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Faiths
and Beliefs
a
column by Vern Barnet every Wednesday in
the FYI section of the Kansas City Star,
[printed
and Star web versions versions and versions here may vary]
copyright
The
Kansas City Star.
642. 061127 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
New Year frames the sacred
Each new year is a frame for events in our personal lives and public
histories. Sometimes it is messy and arbitrary, but the framing persists,
as revelers in a few days will prove.
Through annual rhythm and repetition, such framing also
proves the human hunger for meaning in the chronology of actions. This
search for a larger pattern to make sense of our time with one another
is spiritual. What do we include? What do we exclude?
Here are three examples.
* In my first parish in snowy Illinois 35 years ago, I
asked an artist to design a program cover for a church service. She sketched
snowy hills, a barren tree and tracks in the snow. The image was framed
with the words of the Japanese poet Yayu: “In my New Year heart I feel
no fury even at these tramplers of snow.”
I’ve thought about that picture many times. We love the
purity of new-fallen snow, and may resent those who, trodding through
its calm, smutch it with their violation of its simplicity and peace.
And the New Year may begin with blotches against our bright
intentions. Can we accept those who, uninvited, enter the landscape of
the soul?
* The altar of fire sacrifice in ancient India was constructed
of 720 bricks, 360 for the days of the year and 360 for the nights, laid
in courses to represent the seasons. The Vedic texts says building “this
altar is the year.”
The altar is not only a sacred place, but also sacralizes
time. The word “sacrifice” etymologically means “to make sacred.” What
we do with our time expresses what we value. We may not ignite food with
its smoke ascending to the gods above, but our activities consume the year.
Framing our choices with awareness can make them divine offerings.
* The common calendar is solar. It lasts roughly 365 1/4
days, which leads to adding a “leap” day to almost every fourth year. The
Jewish calendar is solar-lunar, with months corresponding to the moon's
cycle. But since 12 cycles of the moon is shorter than the solar year,
some years are given 13 months to keep the seasons roughly in place.
However, the Islamic calendar is strictly lunar, with
its year about 11 days shorter than the solar year. This means Muslim holidays
slowly rotate throughout the seasons. This can be interpreted to mean that
a spiritual frame informs or transcends seasonal shifts.
All religions grapple with the framework of time. And
even a secular philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, had a religious sense
when he wrote, “He lives eternally who lives in the present.”
“Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” When we open our hearts to those
suffering in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Darfur genocide, the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and other turmoil around the world, this Christmas sentiment seems
an unrealizable wish.
Many of my readers insist this is a Christian nation,
but we were easily led from peace into a pre-emptive war of choice. And
at this very season, to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace we give
violent toys, games and entertainment, including the famously Christian
movie-maker Mel Gibson, whose fascination for violence is newly displayed
in Apocalypto.
Islam, another religion of peace, is bloodied with sectarian
violence.
The sacred texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism
and other faiths all proclaim peace. Yet as history unfolds, we wonder
if the dream of peace can be realized.
George Rupp, formerly Dean of the Harvard Divinity School
and president of Columbia University, now president of the International
Rescue Committee, spoke here last week for the International Relations
Council. He noted that the extended religious wars of Europe concluded
with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years’ War.
For the next 300 years, wars were relatively brief and the usual casualties
were soldiers. The Holocaust’s Jewish, Gypsy, and homosexual victims
were horrible civilian exceptions.
But since Vietnam, a country torn for roughly thirty years,
wars have again lengthened into “double-digits,” and non-combatants have
suffered most, as is true in Iraq, where some suggest the conflict will
last for decades.
What a different approach to violence we saw this year
with the Amish! When eleven school girls in the Nickel Mines community
were lined up and shot, the Christian power of forgiveness interrupted
the common pattern of retaliation and revenge.
Why, when Jesus taught “Love your enemies,” when the Buddha
observed, “Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love,” when the
wisdom of every faith urges us toward peace and justice, why does the Christmas
message for the world seem so remote?
Perhaps a perspective on this question, if not an answer,
can be found in recalling the Christmas story itself. Jesus was not born
into a perfect world, but a world of savage power.
If Christmas is larger than a season of personal, selfish
preoccupation, then its yearly reminder of the power of love in response
to savagery may yet turn us toward recognizing our error and repentance
for our folly. We may embrace our enemies and turn our hands from war to
building peace. Victory comes not by the mighty sword but by the star and
the manger.
640. 061113 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Efforts to know one another are sacred
Can you get inside of someone else’s head?
This question came to mind last week when I heard my brilliant
young colleague in the ministry, Thom Belote, discuss Postmodernist doubts
about the possibility of understanding one another.
Here is a ancient Taoist story that presents the issue.
Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu strolled to the bridge over the
Hao River. Chuang Tzu remarked, :See how the minnows are darting
about! That is the pleasure of fishes.”
“You not being a fish yourself, “ responded Hui Tzu, “how
can you possibly know in what consists the pleasure of fishes?”
“And you not being I,” retorted Chuang Tzu, “how can you
know that I do not know?”
“If I, not being you, cannot know what you know,” urged
Hui Tzu, “it follows that you, not being a fish, cannot know in what consists
the pleasure of fishes.”
Chuang Tzu replied, “You asked me how I knew in what consists
the pleasure of fishes. I knew it from my own feelings on this bridge.”
Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago scholar, suggests
that the bridge is a metaphor for those feelings that connect us to others
as well as those that separate us from others.
I have had many people confide in me their stories where
somehow they “became” the bird in flight, or “understood” what their pets
were “thinking.”
If such almost-mystical cross-species experiences, like
Chuang Tzu’s, seem self-validating, is it not possible that we can understand,
at least in those rare moments, what it is like to see the world the way
a Hindu or a Muslim or a Jew might see it?
Some lovers know each other well enough to complete each
other’s sentences. Should not religion beckon us to the pleasure of loving
one another so deeply that we behold one another in that paradox which
acknowledges both our otherness and our unity?
Art is about such paradoxes. I’ve been looking at the
Henry Moore “Sheep Piece” at the Nelson-Atkins for decades, and each time
I see it afresh. It is constantly other than me but also an organic part
of me. I feel a bit inside of Moore’s head.
Last Thursday, at the Kansas City Ballet’s tribute to
the company’s former director, Todd Bolender, in his eloquent remembrance,
ballet master James Jordan mentioned Hope DeYoung-Daniels, a 12-year old
dancer in the Ballet School who, preparing to dance in Bolender’s “The
Nutcracker,” told him, “I would like to get inside of Mr. Bolender’s head.”
Whether parallel aspirations can be realized by us, surely
our lives depend on the effort to understand one another. I call such efforts
sacred.
639. 061106 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Talk is cheap, but respect enriches
Recognizing our common humanity ought to be easy, but the world is a
mess with fear, deceit, oppression, theft and assault. Religions should
be teaching love, but the news suggests they create turmoil. Faiths ought
to bring people together, but religions themselves are divided.
These may not be balanced or accurate statements, but
you can sympathize with those who make them.
One of the engines of interfaith activity is the urge
to discover agreements so people can stop fighting. But such agreements
are often achieved cheaply, with assumptions made by each party about the
other that fail. For example, when people speak of our common humanity,
what does that mean? Normative Christian doctrine teaches that humans are
born with a sinful nature; Confucians assume each child is born good.
A group once asked me for advice about a public statement
they were preparing. It asserted that humans are created in the “image
and likeness of God.” They wanted to be sure the statement would appeal
to those of all faiths.
I told them that it is troublesome to many Muslims to
associate the human likeness with God who is without form. But other Muslims
who understood the intent of the statement might raise no objection.
A rabbi once explained to me why the Christian idea of
love bothered him. “We Jews have been literally loved to death by Christians,”
he said. He cited the Inquisitors who, motivated by love, tortured Jews
in hopes they would convert to Christianity so they would be saved from
hell. Failing that, love of others compelled the Inquisitors to eliminate
Jews in order to protect society from heresy.
Like “love,” many words have different meanings, and we
may not even be aware of what they mean to others.
To many highly educated Hindus, the word “idol” is merely
describes an image of a deity, but most Americans, hearing this term, associate
it with superstition.
Many folks may think all religions teach belief in a Creator,
in a hereafter, in a set of moral commandments and in a soul. Such assumptions
about commonalities are false.
The purpose of today’s column, dear reader, is not to
discourage exploring other faiths, but rather to urge deep pursuit, to
uncover our misperceptions so we may become truer, not cheap, friends.
The real riches are beneath the surface, in others’ faiths as in our own.
The world does not need superficial agreement as much
as respect for differences.
Religious leaders can inspire us as we follow the twists and turns of
our own lives, so when folks at Village Presbyterian Church invited me
to teach there, I planned a series on four figures. And in the last session,
we compared them.
The figures were Muhammad, the Buddha, Confucius and Guru
Nanak. I used the term “figure” rather than “founder” because Muslims do
not regard Muhammad as the founder of Islam, but rather the last of the
prophets beginning with Adam.
Here are some ways the four are alike and different.
* All the figures are male. A series with four comparable
women is inconceivable. Religion historically has been usually led by men,
even though Muhammad and Guru Nanak elevated the place of women in their
faiths.
Religion involves seeing cosmic connections, and the correspondence
between menstrual and lunar cycles may have given prehistoric humans a
sense that women were more spiritual than men. But historic times seems
to focus on male power rather than female harmonies.
* The series illustrates a often-ignored fact: No religion
is completely new. Muhammad’s Islam drew upon Jesus and Abraham before
him. The Buddha’s message is often regarded as a reformation in early Hinduism.
Confucius deliberately selected materials from earlier traditions from
which to build his own. Nanak’s revelation — “There is no Hindu; there
is no Muslim” — pointed to the essential kinship and equality of
humanity beyond sects, and developed into Sikhism only because of the mix
between the two earlier faiths.
* None of the four men’s situations made them obvious
candidates for religious vocations. Muhammad was a caravan trader. The
Buddha was a prince and his father tried to shield him from religious interests.
Confucius was conceived out of wedlock when his father was 70 and was raised
a pauper. Nanak’s father was a village accountant. None of them were ordained
or had a theological degree.
* Two, Muhammad and Nanak, were men of God. The other
two, the Buddha and Confucius, were not. Neither the Buddha nor Confucius
taught belief in a Creator. Many people think that all religions require
belief in a Supreme Being, but this is not so.
What all spiritual teachers have in common is a way of
making sense out of the confusing pieces of life, a pattern or story that
gives larger meaning to our days and direction for the decisions we must
make.
That is why the influence of figures such as these persists.
637. 061122 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Behold Grace and be Blessed
A pretty good remedy for disappointment is to count one’s blessings.
As Johnson Oatman Jr. counseled in his 1897 song: “name them one by one
. . . see what God hath done.”
One need not believe in God to find power in noticing
the grace around us. A Zen Buddhist master who had no belief in a Creator
was asked to summarize his faith. He responded simply, “Attention!”
But with cell phones and commercials and spam email, we
are tempted to distraction. We cannot focus on the ever-present gift of
life itself. Our over-secularistic culture pulls our attention toward countless
tiny things that excite for a moment until we are captured by the next
tiny thing.
This is why some form of religious discipline can be useful.
A truly spiritual ritual is not a deadly routine but rather a gate open
to the wonders of the universe. Whether it is meditation, prayer, a walk
in the woods, a glorious hour with music, contemplating a painting, a dance,
writing a note to a loved one or the afterglow of passionate embrace, we
are restored to that larger perspective which reveals what truly matters,
the sacred.
