(6110,38,'2012-05-18 08:00:20','2012-05-18 15:00:20','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple of years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<span style=\"font-size: 11px;\">th</span> Physical Education and 7<span style=\"font-size: 11px;\">th </span>and 8<span style=\"font-size: 11px;\">th</span> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipotent (all-powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeserving.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Falwell or Rick Santorum represent everybody. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6139\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A cross, a Christian symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6139 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spina bifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people who are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Square: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Why do Muslim women wear their headscarves and what is Sharia really about? Find out in our next article with two Muslims from Detroit, Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi.</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4035421598/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Snodgrass</a> (Cross)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Christian','','publish','open','open','','faith-interview-series-christian','','','2012-05-06 22:47:27','2012-05-07 05:47:27','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6110',0,'post','',2),(6114,38,'2012-04-22 13:40:22','2012-04-22 20:40:22','[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\n\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\n\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\n\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\n\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\n\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\n\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\n\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\n\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\n\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\n\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\n\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\n\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\n<ul>\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\n</ul>\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\n\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\n\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\n\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\n\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\n\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\n\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\n\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-2','','','2012-04-22 13:40:22','2012-04-22 20:40:22','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6110-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6113,38,'2012-04-22 13:42:14','2012-04-22 20:42:14','','Curt Motsinger','Curt Motsinger','inherit','open','open','','curt-and-family-fb','','','2012-04-22 13:42:14','2012-04-22 20:42:14','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6115,38,'2012-04-22 13:50:08','2012-04-22 20:50:08','','jerusalem_flickr_swallroth','The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel','inherit','open','open','','jerusalem_flickr_swallroth','','','2012-04-22 13:50:08','2012-04-22 20:50:08','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6116,38,'2012-04-22 13:42:38','2012-04-22 20:42:38','[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-3','','','2012-04-22 13:42:38','2012-04-22 20:42:38','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6110-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6123,38,'2012-04-22 14:54:10','2012-04-22 21:54:10','','StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons','Jesus depicted in stained glass (Wikimedia Commons)','inherit','open','open','','stjohnsashfield_stainedglass-wikimedia-commons','','','2012-04-22 14:54:10','2012-04-22 21:54:10','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6117,43,'2012-04-22 14:24:18','2012-04-22 21:24:18','On April 17-19, 2012, students across New York State took the English Language Arts (ELA) test.  In a fail of epic proportions, a poorly constructed set of test questions was thrown out after an unnamed insider leaked that portion of the exam.  You can <a href=\"http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/the-hare-and-the-pineapple.pdf\">read the original test question</a> at the New York State Education Department web site.\n\nFor a little background, this section of the test included a brief story and six follow-up questions.  The text was adapted from part of a novel by author Daniel Pinkwater.  (You can read his comments and the original tale <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/pineapple-idiots-knew-book-world-dumbest-test-question-article-1.1065566\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/\">here</a>.)  Teachers and other NYSED employees are not allowed to discuss the test questions or publish them, online or elsewhere.  One bold individual shared the question, setting off a chain reaction of events which ultimately resulted in the question set being thrown out.\n\nFrom the glut of news articles on the Pineapple Debacle, one might get the impression that the problem here is one badly-worded question on a state test.  There\'s discussion about whether or not we can trust <em>any </em>of the test questions if one like that slipped through.  While it\'s true that the story is full of grammatical errors and bears no resemblance to the original, and the questions are poorly worded and intentionally misleading, those are not the real issues.\n\nThe problem is that transparency has been eliminated at all levels.  By refusing to allow educators to discuss the questions, even with colleagues, teachers cannot collaborate to ensure quality in state evaluations.  Parents are not informed about the content of the tests their children are taking, leading to broken trust when something like this surfaces.  If we\'re going to base our children\'s success as students on whether or not they can navigate pineapple-style questions, and we base teachers\' worth as educators on how well they teach to the test, then we need everyone to be certain that the tests are an accurate measure.\n\nThe consequences of failure here are dire.\n\nThis isn\'t a problem limited to New York State.  The rising panic over standards in education, pass/fail rates, and global competition are driving this push for education that \"proves\" success.  The pressure on schools and teachers is immense.  And why wouldn\'t it be?  If a school is on the watch list for school improvement, there are a limited number of options: Close the school permanently; close the school and reopen under a charter, or privatize; fire half the staff; or submit to a somewhat nebulous \"improvement\" campaign, which also results in at least some degree of job loss.  Every school in every district in the country is potentially at risk.  For that reason alone, it\'s imperative that we have as much integrity in the exams as possible.  A single bad question on a state test won\'t cause much trouble.  A bad test surely would.  Without transparency, there\'s no way to know whether the rest of the test is equally bizarre or whether it was a single oversight.\n\nWhoever blew the whistle on the pineapple question is my hero.  It doesn\'t take a lot of guts for me to sit here and write about the New York ELA test.  There\'s nothing at stake for me.  But that brave individual put his or her job on the line in order that the rest of us might be informed.  Those of us who are invested in public education, whether as employees or as parents, have a responsibility here.  We must stand together and demand that we have the right to know what goes on at the state Education Department.  We must take action and force lawmakers to recognize the flaws in the system.  We can\'t afford to stand back and','NYSED Fail: What We Can Learn from a Talking Pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','6087-revision','','','2012-04-22 14:24:18','2012-04-22 21:24:18','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6087-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6118,43,'2012-04-22 14:30:32','2012-04-22 21:30:32','','pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','pineapple','','','2012-04-22 14:30:32','2012-04-22 21:30:32','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/pineapple.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6119,43,'2012-04-22 14:25:59','2012-04-22 21:25:59','On April 17-19, 2012, students across New York State took the English Language Arts (ELA) test.  In a fail of epic proportions, a poorly constructed set of test questions was thrown out after an unnamed insider leaked that portion of the exam.  You can <a href=\"http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/the-hare-and-the-pineapple.pdf\">read the original test question</a> at the New York State Education Department web site.\n\nFor a little background, this section of the test included a brief story and six follow-up questions.  The text was adapted from part of a novel by author Daniel Pinkwater.  (You can read his comments and the original tale <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/pineapple-idiots-knew-book-world-dumbest-test-question-article-1.1065566\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/\">here</a>.)  Teachers and other NYSED employees are not allowed to discuss the test questions or publish them, online or elsewhere.  One bold individual shared the question, setting off a chain reaction of events which ultimately resulted in the question set being thrown out.\n\nFrom the glut of news articles on the Pineapple Debacle, one might get the impression that the problem here is one badly-worded question on a state test.  There\'s discussion about whether or not we can trust <em>any </em>of the test questions if one like that slipped through.  While it\'s true that the story is full of grammatical errors and bears no resemblance to the original, and the questions are poorly worded and intentionally misleading, those are not the real issues.\n\nThe problem is that transparency has been eliminated at all levels.  By refusing to allow educators to discuss the questions, even with colleagues, teachers cannot collaborate to ensure quality in state evaluations.  Parents are not informed about the content of the tests their children are taking, leading to broken trust when something like this surfaces.  If we\'re going to base our children\'s success as students on whether or not they can navigate pineapple-style questions, and we base teachers\' worth as educators on how well they teach to the test, then we need everyone to be certain that the tests are an accurate measure.\n\nThe consequences of failure here are dire.\n\nThis isn\'t a problem limited to New York State.  The rising panic over standards in education, pass/fail rates, and global competition are driving this push for education that \"proves\" success.  The pressure on schools and teachers is immense.  And why wouldn\'t it be?  If a school is on the watch list for school improvement, there are a limited number of options: Close the school permanently; close the school and reopen under a charter, or privatize; fire half the staff; or submit to a somewhat nebulous \"improvement\" campaign, which also results in at least some degree of job loss.  Every school in every district in the country is potentially at risk.  For that reason alone, it\'s imperative that we have as much integrity in the exams as possible.  A single bad question on a state test won\'t cause much trouble.  A bad test surely would.  Without transparency, there\'s no way to know whether the rest of the test is equally bizarre or whether it was a single oversight.\n\nWhoever blew the whistle on the pineapple question is my hero.  It doesn\'t take a lot of guts for me to sit here and write about the New York ELA test.  There\'s nothing at stake for me.  But that brave individual put his or her job on the line in order that the rest of us might be informed.  Those of us who are invested in public education, whether as employees or as parents, have a responsibility here.  We must stand together and demand that we have the right to know what goes on at the state Education Department.  