Jesse A. Schroeder

Tweet


Today, our emergent cohort was honored to host Samir Selmanovic. He shared for a few hours, and after the event we had a potluck, chili meal together. It was a great afternoon. Here are some quotes and thoughts that stuck out to me: 

• We live in an ecosystem in which we need each other; we need diversity. The worst thing that could happen would be if everyone in the world became a Christian. Your identity as an individual depends on mirroring. You are a flower because you are not a weed or a vegetable. 
• For a Muslim the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence is the best example of Shariah law that has ever existed. 
• We refuse to distinguish between good and bad (when thinking about Muslims). We just want everyone to be bad. 
• We need the Other, because if there is no other, there is no us. 
• As Christians we want Samaritans, tax collectors and lepers, but we are stuck with Muslims, immigrants and gays. 
• We need more extremists because the ones we have are shallow. We don't need extremists who resolve the tension of their beliefs with one violent act, but rather will live an entire life of tension. That is extreme. Mother Teresa is an extremist, not a suicide bomber. 
• The Other may critique us, and they might be right. There is something in the non-Western world that the West needs very much, but we are afraid that we actually need it. 
• The Other is there precisely so we can tell them who you are. If you do not share your treasure with the other, you do not respect them, as if they cannot say "no." 
• God is a stranger - If we don't welcome the human other, how do we welcome the divine other?
• We cannot fulfill the practices of our faith without other religions. 
• The good news must be news and it must be good. Sometimes, the good news could be better. The Presence of God in the Other is good news. 
• How can I have a religion that explains the existence of most of the world and life as a mystery or unknown?
• Jesus doesn't scare people. Our ambition to manage and control Jesus scares people.