My Faith: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), from Catholic to Muslim

CNN ^ | 9/1/11 | Chris Welch

[marshmallow]

Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) –Prior to 2006, few people even knew that then-Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison was a Muslim. Because of his English name, he said, no one thought to ask.

But five years ago, when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives - a race he would go on to win - word of his religious affiliation began to spread.

“When I started running for Congress it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress,” said Ellison, a Democrat now serving his third term in the House.

“But someone said to me, ‘Look Keith, think of a person of Japanese origin running for Congress six years after Pearl Harbor–this might be a news story.’”

Though Ellison's status as the first Muslim elected to Congress is widely known, fewer are aware that he was born into a Catholic family in Detroit and was brought up attending Catholic schools.

But he said he was never comfortable with that faith.

“I just felt it was ritual and dogma,” Ellison said. “Of course, that’s not the reality of Catholicism, but it’s the reality I lived. So I just kind of lost interest and stopped going to Mass unless I was required to.”

It wasn’t until he was a student at Wayne State University in Detroit when Ellison began, “looking for other things.”

[Natural Law]

"No response, period. Not now, not later."

I really didn't expect any corroboration because non exists. We didn't learn much about medieval copyists, but we did learn a lot about you.

[Cronos]

It’s the group of “I don’t believe what I believe, but I’m just anti-orthodoxy!”

[MarkBsnr]

Let’s look at just that phrase and see what scripture says about those contentions.

1 Corinthians 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Very good. Now, let us look at Paul in context.

1 Corinthians 1:17* For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,* so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.j

Paul was sent to teach and preach with the authority of God. The others did not have the authority to teach anything else other than what the Church taught.

2 Timothy 2: 1* So you, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2And what you heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well.

2 Thessalonians 2: 15Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.*

You don't to make it all up as you go along.

[Cronos]

And if we want to find the way to Mohammed, do we call your group?

[bkaycee]

Dude, seriously, get a room, invite Quix, or say something relevant to this thread.

[Cronos]

oh, so why didn’t you raise your point earlier — like to post 28? That’s the first of the posts that are not related to this thread (or rather post 25, but that was deleted)....

[Cronos]

And let’s go to post 483. Is that strictly relevant to the article that launched this thread?

[MarkBsnr]

A Christian is a follower of Christ, not a follower of an organization. The very fact that you make a comment that followers of Christ who don’t also follow an earthly (mammon) organization are not Christians is very telling.

Many of the "Christians" here are followers of Paul, not Christ. We have been thoroughly instructed by some of the more faithful that the Gospels are for the Jews only, or that the Gospels must be viewed through the Pauline Epistles.

According to them it is Paul to whom we must turn; Jesus is irrelevant to them except as a figurehead. But what does Jesus instruct the Apostles?

Matthew 10: 1* Then he summoned his twelve disciples* and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.a 2The names of the twelve apostles* are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; 4Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

5b Jesus sent out these twelve* after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. 6c Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’d 8* Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. 9e Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; 10f no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. 11g Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. 12As you enter a house, wish it peace. 13If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.* 14* h Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. 15Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.i

Jesus gave teaching authority to the Church, and not to every Tom, Dick and Luther at their own whims.

[Cronos]

Besides, I ask a serious question — if someone does not hold to the Trinity, thinks that the angels are extra-terrestrial aliens and other outlandish beliefs, on what basis do they mock others?

[MarkBsnr]

We keep telling the Catholics time and again that we follow Christ, as it is HE who died for us. Not Peter, not Paul, not James, not anybody else. Eternal life is given to us through Christ and Christ alone, by grace alone through faith alone.

You may say this, but we have been thoroughly instructed by your lot that the words of Jesus are meaningless to Christians since they are for the Jews only. Your lot has insisted directly and by Scriptural proofs that it is to Paul that you guys turn. Preference for Paul is called Paulianity and been condemned during the first millennium under various heretical terms.

[bkaycee]

Is it me,or what? Why do i get the idea that pro Rome apologists think Muslims (who deny the Deity of Christ) have a shot at salvation, but us “protestants”, who believe what the 1st century church believed are, at best, “lacking the fullness of faith” and at worst,... well you know. Let’s just say, I am glad Rome lost her temporal power of persuasion.

