First Impressions

I wonder if Kylie, the author of our first blog entry, had any idea as a child here that HER Giants would be the World Champions in 2010...













...the same year she got married?!! As you can see, Kylie and her new husband enjoy being surrounded by children, and I think you'll enjoy reading her thoughts about our first chapters. Happy reading!

When someone imagines a situation full of tension and controversy, there are certain topics that come to mind. One of the biggest, controversial topics that people differ on is their view of religion. The book, The Faith Club, written by three women of different faiths, exemplifies a type of situation with which many people would feel uncomfortable.

I first thought that this book would talk about how all of the women were going to go into the discussions with each other with reservations and barriers already up due to their biases for their own religion. It was amazing to me to read the first two chapters and see how open all of the women were toward each other even though they were all very different.

Something that was interesting to me was the fact that all of the women of the faith club did not feel very grounded in their religion. Rayna Idliby was more of a modern day Muslim who believed in equality of women and men. Out of the three women, she seemed the most connected to her faith on a deep level. Suzanne Oliver, the Christian woman, had recently switched from Catholicism to Christianity. These two religions are actually not as similar as many people think they are. The fact that she recently switched religions showed me that she could not have had much depth of knowledge about her new faith. Priscilla Warner, the Jewish author of the book, did not even think of herself as a Jew when thinking of describing herself. It was kind of interesting to me that all of the women did not seem as “die hard” in their faith compared to what I thought they would be. Due to them not really being deep in their faiths, I did not fully agree that they had the full ability necessary to represent their religion.

When September 11th happened, I remember feeling scared for my future and not being sure how to act around people of Middle Eastern ethnicity. I remember my Dad trying to tell me that not all Muslim people were as extreme as the people who made the attacks on America, but it was difficult to fully accept that fact. I was never prejudiced against people of Middle Eastern descent, but I remember feeling like I had to be more cautious due to what happened and that their belief system was not like mine.

After reading this book, it showed me the perspective of what people of Middle Eastern descent went through and still continue to go through. Something that really hit home for me was when Rayna opened up about her family’s story. Her family’s privileged life was basically taken from them due to the wars in Palestine. Her story showed that not all Middle Eastern people were extremists, but that there were some families who were victims of the situation and felt like permanent outsiders.

Rayna’s situation made me think of how all children, at times, have the sense of feeling like an outsider. It is essential for service providers, who are caring for children, to realize that all children need to be equipped with the knowledge that despite the fact that everyone has differences, we all share similarities, too. Being able to show children that at an early age could possibly help lessen the prevalence of prejudice and discrimination.