This need not end in passivity. Noticing the air we breathe
— on which our life depends — may lead us to work for clean air in an endangered
environment, not only for our descendents’ survival but also as a tribute
to the Creator or to the processes through which came this gift.
Jesuit Father Michael J. Himes says, “That which is always
and everywhere true must be noticed, accepted, and celebrated somewhere,
sometime.”
What is always and everywhere true is that we are given
the miracle of participating in the life of the universe. Even in a tortuous
or suicidal situation, even when pain or injustice is so great we might
wish to be dead, we are given a place in the cosmic story.
Most of my readers are given opportunities to help those
whose circumstances are dreadful, but we are all subject to uncertainty,
to dread and to joy. The way I look at it, the cosmic story is not “us”
and “them” but rather all of us grasped by an unfathomable mystery from
which we emerge, which sustains our being for a time, and to which we return.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is one holiday
whose meaning includes every religious tradition and the sensibilities
of non-believers as well. For all of us, a fundamental question is, Is
life worth living?
The holiday is a ritual opportunity to be reminded of
how to answer this question Yes.
Naming the tiny blessings is not a sufficient accounting. But to behold
grace everywhere present, even in despair, is an ultimate blessing.
636. 061115 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
There's Harmony in Raising Voices
Plato worried about the power of music to affect public behavior, and
subsequent philosophers and politicians have sought to control what reaches
the ear, but Sunday’s Harmony Choral Celebration Concert was a powerful
example of music creating healthy community.
What we hear can shape how we live, and South-Broadland
Church brought together musicians and an audience in measures of harmony
among faiths, races, traditions and dress.
Since 1992, the annual event has begun with the adhaan,
the Islamic call to prayer, a musical invitation into God’s presence. It
sounded completely in place in the Christian church because the fervor
of its bidding is universal when we enter into its spirit.
Sunday’s Jewish, Christian Gospel, Christian contemporary,
Baha’i, tribal African and Gaelic sounds are now archived in memory with
Catholic, Protestant, American Indian, Hindu and other music from the 17
years of offerings from this concert series.
Plato would have noticed not just the musicians but also
the enthusiastic audience, rejoicing in the blessing of a community in
which differences become the notes creating the harmony. And he would have
observed Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Al Brooks offering a non-sectarian prayer
embracing every faith without watering down their distinctions.
Kansas City should be proud. The organizers know of no
other interfaith concert in the US featuring both a mixed community choir
and choirs from different faiths.
This is the season for interfaith celebration. Nov. 5
the Crescent Peace Society, a Muslim organization, welcomed Christians,
Jews and others to a dinner and program for the tenth year. Yesterday the
Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council held its second annual “Table of
Faiths” luncheon with display booths for some dozen faiths. And this Sunday,
my organization, CRES, offers its 22nd annual Thanksgiving Sunday Family
Interfaith Ritual Meal.
These and other developing traditions in our area strengthen
the network of mutual understanding necessary to withstand the assault
when those claiming to act in the name of religion — any religion — seek
to harm us, or plant suspicion, or divide us from one another.
Exposure to others’ sacred music and art and traditions
inoculates the community from prejudice and builds the muscles of faith.
The coincidence of major interfaith events in November
seems a synergy that in another year may lead to a new level of visibility
and involvement. If your faith community, arts group or civic organization
might have a program to propose, an idea to contribute or simply wants
to be informed about such a prospect, tentatively called a “Festival of
Faiths,” contact HarmonyNCCJ’s Josef Walker at Josef@kcharmony.org or (816)
333-5059.
I was early for my appointment with Rabbi Arthur P. Nemitoff. While
I waited, my eye fell on a slim volume in his office at The Temple, Congregation
B’nai Jehudah. Its cover was a haunting photo of an Ethiopian girl. Was
she worried? Was she frightened? Was she hopeful? Was she, just behind
the doorway, inviting me to learn about her situation?
I picked up the book, Of Eyes and Hearts, with photos
and text by Nemitoff,. I thumbed through it. Page after page offered one
or more children, beautiful and poignant.
I gathered the book was about that intriguing story of
African Jews, in what was once known as Abyssinia, who lost connection
with Israel. Some think they are part of the “lost tribes.” Others theories
have been advanced, but it is almost certain that they were separated from
others of their faith before the rise of rabbinic Judaism in the late First
Century.
When Nemitoff returned to his desk, I asked him about
the book. In the spring he had gone to Ethiopia to pursue an interest dating
back some 20 years when he learned about a secret airlift into Israel of
8,000 of some 22,000 Ethiopian Jews. Several programs since then have continued
the exodus under changing political situations. In one 36-hour period in
1991, 14,324 were transferred to Israel.
Now a process for family reunification makes immigration
routine.
But other Ethiopians with unclear claims to Jewish heritage
also want to emigrate to Israel. The book tells their story as well.
Modern Judaism is sometimes divided ethnically into the
Ashkenazi (Jews with an Eastern European heritage) and the Sephardi (Jews
associated with Moorish Spain, Arab counties and Persia). But the Ethiopian
Jews, constructing a faith without the Talmud, with a holiday unknown to
other Jews and with a liturgical language not Hebrew, add a new element
to the diversity that is Judaism.
Nemitoff sees this diversity as an opportunity to learn
from the “Ethiopian branch of our Jewish roots,” just as the Sephari and
Ashkenazi have mutually enriched the larger tradition.
The book contains 110 of the 900 photos Nemitof took with
a digital camera. Others may rate their technical excellence, but their
compelling spiritual impact is certain.
I’d like to buy a copy, I told Nemitoff. The price is
$18, a number associated with the Hebrew word chaim, meaning “life,” appropriate
since the proceeds from the book are a gift to further settlement efforts
for the Ethiopians,
Regardless of your faith, if you love children and a story
of religious freedom, you’ll cherish this book. It’s available through
the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City and in gift shops at B’nai
Jehudah, 12320 Nall, and Kehilath Israel Synagogue, 10501 Conser, Overland
Park.
634. 061101 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Issue would honor rights
Missouri Amendment 2 on stem cell research has created religious fervor.
One view is that the amendment will maintain the right Missourians have
currently to early stem cell research and the cures that may result within
federal law. Another view is that the research creates life to destroy
it, and this is immoral.
The scientific and religious issues are complex. Here
is a sketch of various views and a suggestion of how to honor them. You
can find more on my web site at www.cres.org/2.
The Missouri Catholic Conference believes that the research
involves “cloned human beings” and says that “no human life, at any stage
of its development, may ever be taken for the sake of someone else’s gain.”
But when does a cell become a person — or, to phrase the
question theologically, when does “ensoulment” occur? St. Thomas Aquinas
thought it was at quickening, about 40 days after conception. This view
was a common Catholic position until Pope Pius IX decreed that life begins
at conception in 1859.
Others think that ensoulment cannot happen until after
the possibility for twinning has passed. Otherwise, the soul would be split
in two, or one baby would have a soul, and the other would not. Others
say ensoulment occurs when the cells implant in the womb. English and U.S.
common law recognize personhood at birth.
Many traditions focus on the cures possible from research.
The Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City unanimous
endorsement of the amendment was based in part on Jewish law.
Episcopal priest and former U.S. Missouri Senator Jack
Danforth, an abortion opponent, supports the amendment’s promise for healing
of Parkinsons’, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, MS, spinal chord injuries
and other conditions.
Methodist minister and US Congressman Emanuel Cleaver,
along with other local Christian, Buddhist and Muslim leaders, feel
pursuing cures and therapies is not only moral but a religious obligation.
Some cite the healing work of Jesus.
How can this religious conflict be resolved?
The Catholic Church prohibits contraception, Orthodox
Jews do not eat pork, Muslims do not drink wine, Jehovah’s Witnesses do
not accept blood transfusions. Others are free to follow their conscience.
One theological position is not forced on others.
The measure’s effect would assure
each person may act according to one’s faith. Those whose conscience requires
them to seek cures through such research will be able to do so, and those
who object may refrain. No theology would be imposed by the state; all
faiths would be respected.
633. 061025 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Is it time for humanity to change paths?
I hesitated to interview Neale Donald Walsch, author of the Conversations
with God books, now the subject of a movie by the same title. Although
a number of friends have found paths to spiritual healing through his books,
I shy away from “New Age” theologies.
But I as the interview was ending, a shiver of recognition
coursed up and down my spine. What had been a discussion about Walsch became
much larger.
I had previewed the movie. Walsch loses his job and becomes
a beggar. In his depression and agony, he cries to God for help. On yellow
legal pads, though Walsch’s hand, God appears to respond. When those scribblings
find their way into print, Walsch is given unexpected prosperity.
Henry Czerny, who plays Walsch with vivid understatement,
creates an authentic human being from the man who, for a time, looked in
garbage bins for his food, as well as the man who became a success on book-signing
tours.
In a closing bookstore scene a distraught mother asks
Walsch how he could explain God’s love in allowing her son to be killed
on his 18th birthday. Walsch comforts her in words he could not have planned
but we know are grounded in Walsch’s own acquaintance with both abandonment
and love. I disagree with his response theologically, but it brought relief
and meaning to the mother’s shattering pain.
One of my problems with “New Age” spirituality is that
it is often selfish, narcissistic. But the compassion Walsch demonstrates
is larger than mere individual salvation.
Near the end of the interview I asked, “Is the story really
about you or is the movie a metaphor for humanity’s healing? If we as a
society could get to the point where we listen, reaching out for enlarged
understandings of God, will we find answers to our deepest questions?”
Embracing the question, he said, “It is time for humanity to have a new
story of itself.”
The possibility gave me shivers.
The despondency and profound alienation from God that
he experienced may parallel the desperation and brokenness throughout the
world. If today’s civilizations are in crises, as he as a person was, can
recognizing and reaching beyond our condition similarly lead us to redemption?
Can paying attention to what God or the universe or reality is telling
us, move us from the ditch onto the sacred path?
If so, the movie is not just a personal story but an allegory
for world transformation.
The movie is scheduled to open here Friday.
632. 061018 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Sexuality has its place in spirituality
How sex and spirituality are intertwined is fascinating. In fact, the
word “fascinate” derives from ancient Roman images of an erect penis thought
to have spiritual power.
Different religions have assessed sexuality differently.
Let’s contrast the influence of St. Augustine (354-430) in Christianity
with the tradition represented by Kukai (774–835) in Japanese Shingon and
other forms of Buddhism.
Before Augustine became a Christian in 386, he had an
intense friendship with a man his age, described in his Confessions,
and also fathered a son by his concubine, whom he abandoned when his son
was about 16, in order to marry a society woman, as arranged by his Christian
mother. But he soon decided instead to be a monk.
Augustine’s mature theology of sex is found in The
City of God, Book 14. Since we are sinners, he argues, we cannot experience
sex except sinfully. Self-control and the faculty of reason, the marks
of virtue, evaporate at the moment of orgasm.
Nonetheless, while celibacy is better than marriage, vaginal
sex in marriage is licit because children may result. All other forms of
sexual pleasure are prohibited. Pleasure itself is suspect. It would be
better if we took our food not for enjoyment but as medicine.
His influence has been enormous. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274),
for example, said that masturbation is worse than fornication because masturbation
has no potential for procreation. And today contraception is condemned
by the Catholic Church for the same reason.
Where Augustine found orgasm troubling because the body’s
spasm is not subject to control, the Shingon Buddhists valued orgasm precisely
because its receptivity to ecstasy is the essence of the religious experience.
Thus no forms of responsible sexual pleasure were in themselves
condemned. Stories developed of the Buddha himself appearing as a handsome
youth to give pleasure to the monks and thereby guide them toward Enlightenment.
The samurai customs paralleled the religious ones.
