Jewish author Benyamin Cohen asks, ‘WWJD?’
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
When Atlanta native and former editor of American Jewish Life Benyamin Cohen felt his Jewish faith faltering, he did what any other lost soul in the Bible Belt would do – he went to church.
The son of an orthodox rabbi, Cohen spent a year going from Christian rock festival to megachurch service to Catholic confession on a quest for higher learning. He chronicles his experiences in the funny and insightful memoir My Jesus Year. Cohen appears at the Barnes & Noble in Buckhead this Sunday and again at the MJCCA’s 17th annual Book Festival in November.
I was particularly intrigued by the following quote of yours: “What are they [Christians] doing so right that we Jews are doing so wrong? Is their church experience simply more fun?” Would you describe your pre-book perceptions of Christians and modern Christianity and explain what you mean by “right” and “wrong” in the above statement?
Wow, that’s a tough question. I never looked at it like that. I certainly don’t see one religion as being right and another as being wrong. What I do think, though, is that there are a lot of aspects – in any religion – that has room for improvement. Judaism may be thousands of years old, but that doesn’t mean we can’t improve on, say, how we reach out to newcomers. Churches do an amazing job of outreach and marketing themselves to new visitors. In the book, I tell a story of how I got preferential treatment (first-time visitor parking in the front next to the handicapped spots) at a megachurch in Lithonia. Once I walked inside, I was treated like a rock star. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing when a wandering Jew walks into a synagogue for the first time. That’s my long way of saying we’re doing something “wrong” and Christians are doing something “right”. (more…)
