I grew up in a pretty homogeneous community. The
overwhelming majority of people I knew were white Christians and we all went to
the same Christian school or church (usually both). As an adult, I moved to a
very diverse community where I became friends with people of varying cultures
and religions. It really opened my eyes to how uncomfortable I felt around
people of other religious beliefs because I really knew nothing about their
views.
"Bold as Love" explains how Mr. Roberts brought "multifaith" principles to his Christian church by building partnerships with Muslim mosques and Jewish temples. Multifaith (in this book) is not the "we can all believe whatever we want and all go to heaven" ideology I assumed it would encompass. Instead, Roberts stresses the importance of staying true to your own beliefs, accepting that each religion has fundamental differences but that each faith teaches us to get along.
I found this book extremely fascinating. The idea of reaching out to other religions and becoming friends was something that was never encouraged in my churches. Fear frequently comes from the unknown and getting to know people on a deep, personal level, can remove a lot of the barriers we put up. If you really want to be challenged on how you think about working with other faiths, I highly recommend this book.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from Handlebar Publishers in exchange for my unbiased review of it. All opinions are mine.
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