[Cronos]

with regards to many blacks who become Moslems in the USA, the truth must be told to them that the Arabs were at the heart, the suppliers of African slaves. Becoming Moslem is not "embracing their past" but embracing their enslavers

The Arabs also kept black slaves until well into the 20th century while it was outlawed in the West (thanks to the Anglican/Methodist abolitionists)

[Judith Anne]

Is it your intention to offend me? Is that what you mean by “pomp, ritual, smoke, incense, holy water, waving rosaries, kissing korans with a sinner just like you or worse, telling you that he has the authority to pass you on to heaven, by all means call a Catholic priest?

Are you trying to start another argument? Because that is not at all what last rites are, and I suspect that you know that. Of course, you might be genuinely that ignorant, I could be wrong.

[Cronos]

Firstly, Iscool's group and Islamic thought -- well, not much difference

Secondly -- there is a big difference between various non-orthodoxy groups: for instance, traditional, conservative anglicans, methodists and lutherans are very close to orthodoxy in their beliefs.

Presbyterians and other reformed are not as close, but they hold to the tenets of the faith as we read in Scripture, outlined in the Nicene Creed

Pentecostals are a mixed bag -- some close to orthodoxy, some very, very far. Ditto for "Baptists" (using the generic term even though SBC are different from, say the WBC etc.)

And some of the non-orthodoxy groups like Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Unitarians have just mutated way beyond any resemblance to Christianity.

[MarkBsnr]

A little over a year ago, you posted your belief that the Trinity could not found in the Synoptic Gospels, that the Apostle Paul "definitely" did not subscribe to a Nicene Trinitarian view, and that only "some" evidence for a Triune God could be found within John's Gospel. Only one apostle could be considered Trinitarian?

Hello, Alex. Did somebody overturn your rock? No matter. The answer is that the Synoptic Gospels and the Pauline letters do not prove a Trinitarian view, and the Trinitarian formula cannot be composed until the writings of John are used.

At least one Catholic FReeper has posted that they do not trust any doctrine not found expressed within the Synoptic Gospels. You seem to be making some cultists' case that the Council of Nicea made up the doctrine of the Trinity out of whole cloth.

I don't know what the context was, or how accurately you are conveying this information or what said FReeper (whoever it was) was meaning to say. Nicea was convened to settle the Arian question, which was splitting the Church in two. We know how it was settled. The various factions who are still developing from the ruins of Reformation are still attempting to second guess Church decisions over the millennia.

[Cronos]

bkaycee: but us

oh, that is funny because you bkaycee said Those groups are hardly "Christian". Mormons are polytheists, Jehovahs W's are Neo Arians, Ones groups are Modalists, -- ask iscool about belief in a Modal god.....

you two do not share the same beliefs -- at the very least you hold to the beliefs encapsulated in the Nicene Creed, bkay..

[Judith Anne]

MAYBE, you should start an anti-Hinn Duplantis thread, instead of hijacking ALL religous threads where QUIX participates.

Isn't that called stalking most of the time?

[Cronos]

Of course there is the attempt to barb. What does one say of someone who one time say they are Catholic, one time attacks Catholics, one time says that Jesus is just a spirit, one time... etc?

[Judith Anne]

LOL! I’m blessed blessed blessed! I’m blessed going in and blessed going out! I’m blessed with eternal life. It grates on the anti Word crowd but that’s the price of not believing..

You are certainly SOMETHING, I don't know that it looks like "blessed."

[MarkBsnr]

"You seem to be making some cultists' case that the Council of Nicea made up the doctrine of the Trinity out of whole cloth."

I have read most of Markbsnr's posts and I think you are engaged in yet another case of character assassination by misquote, partial quotes and innuendo. It is part of a bigger pattern. You have on several occasions posted out of context and completely falsified interpretations of my own posts.

I think that we should cut Alex some slack. Some kind person has come along and:

What role do you believe the Nicene Creed should play in the formation of faith? Do you fully support the tenets of Christianity as expressed in the Nicene Creed? Should the Nicene Creed be the lens through which the Bible should be interpreted? Did the Nicean Creed precede and shape the Canon of the Bible, or did the Bible shape the Nicene Creed? Where is the Catechism of the Catholic Church at odds with any part of the Nicene Creed?

Fair and cogent questions. I am looking foward to reading the answers.