Today is the start of Eid al-Adah, the four day that Moslems commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael for God, and it coincides with the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.  I wish all my fellow Moslems a Happy Eid. It is particularly joyous when the holiday occurs so close to Christmas and Hanukah as it does this year, and we all get to celebrate our festivities around the same time.

I would also like to extend a belated thanks to the Korean Community Church (PCA) in Fort Myers for having us this past Sunday. Their graciousness and hospitality (not to mention the wonderful food) was reinvigorating. We didn’t have a live link, but the occasion was rebroadcast on justin.tv and can be retrieved from the archive for December 16 (starting around 5:00PM).

As I’ve been covering the Friday Islamic prayer services, I would also like to spend Sundays at churches and Saturdays at synagogues around the district so we can all get a better sense of how our neighbors spend their time in worship. The purpose of these visits isn’t a campaign stop, but to sit back quietly and respectfully observe the services (while broadcasting online) and to better get to know the people of the given community. 

As is the case of my time spent at the Mosque on Fridays, visits to other centers of faith does not to amount to an endorsement from myself or Crazy for Congress of any particular religious viewpoint, nor is it an endorsement of this campaign from any religious organization. It’s simply an opportunity for us all to get to know each other a little better.

Religion is such an important part of so many American’s lives, and I feel strongly that we need to find a way to discuss this in the context of our political discourse that frank and respectful to the beliefs of individuals while at the same time respecting the separation of government and religion for the nation as a whole.  Hopefully this is one way we can do that.