One of the courses I teach at a local Jesuit college is required of all sophomores. The course content is a mixture of religious phenomenology and comparative studies. We examine how the five major religious traditions developed historically and how they interpret the world. A few weeks back, I sketched out the history of Islam following the death of Mohammed. I explained the events leading to the rift between Sunnis and Shia, and described the major schools within Sunni Islam. In doing so, I introduced the class to the Wahabist movement of the 17th century, a resistance to Western colonialism in the Arab world, and explained how it eventually spawned more radical anti-Western movements such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
After a rather lengthy back-and-forth class discussion, the lone Muslim student in the class, whom I will call Kalila, timidly raised her hand. Kalila is a Palestinian. She always wears a hajib. She is reticent to participate in class discussion because, while her English is good, she sometimes struggles for the right words.
“I feel the need to say something,” she said.
“Please do,” I responded.
She flipped through the pages of her notebook. “All this is new to me,” she said. “I have never heard of these different schools. These terms you mentioned, some of them I have never heard. This is not Islam to me.” Then, her voice softened. “There is so much misunderstanding. People look at me like I am dangerous. They don’t know anything about me. I’m so tired...” She began to cry, then regained her composure. “I’m so tired of being seen...” Again, her effort to fight back tears overwhelmed her speech.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“You’re doing fine,” I assured her.
The room had grown intensely quiet. Kalila started again. “I’m so tired of being seen...as a...terrorist.” She quietly allowed herself to shed a few tears. No one wanted to say anything. We waited patiently for her to finish. “These terrorists are not Islam,” she said, motioning sharply with her arms. “They use Islam as a cover for their own agendas. They are not Islam.”
Of course, I had not gone that far when speaking about the terrorist impulses of radical Muslims. I had taken great pains to demonstrate factually that terrorists represent less than one half of 1% of all Muslim; that fatwas had been issued from every other Islamic school condemning their violence; and that to identify Islam with terrorists was the equivalent of identifying Christianity with right-wing militia groups. But that was not sufficient for Kalila. “They are not Islam,” she insisted.
Kalila gave voice, not only to the frustration of many Muslims, but of many Christians as well. I find that, when I am called upon to explain Christianity to its “cultured despisers,” (a term coined by Friedrich Schliermacher), I’m being asked to justify a tradition guilty of the Inquisition, the Crusades, anti-Semitic genocide, intolerance of cultural differences, and resistance to truth uncovered by science. “That’s not Christianity,” I protest. It is frustrating to me that popular impressions of Christianity are based, not on intimate knowledge of the faith, but on the politics of extreme elements within the church. It is discouraging for me to know that millions of non-believers in this country make no distinction between me and high-profile conservative evangelicals who seem more concerned with legislating what women do with their bodies and banning gay marriage than with feeding the hungry, working for peace, and sharing the love of Christ. “That’s not Christianity,” I insist to those who say Christianity is narrow-minded and prudish. By the time I have disabused people of their negative stereotypes, there isn’t usually enough time or interest left for me to share affirmatively what this faith is all about.
Actually, this is a greater challenge for Christians that for Muslims. The “Five Pillars” clearly and succinctly summarize Islam: Faith, the confession that there is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet; Prayer, the requirement to physically bow down facing Mecca and pray five times every day; Alms, the requirement to give away 1/40th of all one’s holdings to the poor on an annual basis; Fasting, especially during the month of Ramadan; and Pilgrimage, the requirement of every able-bodied Muslim to make at least one journey to the Holy Shrine in Mecca. Islamic scholars down through the ages have engaged in fierce debates over the value of human reason, the extent of human free will, the sovereignty of God, and the true meaning of jihad (holy war). But never has any movement within Islam tampered with the Five Pillars. Whatever else may be subject to interpretation, the pillars bring every Muslim back to the basic confession of monotheism and clearly spell out how to practice the faith. Islam is sublime in its simplicity. This is probably why it is the fastest growing religion in the world.
Christianity, by its very nature, defies any such list. The New Testament does not spell out basic Christian belief. The Apostles’ Creed sought to do so in the second century after Christ, but like all such creeds, it raises as many questions as it answers. Later creeds, because they were written to denounce various heresies, tended to say more about what Christianity is not than about what it is. The split between Eastern and Western Christianity in the 11th century complicated efforts to define the faith as a whole. Then, the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century resulted in an endless splintering of tiny sectarian movements. From time to time, some Protestant group will rally around a list of “fundamentals” or “essentials” of Christianity, but these efforts only succeed in distinguishing one version of Christianity from all others.
So when someone outside of Christianity asks any one of us on the inside, “What is Christianity?” what should we say?
What stands at the center of our faith, regardless of differences in tradition or theology, is not a list of beliefs or practices, but a person: Jesus Christ. This seems so self-evident that it doesn’t need to be said, and yet every effort to “define” Christian belief has the result of obscuring the person of Jesus Christ. What makes us Christian is not a particular theology, style of worship, set of rules, or list of practices. What makes us Christian is Christ.
The heart of our faith is not a “what” but a “who.” In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Jesus did not come to show us the way. He is the Way. He did not come to reveal a propositional list of truths. He is the Truth. He did not give us a list of practices to circumscribe how we live our lives. He is the Life.
On Easter Sunday, I repeated the words of the apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: “I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.” I told my congregation that this is the primary confession of our faith. Everything else is secondary. If we truly believe in the resurrection of Christ, we believe that Christ seeks to indwell us and continue his ministry through us. We become the hands, feet, eyes, and ears, of Christ.
When my student Kalila bared her soul by lamenting how terrorism had hijacked her faith, I felt sick over how she had been victimized by Western stereotypes and willful ignorance of her Islamic faith. But I also empathized with the frustration of having constantly to declare what faith is not rather than celebrate what it is. It is very unsatisfying to defend one’s faith against all the distortions that mar its public image. I’d much rather share the joy of following Christ. How do we do that in a world full of extremists and opportunists who abuse religious faith? In the case of Christians, the only way is to let Christ live in us and be the Christians we want others to see.
Copyright 2012 by J. Mark Lawson
Thank you. I have been struggling lately to explain what I believe, my faith, to my kids. This came at the perfect time, and explains it perfectly. Thank you
Melinda Forbes (Bettie Forbes's Daughter)
Posted by: Melinda Forbes | 04/27/2012 at 09:03 AM