In order to understand

Since moving to Austin and God bursting the little bubble I was living in, I felt compelled to revisit the passion I had in college to study other religions, which eventually led to one of my minors being Religion. Austin being so openly an anti-God community made me realize that I need to better understand what I am up against. In an effort to do this, I just finished reading the following books:This book is about a former Muslim, now atheist, woman's struggle to speak out again the violence against women in Muslim communities. It is her autobiography in which she shows the world first hand Muslim life in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, and Somalia. At times it made me cry for the hurt of the women, and through it all I came to better understand what happens behind closed doors in Muslim homes based on teachings of the Qur'an. Ayaan now lives with guards 24/7 due to the death threats against her from Muslims for abandoning her faith and speaking so openly against the teachings of the Qur'an. I thoroughly recommend this book to any woman. It also helped explain why 9/11 was not a shock to Muslim communities throughout the world, and she even records her own neighborhood in Amsterdam throwing parties in celebration.
This book was not exactly what I had thought it would be, but I plowed through nonetheless. Hemant did in fact put his soul up for sale on ebay, in which the highest bidder would tell him where he would attend religious meetings in a given year. As an atheist, he was curious. A retired baptist minister, Jim Henderson, was the highest bidder and had Hemant, a devout atheist, attend a variety of Christian churches throughout the country and record his perspective on them.

Due to Hemant's blatant disregard for God and anything spiritual, I found it hard at times to continue to read his perspective, though I was intrigued to know what do atheist's think about church services? In the most interesting parts, he attend Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Lakewood in Houston, and Willow Creek in Illinois. He attended numerous smaller churches also and records his thoughts. It was hard to read, but I didn't want to shy away from understanding because I was enraged. I forced myself to move past the emotions - this is my new mission field. This book is not for the faint of heart. I believe it is worth the struggle.

Of course I kept my heart light hearted by intermingling in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and all my magazines. I am heading to the library this afternoon to pick up some new adventures!