This past weekend I had the chance to participate in a
unique program that is part of one of the organizations that I work for, The Forum
for Development, Culture and Dialogue (FDCD).
One of FDCD’s focuses is on peace building and conflict resolution in
the context of Lebanon where, historically, there has been much tension between
Muslims and Christians. FDCD develops
programs that bring young people with different religious backgrounds together
to work towards building peace and spreading consciousness throughout the
society.
The program that I got to
participate in this weekend brings together Muslims and Christians who are
studying theology. This weekend, we went
to visit a few mosques and have a walking tour in Tripoli and we hiked in the
Kadisha Valley to a monastery and visited a Maronite Church and a Greek
Orthodox Church. Everyone participated
in all the activities, the Christians entered the Mosques and the Muslims
entered the churches. We learned about
the history of the buildings and people could pray as they desired. I was comfortable
to enter the mosques as a learning experience, to see the building, to hear the
guide tell about the history of the area, and learn more about the faith of my
Muslim friends. However, I found that I was
not comfortable with anything beyond that.
For example, as a Christian, I did not feel comfortable being inside the
mosque while others were there engaging in one of the 5 daily prayers and I was
not comfortable being inside the mosque during the call to worship. I have thought about it a lot and I think
that it is simply because the Bible says that Jesus is the way and the truth
and the life, so I felt that I was betraying that by participating in a form of
worship that speaks of Muhammed as the true prophet. I am sure that a part of my Christian faith
is to try to love all and I believe it is appropriate for me to have Muslim
friends and to learn about Islam and that we must all work together to build a
better society in Lebanon and the world.
I believe we should all love and work together for peace but I have
strict boundaries that I will not compromise.
As I stood inside the mosque and then the call to worship began, I started
to feel very uncomfortable. I felt that it was not pleasing to my God that I be
present there as this was happening and something was being said that goes
against what I believe in. So I just
quietly went outside during that time and it was okay. Though such an experience can be
uncomfortable, I am thankful for it because I feel that it pushes me forward in
my own relationship with God, I feel more convicted in my own faith and I learn
how to be respectful to others without being shy to say what I believe as well
and stand firmly in it.
Another general reflection that I have after this weekend is that it was really a very rich and close experience to be able to do things like hiking, touring and sharing meals together rather than sitting in a conference room and telling each other about our religions. In this way we could become friends and develop a relationship and a shared memory together rather than simply giving each other presentations. It is much more meaningful and constructive when the ultimate goal is to build peace in the society because both violence and peace occur among the people in the society, not in the conference room.