The Zen Buddhist abbot Ikkyu (1394-1481) wrote poems about
women in the brothel as part of his spiritual practice.
A basic notion of Buddhism is the transitory nature of
all existence. For this, sexual pleasure can be a metaphor, teaching that
even the most exquisite experience cannot last.
Sex is biological, but sexuality is cultural. Especially
in the different ways pleasure and the will can be viewed, Augustine and
Kukai represent polar opposites. Other faiths have understood sexuality
in markedly varied ways. To assume our own tradition is the only one ignores
spiritual possibilities others have discovered.
This month marks the fifth anniversary of the area’s “Gifts of Pluralism”
interfaith conference. Last week I listed three benefits of that ebullient
gathering of 250 people from 15 religions practiced here. Even as interfaith
conflict is the news elsewhere, healthy energy from the conference continues
to ripple throughout our community.
The conference panels, workshops, small-group discussions,
plenary sessions and informal discussions led to a “Concluding Conference
Declaration,” unanimously and joyously approved and signed at the end of
the meeting.
Five years later, I fear a promise in this document is
forgotten. The Declaration pledged the faith communities “to successfully
address the environmental, personal and social crises of our often fragmented
world.”
To begin this process, three paragraphs in the middle
of the Declaration summarized the wisdom of the religions that can be offered
to the secular world:
“The gifts of pluralism have taught us that nature is
to be respected, not just controlled. Nature is a process that includes
us, not a product external to us that can just be used or disposed of.
Our proper attitude toward nature is awe, not utility. . . .
“We have also learned that our true personhood may not
be in the images of ourselves constrained by any particular social identities.
When we realize this, our acts can proceed spontaneously from duty and
compassion, and we need not be unduly attached to results beyond our control.
“Finally, when persons in community govern themselves
less by profit and more by the covenant of service, the flow of history
towards peace and justice is honored and advanced.”
To me, these three paragraphs point us, first, toward
harmony with nature. Second, they declare that we as persons are more porous
than the labels we place on ourselves. Third, they proclaim that when we
withdraw license for special interests, we can recover reverence for the
commonweal.
But wedge issues continue divide us. The wisdom proclaimed
in the Declaration has not been detailed and applied. The powers of our
faiths have not been united to answer our over-secularistic culture. A
theological practice to restore ecological, personal and social integrity
is yet to be nurtured.
From the conference, we are blessed with a burgeoning
interfaith network which may yet lead us beyond fine words. If our civilization
is not to collapse, but rather enjoy the gifts of pluralism, we must remember
that the goal, beyond just hugs all around, is transformation of the world.
630. 061004 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Dialogue can defuse a threat
Five years ago this month the metro-area’s first and only major interfaith
conference, “The Gifts of Pluralism,” was convened for two days and a third
for youth. From the shadow of 9/11, the light of faith shone for 250 folks
from 15 faith groups, each worthy of naming— American Indian, Bahá'í,
Buddhist, Christian (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox), Free Thinkers, Hindu,
Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, Sikh, Sufi, Unitarian Universalist and Zoroastrian.
They came from business, scientific, educational, governmental,
medical, artistic and other sectors of the community.
Preparation for the conference took over a year; and beginning
a decade earlier, members of a dozen faiths nurtured trust with each other
which grew into the conference.
Now five years after the gathering’s ebullience, we can
ask, “What did the conference achieve?” My three-point answer is shaped
by having been the conference president and the limits of knowing exactly
how one thing affects another.
1. Skill in practicing interfaith dialogue.— The participants
learned, as Ed Chasteen says, “Asking who’s right is the wrong question.”
David Nelson’s modeling of “appreciative inquiry” trained the conferees
to ask each other questions like, “How have you felt the presence of the
sacred in your life?” Such questions lead not to arguments but to understanding.
I think this new appreciative style now characterizes interfaith conversations
among us over the old pattern of theological dispute.
2. Interfaith now a priority.— The conference was more
interaction than lecture. This created new interfaith friendships that
continue to ripple through the community, turning mere visibility into
respectability. The national CBS-TV half-hour special, “Open Hearts, Open
Minds,” show-cased Kansas City’s interfaith work, reinforcing the new priority
business, government and diversity groups give to understanding our neighbors
of many faiths.
3. Expansion.— In turn, interfaith programs and organizations
have proliferated. The Interfaith Council itself has become an independent
organization, now planning its second Table of Faiths luncheon, honoring
Chasteen and Don and Adele Hall Nov. 14.
To coordinate and promote the many interfaith activities
that have developed since the conference, folks from many groups are planning
a “Festival of Faiths” to last several weeks in late 2007.
In sum, the conference seems to have transformed the perception
of religious diversity from a threat into the riches of relationships and
the gifts of understanding.
Next week I’ll discuss my biggest disappointment from
the conference.
629. 060927 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Pope can choose to open diaglogue
Responding to disturbances following his Sep. 12 lecture at the University
of Regensburg, Pope Benedict XVI said that he intended “an invitation to
frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect.”
But was the Pope’s remarks sensitive to the requirements
for genuinely respectful interfaith relations? Here are three suggestions
corresponding to problems within his speech.
1. Avoid opening and closing your remarks with unfavorable
references to the religion with which you seek dialogue.
Instead of placing Islam on the defensive
by starting and ending his remarks with an unexplained accusation against
Islam to make the point that dialogue is better than violence, the Pope
could have used Christian history — the violence of the Crusades, the Inquisition,
the religious wars of Europe, the murder and enslavement of native
peoples as Christianity expanded into the Americas, and the economic colonialism
Muslims experience in their own lands today — to argue that reason is better
than violence.
Such an approach might have encouraged this kind of Muslim
response: “Thanks for understanding how the history looks to us. We, too,
have violence in our tradition. And today some of those claiming our faith
are in fact terrorists bent on fermenting horrors against innocent people.
Let us join together in repentance and seek the purification of our faiths.”
This might have opened up mutual confession and dialogue,
not started a fruitless argument.
2. Ask questions about, rather than interpret, the other
faith’s scripture.
The Pope quoted Manuel II Paleologus (in about 1391) attributing
to Muhammad the command to spread Islam by the sword, a view the Pope fails
to correct. To support this, the Pope incorrectly describes and dismisses
Sura 2 of the Qur’an which forbids forced conversion.
3. Expand dialogue beyond academic issues.
The Pope advocates dialogue based on a Greek conception
of God as reason, but, using a third-hand source about Ibn Hazm, says that
Islam’s God is so transcendent He is beyond “rationality.”
Two problems. First, the Pope ignored major Muslims thinkers
like Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna (980-1037) and Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes
(1126-1198) — to whom St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was indebted. They
transmitted and demonstrated the Greek sensibility the Pope praises.
Second, interfaith understanding is achieved more by sharing
stories than by rational arguments. Those who more easily experience God
as love than as intellect, and have stories of God in their lives, also
deserve a seat at the conference.
628. 060920 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Thoughts on the end times
Here’s a quiz about the end of the world: What 19th Century Kansas legislator
has a Bible named after him?
If you said Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921) and pointed
to the Scofield Reference Bible, first published in 1909, you’d go to the
head of the class.
But what does Scofield have to do with to the end of the
world?
Answer: Scofield’s interpretation of the Bible undergirds
the popular Left Behind series of books by Tim LaHaye and the earlier The
Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Some argue that the doctrine of
dispensationalism, developed (perhaps plagiarized) by Scofield from J.N.
Darby, affects preachers such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and others
for whom ideas about the Rapture, Tribulation, Antichrist and the Battle
of Armageddon are important. Some believe American foreign policy, affected
by strong support among many Christian Evangelicals for Israel, can be
traced to Scofield’s influence.
What is dispensationalism?
Answer: The teaching that all of human history can be
divided into distinct eras, from before Adam’s fall to the end of the world.
There may be four, six or seven such administrations, depending on the
interpretation. Most versions include a period of chaos and cosmic violence
about to come upon us, supported by a reading of ancient Biblical texts
as prophesies for our own time.
Who was Scofield?
Answer: Retired Kansas City psychiatrist Richard Childs
has made a study of the man. He says, “Scofield was a lawyer who in 1873
he was appointed United States Attorney for Kansas by President Grant.
He served only six months before resigning in an embezzlement scandal and
absconding to Canada. Later he surfaced to practice law in St. Louis. In
1879, while serving a six-month jail sentence for forgery, he underwent
a ‘born again’ religious conversion.”
Childs found an 1881 editorial in Topeka’s The Daily Capital
that called Scofield a “lawyer, politician and shyster generally” whose
career was characterized by “many malicious acts.” The paper said he was
a “peer among scalawags” who had “a halo of notoriety.” Childs was unable
to find any institution granting him the D.D. degree Scofield claimed.
In American religious history, Scofield is regarded as
a forerunner of 20th Century Fundamentalism, with its emphasis on Biblical
literalism and inerrancy.
While mainstream scholars view Biblical texts such as
Revelation as the writers’ efforts to encourage the people of their own
day in the face of trials, the influence of interpreters like Scofield
demonstrates a human hunger for a place in a universal drama.
627. 060913 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Dialogue brightens glass we look through
For twelve years I’ve been writing this column to increase appreciation
for religious diversity. By now, from the comments I receive, I have
some sense of the various reactions this column evokes.
Still, occasionally I’m surprised. I few weeks ago I wrote
about going to an interfaith dinner where an 18-year old student, a daughter
of a Sikh mother and a Hindu father, told me a touching story about a man
who aided wounded soldiers regardless of their faiths as Sikhs and Mughals
battled each other.
One reader wrote, “I am troubled that you had a perfect
opportunity to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost young woman
but instead you appeared to be in awe of her god. You are Reverend are
you not?? . . . I will pray that next time you will be God’s witness.”
It never crossed my mind in going to an interfaith dinner
that I should seek to convert others to my religion. I am happy to exchange
ideas and stories as a full partner in dialogue, but I have more to learn
by listening than preaching.
True, I am ordained, but I have never thought my job was
to convert others but rather to support folks in deepening and widening
their understanding of whatever traditions mean most to them. I’ve been
fortunate to have many intense experiences and studies, but even so, I
see through a glass, darkly. I could not presume to tell others what paths
they should follow.
Still, implicit in the reader’s comment may be a valuable
sense of the differences between religions. As James R. Edwards says, “To
assert all religions are basically the same . . . is like saying that all
sports are basically the same. Bullfighters and bowlers are unlikely to
agree.”
A balanced interfaith approach recognizes both shared
human kinship on one hand and on the other, differences which may be irreconcilable.
Too often premature, superficial agreement replaces serious witnessing.
Differences need not be threatening; they can be enriching. Kansas City
is more interesting with many different restaurants than if they all had
the same menu.
The challenge before us is not converting one another;
some say that is God’s work, anyhow. A profound experience of any faith
illumines the way one sees everything so we can peer, however poorly, through
the dark glass. When we tell and hear stories — how we have been hurt and
healed — the glass brightens a little.
The challenge, then, is to bring our own powerful but
finite understandings as gifts to each other as we receive others’ gifts
in the humility that brings us not into conflict but into the peace that
passes understanding. Then we are right to be in awe of each other.
626. 060906 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Some 9/11 Metaphors point to a cure
A few weeks after the horror of 9/11 five years ago, I wrote, “In religious
literature we can find at least three metaphors to describe what happened
Sept. 11: crime, war and disease. Each metaphor has its virtue, and the
situation is so complex that no one metaphor is sufficient.” To summarize:
* Crime. Almost all faiths seek justice. Whether it is
the Jewish Ten Commandments or the Hindu Laws of Manu, religions have offered
a framework for behavior. This first metaphor has been useful in most societies
when individuals or groups disobeyed the rules of society.
