Baptist...

Baptist, Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Unitarian, Methodist, Non-denominational, Snake handlers, World Wide Church of God, Shakers, Amish, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ. And the list goes on. I have either studied and met a member and/or attended worship in all of these (and more) denominations. Then I found the Catholics. I was convinced I wanted to be a nun. I even went through the conversion classes. But something stopped me before I officially converted.

In college I was a Theology major with an emphasis in s. I made studying religions my life, not just my hobby. The more I studied, the more holes I found. I went on and started to search outside of Christianity. I studied and/or practiced Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Neo-paganism, Witchcraft, Voodoo, Santeria, Bahaism and Judaism. About the only thing I have stayed away from was Satanism! How I found Islam is a miracle brought about by the horrible tragedy of Sept.11.

Before then, I thought, as many still do, that Islam was a controlling, misogynistic, violent religion. In all my religious studies, I hadnt spent any more time on it then needed for my theology classes in college. Though it still seems that the media doesnt portray us in the kindest light, news reports and articles did begin to open my mind to a new way of thinking about Islam. In a conversation with my mother-in-law, we began to discuss Islam.

She made the comment All Muslims, by the very nature of their religion, are violent. Let me say, and I say this as fact, not as insult, that she is a very closed-minded person and does not educate herself on religions outside her narrow view of Protestant Christianity. So when she made the comment, I didnt believe what she said. But it did occur to me, that I was unable to agree or disagree based on any knowledge that I personally had. I felt the need to change that.

In classes in college I had learned the Five Pillars, and that Muslims prayed toward Mecca because Muhammad was from there (textbooks dont have to be correct do they?) Soon after I had the chance to receive some free pamphlets about Islam from a web-site ( www.whyIslam.org ). I sent for them, thinking that if we were going to be at war with these people, I should know something about them. The pamphlets came. I read them and was amazed.

This religion was nothing like what I had previously thought! A volunteer from the web-site e-mailed me and offered me an English translation of the Quran. I thought Why not?