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Shazeeda Khan
FORUM ON FAITH
Diversity naturally leads to conflicts and a test of our faith.
by Shazeeda Khan
Published: Saturday, November 30, 2007
Danbury News Times
Speech, regardless of its format, is very powerful; it can benefit society and it also can become the conduit which infringes on human rights -- sometimes under the guise of "it's just a joke," or to confirm self-appointed superiority or to reinforce stereotypes in order to marginalize a community. The result is hate, fear and disenfranchisement.
This isn't what God intended for us.
One of the most beautiful verses of the Quran conveys the divine design of the human relationship, exhorting the great potential and benefit derived from the differences while explaining the true basis for superiority:
"O mankind! We created you from a single pair of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes that you might get to know one another (not that you should despise one another). Surely the noblest of you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous" Quran 49:13.
This affirms an all-comprehensive and ubiquitous principle of human equality and nixes the false notions of superiority centered on racial arrogance and national conceit, which encourage such social evils as taking pride or degrading others on the basis of skin pigment, socio-economic status or lineage. Superiority with God is based on moral uprightness and the degree to which obligations to God and fellow man are discharged.
It's a directive reiterated by Prophet Muhammad (with peace): "An Arab isn't superior to a non-Arab or a white superior to a black except in piety."
His implementation of this policy came in many forms, and not without struggles, one of which was appointing an Ethiopian as treasurer and the first "caller to prayer" -- a very prestigious position. These decisions were based solely on ability, character and piety.
The fifth pillar of Islam, the Hajj, offers an opportunity for millions of Muslims to witness the ideal model for human relationship, which has the power to emancipate racial perceptions -- as it did for El Hajj Malik el Shabazz, also known as Malcolm X, when he experienced the interaction between the various races and nationalities during his performance of Hajj in 1964.
According to Alex Haley's "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," he said: "During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate praying to the same God with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of the blue, whose hair was the blondest of blonds, and whose skins were the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana." He concluded that they were all brothers because Islam had erased the race barrier.
The issues of racism, nationalism and bigotry are so insidious that they have polluted many societies throughout the world, regardless of political or religious affiliations. The United States has experienced a rise in hate crime; there's a resurgence of racial-national tensions evidenced by the increased occurrence of racial slurs, noose incidents and immigrant conflict.
These are complex problems; Dr. Cornel West, in his book "Race Matters," suggest that "poverty, paranoia, despair and distrust" are the complicating factors.
Certainly diversity is favored by God, but to man diversity naturally leads to conflicts -- yet this is by divine design. God explains that he could have kept us without diversity, but didn't in order to challenge us to reveal our capacity for virtuous actions that, when employed, a just nation develops (Quran 5:48).
Utilizing our capacity for virtuous actions must begin with controlling our speech and behavior toward one another.
jRights and etiquettes must be observed between individuals forming effective human relationships, beginning with adherence to some basic rules of respect: abandoning both ridicule and reviling one another with derogatory names (Quran 49:11).
We must recognize that speech has the power to either enable or debilitate our relationships, to erode dignity and honor and affect reputation. The Prophet (with peace) advised: "whoever believes in God and in the Last Day should say something good or remain silent" (Al- Bukhari).
We must learn to "repel malevolence with what's better" (Quran 23:96).
This isn't about ignoring or accepting what is wrong, but responding in an appropriate manner that contributes to understanding, humanity and justice. This takes patience.
First we must internalize that differences in our languages and colors are divine blessings and a test -- a test that we can't afford to fail.
Shazeeda Khan is a member of the Islamic Society of Western Connecticut in Danbury.
Rabbi Jon Haddon
FORUM ON FAITH
by Rabbi Jon Haddon
Published: Saturday, September 14, 2007
Danbury News Times
We are told this is the season of judgment. We chant a prayer: "Unetane Tokef, who shall live and who shall die." When we reflect fully upon those ideas, it can be quite scary.
And as I write this, I mourn for my wife's father, my father-in-law, who passed away a few weeks ago, and my dear friend's mother, at whose funeral I recently officiated. "Who shall live and who shall die?"