We must take action and force lawmakers to recognize the flaws in the system.  We can\'t afford not to.','NYSED Fail: What We Can Learn from a Talking Pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','6087-revision-2','','','2012-04-22 14:25:59','2012-04-22 21:25:59','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6087-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6121,43,'2012-04-22 14:34:03','2012-04-22 21:34:03','On April 17-19, 2012, students across New York State took the English Language Arts (ELA) test.  In a fail of epic proportions, a poorly constructed set of test questions was thrown out after an unnamed insider leaked that portion of the exam.  You can <a href=\"http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/the-hare-and-the-pineapple.pdf\">read the original test question</a> at the New York State Education Department web site.\n\nFor a little background, this section of the test included a brief story and six follow-up questions.  The text was adapted from part of a novel by author Daniel Pinkwater.  (You can read his comments and the original tale <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/pineapple-idiots-knew-book-world-dumbest-test-question-article-1.1065566\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/\">here</a>.)  Teachers and other NYSED employees are not allowed to discuss the test questions or publish them, online or elsewhere.  One bold individual shared the question, setting off a chain reaction of events which ultimately resulted in the question set being thrown out.\n\nFrom the glut of news articles on the Pineapple Debacle, one might get the impression that the problem here is one badly-worded question on a state test.  There\'s discussion about whether or not we can trust <em>any </em>of the test questions if one like that slipped through.  While it\'s true that the story is full of grammatical errors and bears no resemblance to the original, and the questions are poorly worded and intentionally misleading, those are not the real issues.\n\nThe problem is that transparency has been eliminated at all levels.  By refusing to allow educators to discuss the questions, even with colleagues, teachers cannot collaborate to ensure quality in state evaluations.  Parents are not informed about the content of the tests their children are taking, leading to broken trust when something like this surfaces.  If we\'re going to base our children\'s success as students on whether or not they can navigate pineapple-style questions, and we base teachers\' worth as educators on how well they teach to the test, then we need everyone to be certain that the tests are an accurate measure.  The consequences of failure here are dire.\n\nThis isn\'t a problem limited to New York State.  The rising panic over standards in education, pass/fail rates, and global competition are driving this push for education that \"proves\" success.  The pressure on schools and teachers is immense.  And why wouldn\'t it be?  If a school is on the watch list for school improvement, there are a limited number of options: Close the school permanently; close the school and reopen under a charter, or privatize; fire half the staff; or submit to a somewhat nebulous \"improvement\" campaign, which also results in at least some degree of job loss.  Every school in every district in the country is potentially at risk.  For that reason alone, it\'s imperative that we have as much integrity in the exams as possible.  A single bad question on a state test won\'t cause much trouble.  A bad test surely would.  Without transparency, there\'s no way to know whether the rest of the test is equally bizarre or whether it was a single oversight.\n\nWhoever blew the whistle on the pineapple question is my hero.  It doesn\'t take a lot of guts for me to sit here and write about the New York ELA test.  There\'s nothing at stake for me.  But that brave individual put his or her job on the line in order that the rest of us might be informed.  Those of us who are invested in public education, whether as employees or as parents, have a responsibility here.  We must stand together and demand that we have the right to know what goes on at the state Education Department.  We must take action and force lawmakers to recognize the flaws in the system.  We can\'t afford not to.','NYSED Fail: What We Can Learn from a Talking Pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','6087-revision-4','','','2012-04-22 14:34:03','2012-04-22 21:34:03','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6087-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6120,43,'2012-04-22 14:30:56','2012-04-22 21:30:56','On April 17-19, 2012, students across New York State took the English Language Arts (ELA) test.  In a fail of epic proportions, a poorly constructed set of test questions was thrown out after an unnamed insider leaked that portion of the exam.  You can <a href=\"http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/the-hare-and-the-pineapple.pdf\">read the original test question</a> at the New York State Education Department web site.\r\n\r\nFor a little background, this section of the test included a brief story and six follow-up questions.  The text was adapted from part of a novel by author Daniel Pinkwater.  (You can read his comments and the original tale <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/pineapple-idiots-knew-book-world-dumbest-test-question-article-1.1065566\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/\">here</a>.)  Teachers and other NYSED employees are not allowed to discuss the test questions or publish them, online or elsewhere.  One bold individual shared the question, setting off a chain reaction of events which ultimately resulted in the question set being thrown out.\r\n\r\nFrom the glut of news articles on the Pineapple Debacle, one might get the impression that the problem here is one badly-worded question on a state test.  There\'s discussion about whether or not we can trust <em>any </em>of the test questions if one like that slipped through.  While it\'s true that the story is full of grammatical errors and bears no resemblance to the original, and the questions are poorly worded and intentionally misleading, those are not the real issues.\r\n\r\nThe problem is that transparency has been eliminated at all levels.  By refusing to allow educators to discuss the questions, even with colleagues, teachers cannot collaborate to ensure quality in state evaluations.  Parents are not informed about the content of the tests their children are taking, leading to broken trust when something like this surfaces.  If we\'re going to base our children\'s success as students on whether or not they can navigate pineapple-style questions, and we base teachers\' worth as educators on how well they teach to the test, then we need everyone to be certain that the tests are an accurate measure.\r\n\r\nThe consequences of failure here are dire.\r\n\r\nThis isn\'t a problem limited to New York State.  The rising panic over standards in education, pass/fail rates, and global competition are driving this push for education that \"proves\" success.  The pressure on schools and teachers is immense.  And why wouldn\'t it be?  If a school is on the watch list for school improvement, there are a limited number of options: Close the school permanently; close the school and reopen under a charter, or privatize; fire half the staff; or submit to a somewhat nebulous \"improvement\" campaign, which also results in at least some degree of job loss.  Every school in every district in the country is potentially at risk.  For that reason alone, it\'s imperative that we have as much integrity in the exams as possible.  A single bad question on a state test won\'t cause much trouble.  A bad test surely would.  Without transparency, there\'s no way to know whether the rest of the test is equally bizarre or whether it was a single oversight.\r\n\r\nWhoever blew the whistle on the pineapple question is my hero.  It doesn\'t take a lot of guts for me to sit here and write about the New York ELA test.  There\'s nothing at stake for me.  But that brave individual put his or her job on the line in order that the rest of us might be informed.  Those of us who are invested in public education, whether as employees or as parents, have a responsibility here.  We must stand together and demand that we have the right to know what goes on at the state Education Department.  We must take action and force lawmakers to recognize the flaws in the system.  We can\'t afford not to.','NYSED Fail: What We Can Learn from a Talking Pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','6087-revision-3','','','2012-04-22 14:30:56','2012-04-22 21:30:56','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6087-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6122,38,'2012-04-22 14:05:18','2012-04-22 21:05:18','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-4','','','2012-04-22 14:05:18','2012-04-22 21:05:18','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6110-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6124,38,'2012-04-22 14:53:28','2012-04-22 21:53:28','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\n\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\n\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\n\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\n\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\n\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\n\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\n\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\n\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\n\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\n\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\n<ul>\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\n</ul>\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\n\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\n\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\n\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\n\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\n\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\n\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\n\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\n\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-5','','','2012-04-22 14:53:28','2012-04-22 21:53:28','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6110-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(6125,38,'2012-04-22 14:59:16','2012-04-22 21:59:16','','new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44','A church in New England','inherit','open','open','','new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44','','','2012-04-22 14:59:16','2012-04-22 21:59:16','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6126,38,'2012-04-22 14:55:28','2012-04-22 21:55:28','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\n\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\n\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\n\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\n\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\n\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass (Wikimedia Commons)\"]<a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\n\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\n\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\n\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\n\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\n<ul>\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\n</ul>\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\n\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\n\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\n\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\n\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\n\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\n\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\n\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\n\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-6','','','2012-04-22 14:55:28','2012-04-22 21:55:28','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6110-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(6127,38,'2012-04-22 14:59:45','2012-04-22 21:59:45','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-7','','','2012-04-22 14:59:45','2012-04-22 21:59:45','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6110-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(6128,38,'2012-04-22 15:00:28','2012-04-22 22:00:28','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-8','','','2012-04-22 15:00:28','2012-04-22 22:00:28','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6110-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(6129,43,'2012-04-22 14:35:15','2012-04-22 21:35:15','On April 17-19, 2012, students across New York State took the English Language Arts (ELA) test.  