#strangelywarm

Days 1 + 2

This is my first time in a predominantly English-speaking foreign country. Even when I go to Canada, I go to Québec and ils parlent le français. Needless to say, I find myself more uncomfortable as an English speaker here than I do anywhere else I have been! Must be worried about my Upstate NY accent!

After a 1.5 hour busride from Heathrow, we arrived in Salisbury. I did little to no research about the places that we were going on this trip. For one, I am treating this class as a pilgrimage and simply wanted to receive the experiences that awaited. For two, I am so much of a francophile that I never really got into English history or culture. That said, I am glad that I did not study the geography ahead of time.

Salisbury is a very old city with a medieval feel. It is the only city in England that has maintained its “close” or fortified walls. These walls enclose several expensive houses, Sarum College (where we are staying), a house full of Benedictine monks and the enormous Salisbury Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. This massive house of worship was built over 900 years ago during the 12th century. It is cruciform, like most European cathedrals, and has the tallest remaining steeple in England.

Worshipping at such an impressive church can be intimidating. I am reminded of the summer I spent with my grandparents in New Hampshire as a child. I attended their church, Ste. Marie’s, which is rather ornate (not quite 12th century status but almost!). During these times at Ste. Marie’s, I would be totally overwhelmed by the aesthetics: ceiling paintings, statues, incense, candles, etc. At Salisbury Cathedral, I am overwhelmed by the acoustics. There is always a choir of young boys or girls who help lead each Evensong worship. Their voices fill the space wonderfully. I finally know why past choir conductors have always hounded me about pronunciation; space just eats up consonants. Today, I sat towards the back and just heard a cosmic blend of the melody and harmonies. They acted as a gateway to the beauty of God and invited me to be a part of it.

I really enjoy the high liturgy that this Anglican cathedral provides. It is all from the Book of Common Prayer that has been used since the 16th century. It accounts for several worship and prayer services each day and provides both scriptural passages and prayers. My one issue so far is that there is no space for the congregation to be involved! I enjoy the opportunity to be silent before God and I see its benefits, but it is hard to not feel a bit voyeuristic here. This is not because I am from somewhere else or because the clergy do not welcome guests, but rather because I have minimal ways to participate and feel at home. Although, during today Matin eucharist service, there was a passing of the peace where I was welcomed. Still, I do miss congregational hymns and sung responses. After all, the Wesleys wrote so many hymns so the people could sing them! Still, I think many United Methodist churches could benefit from using a very intentionally organized order of worship like the Book of Common Prayer, especially for implementing services outside of traditional Sunday morning.

That is all for now! Going to Oxford tomorrow so expect an update!


Salisbury Cathedral (cred. A. Fatta)

Also, you can follow the experiences of myself and other VDS classmates on twitter via #strangelywarm

P.S. Not so secretly excited about all the Harry Potter stuff around Oxford!

What is wrong with As-Salaam-Alaikum, Nashville?

So, what is the big deal? More Muslims are moving into the United States and those who have been here now are starting families and their children are starting families. An influx of Muslims into the United States makes perfect, logical sense to me. I mean, just look at the numbers. THERE ARE OVER 1 BILLION MUSLIMS IN THE WORLD. As the Muslim population grows, their houses of worship are bursting at their seams. For my Christian friends, imagine a Christmas or Easter crowd every week in a small church. Nashville area mosques are experiencing this space crunch now and some Nashvillians and other Middle Tennesseans are reacting in a less than desirable manner.

So, Middle Tennessee's Muslim communities are looking to expand their mosques or build new facilities. In Brentwood, efforts were halted for a variety of mundane reasons. Traffic lights. Zoning issues. Religious Institutions do not pay taxes. Of course, these were not the only issues that the people of Brentwood had with the construction of a new mosque. As people were interviewed, true fears emerged. People fear Islamic fundamentalism and some were not afraid to speak up. Some claimed that they new what happened in mosques: terrorist training, plots to proselytize, etc. The same thing happened in Murfreesboro but only after the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was granted the right to build their larger facility. People are being quite vocal about their hate.

What gives, Nashville? I can understand wariness towards Islam after 9/11 but most terrorist organizations would not go through City Hall to get a building permit for their terrorist training facility. It's not their style. Muslims have been in Middle Tennessee since the 1960s when immigration quotas were lifted. Many in the Nashville community have started families here, began careers and provide many of society's necessary services as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and others who make our city tick. These families have every right to worship in a peaceful manner in a facility that provides adequate space for all people. It is not like these Muslims are asking for the capital to build. They have the money and the resources; they just need the opportunity.

Sadly, many of those who oppose the mosque projects claim the title Christian or a follower of Jesus Christ and they use biblical "ammo" to fortify their hateful views. What happened to radical hospitality? Loving neighbor? Or even secular values of being simply civil with one another? Have we, as Christians, lost our way? In this situation, both sides are lost. Those who oppose the construction are not being hospitable nor neighborly whereas the rest of us are remaining silent most of the time. We need to click the Refresh button on our faith and reevaluate what it is that Jesus stood for.

At an interfaith function at the Islamic Center of Nashville, the new Imam made it clear that his congregation was a welcoming one as he invited us to share a meal with him. The president of the Center said one thing that struck me: "If the people of faith care about justice, justice has to be spread to everybody. We are saying to our neighbors, 'Get to know us.'" This gave me clarity and purpose. My faith is about justice. It can be about helping Muslims gain the right to build a new mosque but by no means is that all. It is about feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, being radically hospitable but that is not all of it. There are injustices in this world that I cannot imagine but an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality is not helpful. What is helpful is recognizing the injustices that are right under your nose and fixing them.