* War. With 9/11 the United States shifted from treating
terrorism as a crime to characterizing it as war. The Western religious
heritage supplies many precedents. By divine command, Joshua waged war
to conquer pagan Canaan. Christianity, at first pacifist, developed the
theory of “just war.” In Islam, war is permitted in certain circumstances.
* Disease. The third metaphor is found in traditions like
Taoism and Buddhism with their emphasis on healing. Presented in personal
images, such as the “Medicine Buddha,” this metaphor suggests that ailments
arise from venoms such as greed, ignorance and hate. If our outlook is
poisoned by selfishness, misunderstanding and enmity, we cannot possibly
perceive why we are afflicted.
In these past five years, as various goals articulated
for war seem more and more difficult and elusive, I’ve lamented the exclusive
use of the war metaphor.
Two years ago I asked Prof. Robert E. Johnson at Central
Baptist Theological Seminary and editor of American Baptist Quarterly,
to review the theory of just war in this space. He concluded, “While some
Christians justify the war in terms of pre-emptive self-defense, other
Christians observing ‘just war’ theory believe this war has damaged Christian
witness, not advanced it.”
So a word more about the disease metaphor, which asks
for self-examination. Gandhi, who initiated the modern non-violent movement
on Sept. 11 exactly one hundred years ago, taught that the process of peace
involves seeing the evil within ourselves and the good within our enemies.
Jesus warned about beholding the mote in another’s eye without removing
the beam in our own. The Buddha said, “Hatred does not cease by hatred,
but only by love.” Jesus taught, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you.” How often do we pray for our enemies?
Such instruction is a difficult pill to swallow, but it
may also be an effective prescription, at least part of the ultimate cure.
625. 060830 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Celebrate Diversity this Fall
Bill Tammeus wrote about it in his brilliant column last Saturday, and
I also want to be sure you have it on your fall interfaith schedule. Rabbi
Michael Zedek comments as the Vermeer String Quartet performs Haydn’s “The
Seven Last Words of Christ,” Sept. 17 at 2 pm at the Folly, an unusual
contribution to Jewish-Christian understanding arranged by the Friends
of Chamber Music.
Here are some other interfaith events this fall open to
the public. You may want to paperclip this column to your calendar.
SEPTEMBER. As we approach the fifth anniversary of 9/11,
HarmonyNCCJ’s congregational partnership among Al Inshirah Islamic Center,
Congregation Beth Torah and St. Monica Catholic Church offers an interfaith
prayer service Sept. 10 at 4 pm.
On Sept 11, the Interfaith Council uplifts spiritual insights
for 9/11 with a water ceremony at 5 pm at J.C. Nichols Fountain near Main
and West 47th. At 7 the Tivoli Theater screens “The Saint of 9/11,” about
Father Mychal Judge, the Catholic chaplain of the multi-faith New York
City Fire Department.
Sept. 26-Oct. 22 the Coterie Theatre presents “With Their
Eyes: The View of 9/11 from a High School at Ground Zero,” written by students
with multi-faith perspectives.
OCTOBER. “The Hindu and the Cowboy and Other Kansas City
Stories,” a play based on interviews with some 80 area residents of all
faiths, is performed at Unity Village Oct. 15 at 2 pm. I’ve seen it at
least half a dozen times and am always amazed and moved by the life adventures
of our diverse neighbors. The play is part of a conference, “Celebrating
Five Great Religions,” that I moderate for Unity Oct. 14-20 at its new
retreat center.
One section of the Oct 19–22 international “Listening
Conference” at Rockhurst University focuses on spirituality. Interfaith
Council convener David Nelson, an expert on “Appreciative Inquiry,” is
participating. Area clergy and laity are eligible for subsidized registration.
NOVEMBER. On Nov. 1, an interfaith panel, including Christian,
Jewish, and Muslim participants from the community, discusses “Difficult
Dialogues” at Park University at 11.
The Crescent Peace Society annual interfaith dinner is
Nov. 5. The annual Harmony Choral Concert is Nov 12.
The second annual Table of Faiths Luncheon Nov. 14 honors
Hallmark’s Don and Adele Hall and William Jewell professor Ed Chasteen.
The 22nd annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Sunday Family Ritual Meal, held
this Nov. 19 at Temple B’nai Jehudah, honors Gayle Krigel, an extraordinary
lay interfaith leader.
For details of these and other events, I suggest the Faith
Calendar in the Saturday Star or click on the calendar button on my organization’s
website, www.cres.org, for all interfaith events about which we are informed.
Vern Barnet does interfaith work in Kansas City. Reach
him at vern@cres.org.
624. 060823 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
All are Human Beings on the Battlefield
For several years now, a group of friends and guests of many faiths
around the area have gathered about once a month for dinner at various
homes and restaurants, and I’ve been lucky enough to be included. If you
enjoy the inspiration that can come from interreligious dialogue, you,
dear reader, may want to start your own group. Let me tell you about a
conversation I had at the last dinner, at the Peach Tree near 18th and
Vine.
I sat across from Reva Narula, an 18-year old who left
her parent’s home in Leawood last week-end to become a freshman at Hamilton
College. Her mother is Sikh and her father is Hindu.
In the course of conversation, she mention an incident
in the life of Shree Man Sant Bhai Kanhaiya Ji (1648-1718), about whom
I had never heard. I thought you’d find the story interesting.
Kanhaiya as born in what is now Pakistan. His father was
a successful merchant and raised Kanhaiya in an aristocratic environment.
But Kanhaiya was not interested in material things and
enjoyed the company of saintly folks and serving others. When poor people
were forced to labor for the wealthy, he volunteered to take their places.
His spiritual quest led him to meet Guru Tegh Bahadur,
the ninth Sikh Guru, who perfected Kanhauya in the faith.
In 1704 he found himself at Anandpur where Sikhs and Mughal
soldiers were in war. He took water to any soldier thirsting, regardless
of their faith, friend or foe, while the battle raged.
Some Sikh soldiers lodged a complaint against him for
aiding the enemy. Summoned by Gobind Singh, the successor Guru, he said,
“I saw no Mughal or Sikh on the battlefield, just human beings, all with
God’s spirit. Have you not taught us to treat all of God’s people the same?”
Guru Gobind Singh embraced and blessed him and said, “You
are right; you have understood the true message. Take water -- and these
bandages and ointment for the wounds of all who suffer.”
With this story in mind and the differences in religion
between her mother and father, later I asked Reva about her view of interfaith
exchange. While treasuring the contributions of each tradition, she said
that identifying oneself solely by one’s religious label can be dangerous.
Rather, as she has learned from her parents, the core of genuine faith
teaches us to care about each other because ultimately that core is the
same in all of us.
The MAINstream Voices of Faith organization is concerned with the interface
between religion and public life. How does it look at the diversity of
religious traditions practiced here and around the world?
I asked its leader, John Tamilio III, senior minister
at the Colonial United Church of Christ in Prairie Village. He was trained
at Andover Newton Theological School and is a Fellow at the Boston University
School of Theology, where one area of his research is systematic
theology.
He says, “There are basically three ways of looking at
the relationship between Christians and people of other faiths: exclusivism,
inclusivism and pluralism.
“Exclusivists believe that only Christians are saved.
Everyone else — the majority of humanity — will be consigned to perdition.
“Inclusivists believe that other religions are legitimate
means to salvation, but somehow Christ is at work in those faiths. The
late Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner developed this concept at length
in coining the term ‘anonymous Christians’ to refer to adherents of other
religions.
“Pluralism is the third option. Pluralists believe that
other religions are legitimate means to God in and of themselves. Pluralists
often use the image of different paths ascending to the summit of the same
mountain to illustrate this theory.
“The exclusivist claim has been bellowing from pulpits
and campaign headquarters ad nauseam over the past few years. The proposed
Missouri House Resolution 13, for example, would in effect make Christianity
the official religion of the Show Me State, a resolution applauded by exclusivists.
Not only is this a breach of the First Amendment, but it does nothing to
advance the true objective of Christianity: to serve God humbly in the
service of others.
“If we who are Christians want to show our true colors,
then we need to spend less time legislating our beliefs and more time working
with our sisters and brothers of other faiths to respond to the cries of
the world.
“Another Catholic theologian, Hans Küng, put it best.
In his book, Global Responsibility, Küng argues that ‘humankind can
less and less afford religions stirring up wars on this earth instead of
making peace; making people fanatical instead of seeking reconciliation;
practicing superiority instead of engaging in dialogue.’
“Christians should participate in interfaith dialogues
with Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists so that we can address the real
problems that we face, rather than trying to ‘win them for Christ.’
It’s time to start practicing the full Gospel that Jesus preached.”
Metaphors are helpful in explaining viewpoints, but they
don’t prove which viewpoints are work best. That requires your judgment.
Here are several sets of metaphors people have used to understand diverse
faiths.
Some say only a straight and narrow road leads to salvation,
indicating only one faith is worthy; others say there are many roads up
to the mountain top, implying that, regardless where you begin, the destination
of all religions is the same.
Some compare the many religions to the various colors
of light cast on the floor from a stained-glass window, which refracts
the truth in many beautiful ways; others say only in the direct light
of the sun can the reality of the spirit be clear.
Some say that one’s search for water is more likely to
succeed by digging one 100-foot well than by digging ten 10-foot wells,
meaning that immersing oneself in one’s own tradition is better than dabbling
in many others. Travelers might shift the metaphor from the depth of the
well to the location, to say that thirst can be quenched not just from
this well, but also from that one, and the other one over there, too.
Folks exploring different religions are sometimes accused
of having a cafeteria approach to faith as they pick and chose what they
like on the spur of the moment, instead of enjoying a well-planned, balanced
meal. Others point out appreciating different foods increases the likelihood
of nutritional adequacy.
The food metaphor can be extended several ways. I don’t
become a Confucian by enjoying won-ton soup, or Muslim by tasting baba
ganoush, any more than doing yoga makes me a Hindu or practicing zazen
meditation makes me a Buddhist.
If you tell me you have a severe cholesterol condition
when I invite you for dinner but then I serve you beef liver, and counter
your objection by saying all food is nutritious, thus basically the same,
it’s like saying it doesn’t matter if you’re Taoist or Sikh for your spiritual
health.
Those who say all religions are basically alike may think
in terms of the melting pot; those who urge preservation of differences
within society may prefer the image of a mosaic, or continuing the food
metaphor, a salad or a stew.
The family metaphor works both ways. As families have
been divided by issues like the Civil War, some say one must reject those
of faiths with which one disagrees. Others say a that as a true family
embraces its members without condition such as voting Republican or Democratic,
so a healthy society treasures kinship among all persons whatever their
faiths.
Myths, as commercials seek to do, frame how we see the world.
The spiritual path, which the mythologist Joseph Campbell
called the “hero’s journey,” has three parts, departure, initiation and
return. In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, first published
in 1949 and now a classic, he illustrates each of these three segments
with stories from around the world.
But Robert Jewett and John Lawrence were more concerned
about American tales in their 1977 book, The American Monomyth.
In analyzing comic book heroes like Superman before the movies spiked the
stories with romantic involvement, they applied Campebell’s three-part
scheme and found something missing.
First they quoted Campbell: “A hero ventures forth from
the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous
forces are there en countered and a decisive victory is won; the hero comes
back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his
fellow man.”
Then they observed that comic book heroes, and early TV
ones like the Lone Ranger, who appear from nowhere or who live in disguise,
assist a community in danger and then ride off into the sunset or resume
living in concealment.
