A Lesson in Religious Tolerance
By: Nicole Bedford
Tags: Travel, Culture, Spirituality, Religion, Tolerance

In 2010 I had a very unique experience of living and working in the Republic of Georgia as a volunteer ESL teacher working with the Ministry of Education and Science. I had many adventures and experiences that taught me about human nature, sexuality, self, equality, and life.

Once such experience I wrote about where my host sister, a twin, was a kidnapped bride by her then-boyfriend, she was 17. You can read about that below.

This story is about religious inclusion, tolerance and how living in another country, immersed in their culture can expand your world view.

At the time I was still a Christian and the idea of being in a family where multiple religious beliefs were celebrated and encouraged was a novel idea for me. But my host mother taught me a valuable lesson that I think, if the world accepted, we’d progress further as a collective.

The Republic of Georgia is comprised of mostly Orthodox Christians and boasts about being one of the first countries in Christendom. So, imagine my astonishment when my host cousin came to visit and informed me that my family was indeed Islamic.

This revelation hit me really hard, and even though I had come to realize that in Georgia, nothing should be taken at face value, or just because you heard it was the ‘norm’ does not mean that it is everywhere within the country.

My host cousin and my host sisters informed me that yes, they are all Muslim, but my late host father who at the time lived and worked in Russia was an Orthodox Christian. My confusion tunneled deeper.

I know or I should say that from my experiences, I thought I knew that Christians and Muslims didn’t mix in marriage. Usually because of that arbitrary rule of being in an unevenly yoked situation. But in the case of my host family, I supposed love prevailed.

Or, maybe it was because back in the Soviet days Religion may not have counted for much, perhaps, but it was only speculation on my part.

When my host mother arrived, I was looking for an opening to broach the subject with her. I am not Georgian so I do not feel the urge to pose intrusive questions to people (a common trait among them). Curiosity won out and I decided to ask her about the general beliefs of the family and why she married a Christian.

As she was flipping through my Georgian phrasebook coincidentally, she came to the page that translated various Denominations of Christianity and other Religions. She began reading them so I asked her “you are Muslim, yes?”(must use simple English) and she said no.

Again, the confusion came, she then told me in Georgian that she is not, but her mother, father, sister, brother and her children are Muslim, but her husband and her other sister are Christians. I asked her if she was a Christian then and she also said no.

At this point, my head was about to hurt because I couldn’t understand how a Georgian woman could be so different from what I have been told about Georgians.

Her response was that she’s undecided on which religion to follow and she really does not see the point.

At the time, the word for my host mother escaped me but what she was basically saying was that she was teetering on the cusp of agnosticism.

She’d been raised a Muslim from Chechnya that moved to an Orthodox Christian country as an asylum seeker and was completely relaxed with not choosing a side. I was in awe of her.

I asked my sisters why they didn’t wear hijabs or head covers as all Muslim girls would after the age of 12, and she said it was because their mother didn’t like it so they don’t, but when they get married, they would wear it. I was then informed that there is a Mosque in their village of Kakheti. Later on, I would find out that my host mother preferred her children not to bring attention to their origins in Chechnya.

The lesson I learned while living in Georgia was tolerance thanks to my host mother and her open-mindedness.

The self-righteous Christian attitude of my younger years would have been freaked out to live with Muslims, but the revelation of my family’s religion did not shake me in the way it would have about 16 years ago.

When my host grandmother or cousin pulled out their prayer rug to pray, I looked on in admiration. Their faith was inspiring, and I thought, at the time, if a Muslim could strengthen my own faith in my own beliefs then I was on my way to realizing that in every aspect of life there is room to learn, and therefore grow.

Fast forward to the present day, 9 years later, as an atheist, I still find so much inspiration in my host mother and her interfaith family. My host father is now deceased, and my host sisters have been married and divorced from abusive Muslim husbands, but I know that they both now have adopted their mother’s stance on religion.

So much growth has happened in all of us because of one woman’s tolerance of religious faiths outside of her own beliefs.