This post was originally published on Word In Black.
With the country so politically divided these days, it’s hard to find consensus on anything. So it seems counterintuitive to decide that a book of essays centered on religion — one of the most contentious subjects in American life — could help unify the nation.
Yet that’s exactly the premise of a new book of essays in which practitioners and experts in some of the world’s most popular theologies use their faith as the fabric for a new American story: one that is diverse, tolerant and inclusive. And that story includes spirituality that extends beyond Christianity and Judaism.
The book, “Religious Perspectives on the Narratives of America: The Search for Just, Honest, Inclusive and Forward-Looking Tellings,” is a collection of 11 essays from scholars, writers, clerics, and thinkers steeped in or practicing different faiths. It was jointly commissioned by the Aspen Institute’s Religion and Society Program’s Racial Justice and Religion Collective and the Bahá’í Faith’s U.S. Office of Public Affairs.
Many Beliefs, One Message
Described as “a collection of essays from contributors from Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Bahá’í, Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities,” the book is intended to “(invite) readers into a vision of America with forward-looking narratives through the lens of racial justice and religion,” according to an Aspen Institute statement about the book’s release.
The book’s editor, Audrey C. Price, deputy director of the institute’s Religion and Society Program, says it is intended as a conversation starter about diversity that could ultimately lead readers, and the nation, to a more perfect, more divine union.
“We were looking for questions that would become entrance points or that would bridge gaps or uncover needed resources,” says Price, who co-edited the book with Selvi Zabihi, an economic justice officer with the U.S. Bahá’í. “We chose religion as one possible source, which at its best, has the power to transform.”
Price also said it was important that the essays explore religions beyond Christianity and Judaism, which dominate the nation’s faith landscape.
In his essay, Simran Jeet Singh, executive director of Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society program wrote about his Sikh faith and how it could set an example for an inclusive society.
“At a time when we struggle to deal with the differences among us and all around us, Sikh offers a model for creating a more open, inclusive and loving culture,” he wrote. “The Sikh philosophical system is built on the idea of oneness and connection.”
“If we are truly interested in transforming ourselves and transforming our shared narrative,” Singh says, “we have to challenge ourselves to see divinity in all people, even when difficult, and even when they do not see ours.”
‘No People Living in Poverty’
In her essay, Yolanda Narva-Savage wrote about her grandparents and describes a society in which people see the divine in one another and are inspired. Her work made the reader yearn for more of her grandparents’ stories.
“My vision for the future is one of wholeness and spirituality,” she wrote. “To make memory and imagination real, I believe we must make our way back to seeing each human b’tzelem Elohim (“in the image of the Divine”).”
“My story is that there are no people living in poverty in our world,” Narva-Savage wrote. “It means that everyone has the dignity of a living wage. It means that everyone can bring who they fully are to any table and be embraced.”
In a live streamed book launch event, Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, brought an old-school message from the Gospel tradition, complete with call and response and reconciliation. He said he was excited to contribute to a book that would focus on religion as a catalyst for positive change, because too many bad actors have exploited and manipulated faith for their own gain. .
“Sadly, all of us will agree we live in a world where religion has given God a bad name, Haynes said. “We’ve seen religion baptize bigotry, anoint white supremacy, racism, Jane and Jim Crow, homophobia, xenophobia, and more, in the name of God.”
“Jesus has been hell for women and for those created in a way that defies what white male supremacy defined as the norm,” he said. He implied the church — or, rather, people of faith — have to offer a gracious but honest antidote that is welcoming to the inquisitive.
The collection of essays is now available as a tool for those who would also avail themselves of the opportunity to do the right thing.