In a fail of epic proportions, a poorly constructed set of test questions was thrown out after an unnamed insider leaked that portion of the exam.  You can <a href=\"http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/the-hare-and-the-pineapple.pdf\">read the original test question</a> at the New York State Education Department web site.\n\nFor a little background, this section of the test included a brief story and six follow-up questions.  The text was adapted from part of a novel by author Daniel Pinkwater.  (You can read his comments and the original tale <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/pineapple-idiots-knew-book-world-dumbest-test-question-article-1.1065566\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/\">here</a>.)  Teachers and other NYSED employees are not allowed to discuss the test questions or publish them, online or elsewhere.  One bold individual shared the question, setting off a chain reaction of events which ultimately resulted in the question set being thrown out.\n\nFrom the glut of news articles on the Pineapple Debacle, one might get the impression that the problem here is one badly-worded question on a state test.  There\'s discussion about whether or not we can trust <em>any </em>of the test questions if one like that slipped through.  While it\'s true that the story is full of grammatical errors and bears no resemblance to the original, and the questions are poorly worded and intentionally misleading, those are not the real issues.\n\nThe problem is that transparency has been eliminated at all levels.  By refusing to allow educators to discuss the questions, even with colleagues, teachers cannot collaborate to ensure quality in state evaluations.  Parents are not informed about the content of the tests their children are taking, leading to broken trust when something like this surfaces.  If we\'re going to base our children\'s success as students on whether or not they can navigate pineapple-style questions, and we base teachers\' worth as educators on how well they teach to the test, then we need everyone to be certain that the tests are an accurate measure.  The consequences of failure here are dire.\n\nThis isn\'t a problem limited to New York State.  The rising panic over standards in education, pass/fail rates, and global competition are driving this push for education that \"proves\" success.  The pressure on schools and teachers is immense.  And why wouldn\'t it be?  If a school is on the watch list for school improvement, there are a limited number of options: Close the school permanently; close the school and reopen under a charter, or privatize; fire half the staff; or submit to a somewhat nebulous \"improvement\" campaign, which also results in at least some degree of job loss.  Every school in every district in the country is potentially at risk.  For that reason alone, it\'s imperative that we have as much integrity in the exams as possible.  A single bad question on a state test won\'t cause much trouble.  A bad test surely would.  Without transparency, there\'s no way to know whether the rest of the test is equally bizarre or whether it was a single oversight.\n\nWhoever blew the whistle on the pineapple question is my hero.  It doesn\'t take a lot of guts for me to sit here and write about the New York ELA test.  There\'s nothing at stake for me.  But that brave individual put his or her job on the line in order that the rest of us might be informed.  Those of us who are invested in public education, whether as employees or as parents, have a responsibility here.  We must stand together and demand that we have the right to know what goes on at the state Education Department.  We must take action and force lawmakers to recognize the flaws in the system.  We can\'t afford not to.','NYSED Fail: What We Can Learn from a Talking Pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','6087-revision-5','','','2012-04-22 14:35:15','2012-04-22 21:35:15','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6087-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(7359,189,'2012-07-31 10:36:00','2012-07-31 17:36:00','Explain the two words spoken by Jesus—“Follow me”—in 1000 words or less? Hmmm. Maybe I should just stop right there and let you think this through on your own.\n\nMy understanding of what it means to follow Him has changed over the years. Perhaps our understanding of “following” is <em>supposed</em> to change over time as our maturity in the Lord grows in response to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the ways we experience Him with others. Because I can’t claim to know <em>everything</em> about following Jesus, the best I can offer is to share <em>some</em> of the things I’ve learned about following Jesus—beginning with what “following Jesus” is <strong><em>not</em><em>.</em></strong>\n\n<strong>Following Jesus is not the same thing as: </strong>\n<ul>\n	<li>Following the teachings of Jesus, or following doctrines, creeds, or denominational statements of faith.</li>\n	<li>Following a Bible Reading Plan, memorizing scripture, or claiming a “life verse”.</li>\n	<li>Following “religious convictions”, or acting upon those convictions, alone or as a group, purely for the sake of acting upon convictions.</li>\n	<li>Attending a weekly worship service, and maybe a midweek prayer meeting or Bible study, or meeting with a small group or accountability partner.</li>\n</ul>\nThere isn’t anything wrong with doing these things. In fact, I  follow  Jesus today because others encouraged me to do these things over the course of my spiritual journey.  “Christian practices” are not the same thing as following Jesus. <em></em>I know a lot <em>about</em> <em>Jesus</em> by studying, talking about or meditating on these things—but knowing a lot <em>about Jesus</em> isn’t the same as <em>knowing Jesus</em>. It helps to know Who you’re following.<strong><em></em></strong>\n\n<strong><em>“Follow me.”</em></strong>  Two words caused Simon and Andrew to drop their fishing nets.  James and John “left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after Him.” (Mark 1:20 Amplified). Levi, son of Alphaeus, left his tax booth: “he arose and joined Him and His disciples and sided with His party and accompanied Him.” (Mark 2:14 Amp). Philip ran to find his friend Nathanael and they too followed Him. Twelve men, in all, apparently left their life’s work to follow Jesus.\n\nI find it interesting that the Amplified Version conveys that the words “follow me” carry the connotation, “side with my party\".  Against the backdrop of  first century Hebrew culture—oppressed by the conquering Romans, looking for Messiah to deliver the Children of Israel and fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament—we read Nathanael’s confession, “Teacher, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49) and the reason the twelve “followed” begins to come into focus.  Over the course of the next three and a half years, these men—and later Saul of Tarsus, among others—would come to understand that following Jesus isn’t about following teachings, doctrines, scriptures, convictions or attending religious meetings.  Men and women down through centuries found, in the Gospels and other writings of the New Testament, not <em>something</em> to believe in and follow, but rather <strong><em>Someone</em></strong> to believe in and follow.\n\nTo follow Jesus is to follow a living <strong><em>Person!</em></strong>\n<blockquote><strong><em> </em></strong>“And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.”__John 1:14 (Amp)\n\n“For it has <strong>pleased</strong> [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should <strong>dwell</strong> in Him permanently.”__ Colossians 1:19 (Amp)</blockquote>\nFollowing a living Person, who is the Christ, comes with a cost, which He explained Himself to His disciples:\n<blockquote>“And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, <sup> </sup>forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” __Luke 9:23 (Amp)</blockquote>\nWhat do we have to gain by following this all-wonderful, all-glorious, all-divine Person? What is the outcome we look forward to? For starters, eternal life! Make that eternal, <strong><em>abundant</em> </strong>life, sustained by Christ who <strong><em>is</em></strong> our life! Many more “rewards” are promised to faithful followers who overcome the trials and temptations of this world—check out the letters to the seven churches in John’s last book!\n\nThere’s another important thing I’ve learned about following Jesus: it’s something we do <strong><em>together</em></strong>.\n\nFollowing Jesus is following a living <strong><em>Person</em></strong>…<strong><em>together!</em></strong>\n<blockquote>“When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory. __Colossians 3:4 (Amp)</blockquote>','Two Words','','inherit','open','open','','7337-revision-20','','','2012-07-31 10:36:00','2012-07-31 17:36:00','',7337,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/31/7337-revision-20/',0,'revision','',0),(7355,189,'2012-07-31 10:34:06','2012-07-31 17:34:06','Explain the two words spoken by Jesus—“Follow me”—in 1000 words or less? Hmmm. Maybe I should just stop right there and let you think this through on your own.\r\n\r\nMy understanding of what it means to follow Him has changed over the years. Perhaps our understanding of “following” is <em>supposed</em> to change over time as our maturity in the Lord grows in response to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the ways we experience Him with others. Because I can’t claim to know <em>everything</em> about following Jesus, the best I can offer is to share <em>some</em> of the things I’ve learned about following Jesus—beginning with what “following Jesus” is <strong><em>not</em><em>.</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Following Jesus is not the same thing as: </strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Following the teachings of Jesus, or following doctrines, creeds, or denominational statements of faith.</li>\r\n	<li>Following a Bible Reading Plan, memorizing scripture, or claiming a “life verse”.</li>\r\n	<li>Following “religious convictions”, or acting upon those convictions, alone or as a group, purely for the sake of acting upon convictions.</li>\r\n	<li>Attending a weekly worship service, and maybe a midweek prayer meeting or Bible study, or meeting with a small group or accountability partner.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere isn’t anything wrong with doing these things. In fact, I  follow  Jesus today because others encouraged me to do these things over the course of my spiritual journey.  “Christian practices” are not the same thing as following Jesus. <em></em>I know a lot <em>about</em> <em>Jesus</em> by studying, talking about or meditating on these things—but knowing a lot <em>about Jesus</em> isn’t the same as <em>knowing Jesus</em>. It helps to know Who you’re following.<strong><em></em></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>“Follow me.”</em></strong>  Two words caused Simon and Andrew to drop their fishing nets.  James and John “left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after Him.” (Mark 1:20 Amplified). Levi, son of Alphaeus, left his tax booth: “he arose and joined Him and His disciples and sided with His party and accompanied Him.” (Mark 2:14 Amp). Philip ran to find his friend Nathanael and they too followed Him. Twelve men, in all, apparently left their life’s work to follow Jesus.\r\n\r\nI find it interesting that the Amplified Version conveys that the words “follow me” carry the connotation, “side with my party\".  Against the backdrop of  first century Hebrew culture—oppressed by the conquering Romans, looking for Messiah to deliver the Children of Israel and fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament—we read Nathanael’s confession, “Teacher, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49) and the reason the twelve “followed” begins to come into focus.  Over the course of the next three and a half years, these men—and later Saul of Tarsus, among others—would come to understand that following Jesus isn’t about following teachings, doctrines, scriptures, convictions or attending religious meetings.  