Samir Selmanovic — learning to love well

Samir Selmanovic — learning to love well

Space for Gathering and Reflection

In Lieven Boeve's book 'Interrupting Tradition: An Essay on Christian Faith in a Postmodern Context', Lieven looks at the future possibilities for the church. Faced with declining attendances while at the same time a growing interest in spirituality outside the church, Lieven suggests three ways that the church may go. The church could retreat into absolutism, authoritarianism and fundamentalism, or it could embrace the marketisation of religion and compete alongside every other religion and spiritual idea, or the church can create space for gathering and reflection, a rich seed bed from which new forms of church may flourish. 

I like the idea of churches creating space for people to gather and reflect. To be a place where people gather, the church must be a welcoming place not just for some people, not just for the people who think like us, but even for people who do not think like us. This is very challenging for me. It means that when I gather with people whose ideas and beliefs I do not share, I need to suspend those ideas and beliefs for a time, to put them to the side, and step into a space where I can be open to other people, to see beyond our differences, and to find openings where together we can proceed further in relationship with one another, and where together we can tackle the issues and challenges we face in this world at this time.

Fundamentalism, Poverty and Education

In our study group we're just finishing off reading 'No god but God' by Reza Aslan www.rezaaslan.com and have been thinking about the relationship between fundamentalism, poverty and education.
One way fundamentalism seems to thrive is amongst people who have been impoverished by non-democratic government and denied access to basic secular education, while at the same time receiving an overdose of narrow religious dogma. Reza Aslan says that the more we try to forcefully stamp out fundamentalism, the more it will grow and if we ignore it, it will take over. So what alternatives do we have?
I'm wondering whether lifting poverty levels and increasing education availability would help to diminish the supply of people fundamentalist groups seek to recruit? How can we, as nations looking in on situations where human rights and democratic
government are denied, assist in raising poverty levels and access to education?

Violence and Religion

I spent most of the day making notes for our study group on Reza Aslan's book 'No god but God: the origins, evolution and future of Islam'. This week we are reading chapter seven which is entitled 'In the footsteps of the martyrs'. The chapter is a summary of Shi'ism from its origins in bloody and tragic circumstances to the revolution in Iran and the war between between Iran and Iraq during which tens of thousands of children were killed as martyrs, thus the title of the chapter 'In the footsteps of the martyrs'.

In December, North Sydney Council is holding an Interfaith Forum on raising awareness of issues of violence in the home. In preparation a few of us had a discussion during the week and we talked about how biblical texts can be used to trap women within the cycle of violence. One such text being: 'take up your cross and follow me'. Some women have applied this text to themselves or have it applied to them by male church leaders in such a  way that they regard having to live with a violent partner as being the cross they must bear as a good Christian and their lot for life.

When we men (male religious leaders) allow this to happen it is like we are allowing Christ to be crucified twice (to speak in theological terms) or in non theological terms that we men are not taking responsibility to let other men know in the strongest terms possible that violence against women and children in any form is wrong and totally unacceptable.

Violence and religion has had a long history and much human violence is attributed to God. Shall we continue to go along with the status quo, the acceptance of the relationship between violence and religion or shall we in all religions reject violence as attributable to God and dare to question our own interpretations of our sacred texts?

Justice on earth as it is in heaven

I commented on the post 'The preacher and the slave' on Pete Rollins' blog and included my comment plus the link to Pete's post below.

Irish Bog Cotton

I like to listen to the American folk song 'Owensboro' brought to recent life by Natalie Merchant about the people considered thrash working in a mill in Owensboro, Kentucky. They learn to spin and spoon but never get a proper education. Dressed in rags, and surviving on the basics, their lives are compared to the fine clothes and pearls of the people of the town. The saddest words for me come at the end: 'But when that day of judgement comes they'll have to share their pretty things.' Again it seems that the only hope these people were given was that in heaven the injustices and inequity of this world would be redressed and yet they probably were taught to pray each day...may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..

http://peterrollins.net/blog/?p=1193&cpage=1#comment-7481

Religious Knowledge Quiz

Check out this link to see how you compare to Americans in a test on religious knowledge.

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

Jesus and Drop the Debt

“Debt is an efficient tool. It ensures access to other peoples’ raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms… Market saturation ensues, reducing exporters’ income to a bare minimum while the North enjoys huge savings.”

Susan George, A Fate Worse Than Debt, (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990)

When we talk about debts in church we are usually referring to how we have sinned against God and against one another. Jesus told a parable about a manager who was accused of squandering his master's property and then of dishonesty for how he significantly reduced what his master's debtors owed. However, to our surprise the master commends the manager for his shrewd actions. Somewhere in this parable is a hint that forgiveness involves real action. Forgiving debts is not just about forgiving those who have sinned against us as individuals and saying,"I forgive you". Forgiving debts is also a matter of justice and that dropping the debt of the debt-ridden poorest nations of the world is about real forgiveness.

www.jubileeaustralia.org