What is missing, they say, is Campbell’s third stage where
the deed or illumination of initiation is shared with the community. They
worry about this pattern because it suggests that the community is powerless
to save itself from disaster and must depend upon superhuman intervention.
These superheroes sometimes break the laws of nature and violate legal
standards. They are too good to be restrained by rules and too superior
to be part of the community. There is no spiritual growth in the character
since he his born with super-powers, rather than gaining insight and wisdom
as a result of his initiation.
Jewett and Lawrence think this characteristic pattern
or “monomyth” derives from the Christian story of redemption, where super-hero
Jesus is born into the world, saves it and then leaves it instead of integrating
into the community. The current Superman movie has inspired theological
comparison between Jesus and Superman.
Christians can respond in at least three ways. First,
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us in his stead. Second, he created
a community called the church. Third, he will come again.
But Jewett and Lawrence’s 2002 book, The Myth of the
American Superhero, is not reassuring. They suggest that the American
pattern of focusing on a charismatic individual rather than a democratic
community makes vigilantes and terrorists think they are saviors.
The fact that Josef Walker is still grieving leaving his previous job,
despite his enthusiasm for his new position, suggests he is well fitted
to his assignment since June at HarmonyNCCJ.
For eight years, Walker was director of adult education
and evangelization at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Independence. There
he prepared couples for marriage, worked with families from pregnancy to
baptism, knew folks in their health and illness and deaths, much like a
pastor.
Walker’s remarkable ability to develop and treasure relationships
led one high school member of the parish to say to him, “You must have
the greatest job in the world because every week your friends come to visit
you.”
And relationships become the focus of Walker’s work as
Faith Communities Program Coordinator at HarmonyNCCJ, where he wants to
be a resource for clergy and laity, and to help promote efforts fostering
interfaith understanding, such as the upcoming Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition
at Union Station.
“For the past several years, I’ve been paying attention
to two trends in spiritual life in America. On one hand, there is a growing
recognition of the tensions and opportunities that arise from our diversity
of faiths, few of which are well understood. On the other hand, many religious
institutions suffer from decreasing commitment to them.
“Despite all their flaws, gathered religious communities
help us to resist the excessive individualism and materialism of our culture
by reminding us of the sacred all around us if we would but open our eyes.”
Bringing groups together in partnership across racial,
ethnic and religious lines “awakens us from our complacency in our own
faith practices and helps us understand the sacredness of life from a completely
different perspective and sheds new light on our own spiritual paths,”
he says.
Congregational Partners, a program developed by Janet
Moss, and the annual HarmonyNCCJ Choral Celebration Concert are two of
many ways people can “become acquainted, grow in friendship and mature
in commitment.”
Walker mentioned a white man who said, “I like having
black friends” but did nothing to help resolve the societal problems remaining
from the legacy of racism. “Without commitment, his faith was still immature,”
Walker said.
Not only is Walker new to his position; his position is
new at HarmonyNCCJ. Its executive director Diane Hershberger, says, “We
are committed to supporting faith communities as they bridge racial and
interfaith boundaries.”
For her Independence Day sermon, one member of the Greater
Kansas City Interfaith Council interpreted the American motto, E Pluribus
Unum — From Many, One — in light of the many faiths now practiced in
our nation and our community.
The Rev. Kathy Riegelman was stunned in 1999 when she
attended her first meeting of the Council. “I was in seminary, and I thought
this would be a helpful academic exercise. It was close to Valentine’s
Day, so someone brought heart-shaped cookies. I remember sitting there,
overwhelmed by the company, looking at my cookie and trying to get a grasp
on what it meant to be part of this gathering of faiths from A to Z, American
Indian to Zoroastrian.
“Our nation is built on the twin principles of religious
freedom and the guarantee that no religion would ever be established as
a ‘state religion.’”
This is often understood as the principle of tolerance,
the acknowledgment of diversity.
But Riegelman said the Many cannot become One if we merely
tolerate each other. Disengagement from each other is “a passive form of
hostility.”
On the other hand, becoming one does not mean all religions
collapse into sameness. She has learned in her seven years on the Council
this does not, cannot and should not happen. The differences and disagreements
persist.
But when these differences are respectfully engaged, a
oneness in the “covenants of citizenship” develops. Such active relationships
are beyond tolerance and can be called “pluralism,” a term Riegelman borrowed
from Harvard scholar Diana Eck. Another term for this, used
by Martin Luther King, Jr., is “the beloved community,”
Riegelman gave two examples of pluralism, one public,
one private, where relationships, more than ideas, heal.
On Sept 11, 2001, the Council gathered as it had planned
to do, to announce its upcoming “Gifts of Pluralism” conference scheduled
for October. “As the terror of that morning befell us, I realized there
was no place I would have rather been than in the company of my friends
of many faiths. We faced the horror together, knowing we would help and
support each other. Our message of interfaith dialogue and understanding
took on new urgency.”
Riegelman, a Unitarian Universalist, works as a chaplain
in a Catholic hospital with patients of many faiths. Her second example
was the enormous comfort the beloved interfaith community offered at the
sudden death in a Muslim family.
“I have not lost that sense of awe from my first Council
meeting. Yes, I enjoy the intellectual engagement. But it is my heart that
sings when we come together.”
How to get the kids to take their naps? This was the problem
Matt Barr faced. “In 2001 I was teaching a class of Montessori preschool
children, ages three to five. Everything was terrific; work time was going
well, recess was fun, the children loved my singing songs and the stories.
But one time of day did not go smoothly at all.
“I lost control of the children at nap time, or rather
they lost control of themselves and I was unable to help them find control.”
Matt tried all sorts of tricks. None worked. He knew he
had at least to calm himself down. That’s when he thought of meditation.
He went to a meditation workshop at the Rime Buddhist
Center. After two weeks, he was in much better shape, but the children
were still “as restless as ever.”
So he decided to try a “de-religioned” version of meditation
with the children. It worked. Matt studied more and has made meditation
a part of the daily routine. If for any reason he could not lead a meditation,
the children were “always disappointed.”
Now the children are able to do meditation without him.
From a small wooden box they select a picture (Matt is an artist) representing
a type of meditation, strike a bell and meditate. A drawing of an ear,
for example, is an icon for listening meditation.
In preparing for conducting a workshop in San Diego, he
compiled a 40-page book, Teaching Meditation to Children. It outlines his
studies and techniques, including use of a raisin, breath, thankfulness,
creativity, walking, stabilizing and “tonglen” meditation. (For information,
write him at tijuanaviper@yahoo.com.)
Meditation is useful not only in groups but also when
a single child is distressed. He asks, “Would you like to do a stabilizing
meditation now?” The answer is usually yes. The meditation helps the child
to stop crying and then to recount the incident calmly or simply forget
about it.
After a vacation in India where he met the Dalai Lama,
he showed the children photographs from his trip, some of which were of
Buddhas in meditation. When he took the children to visit the Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art and they rounded a corner, they screamed, “Mr Matt! It’s
the Buddha!” as they discovered the large Amida Buddha on the stairway
to the third floor.
They asked if they could sit with the Buddha and meditate.
Matt said yes. “The hundreds of people walking through them did not break
their concentration at all. Eventually people stopped walking through them
and stood on side to observe the children. It was one of my proudest moments
in my teaching career, but the students were doing the teaching.”
EXPANDED VERSION:
How to get the kids to take their naps? This was the problem Matt Barr, teacher at Lavonna Peterson Montessori School in Kansas City, faced. “In 2001 I was teaching a class of preschool children, ages three to five. Everything was terrific; work time was going well, recess was fun, the children loved my singing songs and the stories. But one time of day did not go smoothly at all.
“I lost control of the children at nap time, or rather they lost control of themselves and I was unable to help them find control.”
Matt tried all sorts of tricks. None worked. He knew he had at least to calm himself down. That’s when he thought of meditation.
He went to a meditation workshop at the Rime Buddhist Center. After two weeks, he was in much better shape, but the children were still “as restless as ever.”
So he decided to try a “de-religioned” version of meditation with the children. It worked. Matt studied more and has made meditation a part of the daily routine. If for any reason he could not lead a meditation, the children were “always disappointed.”
Now the children are able to do meditation without him. Matt is a ’97 graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute and likes to illustrate children’s books, so it was easy for him to prepare drawings to store in a small wooden box from which the children select a picture representing a type of meditation, strike a bell and meditate. A drawing of an ear, for example, is an icon for listening meditation.
In preparing for conducting a Montessori workshop in San Diego, he compiled a 40-page book, Teaching Meditation to Children. It outlines his studies and techniques, including use of a raisin, breath, thankfulness, creativity, walking, stabilizing and “tonglen” meditation. (For information, write him at tijuanaviper@yahoo.com.)
He’s already done several such workshops. The next is scheduled for New York. He has a knack for transforming adult information into ways children can understand. (While others have written for very young children, Matt’s work is for 3 and older.)
Meditation is useful not only in groups but also when a child is distressed. He asks, “Would you like to do a stabilizing meditation now?” The answer is usually Yes. The meditation helps the child to stop crying and then to recount the incident calmly or simply forget about it. This happens at least twice a day.
The cover on his book pictures some of his class, including his daughter, now 7, was taken at the Amida Buddha at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
After a vacation in India where he met the Dalai Lama, he showed the children photographs from his trip, some of which were of Buddhas in meditation. When he took the children to visit the Nelson and they rounded a corner from a gallery of contemporary art, they screamed, “Mr Matt! It’s the Buddha!” as they discovered the giant golden statue on the stairway to the third floor.
They asked if they could sit with him and meditate. Matt said yes. “The hundreds of people walking through them did not break their concentration at all. Eventually people stopped walking through them and stood on side to observe the children. It was one of my proudest moments in my teaching career, but the students were doing the teaching.”
A Kansas City religious leader, long before Dan Brown wrote
The Da Vinci Code, suggested that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.
In 1916, Charles Fillmore, who with his wife, Myrtle,
founded the Unity School of Christianity, now a world-wide ministry headquartered
here, wrote, “[Jesus] loved Mary [Magdalene]. Mary anointed his feet with
oil. She wept over him. She loved him. Mary was the first at the sepulcher;
she was there before daylight looking for her Lord’s body. . . . Now, if
there has not been something a little closer than the love of friends between
these two, why should she have taken such a vital, loving interest in Jesus?
Why should she have claimed his body? What right had she? He had relatives;
it was their right to take charge of that body. So, we [could] discern
that Mary was the wife of Jesus.”
This passage is quoted in Embracing the Feminine Nature
of the Divine by the Rev. Toni G. Boehm, recently dean of the Unity seminary.
Fillmore’s point, and Boehm’s, is that the divine integrates both masculine
and feminine.
I mention this bit of local history because so many readers
had things to say about this space two weeks ago when it summarized Pastor
Paul Smith’s thoughts about The Da Vinci Code. One of his points was that
Christianity has marginalized women.
Coincidentally, last week’s column mentioned Catholic
interest in the ordination of women. A reader wrote to invite me
to eighth annual celebration of “St. Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles,”
on her feast day, July 23. The sponsoring groups, Call to Action and FutureChurch,
promote women in ministry, and have found churches to host their annual
observances, this year Community Christian Church.
While in Christianity the idea of Magdalene as the wife
of Jesus is controversial, as is the ordination of women, other traditions
present the divine itself in female form. Take Hinduism, for example. Sarasvati,
a river goddess, represents wisdom and cultural excellence. Merchants love
Vishnu’s consort, the goddess Lakhsmi, because she brings wealth. The goddess
Parvati seduces Shiva into marriage with its blessings.
