They're as good as their word

I have to cop to a little reportorial cynicism.

I called the Rev. Donald Mackenzie because I saw his name in a story from December 2001 about how the 9/11 attacks had led religious leaders to begin interfaith outreach efforts. It was the same sort of call heard following last week's shootings at the Jewish Federation. I wondered if the post-9/11 efforts had faltered once the media turned elsewhere.

"I think generally that's right," Mackenzie said, adding quickly, "My experience is the opposite."

Mackenzie had just walked into his office at University Congregational United Church of Christ after seeing Rabbi Ted Falcon and Jamal Rahman, a Muslim who leads an interfaith congregation.

The three have been meeting weekly since the first anniversary of 9/11. They are writing a book together and recently began a weekly radio show. They show up at each other's services and, in what they call the Traveling Band, appear wherever they're welcome.

They're still doing what they said they'd do. Men of faith keeping the faith.

"We make a distinction between spirituality and institutional religion," Mackenzie said. "We're not saying institutional religion is wrong, but it's a different deal."

That allows the three to focus on what they have in common. The three men call monotheism their "shared universal." But they spend time trying to understand the many differences, too.

They agree some of the post-9/11 talk about bringing different faiths together didn't last. But Falcon says that doesn't mean the efforts weren't successful.

"At a time of great stress, they were bringing people together to understand traditions and to make contacts in the community," he said.

Falcon said what drives him is that he "perceives a deeper illness in society, a more systemic breakdown that needs to be addressed."

Their work over the past four years has taken them further than just understanding each other. There's melding going on among some members of their congregations.

For Rahman, that means spending some Friday nights at synagogue. For some Christians and Jews, he said, that could mean incorporating bowing down prostrate to God, as Muslims do.

Clearly, that is going further than many religious people are looking for in the name of understanding. But Mackenzie, Rahman and Falcon aren't just preaching to the choir, or the hybrids.

Rahman said they recently began talking with Pastor Casey Treat at the Christian Faith Center, a major fundamentalist church with two locations in the Seattle area.

Rahman said Treat, who couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, was receptive to finding projects to work on with the interfaith ministers.

"But he said, 'My congregation will try to convert you,' " Rahman said. In a way, Rahman has already been converted.

"I've had a stereotype of Christian fundamentalists. But I've learned there is such an exquisite sweetness in them, such a sense of community."

David Postman is The Seattle Times' chief political reporter. His column appears Fridays. Reach him at 360-236-8267 or at dpostman@seattletimes.com