Religious sharing

I had to drop some things off at Zubbu and Aliou’s so I walked back to church with Aliou. I asked him if he wanted to come. He reminds me in Islam you can falter or stray once and then come back when someone asks you to come back and be okay. But falter again, and it’s your head. Eegh. He told me the pastor at the church is going to hell because he is estranged from his father over religion: not how I see it, but okay. Still he is glad I am learning about Islam. He particularly wants for me to take back the idea that Muslims and Arabs and Islamists aren’t the same. He said what he likes most abut Islam is the emphasis it places on respecting the environment. You must slaughter animals in an appropriate manner, with little suffering to the animal. You must be a caretaker of creation. And even as the fires and death of the apocalypse approach you, you plant a tree.

After church, where Isa preached on John 17:1-26 when Jesus prays for us; we are worthy of his prayer but we must follow his commandments, I zipped off to Koukia where despite some technical difficulties I gave the same talk I gave at the women’s conference yesterday. I was pleased with feedback I received later in the day. I tried to add more on how certain types of prevention don’t work for everybody; so, be it condoms or fidelity each individual must find a method appropriate for him/her.

Later after lunch Aliou was asking—in between mediating two fights between the neighbor and his wives and the school boys who stay with him—if I find Islam to be true, would I convert? I said I read a lot about Buddhism and still am Christian. I found aspects of the faith which pleased me and others with which I disagreed. Christianity is similar for me though the general principles I can follow and it is the culture with which I am comfortable. So no conversion? He asks. Not likely.