are certainly still out there. But I would say with the war in Iraq, and the (inflated) showdown now with Iran, that the attitude toward Islam in this country has worsened considerably in the last few years. Individuals like the writer above are pioneers, and I believe the vast majority of Americans would still like to make interfaith relations work in this country. But the pioneers are feeling the wind in their faces more these days, not at their backs.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:15 AM 0 comments

Bob Dylan on the Bible
Saturday, February 10, 2007


The NPR program "Speaking of Faith" has been broadcasting a special show they did on ABRAHAM, featuring a long interview with me and others involved in interfaith activity. You can check out the broadcast here, or download the podcast, here. It's extremely well produced. One of the things they did is track down the Bob Dylan song, "Highway 61 Revisited," which I discuss in my book, and which is his riff on the Abraham story. You can listen to the song here. The song opens:
Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."
If you heard the show, please drop me a line and let me know what you thought. If you're looking for the interfaith discussion guides mentioned on the show, they can be found here. More than 5,000 people have downloaded this packet and begun their own Abraham Salon. Hooray!

PS: Now that I've started a blog, if you are part of a discussion group that reads any of my books, please send a report -- with both positive and negative comments -- and I'll post it for others to read.

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Posted by B Feiler at 6:49 PM 1 comments

How to Bury a Muslim in Maryland
Thursday, February 8, 2007

I received a fascinating email this week from the Maryland state rep, Sandy Rosenberg, who represents the district in Baltimore where my mother grew up, and where my cousins still live. At issue: What to do when Maryland state law made Muslim-style burial illegal. His story of a Jew helping Muslims in his district bury their loved-ones legally is inspired, if only because it's the type of story we never hear in the media. This is America's true gift to the world, using a political legacy of pluralism to promote freedom of religion -- all religions:

At a candidates' night this past summer, a constituent asked us our position on a bill providing for burials consistent with Islamic belief. None of us was aware of the legislation. (I later learned that it had died in a Senate committee and thus never came before the House of Delegates.)

I met with Abdul-Hamiyd Muhammad afterwards and promised to work with him after the election. We were then joined by Saqib Ali, a newly elected delegate and the first member of the Muslim faith to serve in the General Assembly.

The crux of the issue: Muslims wash the body in a certain manner and may not embalm. State law requires that an apprentice assist in the embalming of at least 20 dead human bodies before obtaining a mortician's license. The challenge of solving a problem like this and forging a unique coalition to do so especially motivates me.

This afternoon we were joined by several other Muslims and reached agreement on the changes we needed to make to the bill draft. Over the years, I've worked on several bills to protect the exercise of religious belief.

This time, however, the sponsor line will read: Rosenberg and Ali.

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Posted by B Feiler at 10:51 AM 0 comments

Buddhist by Birth, Muslim by Mistake

Ever since I became the father of twins, I've been creeped out by the expressions "separated at birth" or "switched at birth." I no longer fine the game "separated at birth?" all the amusing, and "switched at birth" hits a bit too close to home, especially since we followed the recommendations of some parents of twins and brought nail polish to paint out girls toes so we would remember which was which (turns out this wasn't necessary...).

Anyway, this story somehow casts new light on the situation, when switched at birth is real, and has consequence on a child's faith.

A Malaysian Muslim man switched at birth in a hospital mix-up wants to change his name after being reunited with his ethnic-Chinese biological family and become a Buddhist.

In multiracial Malaysia, ethnic Malays, who are mostly Muslim, form a majority of the population of roughly 26 million, while ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians account for about 25 percent and 8 percent respectively.

Sales executive Zulhaidi Omar, 29, was raised in an ethnic Malay family, and discovered his true origins only after a Chinese woman at a supermarket where he worked noticed his features were similar to those of her father, newspapers said.

"The girl who was always looking at me was actually my elder sister who suspected that I was her brother because of my striking resemblance to our father," the Star newspaper quoted Zulhaidi as telling reporters.

Three visits by the girl and her parents convinced him to take a DNA test that confirmed the ties, he added.

Zulhaidi, who unwittingly spent 20 years just a few miles from his real family, now lives with them in Batu Pahat in southern Johor state. But it took him six months before he began to call his parents "Mum" and "Dad."