Men and women down through centuries found, in the Gospels and other writings of the New Testament, not <em>something</em> to believe in and follow, but rather <strong><em>Someone</em></strong> to believe in and follow.\r\n\r\nTo follow Jesus is to follow a living <strong><em>Person!</em></strong>\r\n<blockquote><strong><em> </em></strong>“And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.”__John 1:14 (Amp)\r\n\r\n“For it has <strong>pleased</strong> [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should <strong>dwell</strong> in Him permanently.”__ Colossians 1:19 (Amp)</blockquote>\r\nFollowing a living Person, who is the Christ, comes with a cost, which He explained Himself to His disciples:\r\n<blockquote>“And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, <sup> </sup>forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” __Luke 9:23 (Amp)</blockquote>\r\nWhat do we have to gain by following this all-wonderful, all-glorious, all-divine Person? What is the outcome we look forward to? For starters, eternal life! Make that eternal, <strong><em>abundant</em> </strong>life, sustained by Christ who <strong><em>is</em></strong> our life! Many more “rewards” are promised to faithful followers who overcome the trials and temptations of this world—check out the letters to the seven churches in John’s last book!\r\n\r\nThere’s another important thing I’ve learned about following Jesus: it’s something we do <strong><em>together</em></strong>.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus is following a living <strong><em>Person</em></strong>…<strong><em>together!</em></strong>\r\n<blockquote>“When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory. __Colossians 3:4 (Amp)</blockquote>','Two Words','','inherit','open','open','','7337-revision-17','','','2012-07-31 10:34:06','2012-07-31 17:34:06','',7337,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/31/7337-revision-17/',0,'revision','',0),(6132,1,'2012-04-23 13:19:34','2012-04-23 20:19:34','Recently I was reading a book that was talking about the nature of giving from God\'s perspective.  It was all good, included information I had heard before, but was good to hear again nonetheless.  And of course it mentioned the famous passage in 2 Corinthians 9:7.\r\n\r\n<em>Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.</em>\r\n\r\nThe primary message I\'ve always taken away from this verse, and the materials that talk about it, it that God loves a giver.  God loves it when we give because we\'re doing the work of the kingdom.  Giving is a necessary component and if I\'m giving, God is happy with me.\r\n\r\nBut something struck me this morning as I was reading it again.  What if I had missed that God\'s primary motivation is not the money, but my happiness.  God loves me to be in good cheer.  God is interested in my happiness, and doesn\'t want me to give unless I\'m happy about it.\r\n\r\nThat hit me like a ton of bricks.  When I\'m a giver, I feel like I\'m performing a duty.  But when I\'m cheerful, I feel like God is deeper interested in what I care about.  And that makes we want to give.','God Loves A Cheerful Giver','','publish','open','open','','god-loves-a-cheerful-giver','','','2012-04-23 13:19:34','2012-04-23 20:19:34','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6132',0,'post','',9),(6133,1,'2012-04-23 13:18:25','2012-04-23 20:18:25','','give','','inherit','open','open','','give','','','2012-04-23 13:18:25','2012-04-23 20:18:25','',6132,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/give.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6134,1,'2012-04-23 13:14:56','2012-04-23 20:14:56','Recently I was reading a book that was talking about the nature of giving from God\'s perspective.  It was all good, included information I had heard before, but was good to hear again nonetheless.  And of course it mentioned the famous passage in 2 Corinthians 9:7.\n\n<em>Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.</em>\n\nThe primary message I\'ve always taken away from this verse, and the materials that talk about it, it that God loves a giver.  God loves it when we give because we\'re doing the work of the kingdom.  Giving is a necessary component and if I\'m giving, God is happy with me.\n\nBut something struck me this morning as I was reading it again.  What if I had missed that God\'s primary motivation is not the money, but my happiness.  God loves me to be in good cheer.  God is interested in my happiness, and doesn\'t want me to give unless I\'m happy about it.\n\nThat hit me like a ton of bricks.  When I\'m a giver, I feel like I\'m performing a duty.  But when I\'m cheerful, I feel like God is deeper interested in what I care about.  And that makes we want to give.','God Loves A Cheerful Giver','','inherit','open','open','','6132-revision','','','2012-04-23 13:14:56','2012-04-23 20:14:56','',6132,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6132-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6136,38,'2012-04-23 16:42:30','2012-04-23 23:42:30','','megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip','Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral','inherit','open','open','','megachurch_flickr_iks-world-trip','','','2012-04-23 16:42:30','2012-04-23 23:42:30','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6137,38,'2012-04-23 16:45:11','2012-04-23 23:45:11','','jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs','Jesus portrayed on the cross','inherit','open','open','','jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs','','','2012-04-23 16:45:11','2012-04-23 23:45:11','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6138,38,'2012-04-23 16:44:18','2012-04-23 23:44:18','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\n\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\n\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\n\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\n\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\n\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\n\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\n\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\n\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\n<ul>\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\n</ul>\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\n\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\n\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\n\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\n\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\n\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\n\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\n\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\n\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-9','','','2012-04-23 16:44:18','2012-04-23 23:44:18','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6110-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(6139,38,'2012-04-23 16:48:13','2012-04-23 23:48:13','','cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass','A cross, a Christian symbol','inherit','open','open','','cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass','','','2012-04-23 16:48:13','2012-04-23 23:48:13','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6140,38,'2012-04-23 16:46:19','2012-04-23 23:46:19','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\n\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\n\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\n\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\n\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\n\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\n\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\n\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\n\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\n<ul>\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\n</ul>\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\n\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\n\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\n\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\n\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6137\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Jesus portrayed on the cross\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6137\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\n\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\n\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\n\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\n\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-10','','','2012-04-23 16:46:19','2012-04-23 23:46:19','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6110-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(6143,38,'2012-04-23 16:53:45','2012-04-23 23:53:45','','jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs','','inherit','open','open','','jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs-2','','','2012-04-23 16:53:45','2012-04-23 23:53:45','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6144,38,'2012-04-23 16:52:10','2012-04-23 23:52:10','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\n\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\n\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\n\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\n\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\n\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\n\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\n\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\n\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\n<ul>\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\n</ul>\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\n\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\n\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\n\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\n\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6139\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A cross, a Christian symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6139 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\n\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\n\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\n\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\n\n<em>Photo credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4035421598/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Snodgrass</a> (Cross)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-13','','','2012-04-23 16:52:10','2012-04-23 23:52:10','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6110-revision-13/',0,'revision','',0),(6141,38,'2012-04-23 16:48:41','2012-04-23 23:48:41','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6137\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Jesus portrayed on the cross\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6137\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6139\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A cross, a Christian symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6139\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4035421598/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Snodgrass</a> (Cross)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-11','','','2012-04-23 16:48:41','2012-04-23 23:48:41','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6110-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(6142,38,'2012-04-23 16:48:47','2012-04-23 23:48:47','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<sup>th</sup> Physical Education and 7<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly-emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeservingly.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6137\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Jesus portrayed on the cross\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6137\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-cross_flickr_fradaveccs-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybpdy. