They wanted to educate their children.
They ended up educating themselves. And now, they hope, they will educate the world.
“The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew — Three Women Search for Understanding,” is a book that tells the story of how three New York City mothers with three faiths and infinite misconceptions came together in the aftermath of 9/11 to explore the commonalities and differences of their religions.
The Faith Club is Ranya Idliby, a Palestinian-born Muslim; Suzanne Oliver, an Episcopalian who grew up going to Catholic school; and Priscilla Warner, a Jew who attended Hebrew day school as a child.
Initially, they came together to write a children’s book about the similarities in their three religions. But after their first meeting, it became clear that they had so many misconceptions about what it meant to be Jewish, Christian or Muslim, a children’s book wasn’t a realistic goal. So they tabled the project and, instead, committed to meeting on a regular basis to talk about their faiths. They then turned four years of taped conversations and private journal entries into a book.
The authors spoke to the public at the S.F. Jewish BookFest at the JCC of San Francisco on Sunday, Nov. 5, and the next day with a reporter at a downtown hotel.
“My friends were shocked at first, that I would sit down with Palestinian and Christian women and talk about religion,” Warner recalled. “But when the headlines are exploding around you, what are you going to do? Sit there and talk about shoes?”
Eventually, Warner said, people became envious of the trio’s relationship. And she was grateful for their friendship.
“Our faith club was a very private, sacred place in the beginning,” she said. “I had never talked about God with anyone before, other than with my husband when we talked for two minutes about whether we should join a temple.”
They wrote about volatile issues — how Oliver didn’t want people to think she was Jewish, how Warner challenged Idliby’s claim that the Israeli government displaced her ancestors and how Idliby challenged Warner for her support of Israel.
Idliby said she hopes she can give a public voice to the moderate Palestinian perspective. She wants to be a voice that counters stereotypes.
“We are a living example of people who went where others do not,” Idliby said. “We came out as friends.”
The book has led people to describe them as being both “sent by Satan” and “three prophets.”
“Just because you embrace the commonalities of the human spirit, and see the truths in other religions, does not dilute your specific religious foundation,” Idliby said. “We came out of the experience more confirmed in our own faith traditions.”
While immersed in their faith club, Idliby joined Oliver for her first Easter Sunday service; Oliver and Idliby attended a Yom Kippur service at Warner’s synagogue. They talked about everything, from Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from Muslim extremists to religious tolerance.
They hope that sharing their story inspires others to create faith clubs. Grassroots discussions outside of religious institutions is the best catalyst to move interfaith dialogue forward, they said.
All three admitted that their discussions and friendship both challenged and affirmed their faith and religion. They hope it does the same for readers.
“I feel excited that people are beginning to talk to one another,” said Paula Greller of Greenbrae. She read the book in one day and was impressed by the authors’ appearance at BookFest.
“I don’t think enough people are beginning to talk that it will change the whole world, but if one person changes their point of view, that’s better than yesterday,” she added. “It’s a great beginning.”
The authors think so too. They’re already talking about Book Two.
For more information and instructions for starting your own faith club, visit www.thefaithclub.org.
“The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew — Three Women Search for Understanding” by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner (320 pages, Free Press, $25).