His natural father, Teo Ma Leong, 66, said he had always suspected the fifth of his six children was switched at birth, because the boy had a dark complexion, the Star said.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 0 comments

Make Milk Not War
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

With the paperback publication of WHERE GOD WAS BORN this week we've had a wonderful surge in traffic here at Feiler Faster. And what post has gotten the most comment: The Next Aphrodisiac, about the U.N.'s new push to promote camel's milk.

From Kenya, an old friend from Savannah writes: "Hello from Kenya where we can get Camel milk in our supermarket. I haven't been brave enough to try it. I just might have to give it a go and report back!" Please do! (By the way, to read about the mission my friend and her family have joined, visit www.plantingfaith.com.)

And from Israel, this link to another piece, this weekend, about Israel selling camel-milking equipment to the Arabs:

A camel-milking system largely manufactured by Israel's S.A.E. Afikim that can simultaneously milk 48 camels, was sold by Afikim's British distributor, to a buyer in Dubai, the Jordan Valley-based company said Sunday. The statement didn't identify the buyer.

Israel and Dubai don't have diplomatic relations.

Cooperation between Israeli companies and the nation's foreign ministry "is the best way to enter new markets in which only intervention on the level of governments can open doors for Israeli manufacturers," Afikim Chief Executive Officer Yossi Shemer said in the statement.

The sale of camel milk could become a $10 billion industry, providing food to people in desert areas and income for nomadic herders, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. Camel milk is three times richer in vitamin C than milk from cows and contains vitamin B, iron and unsaturated fatty acids. Camels produce as much as 20 liters of milk a day, compared with as much as 36 liters a day for cows.

Camel Milk: The mother milk of interfaith relations.

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Posted by B Feiler at 9:03 AM 0 comments

Me (and Bob Dylan) on National Public Radio
Monday, February 5, 2007

I've just received word that the public radio program "Speaking of Faith" will air a special show "Children of Abraham," based on my book Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths, beginning this Thursday, February 8th. As the producer wrote me: "The program will air on public radio stations nationwide from Thursday, February 8 - Wednesday, February 14, and it will be featured on our Web site, www.speakingoffaith.org, during the same time. Speaking of Faith is now carried on 188 public radio stations nationwide, and we also have a growing audience through podcasting."

Here's a description from the show's website:

The sacred story of Abraham traverses the geography of the most bitter political conflict in the modern world—beginning in what is now southern Iraq and ending in the West Bank city of Hebron. Yet Abraham is the common patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. We explore the story of Abraham in several traditions and why he might be important for people in our time. The hour also includes readings from the Bible and the Qur'an as well as music from the likes of Bob Dylan and Benjamin Britten on the figure of Abraham.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:03 AM 0 comments

Heschel at 100: Be Kind Not Smart
Thursday, February 1, 2007

Surely the last article I expected to see in USA Today on the way home last night was an homage to the beloved and, at times, abstruse Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. (Shown at right with MLK; Heschel is the one on the right with the Mosaic beard.) I quote from his book, The Prophets, quite a bit in WHERE GOD WAS BORN but probably the idea of his I must appreciate is the notion that God is looking for man as much as we are looking for him (see God in Search of Man).

"Heschel's central idea … was a God of pathos, a God of emotions, a God who cares about human history and what human beings do, even individuals," says biographer Edward Kaplan of Brandeis. "It's a kind of astounding doctrine."

Beyond academia, Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder of the Berkeley-based Network of Spiritual Progressives and author of 2006 best seller The Left Hand of God, calls himself a Heschel "disciple."

"We are following in his footsteps," Lerner says. "We're manifestations of his legacy."

Richard John Neuhaus joined with Heschel and peace activist Daniel Berrigan in 1965 to establish the influential anti-war group Clergy Concerned About Vietnam. But today Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and editor of the religion journal First Things, says Heschel's influence on him and society is most clearly felt in Jewish-Christian relations, which Heschel shaped through his role as Judaic consultant to Vatican II at a time when Heschel's Hasidic community forbade theological dialogue with Christians.

Here's a classic Heschel quote: "When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people."


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Posted by B Feiler at 7:58 AM 0 comments

Deliver Us From the Flood
Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Today is the Muslim fast day of Ashura. If you want a model for the complicated issue of interfaith relations, few days would offer more nourishment. Ashura was once a Muslim holiday commemorating Mohammad's gratitude to the Jews for helping his early rise to power. It corresponded to Yom Kippur and was a mark of Islam's respect for Judaism and Christianity. As Wikipedia puts it, the holiday marked all the things that happened on this day:

-- The deliverance of Noah from the flood
-- Abraham was saved from Nimrod's fire
-- Jacob's blindness was healed and he was brought to Joseph on this day
-- Job was healed from his illness
-- Moses was saved from the impeding Pharaoh's army
-- Jesus was brought up to heaven after attempts by the Romans to capture and crucify him failed.

