By Jeff

January 18, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this

Quite a few of Bill Myers’ works have proven thought provoking.

One in particular addresses this very concern.

It is called Face of God and here is the review from the Library Journal (they describe it better than I can, as it has been several years since I read it):

The best-selling author of Eli offers an intriguing premise: What if you could hear the voice of God? What if you actually could see His face? These questions haunt two very different men as they seek 12 supernatural stones that, according to the Bible, represent the Tribes of Israel and together make the voice of God audible. On their quest in the Holy Land, Rev. Daniel Lawson and his college-aged son, Tyler, try to reestablish their relationship and come to terms with the murder of Daniel’s wife. At the same time, Ibrahim el-Magd, leader of an Islamic terrorist cell, wants the stones to receive confirmation from Allah that his destructive plans against the United States will be successful. Daniel, Ibrahim, and their faiths collide in a gripping denouement that is as beautful as it is frightening. The comparisons between Christianity and Islam are thought-provoking.

From Publishers Weekly: Strong writing, edgy violence and a made-for-the-movies sensibility characterize this thriller from CBA veteran author and film director Myers. When successful megachurch pastor Daniel Lawson’s wife, Jill, is murdered in the Istanbul Spice Bazaar while on a church tour, he is left holding a mysterious stone dating from Old Testament times, which represents one of the 12 tribes of Israel. When all 12 stones are brought together with two others, they are believed to enable the voice of God to be heard. Lawson takes a leave of absence from his church, then teams up with his alienated teenage son, Tyler; clumsy archeologist Dr. Helen Zimmerman; and Nayra Fazil, a Muslim university student, to find the remaining stones. The suspense builds as Ibrahim el-Magd, an Islamic terrorist, also attempts to gather the stones so he might determine the will of Allah before unleashing a horrific act of global mayhem. The abundance of violence (a young thief’s hand amputated, a woman’s breast sliced off, an attempted female circumcision) may shock CBA readers, but Myer’s uses it to show the potential dangers of religious fundamentalism. Lawson’s grief over his wifes death seems a bit short-lived and, as with many suspense novels, some events require a generous suspension of disbelief. However, Myer’s fleshes out the multifaceted character of Ibrahim el-Magd in a way that sheds light on his motivations; the story is replete with action; and the book admirably avoids an implausibly neat ending.

Heck, after reading these I may well have to go back and re-read it myself!

By Jeff

January 18, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this

Another thought provoking one is basically the entire Soul Tracker trilogy, also from Myers.

In Soul Tracker, you have a white and an Indian (India Indian) as the male and female leads. The bad guy are super rich white guys, and the male and female leads come to interact with some interesting characters: Hispanics, blacks, druggies, prostitutes, homosexuals… I think that runs the gamut for this book. Thing is… all become ESSENTIAL for the good guys to prevail….

The Presence the conflict is more between the two ‘sides’ of Christianity. Those who favor rules (legalists) and those who favor relationship (liberals). One of the black men you meet in Soul Tracker is the liberal side of Christianity, and a white priest is the legalist side. Only when the two come together does either stand a fighting chance…

The Seeing pits the son of the white male lead from the first book with the daughter of an Indian (Native American) who hates all white people. (She was once raped by a white man.) Not only does the mother have to come to terms with this hatred, but we also see another intra-Christianity conflict. One preacher is a Charismatic. The other is a Baptist. The community holds preachers of all stripes that you see within modern Christianity, including a Catholic priest and a female minister. Not only do the Charismatic and the Baptist have to come together to prevail, but the entire religious community must as well or the entire community is about to be destroyed. Can they do it?

By Caroline

January 18, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this

Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth completely opened my mind to a deeper truth in my religion as well as the religion of others. I could see past the surface literalism of the Bible and other holy books. Campbell shows how all religions have the same archetypes and allegories that connect us to each other, earlier civilizations, and all of humankind.

By Lily Toad

January 18, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this

I read a similar book a couple of years ago — Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak, edited by Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, also a local author. The book has essays from Islamic American women in their 20’s. It helped in my understanding of what Islamic American-born young women face — some of them engaged in arranged marriages. One of the more interesting essays was by a women who was an activist from childhood, planned on going into politics, yet after law school, got a job with MTV as a lawyer.

By Julie

January 18, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this

The Bible.

By ron

January 18, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this

The rationality of why anyone would live in the U.S.,with all of it's guaranteed freedoms, and then get mixed up in a religion that expunges a lot of those same freedoms,escapes me.

There were two young girls in a taxi in Texas that could have explained a lot to the author,if they had lived.Perhaps someone should tell these girls again how wonderful Islam is.They probably didn't read their violent ending in their Quran either,but their father did,and in the end he was the only one that mattered.

Anyone can capitulate to Islam if they want to,just don't take the time to tell me why you did it.

By Sherlock Homie

January 18, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this

A book on the French cured me of my prejudice against any American. It’s entitled, “Voila, Croissant!”

By a personal experience...

January 18, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this

Not a book, a personal experience. Having lived all my life in Chicago, where there was a great deal of racial prejudice, I was spending about a week on a job in a very small town in Mississippi around 1980. In search of some fresh fruit, I stopped into a small mom/pop store to see whether they had any. The very nice black man behind the counter generously gave me an apple he had packed with his brown bag lunch - for free - with a kind smile. In the South, where this Northern gal had always thought more prejudice would exist, I perceived none and moreover a surprising sense of racial peace that I hadn’t known growing up in the North.

