An Early Push

I was twigged to an important point in my awareness of my faith, and the distance I had made with it, by a footnote in Brian McLaren’s book. He cites a term that he got from Irshad Manji’s book “The Trouble with Islam” by Random House, a book I had read last year.

The book is written by an openly gay Muslim woman as a critique of the current state of the Muslim religion. Most interesting is that you would expect Ms. Manji to completely reject her faith, yet she does not. Instead she wants to reclaim her religion and states her case for doing so. While I was reading her story, I was constantly thinking, “if this woman, who is risking her very life by writing this book, a woman seen as such an outsider by those in control of the Muslim faith that they would want her dead… Irshad does not abandon her faith, she does not make excuses for it, she tackles the issues head on and calls for a major reformation of the religion… if she can do this, then I can certainly find a way back into my own faith.” It was a long and rambling thought, but unfortunately most of my thoughts are, you can check with my wife if you don’t believe me.

This was one of the major bells going off in my head leading me back to Christianity and, ultimately, to join the clergy. It says a lot about me, I suppose, that the spiritual struggles of a gay Muslim woman has brought me closer to my Christian faith.

Oh, I highly recommend you read her book, whether you consider yourself religious or secular, Muslim or Christian.