Today, only Sunnis recognize this aspect of the holiday. Shias fast for a different reason; it marks the discrimination against them.
Many Shi'a make pilgrimages on Ashura to the Mashhad al-Husayn, the shrine in Karbala, Iraq that is traditionally held to be Husayn's tomb. Shi'as also express mourning by thumping their chests and crying after listening to Speeches on How Hussain and his family were Martyred. This is intended to connect them with Husayn's suffering and death. Husayn's martyrdom is widely interpreted by Shi'a as a symbol of the struggle against injustice, tyranny, and oppression. The regime of Saddam Hussein saw this as a potential threat and banned Ashura commemorations for many years. In neighboring Iran, the remembrance became a major political symbol during the Islamic Revolution, as also occurred in the Lebanese Civil War, and in the 1990s Uprising in Bahrain.
Some might argue, as one Muslim writer did this week in Seattle, that Ashura should be a holiday of peace. This is a wonderful thought, and the interfaith upside of the holiday, but it also has become a mark of tension between Sunnia and Shias, as happened with the 2004 bombing in Karbala, in Iraq, not long after I visited the country. This bombing is the one president Bush has been referring to in his recent speeches. As we have seen in Judaism and Christianity, relations among faiths often takes the back seat when there's fighting within faiths.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:07 AM 0 comments

Abraham on Anti-Semitism
Monday, January 29, 2007

F. Murray Abraham, who won the Oscar for Amadeus, is playing Shylock in the Merchant of Venice and Barabas in The Jew of Malta, which New York Magazine calls "two of the biggest Jewish sterotypes in history." Why?

Was there something about anti-Semitism that you wanted to address?
It’s all around us—any kind of prejudice, not just anti-Semitism. Who is that guy, Kramer, who said those terrible things?

Michael Richards.
Where is that coming from? I don’t know that Kramer really knew that about himself. Stirring it up and exposing it is a good thing. Maybe he’ll fix it.

You know, for the longest time I thought you were Jewish. But your father was a Syrian Christian.
Isn’t that interesting? I must have a Jewish soul. And Syria is not Arab—Syria is Semites. We’re all cousins. I wonder why we don’t get along together better. God help us.

Do you worry people will wonder about a man of Syrian descent playing these vicious anti-Semitic stereotypes?
Anybody who says that is the thing they object to. Awful. I think if it’s a decent performance, they’ll see a human being instead of all these stereotypes.

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Posted by B Feiler at 12:21 AM 0 comments

A Bishop in Teheran
Tuesday, January 9, 2007

As someone who has been to Iran twice in the last decade, including a long trip chronicled in Where God Was Born, I believe that a lot of the hype of surrounding Iran in the media these days bears an all-to-comfortable connection to the alarm that was hyped about Iraq a number of years ago, with the aid of a vicious dictator with a track record of gassing his own people. The voice of pause are too few, and too rare. But they seem to correspond to nearly anyone who's visited the country.

John Chane is the Bishop of Washington and a friend I made through the interfaith work I began in 2002 with the publication of Abraham. Long before that book was featured on the cover of TIME and became what it became, he offered his clout to an Abraham Salon I was trying to organize in WDC. Since then we've done a number of events together and I find him to be a gracious and passionate advocate of moderation and humanity in religion.

He's just come back from Iran and has posted a report here. Some excerpts:

The recent victory of reform-minded candidates in Iran's municipal elections, coming on the heels of the Iranian government's reprehensible conference for Holocaust deniers, neatly symbolizes that country's complex and confounding nature. Which event tells us most about that nation's future course?

I believe Americans and their religious leaders can help shape the answer to this question by establishing relationships with moderate religious leaders in the Islamic Republic. I recently visited Tehran with three other leaders in the Episcopal Church, a trip that deepened my belief that the future of our world hinges on fostering respect and cooperation among the three Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
...
Over the course of three days in Tehran, we engaged in intense mutual scrutiny. In candid conversations with top religious and political leaders, we discussed the war in Iraq, the unhelpful rhetoric of both of our presidents, the controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program, and our mutual fears over the volatility of the Middle East. We did not leave these meetings having come to agreement on all of the political issues that divide our two countries, but with the sense that our conversations had been fruitful and friendly, and that we should explore moving beyond dialog and into true partnership.
Where are the moderate voices in Islam? is a question I often get. Here's a moderate voice in Christianity on Iran. Will it be heard?

