This is a reminder of our meeting this Friday April 27th at 6:00pm in Fort Atkinson at the Dwight Foster Library, 209 Merchants Ave. We welcome speaker and author “J.C.”, a former Iraqi Kurd to speak about his life in the Middle East, his religious conversion to Christianity, and about Islam.
Author and speaker “J.C.” was born in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq. As a child, he witnessed the violence of the government of Baghdad practiced against his people when his elder brother’s lifeless body was brought back to his parents. His experience with socialist dictatorship formed his political conscience. During the Gulf War, “J.C.” was forced to flee Iraq not once, but twice and eventually came to America as a political asylee.
“J.C.” grew up as a Muslim, adhering to the practices of the Sunni division of Islam. The teachings of Islam influenced and molded his theological thinking, but never took a hold of his spirit. Hence, as a teenager he began searching for an answer to the eternal questions of life. “J. C.” lost his faith in religion and metaphysical answers after reading the “Theory of Evolution,” by Charles Darwin.
In the late 90’s, through Operation Safe Haven on the part of the US government, “J.C” was among a group of 4000 Kurds who were airlifted to Guam and then to the U.S.A. Here he was exposed to the teachings of Christianity, and his life was radically changed. Now, he speaks and writes about his experience coming out of the Middle East and about the teachings of Islam compared to Christianity. In the past five years, “J.C.” has spoken at hundreds of rallies, conferences, private groups and clubs.
Recently, he authored his memoir. The book is titled “Miracles In The Mountains.” “Miracles In The Mountains,” is a story of tragedy, hardship, coercion, suffering, compassion, endurance, and a search for the meaning of the truth, as well as forbidden romance.
