I wear a cross. It is about one inch tall and 3/4 inch wide. It is silver and hangs on a silver chain. Outside of that cross, no one could look at me and say "Oh, that is a Christian. She believes in God. She accepted Jesus as her Savior. She is in a current, ongoing relationship with God." Even with the cross, most people wouldn't jump to that conclusion because this is America. Land of the free, home of the brave, and welcoming to everyone. But mostly, this is America, a majority Christian nation. And a cross around my neck on a silver chain is an accessory.
Growing up with my parents in ministry, and being in church leadership myself, I have never had to wear my religion on the outside. I have never been criticized for being Christian. However, my spiritual experience has influenced me as a woman. I percieve the world differently because of my religious upbringing, because of the spiritual beliefs I have held for so many years. Maybe not all Christians are like I am, but I have been brought up to believe that Christians hold the patent on "right", and everyone else can literally "go to hell." I mean, to dig down deeper, even Christian subcultures are condemned within the larger, mostly Protestant, Christian community I have experienced. (Again, not speaking for everyone here, just myself.)
This brought to mind some questions for me, in the arena of spirituality and being a woman:
How DO our spiritual and religious beliefs impact us as women?
How do they change our perceptions of the world around us?
Are those impacts the same accross the board, regardless of what religion you choose?
Are we all experiencing the same thing in a different environment?
And, more importantly, are we all experiencing the same God in a different context?
I am currently doing an experiment. Call it research for my next writing project. Call it research into women's belief systems and humanity in general. Call it research into my own core belief system. For the next few months, I will be speaking to women from all walks of life, from all ages and races, and from all religions about why they made the spiritual choice they made, in hopes of finding out specifically how religion impacts women in all phases of life in American culture.
As part of this project, I will be living the religions I am studying. Not to say I'm going to convert to Judaism, or Islam, or Buddhism for 30 days a piece, but to say that, as I worship my God and Creator, I hope to experience Him in a different way by seeing him from the perspective of others. Because all of these religions I will be looking at worship one God, and from the looks of it, it is the God who created the world, the God who made Adam and Eve... and last time I checked, that was MY God.
Talking to other women, experiencing their level of devotion and discipline in their relationship with God, whether I pray to their God or mine, will help me better understand my God, I think, and will give me a better picture of what truly empowers women around this country about their spirituality.
The first 30 days of this experiment will be Islam, and I will be living as a traditional Muslim woman - observing prayer times, wearing the hijab, and abstaining from alcohol and pork products. I have never worn my religion on the outside. I have never been judged on site by the majority of the people I come in contact with. Heck, I have never been a minority! I will be talking to Muslim women about their perspective on God and how it shapes them. After Islam, I plan to explore the other 5 major religions within American culture.
I don't know what will happen after that. Maybe I will have achieved enlightenment. LOL. Maybe I will have made everyone around me think that I'm completely nuts (now THAT one isn't too far off). Maybe I just will have made alot of people mad.
But, I welcome your input and opinions. I welcome your questions and insights. I am interested in hearing most about your perspective on God... because, after all, that is what this is all about.
As an afterthought and to address a question I would have asked myself - I realize that religion and relationship with God are not synonymous. I know that you can not be a Christian, but go to church. I realize that you can wear a wedding ring and not respect or live within the confines of a marriage... my point is that in this nation, the majority of people who claim to have a relationship with God do so within the context of "religion" as I have done, in Christianity. Therefore, as a point of reference, I am using religion as my medium to understand cultural and personal perspectives of God, in different contexts than my own.
Additionally, I never write about things that don't move me personally, but this is about women as a whole, and about our experiences as American women, not about myself as much, or my own search, although searching myself is intrinsic in connecting with women in different religious cultures.
This is really intriguing, sister. I'm calling you "sister", as one Muslim woman always does to another. I find this project quite fascinating in so many ways and I am wondering if, during this first 30 days of Islam, are you learning to pray salaat 5 times per day as Muslims do? I remember back, prior to when I embraced Islam, that I learned the ritual of prayer "the Muslim way", experiencing the discipline of it for the first time. It was really life altering for me, as it was the first time that God became the focus of most of my daily thoughts and actions. IT became a practice of recentering my concentration toward the point of ideally engaging in all thoughts and actions in God's name and with the love and dedication he expects from me. I am still working at it. Certainly perfection would be tough to fully achieve, but I hope to continue to reorient myself more and more that way each day. Peace and blessings to you in this endeavor.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Most Muslims I know seems to feel that the gelatin in marshmellows has gone through particular processing that the filth is not present in the final product and it is no longer haram. :) But they are still pretty bad for all of us.
Thanks for your comment!!! I am certainly honored that you call me sister! :-) I did not know that about marshmellows, but yes, I will be praying salaat and doing everything else according to Muslim protocol, as much as I know that to be! :-)
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