Iran, Islam, and Southern Baptists have provided me landscapes and experiences to ponder the lives of Christians and Muslims and other religious and secular persons of particular faith communities. Especially I have lived up close to ayatollahs in Shiah Islam, visited multiple Muslim preachers in their mosques and hosted them and their followers in our home. My Ph.D. dissertation was "Religion and Politics in Iranian Shiah Islam." Also I have been immersed in Baptist and Christian life since a young man and have been a minister, missionary, professor and anthropologist involved in the lives...