By Duke

January 18, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this

The “stereotype” of Islam is based not on prejudice, but on knowledge. There are people who call themselves Christians who are homosexuals, for example, but those people violate the teachings of scripture. It is not a ” false stereotype” to say that Christianity condemns those things. Moezzi examines a society based on Christianity, which teaches freedom of conscience and equality of spiritual dignity between the sexes. The Koran does not teach that, and anyone who studies Muslim societies will tell you that toleration is not part of the culture. Women must wear veils, they cannot drive, they cannot be in a car with a man not their relative, etc.. Non-Muslims are second-class citizens. Saudi Arabia, for example, has roads that non-Muslims are not allowed to travel on.

In the beginning, when Mohammad had few followers and was in constant danger, he taught peaceful tolerance. But as soon as he had a secure base and enough followers to mount a war party, he preached and practiced jihad. From that time the Islamic religion was spread by the sword. The peaceful verses written during his early life are superseded by the later verses about jihad.

My source of information is “The Life and Religion of Mahammed, the Prophet of Arabia,” by J. L. Menezes. It can be purchased for $20 at this link:

http://www.conservativebookservice.com/products/SearchResults.asp

That page did not show up on the first page of a google search. Amazon said the book was out of print, and the two copies I found at used book stores were $75.

This book was written to convert Muslims to Christianity. With careful regard for the sensibilities of Muslims, and with scrupulous attention factual accuracy, Menezes teaches Muslims the truth about their own religion.

By margaret

January 19, 2008 12:09 AM | Link to this

I couldn’t get outside of myself until I took an African-American literature class in college… we read Jean Toomer, Richard Wright’s Native Son, etc. and discussed common prejudices. I mulled over the life lessons of that class for years.

By Sara Gilford

January 19, 2008 7:44 AM | Link to this

Watch out, oh great Crusader for Christ! To believe that Islam is evil is to justify all holocausts.

Today, we have to accept the planet as it is, and try not to impose our own unique spin about righteousness on others

6 billion people on earth. 6 billion individual spins on who god is.

how about we all stfu and just pray our own way.

By ron

January 19, 2008 7:57 AM | Link to this

I see that yesterday's post didn't make it in it's entirety.I meant to explain that the woman's version of the Quran doesn't always go over so well,as the two teens in the taxi in Texas would testify to ,if they were still alive.Muslim stereotyping doesn't seem to be the problem here.The problem is that many Muslims don't understand Islam.They are being taught one or two at a time.And the lessons are hard. All over the world,young women are dying because of sleights to Islam.I hope the author doesn't become one of them.

By Corey

January 19, 2008 12:31 PM | Link to this

“6 billion people on earth. 6 billion individual spins on who god is.

how about we all stfu and just pray our own way.”

Love ya, Sara!

By Mark

January 19, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this

Religion is for the weak. Throw away your “buybull” and start believing in yourselves!!

By Matt

January 19, 2008 1:47 PM | Link to this

So, Mark, by your reasoning, Mother Theresa was weak. And Ghandi. And Martin Luther King, Jr. And to be deliberately inflammatory, on the other side of that coin, Osama Bin Laden is also weak. Nice to know.

Nothing I’ve read stands out as teaching me to overcome prejudice, so I can’t really comment here. But I fully agree with Sara.

By Troglodyke

January 19, 2008 1:57 PM | Link to this

Religion is for the weak. Throw away your “buybull” and start believing in yourselves!!

AMEN! Islam is very intolerant, period. You peace-loving idealistic youngsters can pretend it isn’t, but it is.

Christianity is a wee bit better, but it is also intolerant. So is Judaism.

RELIGION = INTOLERANCE, and promotes fear and hatred. That’s what it is designed to do.

That doesn’t mean that all religious people are intolerant of everyone, but religious belief is absolutely indicative of lower intelligence. If you want to supress your intelligence, and buy into religious superstition, that is your right in America. But it is NOT your right to force it on anyone, and definitely it is wrong to try to change the U.S. Constitution and legislate your beliefs.

And gay people who buy into religion irk me the most. Have some self respect! The religion you kowtow to hates you. Get out of that lifestyle, and you will know true peace.

By thogwummpy

January 19, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this

PLEASE, woman! I’m so sick of Muslims trying to say that OUR impression of them is the problem. The problem is, their fraud of a “prophet” killed people. And followers of a movement tend to do what the founder did.

Unless God is a demented butcher, the reflection of His will through a murderer is absurd.  C'mon, one HONEST Muslim would be a nice change!  Islam kills, because that's what Muhammad enjoyed doing.  And as long as Islam exists, it's barbarous origination imperils our species.  We can not long indulge it's tantrums.  If it does take a Crusade, then so be it!

By Matt

January 19, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this

Thog: if that’s the case, why aren’t more of the 1 billion declared Muslims terrorists, if their founder was a “butcher”?

And in the case of Jesus, why aren’t more of the 1 billion+ believers itinerant preachers, relying on the kindness of strangers?

By Mark

January 20, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this

Matt Mother theresa was an athiest, BTW.

Troglodyke

Great post!

By ron

January 20, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this

Stereotyping is not the problem,young Muslims that don't understand their religion is the problem.Many young women are dead because they thought Islam was a loving religion and many more will die if they don't quickly capitulate to their male family members.Honor killings are real,they are happening all over the world and all to young women that don't understand the religon that they are in.

By TW

January 20, 2008 8:09 PM | Link to this

Troglodyke writes - The religion you kowtow to hates you

Well said, only the religion in the US is Republicanism, and you’ve just addressed 98% of its base. Complacency breeds morons. Wait ‘til the cable in the trailer gets cut-off.

By Elizabeth

January 21, 2008 12:36 AM | Link to this

Clearly some of the earlier bloggers cannot follow directions. This blog was supposed to be about books that helped you overcome prejudice. Please refrain from bashing other faiths and stick to the topic, please!

By Nikki

January 21, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this

Elizabeth

MYOB