Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Rabbi John Has The Right Idea

Linked here is a new blog by Shelly Green, chief executive of the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB)  summarizing a visit to a Sikh Gurudwara near the Braggtown neighborhood of Durham, one of only two established in North Carolina since Sikh’s first began to migrate here in the 1960s.Sikh_Gurudwara

The visits are the idea of Rabbi John Friedman at Judea Reform here in Durham.  He has arranged for Sophomore high school age members, like Shelly’s daughter, to visit and learn about different faiths including over the next few weeks Muslim, Mormon or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-saints, Buddhist, Greek Orthodox, Pentecostal, Catholic and Presbyterian.

It is particularly interesting in light of the recent Pew research survey showing on average Americans can correctly answer only 16% of the questions about other faiths.  If we’re to safeguard religious tolerance in this country we’ll need to do better than that.

Remember, the Puritans had barely set foot here when they began to persecute Quakers and Baptist.  Then there is the infamous “extermination” order the governor of Missouri issued on Mormon Christians in the 1830s.  For more information, a new book is being released entitled American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.

I wish every faith was secure enough in its own faith to expose its young people to other beliefs by following John’s lead.

To receive the new blog by Shelly and other DCVB staffers:

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