Islam Study Day

I went to the Mint Methodist Church in Exeter on Saturday for a day on Islam. Our guest speaker was informative leading us through subjects such as the beginning of the faith, the practices including the Five Pillars as well as some of the points of conflict especially concerning Palestine. Re Palestine, I have to admit as one who sympathises with the Palestinian cause, I found him less than objective. there was an interesting sesssion of questions and answers which was particularly lively on the subject of hallal slaughter.

Whilst there, I saw a fascinating wall chart which went back to Abraham and showed the diversity of Judaism, Christianity and Islam that has flowed out of the roots of this remarkable figure. It reminds us that we have common roots even if our journeys have taken us to different places. Perhaps, Abraham can become a force for reconciliation. I certainly hope so.

I think Islam has at present difficulties in the encounter with diverse modern society. It struggles with the concept of "Viva les differences." Yet it has voices of hope. As I am currently writing on this, I will post more on this in a couple of weeks.

I did not stay for the visit to the mosque. In part this was because I have visited mosques before. It was also because I felt it right to meet up with my family. Whilst Andrea and Kaye walked our new dog, James and I went to see a FA Trophy match bewteen Exeter City and Cambridge City, the team we regularly supported whilst I was in training. Cambridge did well against a team who are a division above them but in part as a result of a dubious sending off of our striker Robbbie Simpson in the 81st minute, lost 1-0 as a result of an own goal and a terrible miss with the last kick. And so I went home feeling that cartoons regarding religion may be a bad thing but their suitability regarding inadequate referees is quite a different matter.