The Faith Club Priscilla Warner Analysis

A person’s outlook in life is greatly influenced by his or her upbringing. Since people have unique experiences, their views on political, cultural, and even religious issues differ from each other. Because of this, the upbringing of a person is a great way to understand what they believe in and who they are as a person. This is evident in The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner. In the book, the three authors have diverse upbringing. This greatly contributed to the differences of their beliefs. However, they were able to find similarities as they discovered how much their religions are related to one another. In The Faith Club, the upbringing of the three authors led to the similarities and differences among their

The fact that she has a panic disorder greatly affected this as well (Idliby, Oliver, & Warner, 2006, p. 103). She learned most of her Jewish beliefs from her father. Because of this, she thinks that her Jewish identity is her personal connection to her father (Idliby, Oliver, & Warner, 2006, p. 89). Like her father, there are times when she practices some traditional Jewish practices like fasting during Yom Kippur, but there are also time when she does not (Idliby, Oliver, & Warner, 2006, p. 225). Priscilla mentioned that as a minority religion, she feels that being a Jew is like an obligation (Idliby, Oliver, & Warner, 2006, p. 88). She believes that since they are only a few, it is her duty to spread awareness about the Jews and continue their religious traditions. This particularly led to her sensitivity towards the topic of discrimination against Judaism especially since the Jewish community already suffered so much oppression throughout history. As a result, she was extremely sensitive towards the idea of the Jews being “Christ Killers”. This sensitivity was shown the crucifixion crisis where Priscilla and Suzanne had a heated confrontation (Idliby, Oliver, & Warner, 2006, p. 39). Even though Priscilla is a devoted Jew, she also acknowledges that she is a reformed Jew since she does not follow all of the traditions that they have in her

For example, in the beginning of the book, Ranya had a hard time finding a mosque that compliments her less traditional beliefs. This is because as an American Muslim, she does not favor the traditional rituals that Muslims perform. Although I am not a Muslim, I can relate to the feeling that Ranya had at that time. She wanted to belong to a community. Like her, when my family and I migrated to United States, I also felt that I did not belong in America. As time passed by, I changed as I adjusted to the country that I am currently living in. However, I faced a reality that although I am not an American, the change that I went through made me feel that I am not 100% Filipino either. As a result, I had the similar feeling of not belonging to a certain group. Like Ranya, who eventually found an imam with whom she shared the same beliefs, I was also able to find Filipino immigrants who helped and support me and my family. Aside from Ranya, I could also relate to Priscilla. She mentioned how her being a Jew is her way of connecting to her father. Just like her, I feel connected to my grandmother whenever I go to church or when I pray. My grandmother is one of the people who taught me a lot about prayer and God. Even though she is in the Philippines right now, I still feel that we are together through prayer. Aside from