At the second event of the series Abraham’s Table Dialogue Luncheons, held Feb. 27 at Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit, are, from left, Ferhan Tunagur, a Rutgers University student and a Muslim; Dr. Morris Davis, assistant professor of Christianity at Drew University Theological School; and Rabbi Avi Friedman of the Summit Jewish Community Center. Photo by Johanna Ginsberg
March 06, 2008
Members from three faiths gathered in Summit last week to talk about the aspects of their faiths that they would “rather forget but need to remember.”
The departure from usual interfaith dialogue was arranged by a consortium led by The Interfaith Dialogue Center, the Newark-based group founded in 2003 by Turkish-American Muslims.
Asked to talk about the “skeletons in the closet” were a rabbi, a professor of Christianity, and a Muslim doctoral student at Rutgers University. The event was held Feb. 27 at the Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit.
All three were frank about the sins of their fathers.
Rabbi Avi Friedman of the Jewish Community Center in Summit, who sits on the board of the cosponsoring organization Interweave, focused on aspects of Jewish liturgy that he finds troubling. These included the daily blessing that men say thanking God “for not making me a woman” and “for not making me a gentile” and prayers for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem.
“On a regular basis, traditional Jews pray for the restoration of the Temple on the original Temple Mount. Those of you who are Muslims among us — and I imagine some of you Christians as well — know that the Temple Mount is currently occupied. The only way to restore the Temple to its original site would be to bulldoze the Dome of the Rock, something that’s not going to happen,” he said.
After running through some of the places in the liturgy where this particular prayer is articulated, Friedman offered some of the ways Jews manage the issue, from Reform Jews who omit the passage, to his fellow Conservative Jews who add a passage asking God to accept the prayer of the people Israel wherever they dwell. “We say these words but we recognize this is not the reality for which we dream,” he said.
Hesitant to speak for Orthodox Judaism, Friedman said only, “I would suggest that perhaps in the corner of their hearts they recognize it’s an impossibility. It’s okay for them to say these words because they recognize there’s no chance they are going to rebuild the temple…in this world as it is currently configured.”
Bypassing the villains
Dr. Morris L. Davis, assistant professor of Christianity at Drew University Theological School in Madison, discussed the failure of Christians to tell their history in all its aspects — the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“Twenty years ago, I would have been teaching the history of Christian belief traced back through the heroes and bypassing the villains,” said Davis, an expert in Wesleyan/Methodist studies.
“You can ignore the skeletons,” he said, or you can decide “both the heroes and the villains belong to you. You can see [Martin] Luther as a theologian, but also the Luther who talked horribly about the Jews and gave the Nazis all kinds of great quotes.”
Ferhan Tunagur, a Turkish Muslim studying communications and library sciences, examined more recent challenges.
“Our skeleton is fresher and worse,” said Tunagur. Islam faces a challenge from those who would interpret the Koran literally, he said, when it ought to be placed in the context of having been received by “a specific group in a specific time and a specific place.” It is in such literalism that “talk about suicide bombings has its roots.”
He reflected on how such readings have brought wars not only to people outside of Islam but also to those within the faith.
All three congratulated the current generation for interfaith efforts that have gone far beyond those of previous generations. But, as Friedman pointed out, the various faith groups could still do more.
“In our own individual communities, there are expressions of fear, skepticism about these relationships. What can we do to break down the barriers? I would like to think we could do more,” he said, “but we have done more than our predecessors.”
The event was the second in a series known as Abraham’s Table Dialogue Luncheons, seven such gatherings that began in October and will run through June.
Sponsors included the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church, The Presbytery of the Palisades, Interweave, and Fellowship in Prayer, Inc.
About 50 people attended the luncheon.