Last Thursday, The Muslim Student Association hosted a panel composed of religious leaders from the three Judaic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Texas State was blessed with the presence of Rabbi David Komerofsky, former Minister for Chi Alpha Kampala, Richard Skinner, and Sheik Islam Amonousad. The three sat down and took questions and addressed concerns of students about the similarities and differences of the religions.
The discussion started off with the panelists telling about their respected faiths. The Rabbi began with “We’re a religion of Deeds rather than Creeds.” This meant that since they believe we should “Focus on the here and now,” your actions are what are important to Judaism. The deeds would be the 614 commandments listed in the Torah. “The most important figure in Judaism is Moses; which is not Hebrew but Egyptian.” Said the Rabbi
According to the Minister, “Being Christians means, we accept Christ into our souls, and our lives.” He told listeners that in Christianity it is this and neither church attendance nor just doing good deeds that makes someone a good Christian. “It’s more than that,” He said.
The most recent of the religions, Islam, had the most basic tenets. The Sheik listed “the five pillars of faith” as ”submitting to god, praying five times a day, fasting during the month of Ramadan, giving a percentage of your pay to help the poor, and lastly make at least one trip to Mecca.”
After the introductions, the three men took questions on issues. When they talked about marriage and relationships, the Rabbi said that “in Jewish law it is the man that should be the head of the house, but he must provide for the wife’s every need. If she is not sexually satisfied, then even that is grounds for divorce.” On a related topic of domestic violence, Sheik stated that when it comes to spousal abuse, “I believe the number of cases in any Islamic state is equal to if not lower than in the US.”
When asked about the nature of evil, Christianity proved to be very different from its brother faiths. “There is no Yin Yang,” said Skinner. “Evil is a person, or a spirit named Lucifer.” The other two religions believe that there may be an external form of evil, but most is internal.
The major topic that got a lot of laughs was on the process of converting to a religion. The Rabbi said “that a Rabbi must turn you away three times” before considering trying to convert you. “There is no real process to become a Christian,” said the minister. It begins with “Letting yourself fully trust in Christ.” The funny part came when the Sheik told about a story that happened in Iraq. “A pilot was about to crash and he was screaming at the Kuwaiti air control who said, ‘Sir, repeat after me.’” The pilot was converted before crashing his plane. Perhaps Allah smiled upon him and let him survive the crash to tell the tale.
Each of these religions shows the connection between faith and philosophy. Each one of them makes a normative claim about what they feel the world and individuals should be like. I believe that if religions focused more on their philosophies then their history of interrelations with people of other religions, then people would see the massive similarities between all faiths. And then, after having seen that the differences were mostly imaginary, almost all major conflicts about religion would come to a halt, or at least they would need to find a different reason for violence.
The MSA said that they hope to hold an event like this next semester, along with the Ramadan Fast Fest. Next time it may be possible for members of the Hindu, Buddhist, and other religious communities to take part in this coming together to understand each other. “God made us different so that we could get to know one another,” said Sheik Amonousad, which was added to by Rabbi Komerofsky “Viva la Differance! No, that’s not Hebrew…”
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