We are told to consider our behavior over the past year. When we do so, we think about simple things, like saying the wrong thing to our spouse or friend, or forgetting to write a check to our church or temple. And sometimes we think about more complicated things, like what exactly we have done as human beings.
When we think about those bigger issues, we can easily become depressed. None of us has been elected president of the United States or has served in Congress. Almost none of us has been a general in the army, an astronaut, a world-renowned philanthropist or a world-class athlete. So as we get into the reflections on our life, we could easily be depressed thinking we have seemingly accomplished very little in our lives.
Two weekends ago, at least two of the national network news programs introduced us to people across America who have done something special for their communities. There was the story about a preteen girl who saw that the libraries destroyed by Hurricane Katrina lacked the money to buy new books. So she rode her horse across Mississippi to raise money for them and raised more than $50,000.
There was a story about a 12-year-old boy in New Orleans who noticed his neighborhood park was overgrown, with the grass uncut. It seems that the city lacked the money and the manpower to care for the park. So this boy spends his weekends mowing acres of grass with a small push mower so his neighbors can use the park.
There was the story of the Florida woman who found out there was a significant teen drug problem in Barrow, Alaska. She raised $600,000 to buy an Astroturf football field for the community and then, since there are no roads into Barrow, arranged special shipping. Now the high school has a football team, and the community has a park for all sorts of events.
The list of people and their accomplishments noted on these newscasts goes on and on.
These are not extraordinary people. These are not presidents, or congressmen, or generals or great athletes. They are regular people, like you and me, who have taken small actions, but extraordinary actions, to help others.
The truth is that helping others is not really all that difficult. The truth is we have many, many heroes right here in our own community, like the countless volunteers who labor in our churches, our temples, indeed, for the Association of Religious Communities.
We have people who give blood and help saves lives, people who help our immigrant community, people who assist at Dorothy Day and Danbury Hospital. We have bar and bat mitzvah children at my temple who read for the blind, helping the hearing-impaired have a better life.
We have people who knit hats for people who need clothing. We have members who help prepare meals for the hungry. We have members who prepared and froze meals for those who have lost loved ones. Our list also goes on and on and on and on.
The truth is that a huge percentage of people in our churches and our congregations, in unrecognized, unpublicized, unhonored ways, are heroes every day of the week.
I think that is the true message of hope on the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, for the Jewish community.
When the rabbis selected the Torah readings for these High Holy Days, they could have selected the story of Noah, a man whose actions saved human existence. They could have chosen stories about Moses, whose actions rescued the entire Jewish people.
Instead, they chose stories about Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl who is an outcast from Abraham's camp and who God saves in the desert. They chose the story of the near sacrifice of Isaac and the sad separation of son from father that resulted from that action.
These stories are selected to teach us that God understands life is difficult and our true role is to simply try our best and to help others within our own home, our own churches and synagogues and mosques, our own community.
When placed in that context, the themes of these High Holy Days are not really so difficult. Each of us has the potential to be a local hero. Each of us has the potential and the ability to help make the world a little better place.
Whether it is through providing loving care to a sick spouse, giving blood, writing checks to tzedakah (charity), cooking a meal or simply bringing food back to the synagogue on Yom Kippur in the bags we distributed on Rosh Hashana -- we can each be a hero.
If little girls can be simple heroes in Mississippi, if 12-year-old boys can be simple heroes in New Orleans, if women in Florida can be heroes in Alaska, then we can be heroes in Danbury.
May the prayers, the readings and the teachings of the High Holy Days remind us all of the simple ways we can be heroes so we can each make our community a little better place. And when God looks upon us in judgment, he can find a community of heroes and will bless us all with a year of life, health and happiness. Amen.
Rabbi Jon Haddon leads Temple Shearith Israel in Ridgefield.
Margaret Bouffard
FORUM ON FAITH
Peace camp offers youths an insight into other faiths.
by Margaret Bouffard
Published: Saturday, July 20, 2007
Danbury News Times
This five-day camp provides 9- to 12-year-olds with the opportunity to visit places of worship and learn about different faiths, and where there are similarities or differences from their own faith.
Interfaith Peace Camp also cultivates young leaders by engaging high school and college-age peer leaders. The campers and peer leaders represented a variety of faiths. The goal was to raise their awareness of other faiths and help them to become comfortable with people of different faiths and cultures.
