Solidarity with the Muslim Community

Tonight, my husband and I attended an iftar (breaking the fast meal) sponsored by the Sewanee Muslim Students' Association (MSA).

After learning of an act of arson against a proposed mosque site in Murfreesboro (just an hour's drive from Sewanee, close to Nashville) on August 28, and hearing this incident mentioned by some of my friends and colleagues in the interfaith community around the country in their recent emails and messages chronicling the anti-Muslim backlash around the proposed mosque in Manhattan near the site of Ground Zero, I realized that I could not simply sit back and let this issue pass me by.

Vandalism at the proposed mosque site reads, "NOT WELCOME."

Since leaving Harvard Divinity School (where I studied world religions) and leaving the staff of the film Divided We Fall (on anti-"Muslim" hate crimes after 9/11, which affected Sikhs and others as much as Muslims), I have become increasingly disconnected with what's going on in the "interfaith" and "religious diversity" world. I'm now at an Episcopal seminary, studying to be a priest. We don't have any classes on world religions. Islam was mentioned in our church history course last year, and our "creeds" class gave us an opportunity to compare our beliefs with Jews and Muslims and to dialogue with some members of the community, but that has been the extent of the "interfaith" experience here. We talk about how "open" and "diverse" we are as a seminary because we have some Methodist students here amongst the Episcopalians, and because we have some non-Episcopal faculty on staff.

I am actually glad I am in such a strongly Episcopal world in terms of being formed into an Episcopal priest. I am learning about my own faith and context to a depth that I have not done before. There is a camaraderie in knowing that almost all my classmates are going into the priesthood and will be my clergy colleagues in a few years. But the number of my conversations with members of faiths other than Christianity, and really even with denominations other than The Episcopal Church, has dramatically decreased since being here. In fact, it wouldn't be happening at all if it weren't for the connections I'd formed before I came here.

It was tempting to allow this debate and controversy to pass me by, knowing that my colleagues out there at the Pluralism Project and the former film crew of Divided We Fall were already mobilizing to show solidarity with the Muslim community. After all, I had 50+ pages of reading for Episcopal Church History, and a Scripture passage to memorize for preaching class, and Spanish vocabulary to learn. But then I stopped and thought -- what is the point of being here at seminary if not to grow closer to our Lord Jesus Christ, who spent his time among the outcast and marginalized? How am I following His example and allowing Him to live in me if I am not in some form or fashion standing in solidarity with the American Muslim community during this time?

So, I decided to do something. On Monday, I sent an email to the students, faculty and staff of the seminary, asking, "What can we do to respond to the Murfreesboro arson?" I immediately got several responses from faculty and students saying they had been thinking about this issue as well, so I suggested we meet as a group at our Tuesday community lunch the next day and discuss this question.

One of my colleagues reminded me that the Sewanee MSA (Muslim Students' Association) was hosting an iftar this week -- and that having some seminary students attend that event might be a first step to showing solidarity with the Muslim community on campus.

So, we went. Having been to several iftars before, I was looking forward especially to the good food. Unfortunately for me, I wound up at the end of a very long line, and all the vegetarian food was gone by the time I made it to the table! Everything was scraping bottom, and there were still at least 40 people in line! It was clear the MSA hadn't expected this many people to attend; the president said this was the largest turnout they had ever had. "This is a wonderful expression of solidarity," he said, "especially in light of what has been going on around the situation in New York and the fire in Murfreesboro. It really means a lot to us that you are here."

My husband and I had a lively dinner table conversation with several non-Muslim undergraduates who had come out to show their support and to learn more about Islam. There were several seminary students and faculty there, the university chaplains, and several community clergy.

After this event, I find myself wondering... how could we, as a seminary, form closer links with the non-Christian communities that are living right here in our midst? We may not be a "cosmopolitan" place, in this small town on top of a mountain, but we fool ourselves if we think "diversity" exists only in Chattanooga and Nashville. There is a Muslim community here, and I'd be willing to bet only one or two seminary students knows any of them personally. So much of interfaith bridge-building has to happen quietly, behind-the-scenes, before there's some crisis event. I wonder what we can do along those lines, moving forward...