Eating with people of another faith

We have a Wednesday night worship gathering at our church – prayer and song, in-depth Bible study or engagement around a justice issue, and sometimes a meal. Last night we did something a little different. We invited a small group of Muslim people to share a potluck dinner with us, and to tell us of their experience of being a Muslim in Newcastle.

It was a great night – good food, animated conversation, some probing questions from both communities, and the first step in building friendships between people seeking to speak of God in a largely secular community.

Such conversations are a wonderful way to break down stereotypes – on both sides – and to appreciate the enormous social and religious diversity which exists within both religious communities.

The Muslim community has had trouble getting permission to build a new Mosque, and it is clear that some of the opposition grows out of fear, prejudice, and media stereotypes. Some churches have opposed the Mosque and people’s religious freedom, and others have been supportive. We shared our sense of how much the culture has changed in recent years, and how much less supportive the local Council was when we built our new building than it would have been in the past. Councils are trapped inside an economic world-view that has little space for the common good and social capital.

One of the things we recognized is that both communities are seeking to worship, share their faith, and live faithful lives in not just a secular society but one that increasingly says that being religious is distinctly ‘uncool.’ There is a growing atheist opposition to all religious communities.

We also recognized that we are both uncomfortable with the past ethos of our society that said that religion is a private and personal thing with no place in the public sphere, and that all people owe their absolute loyalty to the state. We believe that faith is a public thing that touches all of our life. We have a need to explain that we are loyal citizens, but there is a limit to that loyalty – when it contradicts our loyalty to God. The desires of the state and the plans of God are not necessarily the same.