Sojourners Magazine, September/October 2011

Loving our neighbors is usually easier in the abstract. The members of Heartsong Church, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee, made that love very real last year in a concrete act of welcome. An Islamic faith community was moving in nearby, and their new center wasn’t going to be ready in time for Ramadan. So the members of Heartsong, in a simple act of Christian hospitality, invited their neighbors to use the church building during the Muslim holy month.

Unfortunately, such loving actions between Christians and Muslims seem to be the exception these days. In nearby Rutherford County, just southeast of Nashville, residents -- most of them Christian -- blocked a mosque planned by the Islamic community. "Why do they hate us?" a child asked the local imam, Ossama Bahloul, according to a reporter. "I said it's just a misunderstanding, miscommunication," Bahloul said. "I told him to love the people because one day they can love you, too."

When we asked Bob Smietana, an award-winning religion writer for The Tennessean, to visit Heartsong Church this summer and write about their interfaith bridge-building, Smietana responded, "A happy Muslim-Christian story? I'm in."

Features

Across the Great Divide
Christians and Muslims in the post-9/11 world. By Aaron D. Taylor

A Convert to Peace
A conservative Republican member of Congress talks about his journey of repentance for supporting the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Interview by Jim Wallis

Teachable Moments
Seminary graduates share what they learned about God's call to social justice. By Avedis Abovian, Nikia Smith Robert, Melanie Weldon-Soiset, Joshua Daly, Duke Kwon, Lisa Yebuah, Kathryn Anderson

Why Seminary Leadership Matters
Good presidents and administrators influence not just schools, but the broader church. By Barbara G. Wheeler

Three Bonus Reflections

Commentary

ICE Follies
'Silent' raids that drive workers into the underground economy are worse than useless. By Gebe Martinez

Studying War More?
ROTC is back on campuses -- but military thinking still conflicts with the life of the mind. By Claire Lorentzen

Irrational Discourse
Will we control high U.S. health-care costs, or just shift them to seniors? By Richard Kirsch

Columns

Culture Watch

Telling the Old, Old Story
Why, despite mutual suspicions, Christianity and comics go together like paper and ink. By Gene Luen Yang

The Story of Everything
The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick. Fox Searchlight Pictures. Reviewed by Richard Vernon

Vanquishing Jane Crow
The Dream is Freedom: Pauli Murray and American Democratic Faith, by Sarah Azaransky. Oxford. Reviewed by Lauren F. Winner

Departments

Cover Story

Features

Commentary

Columns

Culture Watch

Departments