So a couple days ago Anne and I decided that we would have an adventure. Should we go to a bar? No. Should we go skydiving? No. Should we try to cross the Armenian boarder disguised as sheep? No. We were going to really up the stakes and go to a Mosque! There is no bigger adventure for a Baptized Southern Baptist from Alabama than going to a Mosque in a predominate Muslim nation.
Our adventure hit a small snag when we got confused how to enter the cami and accidently ended up in a grocery store. Honestly it could have happened to anyone...or just me. Anyway, as Anne started ascending the mosques steps she noticed my absence as I lagged behind. Don't get me wrong I loved looking at the exterior but actually going inside scared me. Though I am gay and probably constantly prayed for by members of my former church, I still in some ways hold dear that fundamentalist upbringing. While I know science and people in the know may have their point in saying religion is a sham, its something I still find peace in, and for some reason I felt that going into a mosque would be disrespectful . Anne urged me to come with her, and I begrudgingly followed. We had to take off our shoes to enter the mosque, Southern Baptists spend too much time and money on their church shoes to just leave them at the door, so right there was something different! When we entered the space I was in total awe of its beauty and volume..it was big. I mean really big! Like a hundred Macedonia Baptist Churches in Margaret, Alabama could have fit inside it. Anne and I spent about two hours there pacing the carpeted floors looking up at the vaulting ceiling. We eventually sat against a pillar to rest and soak up the environment.
While we sat an elderly Turkish man approached me and asked me to pray with him. I guess he asked me considering I was the "man". He was very encouraging and I was very tempted to. I suppose that many others would have jumped at that opportunity as another example of doing as the local do, but I took pause. While I see the beauty of the Muslim religion and respect it, had I joined the elderly man I would have been doing nothing more than being a mimic. I respected the religion too much to play along with something without really believing in it. With as much respect as I could muster with my limited Turkish I declined the kind mans offer. Anne and I then gathered our shoes, and began to plan our next adventure.
Original Draft written June 29,2012
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