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6139\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A cross, a Christian symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6139\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4035421598/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Snodgrass</a> (Cross)','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-12','','','2012-04-23 16:48:47','2012-04-23 23:48:47','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6110-revision-12/',0,'revision','',0),(6145,38,'2012-04-22 13:24:07','2012-04-22 20:24:07','<div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6071\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A photo of Carl\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6071 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl Marshall, a Bahá’í gentleman from Detroit, Michigan, moved his coffee across the table. “We are in the middle of a fasting month—or actually at the very end of it—so I should probably stop eating. I think the sun rises at 7:35 today.”\r\n\r\n</div>\r\nThe Bahá\'í calendar has nineteen months with nineteen days in each month. During the last month of the year, which falls between March 2<sup>nd</sup> and March 21<sup>st</sup>, members participate in a fast very similar to Ramadan.\r\n\r\nMy first encounter with the Baha’i faith was with a gentleman that sat next to me on a plane from Orlando to Detroit. We first started talking about the book I was reading, but once I learned what religion he was a part of (how this happened, I have no idea) I asked him all sorts of questions and we talked for the remainder of the flight. It was one of the most wonderful and fascinating conversations I’ve ever had.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6092\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bahá’í Lotus Temple in Delhi, India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6092  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bahai-lotus-temple_flickr_jeeheon-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl grew up as a Christian in Detroit his mother attending Reverend C.L. Franklin’s church. He eventually moved to the Hawaiian Islands, where he became a Baha\'i in 1973. He was reading a book about comparative religion, and he said that the world’s religions seemed separate, compartmentalized, and without connection to each other. But then he met some Bahá\'í s and they explained the concept of Progressive Revelation.\r\n\r\n“What that means is that it’s just one God and one Religion, and every thousand years or so, God sends forth a new messenger, and these messengers have been the founders of the world’s great religions.”\r\n\r\nBahá\'u\'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í religion, is the most recent messenger and is the Promised One of all the religions. “So I saw the unity there, where everything is not coming from a different source, but just a different messenger that’s giving a newer revelation of the previous religion.”\r\n\r\nThe interesting thing about Progressive Revelation is that it gives The Bahá’ís the ability to learn about and appreciate each of the world religions because they are all part of a greater movement through time. “In the Bible you have the Old and New Testament. In the Bahá’í faith, Bahá\'u\'lláh’s revelation consist of the New Testament, and all the previous religions are accepted as the Old Testament.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6095\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"191\" caption=\"Two children in front of the Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6095 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/children-bahai-temple_flickr_upsilon-andromedae-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThey believe in all the major figures of religions across the world: Moses, His Holiness Christ, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, and Mohammed because they are all key messengers with a holy book from God.  Because he is The Promised One of all religions, Bahá\'u\'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the prophecies that were given throughout all of the different holy books. “Bahá\'u\'lláh didn’t come to belittle <em>any</em> religion but to unify, connect and fulfill the previous dispensations.”\r\n\r\nCarl says that this is what the world really needs right now, and in another thousand years there will be another messenger to address the next millennium’s needs, which will occur approximately in the year 2852 AD. “It has to be that way because society advances. So, for example, Moses unified the tribes; Jesus, the church and state; Mohammed, a nation; and now Bahá\'u\'lláh has come to unify the world.”\r\n\r\nMany of the spiritual principles that govern Bahá’í conduct are contained in the book called, “The Hidden Words” of Bahá\'u\'lláh. There are twelve main principles of the Bahá’í faith. One is the elimination of prejudice, and another is the equality of men and women. “It’s not just lip service; it’s one of the founding principles of our faith, and we live by that,” Carl says. There is no clergy or priest hood in the Bahá’í Faith. However elections are held on the 21<sup>st</sup> of April of each year to elect 9 individuals who consult of the teaching, and administrative affairs within their city. Individuals are elected on the basis of their service, purity of heart, and firmness in the covenant.\r\n\r\nThe 9 individuals elected form what is known as the local Spiritual Assembly. Often times women outnumber the men on local spiritual assemblies. “I believe that one reason for this, and this is my own personal opinion, is that women are more spiritually evolved than men. They suffer more and have more test and trials. The equality of women began with the Bahá’í faith. The Bahá’í faith recognized that women have just as much to offer in the way of teaching and spiritual growth as men.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6097\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mt. Carmel where the Shrine and holy scriptures are\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6097\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mt-carmel_flickr_brett-wagner-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo how do the Bahá’ís practice their faith on a daily basis? Carl says that Bahá\'u\'lláh came to renew religion and remove ritual from faith. However, they are required to fast during the last month of the Bahá’í calendar (called ‘Ala), are required to pray and read from the holy writings in every morning and night.\r\n\r\n“So, for instance, today I got up, I read from the writings and I prayed,” Carl says that according to the research department in the Holy Land the revelation of the Bab, the prophet herald of Bahá\'u\'lláh, contains almost five million words. In relation to Bahá\'u\'lláh, the role of the Bab was similar to the role of John the Baptist to Christ. The revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh contains over six million words, equivalent of more than 100 volumes.   “Being a Bahá’í is not something you do on Sunday; it’s a way of life. Since I live from a set of spiritual principles, every time I encounter someone it’s a test, as far as how you react and respond to them.”\r\n\r\nThe Bahá’í faith is one based on love. When you meet someone, Carl says that you try to show them—depending on their age and sex—the kind of love you would give to a brother, sister, father or mother.\r\n\r\nRegarding out daily life; Abdu\'l-Bahá has said; Should any one of you enter a city, he should become a center of attraction by reason of his sincerity, his faithfulness and love, his honesty and fidelity, his truthfulness and loving-kindness towards all the peoples of the world, so that the people of that city may cry out and say: \'This man is unquestionably a Bahá\'í, for his manners, his behavior, his conduct, his morals, his nature, and disposition reflect the attributes of the Bahá\'ís.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-6100\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/shrine-bab_flickr_jay-galvin-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Shrine of the Báb\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>One misconception about the Baha\'i faith is that it’s a cult. Cults are usually small groups that are governed by a radical leader who tries to isolate the group from society and tries to keep them from listening to anyone else. Yet, one of the twelve principles of the Bahá’í faith is the independent study and vetting of your faith. So, in other words, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that his books are open and that you should not believe something because someone tells you to, but because you’ve investigated and discovered the faith for yourself.\r\n\r\nAlso the Bahá’í faith is not a division of any previous religion. It is a new and independent revelation from God. The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh consist of over 100 volumes which are located on God’s holy mountain; Mt. Carmel in Haifa Israel.\r\n\r\nOne of the things Carl loves about being a Bahá’í is the fasting because it has nothing to do with losing weight. “It’s designed to purify the heart and cleanse the soul. And so what happens when you fast is you become detached and it increases your spiritual awareness, which allows for the other thing I love about it which is the understanding of religion in general. You reach a point of certitude where you understand how everything is connected together. Things have a deeper meaning.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6102\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Dome of Light in the Bahai Temple, North of Chicago\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6102\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe way his faith has helped Carl through difficult times in his life is by strengthening his faith. “Basically, a ‘difficult time’ is a test. So, say for instance someone was saying something mean or inappropriate to me. I can react the old way or the Baha\'i way. Bahá\'u\'lláh says there is always a choice. The Bahá’í way is to forgive the person, and ultimately get to the point where it doesn’t bother me anymore. A difficult time is a test used to perfect my character. I know that whatever happens, everything is temporary. So, I think I can make it. I can get through this stuff.”\r\n\r\nGlobally, the Bahá’í practices are consistent, so anywhere in the world you go, the Bahá\'ís will have the same four types of gatherings.\r\n<ol start=\"1\">\r\n	<li>The Devotional Gathering is designed to connect hearts through prayer. They are designed to be a bit more social so people have a way to connect with the larger community and find a home in this tumultuous world. Often times a devotional gathering leads to a Fireside. These take place in the home and during the Fireside a short talk is presented on the Bahá’í Faith and then the floor for questions.</li>\r\n	<li>Study Circles are open to all, and often take place in the home. Course material is based on the revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh. The first Study Circle deals with Prayer, the soul and the afterlife.</li>\r\n	<li>Junior youth classes are available.</li>\r\n	<li>Children’s classes are offered. The goal is to establish more through the metro Detroit area, although some people are not very receptive to them since they are not Christian.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nAs far as the afterlife, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that your soul is destined to undergo a spiritual evolution until it attains the presence of God. This spiritual evolution is eternal.” Quoting from Abdu\'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá\'u\'lláh, Carl says, “When you die, your soul is plunged in the ocean of God’s mercy. Your behavior in this life and the decisions you make impacts your station in eternity. The degree of purity you attain in this world determines where you start in the afterlife.”\r\n\r\nBut what happens to those who don’t become a Bahá\'í? Are there consequences?  “Well, there isn’t any place where you go and you burn.” Carl says. According to the Bahá’í writings “The spiritual meaning of burning in hell refers to the burning desire to be closer to the creator. Those who choose to ignore Bahá\'u\'lláh in this life will be remote from him in the afterlife. I would define hell as acute and grievous remorse for not recognizing the promised one. This remorse is eternal due to remoteness from God.