Religion at its best crosses one's own boundaries with acts
of love, service and blessing for "the other." Faith House
Manhattan exists as a safe space where we can begin to practice some
counter-intuitive ways of living out our faith. After twenty years of my work
in Christian religious circles, I have rarely if ever seen Christians blessing people
on other paths. I always see Christians collecting money for Christians,
Muslims collecting money for Muslims, and Jews collecting money for Jews, or
all of them collecting money for a general need, and so on. But the promise of
our religions is not a mere promise to our adherents but to the world.
That is why I think that giving money across religious
boundaries is one of the most potent way to sabotage the efforts of fundamentalists
of all stripes. For Christians, Jews, and Humanists, this Ramadan is an opportunity not to be missed! So,
this is my appeal to all non-Muslims: Let's
help Rabia and Islamic Involvement at Faith House get a strong footing and
thrive. Let's reach across the boundaries that differentiate our precious
stories and support our Muslim friends in the hard and creative work of making
this city and this country a better place for all of us. Perhaps, helping those
who are not part of our religion is, in the eyes of heavens, the greatest test
of loyalty to God.
Support The Gifts of Islam at Faith House Manhattan.
$50 Support
our online communication and print materials
$100 Provide
an honorarium for a visiting artist or musician
$300 Cover
the expenses for one of our twice-monthly Living Room Gatherings
$500 Contribute
to the Islamic Co-Leader stipend
Other Amount - Any and all contributions welcome!
Please mail your tax-deductible contribution to:
Faith House Manhattan
I am really puzzled by your statement Samir. I wonder how is it possible (or am I just naive) that you never heard of a tremendous effort ADRA did for Muslims (as well as people of other religions) in Sarajevo. It was Christians with God's love in their heart collecting money for Muslims in need.
No, I am not naive, and I am not puzzled as I initially wrote, I know very well that you are aware of that as well as many other examples of Christians collecting money for people of other faiths.
Posted by: Aleksandar | Oct 18, 2009 at 12:32 PM