The Islamic Society of Western Connecticut was the host for the first day. The children learned about Islam, toured the mosque and were shown a demonstration of the prayer movements practiced by Muslims when called to pray.
Peace camp offers youths an insight into other faiths. The first activity I planned with the campers consisted of creating a web out of yarn. Each person held a piece of the yarn while passing the ball of yarn to someone across from him or her. The result was web of intersecting lines within the circle.
I asked one person to tug on their piece of string. Naturally, but unbeknownst to the "tugger," two or three other people felt the effects of the tug. Then, I asked a person to drop their piece of yarn. That area of the web collapsed.
This web acts as a metaphor for life. Our actions, just like the tugs, affect other people without our knowing. Similarly, if we fail to support each other, our web -- or our world -- falls apart.
This first lesson set the tone for the remainder of the week, during which we learned that we all share a common thread: a goal for peace.
The second day of camp was at Tarrywile Park and Mansion where a Native American speaker shared a story of the Peace Chief.
This chief, who lived many years ago, ceased fighting among tribes by discouraging the use of weapons. He was a warrior for peace who encouraged the tribes to live peacefully together.
Afterward, the children walked through the property, learning how Native Americans use nature for healing.
An Episcopalian church was the camp's host on the third day. There, the campers learned about an Episcopalian bishop in Africa who started a program that allowed local citizens to trade in their weapons for tools. Weapons were often abandoned, found by passersby, and turned in for rakes or hoes.
An important prayer for Christians, the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, encourages people to replace hatred with love and despair with hope.
A Buddhist priest led the campers on a walk to the Middle-Way Meditation Center on the fourth day of camp. He explained that through meditation and mindfulness, people can replace anger with compassion and loving kindness. This cultivates peace within the self, which can then be expressed to others. The children then participated in meditation.
On the final day of camp, the campers visited a Jewish synagogue. The rabbi spoke of the three most important aspects of Judaism: Israel, the Torah and God. By constantly thinking about God, one's actions will reflect the law stated in the Ten Commandments.
Each of these traditions has different histories, practices and beliefs. Islam, Christianity and Judaism believe in one God, while Buddhism elevates philosophy over theology.
Native Americans turn to nature for healing, while Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism use prayer or meditation to become spiritually rejuvenated. Numerous differences exist; however, the common thread is peace.
The campers and counselors certainly learned new lessons during the camp week on how to live out their own faith with peace. My prayer is that these youths continue to learn new ways to practice peace and to live these out in their daily lives.
Margaret Bouffard directed the Association of Religious Communities' Interfaith Peace Camp in Danbury.
Rev. Terry Pfeiffer
FORUM ON FAITH
Association of Religious Communities' Interfaith Peace Camp.
by Rev. Terry Pfeiffer
Published: Saturday, March 3, 2007
Danbury News Times
An important part of my own faith journey is the United Methodist Church's long history of connecting our faith with social justice and outreach.
The Revs. John and Charles Wesley, brothers and Anglican priests in England in the 18th century, took seriously Jesus' admonition to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Spousal and child abuse were rampant in 18th century England. Animals were starved, beaten and abused as well. The Industrial Revolution was taking workers from their homes and away from their families and into factories and mills.
There was widespread social upheaval. Depression and hopelessness were prevalent and medical care was scarce or non-existent.
Children could work in the mills long hours without protection of their health since there were no child labor laws. The society viewed children as something less than human; they were looked upon as expendable.
The Wesleys formed the Holy Club at Oxford University. They prayed together, shared Holy Communion and supported each other. They had a method of prayer, worship and service of human beings in need.
People could be imprisoned for not paying debts. The Wesleys gave prisoners food, care and Communion while teaching them to read and write. They treated the incarcerated with dignity.
Charles Wesley felt deeply that the church should go out to the people wherever they were. He took Holy Communion and the proclaiming of the good news of God's inclusive love to the everyday people in the coal mines, fields, streets and industrial mills.
The Wesleys established orphanages for homeless children and created medical dispensaries to give free medicine to anyone who needed it. They published and gave away a home health care manual called "The Primitive Physic."
