Confronting Misconceptions

Ashleigh is the author of our latest entry on chapters 3 and 4. This is her as a child with her family. Happy reading!

Ranya is scared to be in New York because she is a Muslim and it is after September 11th. I am not able to relate to her because I am not a Muslim. I do not feel in danger because of September 11th, but it is a scary thing to think about. It is sad that people sometimes do not feel comfortable living their day-to-day lives because of a tragedy. If I were her I would be scared too, because no innocent person wants to be targeted because someone in their ethnic group did something bad.

I thought it was interesting how the three women each shared a story from their faith. They understand that things happened long ago in each of their religions and do not hold that against anyone. I feel that these women are able to overcome problems in their religions. They realize that they have things in there faiths that help them become stronger and closer. I think in today’s day and age it might be somewhat difficult to find people who are receptive to hearing and talking about different religions. Most people are indifferent to religions other than their own. In my case, I did not know that at the beginning and end of a Muslim prayer, they wish peace with Jews and Christians. I think that is really very nice and unfortunately this vital piece of information is not generally known. I had preconceptions about Muslims and thought they really only focus on themselves and do not welcome other religions. It is nice to know more about the Muslim religion.

The part in the book about the Crucifixion was really meaningful to me because I am Christian, and I related to that story more than the stories about Jews and Muslims. The reason for that is because I do not know as much about Jews and Muslims as I do about Christians. It is really sad to me that Jesus was crucified because of his teachings. I do not think anyone should have to go through what Jesus went through. I believe that every religion has its particular way to worship God. Therefore one religion is not better than another. People practice their religion because they have been either born into a family practicing that religion, or as adults, might even decide to embrace another religion after they have studied their teachings. In my case I was born into a Catholic family but I feel more comfortable being a Christian.

When the story of the crucifixion was brought up, Priscilla felt it was anti-Jewish. She felt that when Suzanne said “Christ killer” (p.39), that it related to Jews, and Priscilla did not like that. Priscilla wanted Suzanne to remove the story of the crucifixion, but Suzanne refused to do so. I do not think that just because someone is not happy with what happened in someone’s religion, people should forget the event. What happened in history and in different religions is important to different people and those people want to share and commemorate those events. I know that Suzanne did not intend to offend Priscilla. Suzanne said what I agree with, that “It never crossed her mind to hold Jewish people responsible for Jesus’s death” (p. 41). When I think of the crucifixion I do not automatically get upset at Jewish people; I do not usually associate this with Jewish people. It happened because a group of intolerant rabbis [Pharisees] were so against Jesus that they convinced Pontius Pilate to order His execution as a common criminal.