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6088\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The symbol for the Bahá&#039;í Faith (Wikimedia Commons)\"]<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6088 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/400px-Bahai_star-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing I noticed immediately about the Bahá’í faith is the emphasis on unity. I love the fact that two of their main pillars of faith are the elimination of prejudice and the equality of men and women. It’s not just something they try to do when they are in the mood, but it’s something that their faith is built upon.\r\n\r\nAnother thing that I find beautiful is the fact that they have a way of valuing all the different religions. To them, there is a thread running through all of history. Humanity has a greater story than divisions between rival religious factions, arguments between different denominations, or religiously perpetrated bigotry. Humanity has a beautiful story that is being continually shaped and is still growing and changing.\r\n\r\nCarl was extremely kind and very open to any questions I had. He corrected me a couple of times when I got nervous over a stupid question by saying “No, no question is stupid!” Even since our conversation I have emailed him about other things and he has taken the time to answer all of them, and has told me any time I have other questions he will set aside time to talk to me.\r\n\r\nI look forward to future conversations and appreciate him taking time to share his story and his faith with me.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Carl Marshall for his kindness, generosity, and for meeting with me to share his faith with me.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/35176612@N03/3755376430/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">random exposure</a> (Shrine of the Báb and Bahá\'í Gardens), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jeeheon</a> (Bahai Lotus Temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Upsilon Andromedae</a> (siblings at the Shrine), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">brett.wagner</a> (view from Mt. Carmel), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jay galvin</a> (Shrine of the <em>Báb), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctot_non_def/1434223112/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ctot_not_def</a> (Dome of Light)</em> <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (the symbol for the Bahá\'í faith)</em>','Faith Interview Series: The Bahá\'í Faith','','inherit','open','open','','6068-revision-16','','','2012-04-22 13:24:07','2012-04-22 20:24:07','',6068,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6068-revision-16/',0,'revision','',0),(6146,38,'2012-04-23 16:59:09','2012-04-23 23:59:09','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\n\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\n\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple of years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th</span> Physical Education and 7<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th </span>and 8<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th</span> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\n\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\n\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\n\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\n\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\n\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\n\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\n<ul>\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipotent (all-powerful)</li>\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeserving.</li>\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\n</ul>\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\n\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\n\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\n\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Fallwell or Rick Santorum represent everybody. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\n\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6139\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A cross, a Christian symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6139 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\n\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spinobifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\n\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\n\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people that are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Sqare: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\n\n<em>Photo credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4035421598/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Snodgrass</a> (Cross)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-14','','','2012-04-23 16:59:09','2012-04-23 23:59:09','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6110-revision-14/',0,'revision','',0),(6149,38,'2012-04-23 17:02:41','2012-04-24 00:02:41','Rabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\n\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\n\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\n\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\n\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\n\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through\">is</span> appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\n\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\n\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\n\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\n\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\n\n<strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong>\n<ol>\n	<li>God exists</li>\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\n</ol>\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\n\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\n\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\n\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\n\n<strong>Holidays</strong>\n\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\n\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\n\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\n\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\n\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\n\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\n\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\n\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\n\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-2','','','2012-04-23 17:02:41','2012-04-24 00:02:41','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6150,38,'2012-04-23 17:14:42','2012-04-24 00:14:42','[caption id=\"attachment_6148\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6148\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\n\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\n\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\n\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\n\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\n\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through\">is</span> appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\n\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\n\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\n\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\n\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\n\n<strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong>\n<ol>\n	<li>God exists</li>\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\n</ol>\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\n\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\n\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\n\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\n\n<strong>Holidays</strong>\n\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\n\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\n\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\n\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\n\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\n\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\n\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\n\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\n\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-3','','','2012-04-23 17:14:42','2012-04-24 00:14:42','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6151,38,'2012-04-23 17:20:58','2012-04-24 00:20:58','Synagogue of PÃ©cs - Hungary','Thing, City - Hungary','Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary','inherit','open','open','','thing-city-hungary','','','2012-04-23 17:20:58','2012-04-24 00:20:58','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6154,38,'2012-04-23 17:18:56','2012-04-24 00:18:56','[caption id=\"attachment_6148\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6148\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through\">is</span> appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h3>About Judaism</h3>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h3><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n\r\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\r\n\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h3><strong>Holidays</strong></h3>\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary),','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-4','','','2012-04-23 17:18:56','2012-04-24 00:18:56','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6155,38,'2012-04-23 17:27:06','2012-04-24 00:27:06','','nazareth_flickr_chatham-university','A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900','inherit','open','open','','nazareth_flickr_chatham-university','','','2012-04-23 17:27:06','2012-04-24 00:27:06','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6156,38,'2012-04-23 17:24:44','2012-04-24 00:24:44','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h3>About Judaism</h3>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h3><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n\r\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\r\n\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h3><strong>Holidays</strong></h3>\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary),','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-5','','','2012-04-23 17:24:44','2012-04-24 00:24:44','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(6157,38,'2012-04-23 17:32:04','2012-04-24 00:32:04','','synagoge_flickr_parissharing','A synagogue in Budapest','inherit','open','open','','synagoge_flickr_parissharing','','','2012-04-23 17:32:04','2012-04-24 00:32:04','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6158,38,'2012-04-23 17:35:22','2012-04-24 00:35:22','','wailing-wall_flickr_david_shankbone','','inherit','open','open','','wailing-wall_flickr_david_shankbone','','','2012-04-23 17:35:22','2012-04-24 00:35:22','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/wailing-wall_flickr_david_shankbone.