But the stereotypical roles assigned to male and female
by our culture do not limit Hindu conceptions. The goddess Durga, for example,
with her many arms, is both beautiful and potent, and wields many weapons
to battle demons. Kali is another battlefield goddess.
Why do most Christians think of God as male and unmarried?
Is this because of a profound understanding of divine nature, or because
of history, politics or grammatical convention?
616. 060621 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Getting On Topic But Off Site
I thought it was unusual for a new Catholic group, Topics
To Go, to schedule Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, pastor of St. Leo’s Church
in Detroit, to speak here not at a Catholic facility, but rather at All
Souls Unitarian Universalist Church this Saturday morning at 9:30. His
topic is “All Our Children, A Pastoral Response to Homosexuals.” (“Always
Our Children” is a document published in 1997 by the United States Catholic
Conference.”)
The announcement flier says that the “group invites speakers
from the local and national Catholic community to address issues some might
consider too sensitive for discussion in traditional Catholic institutions.”
The Gumbleton lecture follows a series on church structure and the role
of women in the Church.
Nancy Bone, one of the organizers of Topics To Go, is
a “cradle Catholic.” She attended St. Louis University, a Jesuit school.
She and her husband lived in Washington, D.C. where she worked for the
CIA 30 years before they retired and moved to Kansas City six years ago.
Wherever she has lived, she has practiced her faith.
When Vatican II made clear that the Church is not just
the clergy but also the laity, she, like many others, grew to appreciate
more deeply the role of the people in sharing responsibility for faith
development.
“Some of our group, which comprises Catholics from the
two local dioceses, both sides of the state line, have heard too often
that we must not discuss the ‘O’ word — ordination, when we consider the
role of women in the church,” Nancy said. “Rather than embarrass the priests
we love by pressuring them to host discussions that could get them into
trouble, we decided to take our conversations to neutral places. After
all, parish property is not the only place for us to practice our faith.
“Our desire is to understand the Church’s position and
to learn other views as the Church finds itself in the modern world. Our
discussions are not about theological fundamentals of the faith but rather
about social and ethical issues that we as adult Catholics need to explore
responsibly.
“We are not an action organization. We do not take positions
on any of these issues. We simply need to talk about topics such as authority,
sexuality, accountability, the role and responsibilities of the laity.
Having complete freedom to have conversations about things that matter
to us, even if they are topics some might forbid, is essential for adults
who take their faith seriously.”
615 060614 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Fiction uncovers four truths
Pastor Paul Smith of the Broadway Church is preaching a
four-part series on The Da Vinci Code. While the story is fiction, Smith
says it reveals four important truths, and “attacking the bad facts in
the story is like accusing Jesus of making up the story of the Prodigal
Son and therefore saying there is no truth to it.”
Each of the four truths have been “covered up,” Smith
says. Here is his list of topics:
*Original diversity.— “We have been taught that our orthodox
faith of today is like a single tree rooted and grounded in the apostles
from the very beginning. But now we discover it was originally more like
a grove of diverse trees, with one tree finally crowding out the rest into
a single Fourth Century version. The winners then rewrote history, as they
always do, to cover-up the original diversity and evolutionary progression.”
*Lost gospels.— “The winners banned the other gospels
they didn’t agree with. Dysfunctional families always have secrets! Some
of these lost gospels have recently come to light in the Nag Hammmadi discoveries.
Just as the Spirit may have guided the rise of a single Orthodoxy to prevail
so that Christianity could survive, so Spirit is now surely guiding our
further evolution by restoring these lost gospels, especially the amazing
Gospel of Thomas.”
*Marginalizing women.— “The sacred feminine, both of God
and humankind, embodied in the legend of Mary’s marriage and child with
Jesus, was neglected. Worship in many churches today — with all the divine
Him's, He’s, Father’s, King’s and Lord’s — would convince an observer that
God is male, not to mention the absence of women among the priests and
pastors.”
*Distorting the humanity of Jesus.— “Most in the early
church believed that Jesus was divine, but they debated how this is true.
Over the first few centuries, people came to see that that Jesus was both
human and divine. Unfortunately this orthodoxy prevented any further evolution
by making sure that Jesus was the only human being who could claim divinity.
An earlier understanding that Jesus was human and divine like all
of us and taught us to rediscover our own divinity by going within, was
covered up.”
Smith believes divine revelation continues to us today.
“Jesus said, ‘I have many more things to tell you but you can’t bear them
now (John 16:12).’ Authentic Christianity is and has always been an evolving
spiritual path that leads to more and more truth.”
The series will be available at www.revpaulsmith.com
and CDs from Broadway Church, 3931 Washington, Kansas City, MO 64111.
614 060607 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
West meets East in Sunday school class
Mani M. Mani, M.D., is a Christian. He was born in Kerala in southwest
India, where Christian traditions go back to the First Century. His family
has been Christian since 1760. As he grew up, he thought nothing about
his neighbors being Hindu or Muslim. “They invited us to their festivals,
and we invited them to ours,” he says.
He came to the University of Kansas Medical Center in
1969 to pursue a medical career which is now honored not only here
but around the world where he has helped to establish burn clinics. Last
month, the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City presented
him its Civic Leader of the Year award.
Mani contrasts India with the US: “I grew up as part of
a small minority. My friends belonged to different religions. This was
a fact of life. Pluralism — the new buzz word here — was our way of life.
I grew up learning to respect different faiths. I am puzzled by the hostility
and misconceptions I sometimes hear expressed about non-Christians in this
city. Even the otherwise educated are ignorant about other faiths.”
So Mani this spring decided to present a series on world
religions to his own Sunday School class.
He began the session on Islam by asking, “How many of
you have a friend or an acquaintance who is a Muslim?” He said maybe three
out of perhaps 60 people raised their hands. “At the end of the class,
I had a surprise. Everyone knows and likes the custodian at my church.
I had him come to the front of the class and I introduced him as a wonderful
practicing Muslim from Palestine. It blew most of my classmates away to
realize that they had worked with a such fine person of a different faith.”
Paul W Brand, M.D., a professor of surgery, was a great
influence on Mani. “Brand developed a system for managing the deformities
caused by leprosy. He taught us to look at the ‘leper’ as a whole human
being.”
Mani cites an account of Brand in Philip Yancy’s Soul
Survivor. To Yancy’s astonishment, a leper gives thanks for his disease.
The leper explains, “Apart from leprosy, I would have been a normal man
with a normal family, chasing wealth and a higher position in society.
I would never have known such wonderful people as Dr Paul and Dr Margaret
[Brand], and I would never have known the god who lives who lives in them.”
Mani asks, “Are we ready to see the whole person in such
a way that our souls and our community will be transformed, or will hostility
and misunderstanding keep us from knowing our neighbors?”
613 060531 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Test your RQ (Religion Quotient)
Quiz time again. Answers below. Total possible points:
100. Less than 20 points, better study up to be an informed citizen. Between
20 and 40, average and above. Between 41 and 70, really good. Above 70,
wanna write a guest column for this space?
You can name the major religions of the world, but can
you name their divisions?
1. What are the three main branches of Christianity? (2
point for each)
2. What are the two main divisions of Islam? (3 points
each)
3. What are the three main forms of American Judaism?
(3 points each)
4. What are the two main branches of Buddhism? (5 points
each)
5. What are the two main expressions of Jainism? (7 points
each)
6. Using English, identify Muslim two sects named for
numbers (7 points each)
Whew! That was hard. Now answer questions about groups
of religions.
7. What are the three “Abrahamic” faiths? (2 points each)
8. Name three faiths originating in Asia with members
on the Kansas City Interfaith Council. (3 points each)
9. Name three religions formed after the 14th Century
with members on the Council. (6 points each)
10. Name the two “primal” faiths on the Council. (4 points
each)
ANSWERS.
1. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism.
Roman and Eastern churches split in 1054, and Protestantism developed out
of Catholicism in the 16th Century.
2. Sunni and Shi’a.
3. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox.
4. Mahayana, Theravada. Some consider Tibetan Buddhism
a third branch and call it Vajrayana.
5. Digambara (sky-clad), Svetambara (white-robed).
6. Among the sects in Shi’a Islam are the Seveners (a
development of the Ismailis) and the Twelvers (Imamis or Ithna Asharis).
7. Judaism, Christianity, Islam.
8. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism.
9. Sikhism, Baha’i, Unitarian Universalism.
10. American Indian and pagan.
612 060524 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
How tall is our understanding?
NEW YORK.— I wander up Fifth Avenue to 34th Street, to
the Empire State Building, celebrating its 75th anniversary this month.
For most of this time, it was the world’s tallest building.
I try to understand things in terms of my own life scale.
The building is about 1.2 times my age and roughly 270 times my height.
It would take over 850,000 buildings on top of each other
to reach the moon, over 3 billion to reach the sun, over 90 trillion to
the next nearest star, and roughly 130x1019 to the edge of the universe,
which is a lot larger than when we thought we could build a tower to the
heavens, even if we do call such buildings “sky-scrapers.”
The age of the building is about one fifth that of the
city, less than one-fiftieth of historical time (since the development
of writing) and .003 per cent of the time since humans first appeared.
My calculator fails, so I’ll estimate the universe is about 1.8x108
times he age of the building.
These enormous scales put religious estimates in perspective.
Using Bishop James Ussher’s calculations, which placed the creation of
the world a mere 6010 years ago, the universe is only about 80 times older
than the building, and a lot more cramped.
This contrasts with the ancient Hindu thinkers who measured
the universe with the life of the god Brahma, or 155,520,000,000,000 years,
which is a thousand times longer than the current astronomers’ estimate
of the age of the universe. For the Hindus, after this universe expires,
another will begin.
The time scale of Bishop Ussher is a human scale, and
harmonizes with the monotheistic emphasis on the revelation of the divine
in history. God enters history, and works through it, to achieve his purpose.
There is a beginning and an end to the story, a creation and judgment,
and a pivot in history — the Exodus, the Resurrection, the Hijrah — which
shapes and gives meaning to human life.
The Hindu conception is cosmic. Many of the gods are transhistorical,
revealed in inner life, rather than in the vicissitudes of time. Ultimate
meaning is not found in the records of events but rather in transcendent
awareness.
As impressive and beautiful as the Empire State Building
is, this meditation on scale has quickly moved beyond my comprehension,
and probably also my math skills.
Still, this sight, like any that opens our eyes, can remind
us of our own infinitesimally tiny understandings, even as we sometimes
glory in human achievements.
611 060517 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Lincoln achieved immortality
HARTFORD, CT.— At the Community Leadership Association
conference here, Doris Kearns Goodwin, baseball and presidential historian,
spoke about Abraham Lincoln’s leadership qualities and signed her new book,
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, from which Steven
Spielberg is creating a movie.
Lincoln suffered many personal disappointments, including
deaths in his family. His mother died when he was 9 and his beloved Ann
Rutledge when he was 26. He did not seem to find comfort in the Christian
idea that he would be reunited with his loved ones in a future existence.
Goodwin said that he seemed to be motivated rather by the ancient Greek
concept of immortality, that if one helped to make the world better, one
would live on in the lives of others.
Almost immediately after Lincoln’s assassination on Good
Friday in 1865, he was compared with Jesus. For example, in this very town,
the Rev. C. B. Crane, Pastor of South Baptist Church then said, “Jesus
Christ died for the world. Abraham Lincoln died for his country.”
So I asked Goodwin about Lincoln’s regard for Jesus. She
said Lincoln did not show much interest in him; but that “as Lincoln aged,
he became increasingly thoughtful about a divine presence.” Even though
he never joined a church and seldom attended, he thought God had a purpose
to be realized through the Civil War, she said.
