wfn.org | Camp brings kids from three faiths together

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 7, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{349)

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report.

By Neill Caldwell*

GLENDALE SPRINGS, N.C. (UMNS) -- The sign at the entrance to Elk Shoals
United
Methodist Camp reads "God's County," and this month a unique kind of camp
experience set about proving it.

The children of Abraham -- Jewish, Muslim and Christian -- gathered in the
first week of August where the New River slices through the mountains of
northwestern North Carolina.

For a week, 30 boys -- Christians from Watauga, Ashe and Wilkes counties,
Jews from Charlotte and Muslims from the Greensboro area -- sat around the
campfire, went tubing and fishing, listened to "Jack tales" and did all the
typical summer camp activities. 

The unusual part of this first-ever Interfaith Camp was that these children
normally don't spend a lot of recreation time with kids from other faiths.
Campers were grouped into three teams -- by toothbrush color so that the
boys would not segregate themselves into their own faith groups. From the
start, the youngsters began learning about the differences and similarities
between the three monotheistic faiths. But mostly they learned how easy it
is to be together.

For the Rev. Pete Parish, Elk Shoals camp director, being surrounded by
running, playing children of different faiths was something of a dream come
true. "When I was first employed by the camp, I knew we had to have some
innovative programming or improve the programming that was already here,"
said the United Methodist pastor, who also serves the four-point Helton
(N.C.) Charge.

A native of England, Parish toyed with the idea of bringing in Protestant
and Catholic kids from Northern Ireland. But once the tragedy of Sept. 11
happened, he began developing a new idea. 

"I said, 'Wouldn't it be great to bring Christian, Muslim and Jewish kids
together, before the hate is indoctrinated into them?' We've got to stop the
next generation from being tainted with the bigotry and prejudice that our
parents fed us."

Parish connected with Shaiq Mohammad, president of the Islamic Center of
Greensboro. Mohammed immediately committed to making the camp a success.

"Pete planted the seed, and all I am doing is watering it," Mohammad said. 

"But you brought a big bucket," Parish added.

Parish then connected with Rabbi Murray Ezring of Temple Israel in
Charlotte, who quickly committed to recruiting a group of Jewish boys. "This
is the height of what being Jewish is all about, which is bringing people
together," Ezring said. 

"Part of the conference's master plan for camps is to develop new and
different camps," said the Rev. Jack Porter of Dana United Methodist Church
in Hendersonville, one of the week's volunteer counselors and formerly
director of camping ministries for the Western North Carolina Annual
Conference. "This is a great example of that, to see kids becoming more
sensitive to differences and being willing to tolerate them. We're finding
friends we never even knew we had."

The most difficult part of the camp was conforming to the dietary
restrictions of the Jewish and Muslim campers. Ezring helped get the kitchen
kosher, even bringing in kosher hot dogs and marshmallows, summer camp
staples in any faith.

"One day a young man said he wanted bacon," Ezring said, "but we can't do it
because we have to keep kosher. 'That's OK,' he said, 'I can do without my
bacon this week.'"

Money was raised -- and is still being raised, Parish said -- so that
children could attend without worrying about the cost of camp. The office of
Bishop Charlene Kammerer in Charlotte, N.C., donated $6,500, more than half
the project's budget. 

"The logistics have been hard work, but it's all been worth it," Parish
said. "There has been a lot of faith sharing, even among the adults. There's
more in common between our faiths than you might think. These are not
'stand-alone' religions but are continuations of the same divine message."

"Our basic beliefs are so similar," Porter said. "You know that, but
experiencing it first-hand is very different."

"We're all on a journey to God, or Allah, and sometimes things get in the
way," Parish told the campers. "The only way to get through our prejudices,
our preconceived notions, is with help." That point was brought home in
practical application on the camp's ropes course, where Parish had hooked
bungee cords together to form a huge spider web. The goal of the exercise
was to get every boy from one side to the other without touching one of the
cords. The campers soon learned that the only way to do that was to pick a
person up and pass him horizontally through one of the small openings. Soon
the youngsters were literally placing themselves in one another's hands.

"What did you learn?" Parish asked when the last one had been handed through
the web. 

"Work together," one boy offered.

"Don't let go!" said another.

"Right," said Parish. "Never let go of your brother. You have to learn that
to get anywhere in life you have to rely on one another."

Perhaps the best learning time came when the kids gathered for
question-and-answer sessions. Campers placed questions into a box during the
day, and the questions were later pulled out and discussed. Questions were
typical of what kids want to know about other cultures: "Why do Muslims pray
without shoes?" "Do Jewish and Christian kids have to wash their faces
before praying?" and "Do Muslims have a version of the Ten Commandments?"

"For 9-, 10- and 11-year-olds, there were some pretty thought-provoking
questions," said the Rev. Doug Pryor of Central Terrace United Methodist
Camp in Winston-Salem, N.C., another of the counselors. 

"We had a discussion about war," said Porter, "and someone said that he
wished we wouldn't have any more wars. Someone else said that if we kept
doing things like this camp, we won't."

"We've had some good discussion about our belief systems," Mohammad said.
"Some were surprised to learn the strong similarities. We're learning every
step of the way."

"I've learned more about Islam here than when I lived in Afghanistan," said
Pryor, who served in Afghanistan with the Peace Corps. 

"The love of Christ encompasses all people and overcomes all things," Parish
said. "You have to understand that we have three faiths here which have a
respect for Jesus, which believe in a Messiah and believe that good will
triumph over evil."

Campers experienced worship of all three faiths, going to one of Parish's
churches, Helton United Methodist Church, on Sunday morning. Follow-up
events will be held during the school year; one family in Charlotte wants to
invite all the campers to attend their son's bar mitzvah, and Mohammad says
the Greensboro Islamic Center will also host an event for the boys. 

Parish wants to invite the same boys back for camp each year "so we can
watch them grow up."

Camper David Klein of Temple Beth El in Charlotte described the camp as
"awesome." 

"It's a good thing to do," Klein said. "I'm learning a lot of new things,
especially about Muslims."

"These groups are supposed to be afraid of each other," Ezring said, "and
look at them. They're bosom buddies."

"The greatest success of this camp is that Christian and Muslim kids have
felt comfortable talking to me, and my kids have felt comfortable talking to
Peter and Shafiq," Ezring added. "We're building trust. The kids sense that
we care about them both as a group and as individuals."

"The kids have also felt very comfortable interacting with each other,"
added Mohammad, "and with respect for the other groups."

Examples of unity abound. Some of the kids joined together to paint a huge
mural with messages and images of understanding. Mohammed Abdelrazig, age 9,
decided to write the word "peace" in English, Arabic and Hebrew. 

By midweek, some of the Christian and Jewish youngsters were learning about
Muslim prayer time by participating in the Islamic prayers. The image of
that was powerful. "I've felt God so closely here this week," Parish said.

"Well," Ezring responded, "we're in God's country."

# # #

*Caldwell is a journalist residing in Lincolnton, N.C.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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