wfn.org | Author traces a spiritual odyssey to a personal encounter with God

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Author traces a spiritual odyssey to a personal encounter with God

New York, September 24, 2009 -- A member of the National Council of
Churches Interfaith Relations Commission -- a convert from Islam to
Christianity -- has concluded that a personal encounter with God can
be powerful enough to transcend any one faith tradition.

"It's not really about any one religion or belief system," writes Dr.
Samir Selmanovic, co-founder of Faith House Manhattan and author of
It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish
Christian (Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, $24.95) published this month.
"It's really all about God, who is about all of us and cannot be owned
by any of us."

Selmanovic, who grew up in Croatia where he says he was "culturally
Muslim, though atheist in practice," found Jesus almost as an act of
rebellion during his years as a conscript in the Communist army of
Yugoslavia. His conversion infuriated his parents, who threw him out
of the house, and he found himself in the midst of an intellectual and
spiritual struggle to understand the relationship between world views
and faith.

After coming to the United States and completing graduate degrees in
theology, psychology, and religious education, Selmanovic pastored a
multi-ethnic church in Manhattan for six years. This ministry
experience provided him with an understanding of professional urban
America, Western attitudes towards religion and how monotheistic
religions and their critics can work together for the good of the world.

The intellectual journey led to his book. Although passionate about
his Christian faith, he began to question whether Christianity is
really superior to other faiths. "I became convinced that a God who
favors me over others would not be worth worshipping," he concluded.
"To truly care for me, God also has to care for you. I would rather
sacrifice the way I interpret the Bible than sacrifice people."

His declaration will be controversial among many of his fellow
Christians as well as members of other faiths. But Karen Armstrong,
author of A History of God, says Selmanovic is asking the right
questions. "(He is) refusing the consolations of certainty at a time
when strident orthodoxies -- atheist as well as religious -- are
perilously dividing us," Armstrong says.

"Even if one does not agree with all of his conclusions," says Dr.
Antonios Kireopoulos, Senior Program Director of the National Council
of Churches for Interfaith Relations and Faith & Order, "one can
appreciate the invitation to go along on this journey as part of one's
own journey to deeper religious -- and inter-religious -- understanding."

"I have adopted a simple question that helps me navigate the journey,"
writes Selmanovic. "Is a God who favors anyone over anyone else worth
worshipping? To truly care for me, my God also has to care for those
who differ from me."

Selmanovic's experience in Manhattan includes the terror attacks of
September 11, 2001, and a number of projects helping the city in its
aftermath, including interfaith efforts in assisting the public in
their understanding of Islam. Aspects of his work were reported in an
article in San Francisco Chronicle. In 2002, he was honored by the
organization, Muslims Against Terrorism, for his contribution to
interfaith understanding and cooperation.??

Over the last four years, Samir has been a speaker, seminar presenter
and member of the core leadership team of re-church, a supporting
network of pastors meeting for a yearly conference for theological
exploration (New York 2002 entitled Loving Babylon devoted to
postmodernity and urban ministry, Los Angeles 2003 entitled Dancing
With God devoted to spiritual practices, Philadelphia 2004 entitled
Micah 6:8 devoted to peacemaking and social justice, and Columbus 2007
entitled Mission and Innovation devoted to innovative ways of defining
and pursuing the healing of the world).

Selmanovic hopes It's Really All About God will move the
inter-religious dialogue taking place in many faith groups to a higher
level. "It goes beyond usual calls to peaceful coexistence and
tolerance to actual appreciation and acknowledgment of the need we
have for each other."

And many of his readers from various religious traditions welcome the
book with ringing endorsements.?Marcus Borg, author of Meeting Jesus
for the First Time, calls it "a remarkable book that combines memoir,
insight, wisdom, passion and compassion."?

"Prepare to have your world expanded," warns Rabbi Justus Baird of
Auburn Seminary in New York. "Samir Selmanovic is like that voice in
your head that causes you to reflect on the bigger questions. Jews,
Christians and Muslims alike will grow from this exploration of an
unmanaged God."

With his wife Vesna and their two daughters Ena and Leta, Samir lives
in New York City.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office),
914-589-6948 (cell) , pjenks@ncccusa.org