Lincoln was determined to align himself with what he could
perceive of that purpose. He preserved the Union and ended slavery. His
leadership subordinated personal dislikes to these ends. Thus he embraced
his rivals and enemies, appointed them to his cabinet and won them over,
giving the nation the most skilled persons in critical roles during great
peril for the Republic.
Goodwin cited the Second Inaugural Address, delivered
six week’s before his death, because it does not gloat over the Union’s
victory, nor does he call the South evil. Lincoln noted that both sides
“read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid
against the other.”
Goodwin summarized Lincoln’s style in the word “empathy”
and mentioned the famous end of the address to illustrate it, where instead
of condemning, he reached out in compassion: “With malice toward
none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us
to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind
up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have born the battle,
and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish
a just and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Can Lincoln’s immortality be found, as he hoped, in our
nation today?
610 060510 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Remembering Father Thom, an interfaith pioneer
Seven years ago today, a full week of years, Father Thomas J.
Savage, S.J., died at age 51. His work in Kansas City reached far beyond
what was then Rockhurst College, where he was president from 1988 to 1996,
into many areas of civic life. Transplanted from New England, in a short
time he seemed to know or know about almost everybody in town.
He served on business and philanthropic boards. With degrees
in urban planning, in public policy and in education, he co-chaired the
FOCUS process which led to a comprehensive master plan for Kansas City.
He was indeed a “mover and a shaker,” admired and loved. I think of him
as a spiritual magician, able to get things done quickly with utmost respect
for all involved.
I remember him especially for his interfaith commitments,
for without his contributions and the prestige he lent, interfaith work
here might still be considered peripheral rather than an essential component
of building community.
Shortly after he came to Kansas City, I invited him to
join the Christian Jewish Muslim Dialogue Group. Its monthly luncheon meetings
were closed in order to encourage the frankest possible exchange among
the members who grew to trust each other. At those meetings he united an
authentic expression of his own views with evident empathy for all sides,
an ability he attributed to the extensive Jesuit acquaintance with many
faiths in many countries around the globe. He became a model for us.
In 1989, just a few months after the formation of the
Kansas City Interfaith Council, his hosting of the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving
Sunday Family Ritual Meal at Rockhurst boosted the visibility of the Council
in the community and led to its growth.
The Rev. Robert Hill, Community Christian Church pastor,
and with Thom, a founder of radio KCMO’s interfaith “Religion on the Line”
Sunday talk show, says of Thom, “I know of no one who publicly or privately
challenged my Protestantism as fervently as Thom, and I know of no one
who respected it more deeply.” Thom’s remarkable presence conveyed comfort
and ease both with his own views and the views of others. In Hill’s
words, “he was a bridge builder to all people.” The acceptance he offered
regardless of disagreement is a key to mature interfaith encounter.
His quick organizational insights were legendary. He once
advised me to clarify whether interfaith work here was a movement, a network
or an institute, a suggestion that eventually led to the 2001 “Gifts of
Pluralism” interfaith conference.
Even when riding his bicycle, Thom vibrated with the joy
of living. But he chose not to disclose his homosexuality and his affliction
with AIDS. Perhaps his empathy for others was deepened by secret suffering.
Is this posthumous revelation somehow a gift to us and our faiths?
609 060503 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Sikhs emphasize importance of equality
With about 23 million adherents, the fifth largest faith
on the planet is Sikhism, after Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.
We are fortunate here to be a regional center for Sikhs with the Midwest
Sikh Association in Shawnee and, for American converts, with the Sat Tirath
Ashram in Kansas City. Both are listed on the Harvard University Pluralism
Project web site, www.pluralism.org, and the Shawnee gurdwara (temple)
is profiled.
Originating in the Punjab region of India, Sikhism developed
in a context of encounter between Islam and Hinduism. Although considered
a separate revelation, Sikhism shares characteristics with both other faiths.
In fact, the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains material from
both Muslim and Hindu writers as well as unique messages. The Christian
New Testament appeared after the death of Jesus, but the Sikh scripture
was composed and compiled directly by the religion’s founders.
From Guru Nanak’s early insight that, in God, the differences
of religion mean no difference in our shared humanity, Sikhism has emphasized
and defended the dignity of all spiritual paths. Guru Tegh Bahadur was
beheaded for saving Hindus from a Mughal persecution.
Opposing the caste system of the time, the Sikhs expressed
their egalitarian style in many ways. The Golden Temple at Amritsar, for
example, has four doors so that anyone may enter from any direction. The
langar, the free kitchen instituted by Guru Amar Das, is open to the public.
Food served there is eaten with everyone, dignitary or ordinary person,
seated on the floor, on the same level. In order to include those with
religious dietary restrictions, only vegetarian food is prepared. Sikh
hospitality is famous.
The commitment to equality is suggested even in the Punjabi
language in which “God” has no gender, where in English “God” has historically
generated masculine pronouns. Sikhism has no formal priesthood, and the
reader of the scripture, the granthi, may be male or female.
In common with Hinduism, Sikhism has a well-developed
sense of devotional life and the revelation of the divine within each person.
In common with Islam, Sikhism is monotheistic and emphasizes
the obligation to work for justice. Those who are initiated into the order
of the Khalsa follow in the tradition of the Gurus who promoted justice
at all costs.
A person’s social status or caste had been indicated by
the name one bore. So when the Khalsa was begun, the men, regardless of
their backgrounds, received the new name Singh which means lion, and the
women, Kaur, which means princess, so that all would be equal.
Members of the Khalsa may also observe “the five
K’s”— kesh (uncut hair), kanga (comb), kara (steel wrist band), kirpan
(sword) and kaccha (a kind of trousers). Each has a meaning. For example,
the kara, a circle, is a statement that God is one without beginning or
end.
The Sikh faith has no internationally celebrated weekly
holy day but rather follows local customs, so in Shawnee, visitors are
welcome most Sundays.
608 060426 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Let all sit down to dinner together
Thirty years ago Ed Chasteen, professor at William Jewell
College, invited folks to a pot-luck dinner he called a “Human Family Reunion.”
For thirty years his passion to bring folks of all races, ethnic backgrounds,
social status and faiths has continued with such dinners across the country
as well as around Kansas City.
These dinners, open to anyone and everyone invited to
speak, have as their “sole (soul) agenda” simply getting to know one another.
“Asking who’s right is the wrong question,” Chasteen says.
Last week thirty students in his pluralism class — and
thirty members of the community whose identities were assumed by the students
— were featured at the latest of these upbeat gatherings. Instead of using
textbooks for the course, the students met, studied and “became” members
of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council and associates. For example,
student Roxi Davit became Doug Alpert, the Jewish member of the Council.
In addition to students visiting in Council members’
homes and their places of worship during the term, they kept in touch by
email and phone. Each student wrote his or her assumed person’s “autobiography.”
And each of the Council members visited the entire class.
Student Drew Korschot, who became Northern Cherokee Gary
Langston, praised the class. “It was like having 30 teachers,” he said.
A Christian himself, Korschot felt that encountering those from other faiths
both enriched his horizon and confirmed his own faith.
Student Brittany Goldschmidt, alias Baha’i Fran Otto,
said the class helped her realize she had filters that kept her from seeing
beyond her own background, but now she has discovered faiths she had never
even heard of before.
Caroline Baughman, pagan faith Council member, announced
that the Council was so inspired by the contact with the students that
it has decided to develop a student Interfaith Council. The Council’s web
site is www.kcinterfaith.org.
The evening ended with Chasteen noting former students
who returned to campus for this latest “edition” of the Human Family Reunion.
But one of those former students was already on campus: Andy Pratt, now
dean of the chapel and vice-president of religious ministries.
Chasteen’s fictional hero is Don Quixote who says, “Too
much sanity may be madness. And the greatest madness of all may be to see
the world as it is. And not as it should be.”
Chasteen comments: “I see the world as it should be. It
should be a place where all people are friends. A place where all people
feel safe. If the fact the world is not this way causes me to abandon my
vision of a better world, then the bad guys have won already.
“We all endorse one another. We all share a spiritual
quest. By becoming friends, we all become our best selves and most surely
find our individual and common purpose.”
607 060419 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Islam a religion that works toward justice
Muslim students at UMKC have designated this “Islamic Awareness
Week,” with programs continuing today and tomorrow in front of Royall Hall.
The interactive sessions encourage people to ask questions, said Muhammed
Banday, one of the organizers.
Opportunities for people learn about Islam are important,
Banday said, because so many think of Islam as “foreign” and “negative.”
Actually, Islam has been a part of America since at least
1790, according to South Carolina records. Perhaps a third of U.S.
Muslims are African-American. It is the fastest growing faith in the U.S
and the second largest religion in the world. Only 18 per cent of the world’s
Muslims are Arab.
When Banday spoke about Islam having a negative image,
I thought about readers who send me quotations from the Qur’an, the Muslim
holy book, and other material to prove Islam is a moon-goddess religion,
or that it is inherently violent or that Muhammad mistreated women. These
charges are antique and should be retired to the age they came from, when
Christians thought the world was flat.
What does Banday want people to know about Islam? “Islam
is the worship of the Creator, it consists of doing good, to purify oneself,
a wholistic way of living.”
Muhammad, a singularly righteous man, was not god or the
son of God, but rather the “seal” of the prophets who include Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Muhammad is beloved for his wisdom and compassion.
Believing that God commanded that all people be respected, the needy cared
for and safety insured, he was able to bring peace and justice to a fractious
land.
While primal faiths often focus on nature, and Asian faiths
often look within the individual, Islam, like the other monotheistic traditions
of Judaism and Christianity, finds a power working in history toward justice.
Alas, not long after Muhammad’s death, the community he
established broke apart. Just as disputes arose among the followers of
Jesus who formed churches shortly after his death (except Muslims do not
believe Jesus died), so after Muhammad’s death, the ummah, the community
of Muslims, was eventually torn by civil war.
As the history of Christendom is full of both corrupt
and enlightened eras, so Islam has been used in many ways. It can be argued
that Islam historically has been more tolerant than Christianity, but what
some Muslims call the recent “hijacking” of their faith by extremists makes
that hard to remember.
Just as Christians strive to honor the integrity of their
faith, so these students commit themselves to the purity of Islam’s ideals.
Surely we all need to understand each other better if we are to yield to
the power working in history toward justice.
606 060412 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Violent death reflects a human condition
The Bible contains some 600 instances of lethal violence,
according to a report cited by Martin E. Marty, perhaps the most prolific
scholar of religion in United States today, speaking at the Saint Paul
School of Theology last week.
The violence that most concerns Christians is the crucifixion
of Jesus, remembered with special emphasis this Good Friday.
What is the role of violence in faith? We abhor terrorism,
but most people feel self-defense is permissible or even required, and
some advocate pre-emptive strikes against a presumed enemy. Many faiths
condemn violence against oneself.
The recently discovered Gospel of Judas, excluded from
the collection of texts that eventually became the New Testament, suggests
that Jesus asked Judas, in effect, to betray him. Was this assisted suicide?
Should Judas be praised for helping to complete God’s plan through which
salvation is available to all?
Religious stories have power because they can stimulate
so many questions and insights. Sometimes comparing stories can help us
see them in a new light.
For example, other religious founders lived full lives
and died without assault. The Buddha died of dysentery at age 80. A sick
Muhammad died in his wife’s arms at 62. Mahavira died naturally at 72.
But Jesus was put to death when he was about 33. Why is
the violence so important to the story? Could not God have found the beauty
of the work and teachings of Jesus sufficient to redeem humankind even
if Jesus had died from, say, cancer?
