The Faith Club

The Faith Club
Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
June 2007
416 pages
Published by Simon and Schuster

I think I mentioned awhile back that this was our book club choice for May, and it prompted a fun discussion about religion, even if not many of us liked the book.

The Faith Club is written by three women, a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim, as they seek to gain a better understanding of each other’s religions. The thing is, two of the women are so freakin’ whiny that it’s hard to like them. Yes, they were all committed to learning more about each other’s religions, but it also prompted some internal soul searching that was incredibly “me me me” at times. Everyone has (or will) experience the death of a loved one at some point, and while I can certainly understand trying to come to acceptance with death, one of the narrators spent way too much time discussing the loss of her father (and the impending loss of her mother) as if she was the only one who was ever struggling with these things. This may sound harsh, but good lord woman, get over yourself.

And then there was the Christian, who at times (not always, to be fair, but enough that I was gnashing my teeth) spouted that “Jesus loves you/he died for your sins” crap that never fails to remind me just why I don’t like organized religion. I never asked anyone to die for me, and while I might own up to some sins, no one has the right to imply that I have them just because I was born. And then there was the whole “you can’t be moral if you’re not a Christian” argument. Which is just so exclusionary of all other religions, that it surprised me to see this attitude pop up in the book

Okay, I’m a little sensitive about this stuff, so I’ll move on.

The truly interesting parts of this book were written by Ranya, a Muslim-American who maintains a close personal relationship with her god despite all of the Muslim tenets she disagrees with. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that she finds a different interpretation of them. Ranya is able to focus on the good in Muslim, and she can present a damn good argument, to boot. I liked her, and she was the only reason I finished this book.