I am of the firm belief that every one of us carries within us something that is marginalized, some trait or piece of personal history that has been (or that we wish would be) left behind or cast off -- the malformed foot, the embarrassing immigrant heritage, the emotional scars left by an abusive, alcoholic mother. It is this concept (compounded by an allegiance to Jung's theory of the collective unconscious) that has led me to conclude that those whom society has cast off as "them" are, in reality, "us," and which drove the creation of my newest body of work, Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited.
Since I began Golden States of Grace in 2003, it has often felt as if our world has drawn increasingly stark divisions between "us" and "them," be those divides cultural, political, socioeconomic, or religious. Additionally, representations across faith lines have become filled with stereotypes and, at times, outright hatred of "the other." National and international events demonstrate almost daily that we live in a fundamentally faith-based society that has grown increasingly intolerant of those who do not clearly embrace the narrowly defined codes of morality and religious worship. (The day before I began editing this book, a man with a gun entered a church in Knoxville, Tennessee and shot eight people, killing two. His motive: they were too liberal in that they supported the inclusion of gays, racial desegregation and women's rights.) This body of work aims specifically to counteract that intolerance, hoping its audience might open itself to discovering (if not experiencing) faith from the bottom up.
Even with many in mainline religious institutions and middle-class America continuing to exclude and even vilify those whom they view as "beyond the pale," there are still reasons to be hopeful that we, as a society, can see beyond our religious tunnel vision. For instance, a recent study on religious views across America, published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, documented that nearly 75 percent of Americans believe that many faiths beyond their own can lead to salvation.
You do not have to want to sit down to breakfast with someone to respect his or her place beside you in sanctuary or in community. Nor is it my intention that this book's reader throw his or her arms open to embrace the people depicted within it. Rather, if I have one singular hope, it is that our collective eyes remain open long enough to simply acknowledge every human being's need and right to come to some profound understanding about his or her own connection to a higher power.
Thus, in the end, Golden States of Grace is a study of otherness -- the otherness out there, the otherness within each of us, the otherness that begs us to bind together as human beings to celebrate, contemplate, and find meaning in our lives.
PHOTOS:
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FATIMA, Cham Muslims“When we’ve encountered something we cannot handle, we just have to trust in God.”Soon after the Genocide began, Fatima’s parents were killed, followed by her husband, and two of her three children, who were lost to starvation by the Khmer Rouge. Since most Cham were people of the land -- fisherman, farmers and blacksmiths -- Fatima explains, “When the time of the Genocide came, our only concern was survival. There was little TV or radio. All we knew was this horror going on around us.” (Rick Nahmias' latest Book, Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited [University of New Mexico Press], is available now. To learn more, visit goldenstatesofgrace.com or Rick Nahmias' Facebook page.)
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On Saturday, Oct. 2, we are doing a book-launch signing celebration and fundraiser for the anti-hunger group Food Forward. The event will take place from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. at UCLA's Religious Conference, 900 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90024. Fifty percent of the proceeds from each paperback copy of the book sold on this day will go directly to Food Forward. The event is free and open to the public but requires an RSVP to 818-530-4125.
so it is a bit difficult for some of us to take him too seriously...
God dwells and has placed himself within each one of us. Christ taught, that the Real Divine Authority, over us, has placed within every heart, the understanding to know right from wrong. What Christ whole message gospel was about. Christ had a personal relationship daily with God, he talked to him, always in communication with Him. My fathers never leaves me, for I do all that pleases Him. Christ was not obedient to man or mans laws, but only to God's Government Laws, given to Moses, and Christ was told to add a final one, Love your enemies as I have Loved you- my enemies also. Christ did not or ever persecuted anyone, nor forced anyone , nor carried no sword. Fro Christ knew, those who carry the sword, will also die by the sword. Do onto others what you to would want done unto you. Why no peace in the world today.
We trust in human beings to teach us about God, we ourselves do not ask God directly to teach us, so we will not be deceived, by others who are also weak in their faith and spiritual understanding, all still sipping milk, said St Peter.. God said You do not ask ME, you do not seek ME, you do not knock at MY door.
"It's a shame I tried to live while my family lay dead around me," Abdul Razzak, a shopkeeper in Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat, bitterly told Reuters as he recalled horrible memories.
The elderly man had to hide among the corpses of his daughter and three grandchildren to escape the Hindu mobs. Seven years on, Abdul Razzak's wounds are still festering.
"I have not been able to live down my cowardice."
Abdul Razzak is not a unique case. Many Muslims in the violence-scarred state are still in a heart-breaking search for beloved ones they lost in the trauma.
Where we all find the resources to sacrifice for those we love and those we cherish, stranger or friend, makes all the difference. We need to see the faces of all who are people of goodwill to remember that they make the difference between a world, such as it is, and chaos.
We can understand an uncivilized, uneducated street thug justifying communal killings out of vengeance, but not the national leaders as in India, some leaders justifying the killings of the innocent.
Dawood Ibrahim should understand the fact that the terrorism that he carried out killing the innocent in Bombay is wrong Same thing applies to Babri demolition by leaders like Advani, and 21st century’s worst communal massacre in Gujarat killing more than 2,500 minority Muslims.
Has Modi or Advani any time felt regret over the incident. Indian politicians have exceeding ego in them. Lots and lots of people are blinded by the economic progress and industrialisation of a State ( Gujarat for instance). What is the point of selective economic progress if there is no security of life and property, if the innocent are slaughtered in the name of religion?
A wrong is wrong whoever is responsible for the killings of the innocent, regardless of the perpetrators religious affiliations. Leaders think that they serve their philosophy effectively by their selective killings and selective economic progress. But this killing is done in the name of wrong religious philosophy, and for the sake of vote bank politics.
No one has the monopoly to define the real religious philosophy.
Mother Teresa told a story, of this little sick child she took home. This little poor child was always running away, every day, after supper. One day Mother told one of the nuns, to follow this little child to see where this child was going. For when the little girl was given a bowl of rice, the little girl later could not be found, any where for hrs. Mother worried.
The nun followed the little girl, to only find her under a tree, with her own mother, brothers, sisters , giving the Her bowl of rice to them. Watching far off, the nun noticed also, the mother gave some to her own children, but that mother left , with what rice was left in the bowl.
The nun approached the mother and said where did you go? The mother replied, my neighbor also their children are starving., I went to share the rice with them also. How beautiful and true.