Adam Shoemaker, born Muslim and Jewish, is a Christian. In his own person he has struggled with problems that tear the Middle East, America and the world, giving him a unique and instructive view of religious diversity. His wisdom offers all of us a spiritual path toward peace. I am grateful for the opportunity to share his story with you. Frances Fuller
After much time and searching, I have come to see the diversity of my ethnic background as one of the greatest gifts God has given me. Being born into a family with both Muslim and Jewish roots has taught me to be sensitive to the impact of culture and context on religious identity. It has impacted the prism through which I practice my Christian faith. Most importantly, my background has taught me to celebrate diversity, not to fear it.
Recently, I was reminded of these lessons while observing the first service for Burlington Masjid, Alamance County’s first mosque. As I heard the beautiful, melodious sounds of the chanted “adhan,” the Muslim call to prayer, and watched scores of faithful Muslims falling to their knees in prayer, I choked up. My emotion came from realizing that if my parents had chosen to raise me in Egypt, the country of my biological father, as opposed to my mother’s native New York, I would have very likely been raised a Muslim. I would have expressed my religious faith in just the same sort of way as my friends at the mosque. The diversity of my background leads me therefore to see the members of Burlington Masjid as a part of my family – like my biological sister, Yousra, or brother, Yehia, who live in Egypt. My Muslim neighbors here in Burlington are a part of my family in two ways – both as fellow sons and daughters of Abraham and as men and women who are part of a rich tradition shared by many of my own flesh and blood.
It took me a long time to appreciate the diversity of my ethnic background. For years I hated it. Growing up in the United States I was taught—through movies, news broadcasts, and comments from any number of people—to fear and even despise much of what comes out of the Middle East. As a result of this, I increasingly applied those feelings to myself. I grew up with an internalized racism and I began to blame everything I didn’t like about myself on my Semitic background. These feelings prevented me from growing fully into the person God has created me to be.
Learning to appreciate my background, through the hard work of prayer, therapy, and spiritual direction, has been like a resurrection for me. This liberation from a bondage of my own devising has helped me to better heed the call of Christ to reconcile myself to God and neighbor – ALL of my neighbors, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Jewish or any other tradition under the sun. The diversity of my background is now something I consider a strength that informs, fuels, and inspires my own Christian practice.
I believe there are many Christians who need to make similar journeys. Many of us, regardless of our ethnic backgrounds, are too quick to allow our fear of the increasing diversity around us to dictate how we live our lives. Many of us are too quick to draw conclusions about whole groups of people without ever taking the time to get to know them or appreciate their backgrounds. This fear hinders us from growing into our full stature as part of the body of Christ that God intends for us and from living in love as Christ has loved us. Fear of others also hinders us from the work of reconciliation that our Christ calls us to do.
The polarized and divisive world in which we live desperately needs Christians who have the ability to co-exist with and embrace the diversity of this world. Our own well-being, the well-being of our communities, and the Christian witness in the twenty-first century depends upon it.
The Reverend Adam J. Shoemaker is Rector of The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in downtown Burlington. He may be reached at ashoemaker@hc-b.org.