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Posted by B Feiler at 3:40 PM 0 comments

Cradle of Civilization
Tuesday, December 26, 2006

One question has haunted my travels in the Middle East over the last decade, and all of my recent work, particularly Where God Was Born, which took me through Israel, Iraq, and Iran, visiting biblical sites. How can the Middle East, the rightly called Cradle of Civilization, the Birthplace of the Bible, now be home to such persistent violence? I'm asked about this a lot. One answer of mine is that violence is endemic to the Bible, so the conflict was there long before the patriarchs arrived, and has been there long after they left. It's not fair to blame religion, as has become popular in recent years, when religion hardly created the problem. Abraham, for one, was violent toward his own children. Moses was even hostile, at times, in his conduct toward God. Also, chaos exists in the Bible before order, as the opening sentence of Genesis suggests. Violence is there, order is artificially imposed. By God.

I was thinking of these issues while reading an interesting exchange on the website of Haaretz, the Israeli daily, between a prominent Arab and Israeli journalist. Here's an excerpt from the Arab journalist:

One must question whether the politics of despair are responsible for the kind of violence we have been witnessing in the last few years. Is the absence of hope for Palestinians a recipe for further violence against Israel and among Palestinians themselves? This is a question that needs to be answered if we are to understand what drives these extremist and fanatical groups to wreak havoc in the Middle East and beyond.

It is naive to think that religion is responsible for the violence in the Middle East, even if it is often used as a convenient excuse for achieving political goals. Violence is the product of weak and desperate people suffering unaddressed grievances, real and imagined. The failure of states in the region to provide peaceful means for political change through a democratic process has largely contributed to the growing phenomenon. Threats to regional and global security are the product of current realities in the Middle East that must change before we can hope that the cradle of civilization can once again become a beacon of light upon nations.

But how do we change these realities, dear Akiva?

Note that the person saying that religion is not the reason for the violence is the Arab writer. The exchange is quite revealing. I recommend it.

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Posted by B Feiler at 9:14 PM 0 comments

Aye Aye, Chaplain
Monday, December 4, 2006

When I was in Iraq in 2004 visiting biblical sites (the Garden of Eden, Ur, Babylon, Nineveh), as part of the research for Where God Was Born, I met a number of U.S. Army chaplains. I wrote about them extensively in my book. At the time, I was struck not only by their dedication and fierce commitment to serving the needs of their colleagues, but specifically by the interfaith demands of their jobs. One chaplain showed me the special kit they take into combat situations that contained a crucifix, a screw-together chalice, communion wine and wafers, a rosary, a kippah, teffilin (Jewish prayer boxes), and Muslim prayer beads. Tucked into the bottom of the kit was a mimeographed booklet that had prayers for dying soldiers, including the Apostle's Creed for Protestants, instructions for asking Catholics to make an Act of Contrition, a Prayer for Dying for Muslims, and the Shema for Jews. What I took away from those encounters was the idea that in the same way the U.S. military was at the forefront of racial integration in the 1950's, perhaps it can also be at the forefront of interfaith relations today.

Cut to this weekend: I am preparing to visit Gettysburg in a few days as part of research on a new project. I was reading Allen Guelzo's Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President when I came across a passage about Lincoln's expansion of the chaplain program during the Civil War. Chaplains had been around in limited fashion for centuries, but Lincoln poured more resources into the program, adding a number of hospital chaplains as early as 1861. But here's the passage of Guelzo's book that jumped out:

For the first year of the war, chaplaincy appointments were restricted to ordained clergy of "Christian denominations," but in December, 1861, Rabbi Arnold Fischel personally prevailed on Lincoln to open military chaplains' appointments to Jews, and he promised Fischel he would sponsor "a new law broad enough to cover what is desired by you in behalf of the Israelites." Which he did, in July, 1862, the statutory restriction of the chaplaincy to Christian clergy was dropped in favor of a blander limitation to the clergy of "religious denominations."
The interfaith roots of the chaplain corps were present at the creation

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:36 AM 0 comments

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