Nashville, this injustice is right under your nose. What are you doing about it? Get up. Get active. Let the city know that you cannot stand for the marginalization of the Muslim communities. Write letters to the newspapers. Alert your political representatives. Do not let those who are spreading messages of hate hog the media. You have a voice too. Use it.

I rarely look to the Daily Show for substantive...well...anything, but this clip, I think, paints a pretty accurate picture of what is going on in Nashville.

RT

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

One of my dearest friends, Caitlin, is interning in NYC this summer. Her roommate is outta control nutty. She has started a blog to record her experiences through a mundane hermeneutic: the bathroom or as the French would say, le W.C.

Staying clean is a very deep issue in a lot of different traditions, which is how I have rationalized linking her blog here. And it is hilarious! Happy reading and I cannot wait to see what the future holds with this blogging gem!

AF

Some Ridiculous Political Commentary

Apparently, some Tennesseans enjoy their handguns. Owning them is not enough though. Obviously, the public spaces where one could carry said handgun should expand, right? WTF?!

Well, Gov. Breedsen had vetoed a bill that would allow handguns to be carried into restaurants that served alcohol. Well, that seems like a logical decision, if you ask me. The bill says that those carrying handguns are not allowed to drink but that could be difficult to enforce and even they do not drink, they would still be surrounded by drunk people and drunken antics. Needless to say, sober or not, bars are not the environment where firearms should be present. Hell, there should probably be padded walls in some bars.

Yesterday, the House and Senate of TN overrode the Governor's veto. Restaurants and bar owners can prohibit handguns in their establishment by putting up a sign that says so.

Regardless of being able to opt out of the law...WTF!? Who in their right mind thinks its okay to bring firearms into bars? If you have to fight in a bar, take it outside. Sans handguns, s'il vous plait.

[tennessean]

Türkiye, why hast thou forsaken me?

I have had a special relationship with Turkey since I traveled there in 2007 on an interfaith travel study with Jewish, Christian and Muslim students. So, when recent stories about violence in Turkey have been in the news recently, my heart sank. When I was there (granted, I was only in 2 cities, Istanbul and Izmir), it seemed to be an understanding, secular society where religion was protected but definitely not promoted. Large churches and synagogues were not destroyed by Ottomans, but were instead built around, making them accessible still today.

When this story crossed through my Google Reader, my heart sank yet again. Now, I have no idea who this Bishop is, what he stands for or what he has done homicide should never be a solution. The worst part is that his driver, whom he had a working relationship with for many years, is the number one suspect.

This recent escalation of violence in Turkey is definitely not looked positively on by the rest of the world. As small as chances were for Turkey to be admitted into the European Union, they are continuing to diminish. I know Turkey to be a beautiful, understanding and, at the very least, tolerant (most of you know I hate that word) nation filled with people who are dependable, hardworking and hospitable.

What is up, Turkey?

[NYT]

BACK!

Since it is summer, I figured I might as well give blogging another shot. Expect more!

I'll start with something light yet interesting nonetheless. When Copernicus claimed that the all celestial spheres do not revolve around the Earth and, instead, revolve around the Sun, the Church got pissed. They ended up burying him in an unmarked grave and denoting him as an enemy of the Church. Mind you, Copernicus remained a rather faithful member of the Church.

Well, it only took 500 years, but Copernicus is finally receiving a proper burial. Polish scientists (yes, Church, much to your chagrin, they have a title now!) have unearthed the body and used DNA identification to prove it was him. Then, he was given a proper funeral in the cathedral where he served as a canon.

Copernicus, I am glad you have received what was due. Better late than never, I suppose.

Got Published by the Vanderbilt Hustler

I wrote a letter to the editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler, the main student newspaper here, in response to the vandalism at Al-Farooq Mosque. Here is the text and the link to the web publication:

To the Editor:

In response to the despicable vandalism that occurred last Wednesday night at the Al-Farooq Mosque, I would like to offer a call to action to all students within the Vanderbilt community and to the greater Nashville community as well. We cannot ignore acts of vandalism like this and we should pledge to work with each other and the greater Nashville community to prevent them in the future.

As a Christian and a future religious leader, I deem it wholly necessary to respond to this incident. An attack on the Muslim community is an attack to my own religious community and to anyone who believes in religious freedom. The destruction of anything sacred is unacceptable. An incident like this is antithetical to not only my Christian faith and convictions but also as a student at Vanderbilt University and a resident of Nashville. I cannot be idle when the security and wellbeing of another religious community is at stake. No person should remain idle: Christian and Hindu, Muslim and Jew, and non-believer.

A line has been drawn. People of faith and non-believers who seek to build a safe, understanding and cooperative world are on one side and bigots on the other. The line is dividing citizens who strive for peace with each other and radicals who carry out campaigns, like the aforementioned, to suffocate anyone who does not believe, live or look exactly how they do.

The duty of an interfaith leader, who can be anyone who believes in peace and cooperation between religious and non-religious communities, is not to just respond to these events as they happen but work towards preventing them. We all have a responsibility in this type of interfaith work. I am committed this year to helping build that beloved community through Mosaic, the interfaith student group at the Divinity School, but I hope that many of you today will articulate to your own communities why such acts of vandalism are affronts to us all: people of faith and those with no faith. Anyone who wishes to strive for justice, I encourage you to send me an email. Mosaic and other students from Vanderbilt and Belmont worked to clean the Al-Farooq Mosque, but you can still get involved. Mosaic is raising money to help them invest in a new security system and also planning a number of service projects and other programs that will educate others on the importance of working together towards a greater good.

As students, we have a voice that can enact change. I think it is time that we speak against bigotry and ignorance, with words and with actions.

Join the cause.

Anthony Fatta
Community Service Chair of Mosaic
1st year, Vanderbilt Divinity School

Vanderbilt Hustler