It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian »

Samir Selmanovic, Ph.D., is a founder and Christian co-leader of Faith House Manhattan, an interfaith "community of communities" that brings together forward-looking Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, and others who seek to thrive interdependently. Samir is also the director of a Christian community in New York City called Citylights and serves on the Interfaith Relations commission of the National Council of Churches and speaks nationally and internationally (www.samirselmanovic.com).

It's Really All About God

Many of us say "Religion? No thanks. I'd rather be spiritual than religious."

But our departure from religion is at the very same time a departure from its rich treasures of community, insight, art, practice, organized action, and hard lessons. Without religion, we find ourselves isolated, incoherent, and naïve on our spiritual journeys.

It's Really All About God is Samir Selmanovic's personal and moving exploration of a very different way of seeing religion. Selmanovic—who grew up a in a culturally Muslim family in Croatia, converted to Christianity as a soldier in the then-Yugoslavian army, and went on to become a Christian pastor in Manhattan and in Southern California—looks at how our ongoing and sometimes violent power struggles over who owns God and what God wants for the world and its peoples are serving neither God, humanity, nor our planet. Our religions have become self-serving God management systems. Yet—as Selmanovic contends—change is possible. To learn to live together on this fragile earth, authentic believers of all traditions need to see that it's really not about their religion —it's really all about God—God who is about all of us and cannot be owned by any of us.

This book is an attempt to look at our religions not merely as adherents but as human beings. Selmanovic believes that love for one's religion is meant to be as dynamic as any love relationship. There must be distance as well as embrace. It's Really All About God is an invitation to acknowledge this tension and serves as a guide to a safe, honest, and hopeful relational place where wholesome love for our religions can thrive.

It's Really All About God is a very personal story and a thrilling exploration of a redeeming, dynamic, and radically different way of treasuring one's own religion while discovering God, goodness, and grace in others and in their traditions.

Publishers Weekly

New York City pastor Selmanovic synthesizes his upbringing in a Muslim-atheist household and his own conversion to Christianity as a young adult to create this concise and entertaining interfaith memoir. The author vividly describes his childhood in Yugoslavia, where his Muslim father and Christian mother reveled in multicultural cooking and entertaining. Essentially raised to be an atheist, Selmanovic shattered his parents' world when he converted to Christianity at age 18 during his required army service. Searching for his own Christian identity, he eventually came to the United States in 1990, only to become frustrated that American organized religion confirmed some of his father's criticisms. Selmanovic's story goes much deeper while still being respectful of, and fair to, all faiths and beliefs. An active member of the interfaith movement, Selmanovic actually moves beyond just creating harmony between faiths toward achieving a détente between people of faith and atheists. He challenges clergy to reclaim a space outside institutional walls and Christians to tone down conversion rhetoric. Sprinkled throughout are Selmanovic's entertaining and illustrative anecdotes, including the quite memorable “Theology of Hemorrhoids.” (Sept.)

Introduction.

Prologue Life Wins.

Chapter 1 Living with a Splinter.

Chapter 2 The Secret of the Ordinary.

Chapter 3 God Management Systems.

Chapter 4 Why Is God Not More Obvious?

Chapter 5 Where Does Your Heart Go?

Chapter 6 Your God Is Too Big.

Chapter 7 The Blessing of Atheism.

Chapter 8 One World at a Time.

Chapter 9 When My God Becomes Our God.

Epilogue My Story and Maybe Yours.

Reader’s Guide.

Notes.

The Author.

Index.