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snugglekittyLast night I finished reading The Faith Club, a book by three women who started a group to talk about their different beliefs. One was Muslim, one Christian, and one Jewish. I'm thinking that I would feel really good about being part of a group like that, especially now that I am out of my teens and early twenties and no longer think that other spiritual paths from mine are oppressive and inauthentic. At the same time, it seems like it could be hard(er) to find common ground, since paganism is neither a religion of the book nor a form of monotheism, at least as practiced by me. (One could even argue that it's a group of religions, not one religion at all.) I also wonder how I would be received by members of more mainstream religions, if I would be taken seriously as someone who doesn't have a holy book to refer to, a priest I can ask my questions of, or even a weekly religious community I draw strength from. My answer to a lot of theological questions would probably be, "I don't know, I never really thought about that." I've told a lot of new pagans asking me questions like that, "I'm a carpenter, not an architect... I want to know that it works and how to do it right, why it works isn't as important to me." Which may be denigrating to carpenters but that's how it goes.
In college I was part of an interfaith group that included leaders from many different faith-based student orgs. The dean of the chapel felt that our group was a great example of diversity, and also loved us because our group had a lot of members and interest. I think some of the other groups were more established but possibly had less "oomph" behind them. It's true that a lot of pagans are new pagans, and it's nowhere more true than in a young adult crowd. At the same time, the Christian groups outnumbered the other sorts and in any vote could make what they wanted to happen, happen. And I also remember another member of the group asking if she could walk me home and ask me questions about my religion, and I said sure... and she asked me things like, "Do you sacrifice babies? Do you practice black magic? Do you make people get sick?" very earnestly and politely. I think she was very relieved to find out I didn't do any of those things.
I would have liked to give the book five stars, since it did change the way I think about some things and made me consider joining or starting an interfaith group. Unfortunately, I feel like there are places where the writing is awkward. Meeting transcript excerpts are in between the written passages, and they often don't fit well, and describe events that happen after the text you're about to read... I find that problematic. I think this book needed a better editor. Also, in some ways, the book felt too easy to me. These three women have their disagreements, yes... but really, they're a lot alike - all married with kids, all living in New York City - and, despite historical enmity, so are their religions. Maybe that's the point, but still - some of it seemed a little too pat. Four stars. If you have a hard time understanding people of other faiths, or wonder what you could find to talk about, this is the book for you. It would also make a good accompaniment to The Year of Living Biblically or Eat, Pray, Love.
In college I was part of an interfaith group that included leaders from many different faith-based student orgs. The dean of the chapel felt that our group was a great example of diversity, and also loved us because our group had a lot of members and interest. I think some of the other groups were more established but possibly had less "oomph" behind them. It's true that a lot of pagans are new pagans, and it's nowhere more true than in a young adult crowd. At the same time, the Christian groups outnumbered the other sorts and in any vote could make what they wanted to happen, happen. And I also remember another member of the group asking if she could walk me home and ask me questions about my religion, and I said sure... and she asked me things like, "Do you sacrifice babies? Do you practice black magic? Do you make people get sick?" very earnestly and politely. I think she was very relieved to find out I didn't do any of those things.
I would have liked to give the book five stars, since it did change the way I think about some things and made me consider joining or starting an interfaith group. Unfortunately, I feel like there are places where the writing is awkward. Meeting transcript excerpts are in between the written passages, and they often don't fit well, and describe events that happen after the text you're about to read... I find that problematic. I think this book needed a better editor. Also, in some ways, the book felt too easy to me. These three women have their disagreements, yes... but really, they're a lot alike - all married with kids, all living in New York City - and, despite historical enmity, so are their religions. Maybe that's the point, but still - some of it seemed a little too pat. Four stars. If you have a hard time understanding people of other faiths, or wonder what you could find to talk about, this is the book for you. It would also make a good accompaniment to The Year of Living Biblically or Eat, Pray, Love.