Posted by Eliza on: 02.22.2007 /
I’d love to hear about any routes people here might be taking, or considering, to hear about ideas & beliefs they might not normally run across, &/or interact with people who hold different beliefs. (Or, even, routes people tried or considered, that didn’t end up happening.) There have been several posts about experiences like this on ebay atheist and Conversation at the Edge over the past year or so; I’ve included a partial summary, with links, below in case anyone wants to look back at some of those. Those include: atheists going to church…Christians going to mosques…Christians inviting atheists to interfaith events…Abortion protestors and abortionists actually talking to each other. You know, not the kind of interaction you’d typically run across every day. ;-)
I’m also interested in hearing how people here might plan a session, or a series of several sessions, to explain their beliefs to others who don’t share those beliefs. Who might attend? How would you get the word to those people? What setting might work? What tone, and topics, might you aim for? How would you know if the effort was ‘worth it’?
Go ahead & describe either something you’re actually doing or planning…or something that seems pie-in-the-sky-but-neat-if-it-could-happen!
Some prior posts about exploring new belief situations:
(1) Hemant Mehta’s writeups of church services he visited after Jim Henderson bought his soul (well, actually, his time) on ebay.
(2) The first review of the upcoming book, Jim and Casper Go to Church.
(3) Pastor RickL’s experience providing the Christian voice at an interfaith symposium held at a mosque in his community.
(4) Post by Marty (who posts occasionally here as Marty SB), a Christian involved in Interfaith groups & work who explicitly decided to try to connect with atheists and atheist groups in his community.
(5) My “take” on the sessions I attended of a conservative Lutheran religious education course.
(6) The pretty amazing account Helen posted this week of conservative Christians and abortion providers talking, getting to know each other, and finding common ground in their thougts about abortion.
Comment by: Helen
1Thanks Eliza.
I know Mike Clawson is organizing a Midwest Emergent meeting for this summer which will include some people (like me) who aren’t Emergent Christians per se.
So maybe that counts for both of us as plans! (Although he’s doing the planning, not me)
I would post a link if there was anything up on the Internet about it, but I’m not aware that there is yet.
Comment by: Rachel
2After having been raised in the Baptist church, I have taken an interest in experiencing different aspects of the Christian tradition. In the last few years, I have visited Presbyterian, Lutheran, Quaker, Greek Orthodox and Messianic Jewish congregations. I’ve also visited five different emerging churches. My favorites were Evergreen in Portland (Bob Hyatt’s “church in a pub”) and Church of the Apostles in Seattle (Karen Ward’s church). Evergreen is non-denominational and COTA is Lutheran-Episcopal. This week I attended my first Ash Wednesday service, held at the Quaker church. We made prayer beads, which I’ve never owned or used before. My best friend and I are planning to visit an Episcopal church here in town for “Stations of the Cross,” which will also be a new experience for me. I feel that I learn valuable things from each different tradition that I experience and I get to meet wonderful and interesting people.
Comment by: Eliza
3Helen - will you (or Mike C) let us know more as the meeting gets closer? Sounds interesting!
I’ve been thinking about taking an Alpha Course, though it looks like the next ’round’ around here won’t start till spring. I found a bunch of courses that started in January, but no info at all on any upcoming courses. (Which seems odd. Wouldn’t that be the more useful information for someone seeking a course??)
I emailed the pastor of an emergent church here in Seattle - it meets in a coffee shop, and in a theater - to ask whether they’ll be offering the Alpha Course. The Alpha website lists them as offering it, but I couldn’t find any information on the church’s website.
It’s been a week, & I haven’t heard back. Maybe he’s out of town, or I got the wrong email address, or something, but the amusing thought struck me yesterday: here’s the atheist bugging the Christian to try to get info about how to gain access to evangelism - whoa! :)
Comment by: Marty SB
4Hi Eliza - here is an update on my seed planting,watering and involvement.
A “Sons and Daughers of Abraham” group has been formed including Christian (Goleta Presbyterian - which is my primary church), Jews (Banai Brith) and Muslims (Islamic Society)- all of which are also involved in the much larger Interfaith Initiative. There about 7 of us from each of the three religions. My Presbyterian minister was given a grant for this work. We have met in various ways (primarily luncheons) about six times over four months. We are now to the point that we like and respect each other and are committed to learning from one another. The last couple of meetings we have had people ask those of other faiths the questions that they have always wanted to ask but did not have someone they both knew and felt comfortable asking.
The next Interfaith Intiative - March 22 - will have a panel of women speaking about their Faiths. It will be moderated by a female professor at UC Santa Barbara. The faiths include those that range from women being quite subserviant to the men to where they are total equals. We are having some anxiety of how this will go, how candidate the women will be, how some of the men will react, etc.
I have also become involved with dinners for eight or so that was originally created by the Anti-defemation League (ADL). The first dinner I attended included two Jehovah’s Witnesses, two moderate Christians (my wife and I) two Atheists (one a cultural Jew), etc. We each had twenty minutes or so to answer tell our stories and answer questions. There are a number of guidelines for the discussion.
Last Saturday I spoke up in a fairly large (50 or so) group of Humanists. Their speaker was a representative of the Secular Students Aliance (the group that Hemant is Chairman of). My question was: “Is the goal of your group to (1) convert others to Atheism/Humanism; (2) obtain acceptance for Atheists/Humanists; (3) debunk/attach Christians? Having attended this group for some months now - I have come to realize that there is a wide diverstity of thoughts within the group. I conveyed to them that as a moderate Christian I have come to appreciate the Atheists/Humanists I have gotten to know (I told them about this blog)and would be pleased to see a qualified Atheist become President (as I also would like to see a woman and black) and that I felt that there cause was best served by conveying a positive image of Atheists/Humanists rather than attaching Christians (even if I agree with much of what they say.)