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6159,38,'2012-04-23 17:28:29','2012-04-24 00:28:29','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h3>About Judaism</h3>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6155\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6155\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university-300x281.jpg\" alt=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h3><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n\r\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\r\n\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h3><strong>Holidays</strong></h3>\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/14599621@N02/4185625144/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Chatham University JKM Library</a> (Nazareth),','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-6','','','2012-04-23 17:28:29','2012-04-24 00:28:29','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(6160,38,'2012-04-23 17:43:59','2012-04-24 00:43:59','','rabbi_flickr_molotalk','A Rabbi in traditional dress','inherit','open','open','','rabbi_flickr_molotalk','','','2012-04-23 17:43:59','2012-04-24 00:43:59','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6161,38,'2012-04-23 17:47:33','2012-04-24 00:47:33','','star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis','A Star of David, a symbol of Judaism','inherit','open','open','','star-david_flickr_klearchos-kapoutsis','','','2012-04-23 17:47:33','2012-04-24 00:47:33','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6162,38,'2012-04-23 17:36:40','2012-04-24 00:36:40','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h3>About Judaism</h3>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6155\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6155\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university-300x281.jpg\" alt=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h3><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6157\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A synagogue in Budapest\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6157\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n\r\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\r\n\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h3><strong>Holidays</strong></h3>\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/3380936274/\" target=\"_blank\">david_shankbone</a> (A Jew kissing the Wailing Wall) <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/14599621@N02/4185625144/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Chatham University JKM Library</a> (Nazareth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/parisharing/6809648392/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ParisSharing</a> (synagogue in Budapest)','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-7','','','2012-04-23 17:36:40','2012-04-24 00:36:40','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(6163,38,'2012-04-23 17:48:01','2012-04-24 00:48:01','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h3>About Judaism</h3>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6155\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6155\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university-300x281.jpg\" alt=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h3><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6157\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A synagogue in Budapest\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6157\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6160\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Rabbi in traditional dress\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6160\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\r\n\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h3><strong>Holidays</strong></h3>\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Star of David, a symbol of Judaism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6161\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/3380936274/\" target=\"_blank\">david_shankbone</a> (A Jew kissing the Wailing Wall) <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/14599621@N02/4185625144/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Chatham University JKM Library</a> (Nazareth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/parisharing/6809648392/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ParisSharing</a> (synagogue in Budapest), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/molotalk/5895823303/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">molotalk</a> (Rabbi), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/klearchos/3065649911/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Klearchos Kapoutsis</a> (Star of David)','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-8','','','2012-04-23 17:48:01','2012-04-24 00:48:01','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(6164,38,'2012-04-23 17:50:04','2012-04-24 00:50:04','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h3>About Judaism</h3>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6155\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6155\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university-300x281.jpg\" alt=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h3><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6157\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A synagogue in Budapest\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6157\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6160\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Rabbi in traditional dress\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6160\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\r\n\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h3><strong>Holidays</strong></h3>\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical rein in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites rededicating the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Star of David, a symbol of Judaism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6161\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/3380936274/\" target=\"_blank\">david_shankbone</a> (A Jew kissing the Wailing Wall) <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/14599621@N02/4185625144/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Chatham University JKM Library</a> (Nazareth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/parisharing/6809648392/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ParisSharing</a> (synagogue in Budapest), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/molotalk/5895823303/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">molotalk</a> (Rabbi), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/klearchos/3065649911/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Klearchos Kapoutsis</a> (Star of David)','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-9','','','2012-04-23 17:50:04','2012-04-24 00:50:04','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(6165,38,'2012-04-23 17:53:40','2012-04-24 00:53:40','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h3>About Judaism</h3>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6155\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6155\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university-300x281.jpg\" alt=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h3><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6157\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A synagogue in Budapest\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6157\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6160\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Rabbi in traditional dress\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6160\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.\r\n\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h3><strong>Holidays</strong></h3>\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical reign in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites\' rededication the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Star of David, a symbol of Judaism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6161\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/3380936274/\" target=\"_blank\">david_shankbone</a> (A Jew kissing the Wailing Wall) <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/14599621@N02/4185625144/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Chatham University JKM Library</a> (Nazareth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/parisharing/6809648392/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ParisSharing</a> (synagogue in Budapest), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/molotalk/5895823303/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">molotalk</a> (Rabbi), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/klearchos/3065649911/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Klearchos Kapoutsis</a> (Star of David)','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-10','','','2012-04-23 17:53:40','2012-04-24 00:53:40','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6108-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(6166,38,'2012-05-21 08:00:31','2012-05-21 15:00:31','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6170\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A mosque in Ghadames\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out-of-bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Allah-Christian-Response-Miroslav-Volf/dp/0061927082/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335241235&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\">Allah: A Christian Response</a>”. It was such a successful course that they will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and they will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n<blockquote>One gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman who I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>halal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6742\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi with her cousin\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/meee.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6742\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/meee-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affects almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6181\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Muslim women out on the town with friends\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6181\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n<blockquote>I do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n<blockquote>Muslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"105\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\" wp-image-6178 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"105\" height=\"105\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you ask a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n<blockquote>One of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim man praying\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><strong>\"Hindus worship cows?\" No, not exactly. Hear why from our next interviewee, Padma Kuppa, a Hindu and Patheos blogger from Troy, Michigan.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Muslim','','publish','open','open','','faith-interview-series-muslim','','','2012-05-21 10:08:55','2012-05-21 17:08:55','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6166',0,'post','',10),(6167,38,'2012-04-23 18:10:32','2012-04-24 01:10:32','','mosque-sunset_flickr_hashmil','','inherit','open','open','','mosque-sunset_flickr_hashmil','','','2012-04-23 18:10:32','2012-04-24 01:10:32','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-sunset_flickr_hashmil.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6168,38,'2012-04-23 18:10:11','2012-04-24 01:10:11','Saeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\n\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\n\n“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing a length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\n\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\n\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote “I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\n\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\n\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\n\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\n\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\n\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\n\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\n<h2>Islam and Terroism</h2>\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\n\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\n\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\n\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\n\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\n\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are both remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around is incredibly smart.