A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse, Part II

In the introduction to his book, Acts of Faith, Eboo Patel wrote,

"One hundred years ago, the great African American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois famously said, 'The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.' I believe that the twenty-first century will be shaped by the question of the faith line. On one side of the faith line are the religious totalitarians. Their conviction is that only one interpretation of one religion is a legitimate way of being, believing, and belonging on earth. Everyone else needs to be cowed, or converted, or condemned, or killed. On the other side of the faith line are the religious pluralists, who hold that people believing in different creeds and belonging to different communities need to learn to live together. Religious pluralism is neither mere coexistence nor forced consensus, It is a form of proactive cooperation that affirms the identity of the constituent communities while emphasizing that the well-being of each and all depends on the health of the whole. It is the belief that the common good is best served when each community has a chance to make its unique contribution."

In my last posting "A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse, Part I" I offered some thoughts (from others as well as from me) on the shootings at Northern Illinois University and the ever increasing and pervasive violence (especially among youth and young adults) that is afflicting the entire world. I ended that posting with this reference to Bill Green's meditation that appeared in last Sunday's online UCC Stillspeaking Lenten Devotional.

"Faith means getting unstuck. Indeed! And what this says to me is that, if we are stuck in an increasing spiral of violence, faithful people can (must!), with God's help, find a better way to address the needs of our society than merely waiting for horror to happen before we begin working and praying."

Eboo Patel is just such a one that is offering a better way to address the needs of our society. Eboo Patel is an American Muslim, in his early thirties. He has founded the Interfaith Youth Core in the hopes of reaching youth and young adults with the message of religious pluralism before others reach them with more destructive messages that lead to exclusion, hatred and violence.

Does this sound melodramatic? overdrawn? If so, then reading the first few chapters of his book will chill you. It seems to be true that the vast majority of the people that are involved in terrorist activities are under the age of 30. Certainly this was the case for the 4 bombers in London that targeted public transportation a couple of years ago. And it was the case for the 9/11 hijackers.



Patel observed that young people have always played a key role in social movements. Martin Luther King, Jr. was 26 when he led the Montgomery bus boycott. Mathatma Gandhi was younger when he began advocating for equal civil rights for the Indian minority in South Africa. He went on to say.

"We live in an era where the populations of the most religiously volatile areas of the world are strikingly young. Seventy-five percent of India's one billion plus are not yet twenty-five. Eighty-five percent of the people who live in the Palestinian territories are under age thirty-three. More than two-thirds of the people of Iran are under age thirty. The median age in Iraq is nineteen and a half. All of these people are stranding on the faith line. Whose message are they hearing?"

Whose, indeed! He went on to talk about those that are seeking ways in which to live together as people of different faiths, races, nationalities and ethnicities with those that end up promoting hate. He wondered,

"How does one ordinary young person's commitment to a religion turn into a
suicide mission and another ordinary young person's commitment to that same
faith become an organization devoted to pluralism? The answer, I believe, lies in the influences young people have, the programs and people who shape their religious identities."

He also wrote of his own life as an American Muslim growing up in a Chicago suburb. He wrote of how he understood the anger and the hopeless that comes from a rejection of one's faith and race from the broader community. And, he recognized how these feelings could and did devolve into violence. Therefore, he knew how some young people could be seduced by charismatic leaders who were gifted in entraping them in hateful ideologies, and evil acts of violence. These leaders specifically reached out to these youth, listened to their anger and frustration and encouraged them with visions of a grand and practical response to the plight of their people.

He said that he was lucky. His "free fall" as he termed it was stopped by the YMCA and its programs of leadership development. These programs provided leaders that also reached out and listened to youth, and encouraged them to develop skills as leaders in positive programs that benefited their communities.

The Interfaith Youth Core seeks to amplify these efforts of the "Y". The home page of the IFYC website (www.ifyc.org) states the "Core's" purpose, the "Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) builds mutual respect and pluralism among young people from different religious traditions by empowering them to work together to serve others."


I know, this has seemed like a book report. Sorry about that. But, I love the book. It's disturbing, challenging and inspiring. Most of all, it's exciting. Eboo Patel is coming to speak at Syracuse University on March 27-28! He'll be speaking to a group of high school and undergraduate college students on Thursday afternoon the 27th. He'll offer a public, free lecture at Hendricks Chapel on the SU campus that evening at 7:30. The next morning he'll be speaking with a group of community leaders to strategize what how we might follow up on implementing his program in the Syracuse area. I've had the honor of serving on the planning committee for this latter meeting.

So, come to Eboo Patel's lecture on March 27, at Hendricks Chapel, read his book Acts of Faith, or go to his website. Of course doing any or all of these things won't provide instant results, and they won't ease the pain of those that are victims of violence (including those duped into committing it). But, it's good to look for sources of hope -- study and learn from them, embrace and seek to live them. After all, sometimes hope is all we have. And many times hope is enough!

I pray for the hope that is enough and the peace that is beyond understanding.

Blessings,

Rick Cowles