A story of violence in the Shia tradition of Islam may
suggest one of many possible answers. In 680 at Karbala (alas, still in
the news today), Husayn, a grandson of Muhammad, and his family and companions
and children were brutally massacred. The anniversary, Ashurah (Feb 9 this
year), is observed by some Shii with a flagellation ritual, some by beating
their chests (compare Luke 23:48) and some by abstaining from all entertainment
for 40 or more days as a sign of mourning. Passion plays reenacting this
massacre of Muharram (the first month of the Islamic year) are performed.
Husayn’s witness to pristine Islamic values like charity
was met by the ruthless power of the Umayyad Dynasty. His sister, Zaynab,
who witnessed her sons’ deaths and other horrors, inspires women today
with her courageous response to tyranny.
Karen Armstrong, another scholar, writes, “the Karbala
tragedy became a symbol for Shii Muslims of the chronic injustice that
seems to pervade human life.”
For many serious Christians, the violent death of an innocent
man similarly places the human condition at the center of attention and
requires a similar life of integrity, regardless of the cost.
605 060405 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Reason and religion can co-exist
I prefer to praise rather than pan, but so many people
have asked my opinion of The End of Faith by Sam Harris that I’ll
give it. The book is a brilliant but wrong-headed rant against religion
and deserves a fuller response than I can make here.
Harris identifies religion with a literally-read sacred
text. Never mind that Christianity, for example, arose from a community,
not a text, and that the Bible did not approach is present form until 400
years after Jesus. The church produced the Bible; the text did not create
the faith.
Must a text be read literally? Harris thinks so. This
makes it easier for him to dismiss it. But Jews are proud of their tradition
of arguments about scripture. Origen, an early church father, read the
Bible allegorically. The Roman Catholic Church honors other sources (not
sola scriptura) in matters of faith. Martin Luther scorned the Epistle
of James. John Wesley placed scripture in the context of church history,
rational thinking and one’s personal experience with Christ. Christians
in hundreds of denominations disagree with each other about how ancient
words should be interpreted in today’s world.
Defining religion by text leads Harris to absurdities.
Citing passages like Deut. 13:7-11 which requires the Israelites to kill
those of other faiths, he attacks moderates, who don’t go around killing
people, as “in large part, responsible for the religious conflict in our
world” because they can’t adequately criticize literalism or terrorism.
This is because liberals believe that “religious beliefs are simply beyond
the scope of rational discourse.”
I made an off-hand list of a dozen familiar liberals who
don’t take the Bible literally and checked his bibliography of 600 books
to see if he had read any. Not one was listed. Glaringly absent was Martin
E. Marty’s 5-volume The Fundamentalism Project.
Harris subtitled his book Religion, Terror and the Future
of Reason. Harris decries “religious tolerance . . . driving us toward
the abyss” in favor of reason. Harris fails to account for the fact that
at least as many evil things have been done in the name of reason as religion.
And religion and reason need not be opposites.
Religion can be more about community than literal beliefs.
I once had a student who asked every member of his church to find out why
they joined. Neighborliness, the youth program, the music, the church suppers.
Not one person said they joined because of belief. Visiting churches as
I do, I find a wide range of beliefs in most.
Religion begins as an encounter with the sacred — a person,
event or revelation. Only later do people in community try to formulate
an understanding of it, with subsequent revisions. A faith continues as
a sacred story which gives people a sense of who they are, how to behave
and what destiny lies ahead.
Religion is not the villain Harris claims, nor is reason
the savior. I still think respectful encounter is a better hope.
604 060329 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Second City is first when it comes to divinity school
“You go to bed with someone you think you know, and when
you wake up you discover that it was someone else—another man or another
woman, or a man instead of a woman, or a woman instead of a man, or a god,
or a snake, or a foreigner or alien, or a complete stranger, or your own
wife or husband, or your mother or father.”
So writes distinguished scholar Wendy Doniger, Professor
of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School,
in one of her provocative books, The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade.
In Gen. 4:1, we read, “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and
she conceived . . . .” Knowing someone through the intimacy of the embrace
is sometimes imagined to be the most truthful revelation, but Doniger documents
an astounding number of stories of both deception and discovery that challenge
our assumptions. They range from Hindu myths to Guys and Dolls, where a
bachelor complains, “You marry a girl, and you wake up with somebody else.”
Of course there is Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Mozart’s
“Marriage of Figaro,” and the Bible’s Rachel and Leah.
Then there is the report that appeared in the New Yorker’s
constabulary notes: “A Hudson Road resident reported a strange man in her
bed, but then realized it was her husband.”
Stories of people pretending to be someone else are widespread
if improbable. Doniger asks why sexual deception or fantasy is so intriguing.
People lie about love and sex, but Doniger concludes that sex is really
more about truth than, as others have argued, about power.
Doniger gives five lectures in Lawrence and Topeka Apr
1-4, including the keynote address at KU’s Religious Studies Banquet Apr.
3, 7:30 pm at the Student Union, when her subject is “You Can’t Get Here
From There: The Logical Paradox of Ancient Indian Creation Myths.”
She is not the only Chicago religious scholar in our area
this season. Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus, one of the nation’s most
perceptive and prolific writers about politics and religion, gives
the Cleaver Lecture in Religion and Public Life at the Saint Paul School
of Theology Apr. 6 at 11 am. His title is “The Future of Civility in Church
and Politics.”
The dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School,
Richard A. Rosengarten, was in Kansas City recently and a future column
will summarize his lecture. But for now, I only mention his off-the-cuff
remark that the “Div” school there is the best in the world.
People sometimes ask me about theological education, and
I note the excellence of Kansas City schools and the superb faculties they
have attracted. The KU Department of Religion has a unique heritage
with special gifts. I also mention Harvard, Yale, the Graduate Theological
Union at Berkeley and other schools. But as these visiting profs show,
for range, depth and freshness, it’s Chicago. Forgive me. I’m an alum.
603 060322 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Be a spoke in the wheel of the holy
Many religious leaders, regardless of their tradition,
see enormous problems in our culture. Those attending the 2001 “Gifts of
Pluralism” interfaith conference here said their intent was “to explore
sacred directions for troubled times” and specifically addressed environmental,
personal and social crises.
Some say the root cause of the crises, insults, deprivations
and violence reported every day in this paper is the overwhelmingly secularistic
approach which dominates our lives.
To remedy the brokenness and misery of humanity, some
seek help from governmental declarations of religious values (like Missouri
House Resolution 13) and official displays of icons of faith (like the
Ten Commandments). Last week’s column maintained that such actions betray
the American heritage of religious liberty, but that freedom itself “does
not cure our spiritual ills.”
What does cure? Each religious path may offer a specific
answer worthy of respect. And among them, it may be possible to find common
themes.
* The first theme is wonder. Our age (of Fosomax?) is
marked by so many competing demands for our attention and loyalty that
we are torn like spokes from a wheel whose hub is demolished. We are scattered
to the roadside, disempowered, disconnected from the source of life. We
grasp for the correct antiperspirant, the right sleeping aid and the latest
hot DVD as if they are the answers to life’s questions.
But when we recognize our priorities are partial and disjointed,
and surrender them to the center, when the spokes connect to the hub of
the holy, the road opens and the horizon is limitless. We are humbled and
shaken in awe at the privilege of beholding the infinite.
This awareness is always available, but distractions keep
us from noticing. As Robert Thurman says, “This is nirvana. But we are
very bad at enjoying it.”
* Wonder engenders gratitude. Saying grace before meals,
observing holy days and other rituals are faint but important echoes of
awe because their intent is to reconnect us with sources beyond ourselves.
* Gratitude matures into service. Service is love in action.
Jobs become vocations. In business, making a fair return from providing
a useful product becomes more important than exploiting workers and the
environment to maximize profit. In politics, the corruption and urgency
of special interests fade as decisions are made for the commonweal.
Awe, thanksgiving and the passion to serve cannot be legislated.
But people of faith, including atheists with faith in reason, can find
the hub anywhere. We just need to pay attention.
Secularistic priorities divide us within ourselves, from
each other and from the environment in a demonic war against knowing
that we are all in this together.
602 060315 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
'Government cannot be trusted with religion'
Readers of this column have noted from time to time my
deep concern about what I have called the “the brutality of our secularistic
age.” This column promotes faith as a remedy. Why, then, readers ask, do
I question a recognition of the Christian foundation for this nation?
An initial answer is simple. Look at history.
Although many founders of the United States were Christian,
they created a secular government separate from the religious establishment.
At the time of Independence, only about 10 per cent of
the population were church members. The U.S. Constitution does not mention
God or Christianity. There is no trace of the Ten Commandments in it.
In the entire twenty volumes collecting our first president’s
public and private correspondence and his official papers, Washington never
mentions Jesus Christ. He wrote letters appreciating Muslims, Jews, Christians
and atheists. His famous letter to Jews in Newport, R.I., like letters
to Baptists, Quakers, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, defends government
neutrality in religion.
Our second president, John Adams, signed a treaty ratified
by the Senate in 1797 which says that “the government of the United States
of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion . . .
.”
In a letter after becoming our third president, Thomas
Jefferson created the metaphor of a “wall” separating church and state.
He did not believe in the Trinity nor in the miracles ascribed to
Jesus. In his “Notes on the State of Virginia,” he wrote. “It does me no
injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither
picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. . . . It is error alone which needs
the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
In what some might judge to be a self-righteous act by
the North during the Civil War in 1864, “In God we trust” was added to
our currency. During the Cold War, “Under God” was added in 1954 to the
1892 Pledge of Allegiance. Neither of these declarations seem to have been
effective in preventing the corruption and disasters that have afflicted
our nation.
While a historical answer — the United States was not
founded as a Christian nation — may be helpful to answer the readers’ question,
the basic reason for opposing government entanglement with religion is
this: Government cannot be trusted with religion. Our founders saw in Europe,
and we see in Iraq today, the violence that comes from mingling politics
and religion.
On the other hand, Americans are free to exercise their
faiths in their private lives, by associating in religious congregations
and by bringing their faith values into civil conversation.
America was religiously diverse from its beginnings, and
it is even more so today. The wisdom of the First Amendment protects religious
liberty, but it does not cure our spiritual ills. More about that
next week.
601 060308 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Stories of sacrifice have right ring
Christianity may be unique in the emphasis it has placed
on creedal statements, but like most other religions, it has stories which
present a sacred picture of the world and our place within it. With Jews
and Muslims, Christians find in the story of Abraham a key picture of how
God intervenes in human affairs, and how humans may respond.
All three traditions deal with God’s direction to Abraham
to sacrifice his own son. And this story was the pivot last week at the
annual Interfaith Luncheon of the National Council of Jewish Women Greater
Kansas City Section.
Amelia Chilcoat, president of the Missouri Chapter of
the International League of Muslim Women, presented a Muslim perspective
in which Ishmael is the son selected for sacrifice. In Judaism, Isaac is
the son selected. The Rev. Molly Marshall, president of Central Baptist
Theological Seminary, noted the interpretations given to the story of Abraham
in the Christian scriptures.
Cantor Sharon Kohn of Congregation B’nai Jehudah called
the episode of the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22:1-19) one of “the most problematic
passages in all of the Holy Scriptures.” It asks “primal questions and
leaves us to discover the answers for ourselves.” These questions include
--
* If a man such as Abraham could be put through such a
trial, is it not reasonable that each of us might also have trials? How
are we tested in our lives?
* Did Abraham pass the test? Was he supposed to blindly
follow God or was he supposed to argue with God as he did about Sodom and
Gemorrah?
* When are we to blindly follow the orders of those we
trust? When should we ask more questions or even say “No”?
The discussion was conducted with the grace and
mutual regard that makes deep