The brothers worked against the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. They deeply cared about the masses of people and wanted to bring them kindness, generosity, healing and hope. They founded schools, hospitals and universities.
Their intent was to reform their church, which they dearly loved. They did not intend to found a new denomination. Many called them a derisive term, "Methodists," which they eventually embraced.
The Methodists began to take on an identity of their own. The movement began to grow rapidly, especially here in the Colonies and then the States.
In its historical tradition of outreach, service and social justice, the United Methodist Church has partnered with the NBA , Sports Illustrated and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to attack one of the killer diseases in Africa, Malaria.
Malaria -- Mal aria (bad air in Italian) -- was originally thought to be caused not by mosquitoes but by "bad air." Malaria affects 300 million people annually and kills a million children in Africa each year.
A treated mosquito net will protect a whole family for up to four years. Many in Africa make $1 a day or less. Ten dollars -- which seems very little to us -- will purchase the net for a family.
I am both very proud and humbled to be a part of our Methodist heritage that connects our faith in God with serving human beings in need.
I am very pleased that I can be a part of a spiritual organization that partners with other caring societal entities to have a positive effect on providing health and wellness in our home, Planet Earth.
The Rev. Terry Pfeiffer is senior pastor of the Newtown United Methodist Church in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown.
FORUM ON FAITH
Flipping Faith.
by Heather Barr
Published: Saturday, February 21, 2007
Danbury News Times
Little kids laughed as they tried their best to balance a pancake on a spatula, flip it in the air, and catch it while racing against each other.
"It was fun," 7-year-old C.J. Herde said.
The pancake race was part of Newtown Congregational Church 's pancake supper, where 100 or so people from the church gathered, ate sourdough pancakes and then worked off their dinner.
"He is having a blast," said Laurie Clark-Paivo of Newtown about her 5-year-old son, Taylor, who was in the race.
What flipped people out the most was the origin of the pancakes themselves.
The Rev. Lee Moore , the church's interim minister, who hosted the event with his wife, Carolyn, brought a starter for the pancakes -- a sourdough made of yeast, flour and water -- that is the ancestor of a starter that crossed the Oregon Trail to Idaho in a covered wagon more than 100 years ago.
Using part of an old batch of starter as the raising agent for a new batch is how the early settlers carried their yeast across the plains and mountains to make daily bread, and the process can continue indefinitely.
When Moore was a pastor in Pinedale, Wyo., he received the starter in 1967 from the wife of a local minister. Since then, he and his wife have kept the yeast alive through refrigeration.
"We have used it a dozen or so times," Moore said.
Kelly Walker said it seemed odd to have pancakes made with something from the 1850s, but "they tasted great."
Her 5-year-old daughter, Faith, liked being part of the pancake race, she said.
"They were awesome, delightful," Newtown resident Dale Mello said. She plans to give up desserts for Lent, so it was a nice treat before her fast.
"They were the best pancakes I ever had," said Mello's son, 11-year-old Daniel Bethke.
The Pancake Supper was held at the church to celebrate Shrove Tuesday -- the term used in English-speaking countries for the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent, the 40-day fasting period before Easter, begins.
The word shrove past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance. Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the confession that Anglo-Saxon Christians were expected to receive immediately before Lent.
In English-speaking countries and among Anglicans in Canada, the day is known as Pancake Day. To others it is Fat Tuesday.
Pancakes became associated with the day before Lent because during the fasting period people ate only simple foods. Pancakes were a perfect way of using up perishable ingredients.
"It mixes things up a bit," said Jim Chiravelli of Newtown, whose children James, 8, and Sophia, 10, took part in the races.
The most famous pancake race, in Buckinghamshire, England, was held around 1445. The contestants, traditionally women, carried a frying pan or skillet and raced to the finishing line tossing the pancakes.
The tradition is said to have started after a housewife was so busy making pancakes she forgot the time -- until she heard church bells ringing. She raced out of the house to church while still carrying her frying pan and pancake.
"It is a good event to bring the church together, to do something fun together," said Renee Whippie , 23, of Newtown, who came to the supper with her parents, Larry and Linda Whippie.
Heather Barr, hbarr@newstimes.com or at (203)731-3331.