\n\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Kahn and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\n\nPhoto credit: Flickr / hashmil (Mosque)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision','','','2012-04-23 18:10:11','2012-04-24 01:10:11','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6169,38,'2012-04-23 18:12:48','2012-04-24 01:12:48','','tubarizvi','Tuba Rizvi','inherit','open','open','','tubarizvi','','','2012-04-23 18:12:48','2012-04-24 01:12:48','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6170,38,'2012-04-23 18:14:03','2012-04-24 01:14:03','','mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley','','inherit','open','open','','mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley','','','2012-04-23 18:14:03','2012-04-24 01:14:03','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6171,38,'2012-04-23 18:12:11','2012-04-24 01:12:11','Saeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\n\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\n\n“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing a length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\n\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\n\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote “I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\n\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\n\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\n\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\n\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\n\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\n\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\n<h2>Islam and Terroism</h2>\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\n\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\n\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\n\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\n\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\n\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are both remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around is incredibly smart.\n\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Kahn and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\n\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-2','','','2012-04-23 18:12:11','2012-04-24 01:12:11','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6172,38,'2012-04-23 18:19:49','2012-04-24 01:19:49','','S.Khan photo','Saeed Khan','inherit','open','open','','s-khan-photo','','','2012-04-23 18:19:49','2012-04-24 01:19:49','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6173,38,'2012-04-23 18:19:18','2012-04-24 01:19:18','Saeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\n\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-6170\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\n\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\n\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\n\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\n\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\n\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\n\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\n\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\n\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\n\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\n\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\n\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\n\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\n\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\n\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-3','','','2012-04-23 18:19:18','2012-04-24 01:19:18','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6174,38,'2012-04-23 18:25:48','2012-04-24 01:25:48','','quran_flickr_insansains','The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures','inherit','open','open','','quran_flickr_insansains','','','2012-04-23 18:25:48','2012-04-24 01:25:48','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6175,38,'2012-04-23 18:20:22','2012-04-24 01:20:22','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n\r\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n\r\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n\r\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n\r\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-4','','','2012-04-23 18:20:22','2012-04-24 01:20:22','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6176,38,'2012-04-23 18:26:41','2012-04-24 01:26:41','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n\r\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Qur&#039;an, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n\r\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n\r\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n\r\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission),','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-5','','','2012-04-23 18:26:41','2012-04-24 01:26:41','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(6177,38,'2012-04-23 18:32:45','2012-04-24 01:32:45','','muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm','A Muslim woman and her boy','inherit','open','open','','muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm','','','2012-04-23 18:32:45','2012-04-24 01:32:45','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6178,38,'2012-04-23 18:35:44','2012-04-24 01:35:44','','star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons','The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam','inherit','open','open','','star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons','','','2012-04-23 18:35:44','2012-04-24 01:35:44','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(6179,38,'2012-04-23 18:38:05','2012-04-24 01:38:05','110820-N-TH989-166: Lt. Asif I. Balbale, the chaplain for Assault Amphibian School Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendelton, Calif., prays by himself at the Afghan Cultural Center aboard Camp Leatherneck, Helmand province, Aug. 17. During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Balbale ministered to Muslims throughout the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.','Muslim chaplain ministers at Camp Leatherneck during Ramadan','','inherit','open','open','','muslim-chaplain-ministers-at-camp-leatherneck-during-ramadan','','','2012-04-23 18:38:05','2012-04-24 01:38:05','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6180,38,'2012-04-23 18:28:38','2012-04-24 01:28:38','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n\r\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n\r\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n\r\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n\r\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission),','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-6','','','2012-04-23 18:28:38','2012-04-24 01:28:38','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(6181,38,'2012-04-23 18:40:43','2012-04-24 01:40:43','','muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation','Muslim women out on the town with friends','inherit','open','open','','muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation','','','2012-04-23 18:40:43','2012-04-24 01:40:43','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6182,38,'2012-04-23 18:38:21','2012-04-24 01:38:21','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n\r\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n\r\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n\r\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6178\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n\r\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>One thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-7','','','2012-04-23 18:38:21','2012-04-24 01:38:21','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(6183,38,'2012-04-23 18:41:20','2012-04-24 01:41:20','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out of bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n\r\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman that I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school as an exchange student.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>hallal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully-practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6181\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Muslim women out on the town with friends\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6181\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n\r\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n\r\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6178\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n\r\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim man praying\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-8','','','2012-04-23 18:41:20','2012-04-24 01:41:20','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(6184,38,'2012-04-23 18:44:19','2012-04-24 01:44:19','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out-of-bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n\r\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman who I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>halal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6181\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Muslim women out on the town with friends\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6181\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n\r\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n\r\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6178\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n\r\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim man praying\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-9','','','2012-04-23 18:44:19','2012-04-24 01:44:19','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(6185,38,'2012-05-21 10:08:35','2012-05-21 17:08:35','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6170\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A mosque in Ghadames\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out-of-bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Allah-Christian-Response-Miroslav-Volf/dp/0061927082/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335241235&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\">Allah: A Christian Response</a>”. It was such a successful course that they will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and they will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n<blockquote>One gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman who I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>halal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6742\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi with her cousin\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/meee.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6742\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/meee-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affects almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6181\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Muslim women out on the town with friends\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6181\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n<blockquote>I do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n<blockquote>Muslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"105\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\" wp-image-6178 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"105\" height=\"105\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you ask a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n<blockquote>One of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim man praying\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><strong>\"Hindus worship cows?\" No, not exactly. Hear why from our next interviewee, Padma Kuppa, a Hindu and Patheos blogger from Troy, Michigan.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Muslim','','inherit','open','open','','6166-autosave','','','2012-05-21 10:08:35','2012-05-21 17:08:35','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(6186,38,'2012-04-23 18:44:31','2012-04-24 01:44:31','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out-of-bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “Allah: A Christian Response”. It was such a successful course that will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n\r\nOne gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman who I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>halal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affected almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6181\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Muslim women out on the town with friends\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6181\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n\r\nI do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n\r\nMuslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6178\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n\r\nOne of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim man praying\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\nPhoto credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-10','','','2012-04-23 18:44:31','2012-04-24 01:44:31','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6166-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),