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Jesus’ Remains: Teaching Multiple Jesi

religionnerd — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:59:04 +0000

By Kate Daley-Bailey, Religion Bulletin

Motivated by not a little shameless self-promotion and a pseudo-masochistic desire for undergraduate feedback on my work, I ventured to present my Introduction to Religious Thought class with a ‘Jesus’ with which they are entirely unfamiliar, the Aryan Jesus, and considering that I teach in the Bible belt, this is especially pertinent.

The campus is proliferated with numerous Christian organizations, many participating in a sort of denominational poaching much more than any outright conversion. Needless to say, but I will anyway, religion is a hot button topic here… especially when Christianity is involved. Championing my liberal professorial persona as professional ‘gadfly’, I decided to do a unit on Jesus. Each segment of my unit focuses on a different appropriation of Jesus via various religious traditions or socio-political sentiments. We are reading about the illusive ‘historical Jesus’, ‘Gnostic Jesus’, Jewish and Muslim perceptions of Jesus, Buddhist Jesus, Germanic warrior Jesus, Jefferson’s Jesus, C.S. Lewis’ Jesus as historical dying and rising god, a feminist Jesus, and an Aryan Jesus.

Amid all these Jesi (my highly technical term for multiple Jesuses), my hope is to drive home to my students that Jesus, much like the concepts ‘religion’ or ‘the sacred’ or even ‘human’, has become somewhat of an empty signifier, meaning so many things to so many people that invoking his name becomes a rhetorical move to claim ownership over a powerful signifier which, ironically, is no longer grounded in any particular content.

As Russell McCutcheon so aptly illustrates in The Discipline of Religion: Structure, Meaning, Rhetoric, ‘Jesus talk’ is a powerful rhetorical medium through which to summon support from various disparate groups, who assign significantly different content and signification to the name ‘Jesus’. His example highlights when a politician (in this specific case, George W. Bush), in a highly charged political setting (a Presidential primary debate), cites Jesus as the ‘political philosopher’ who had most influenced him, no one is going to ask him if he is referring to “Crossan’s Jewish peasant, or maybe Borg’s subversive sage”, “Mack’s wandering cynic”, or “Funk’s ‘Jewish Socrates’” (29). McCutcheon cites Robert Bellah’s astute assessment that “the public use of God-talk was effective precisely because it means so many different things to so many people that it is almost an empty sign’”(29).

To use the lexicon provided by Roland Barthes in his work Mythologies, the concept of Jesus (“which is filled with a situation”) has become a form in which case “history evaporates and only the letter remains”… leaving the remnant but an impoverished concept calling for signification (117). How quickly and seamlessly, and often unknowingly, do we answer this siren’s call to supplement our own values and judgments into that void? When we conjure these immensely powerful signifiers (‘Jesus’, ‘religion’, ‘the Sacred’, ‘terror, the ‘human’), how easily the specificities of content get subsumed into the abyss of generalization.

As I stressed with my students regarding the Aryan Jesus, as well as the other ‘Jesi’ we are researching, our job in this unit is not to magically distill the ‘real’ Jesus from the swill of theology and political packaging, but rather to highlight the nuanced processes of constructing ‘Jesi’ and query the discursive strategies deployed to flesh out the impoverished Jesus. Wish me luck… and let’s hope I don’t end up on Fox News.

http://jesus-is.org/

Katherine Daley-Bailey received her A.B. (2001) and M.A. (2004) degrees in Religion from the University of Georgia. She is currently teaching part-time at the University of Georgia. Daley-Bailey’s primary research interests are Religion, Literature, and the Arts, Theory and Methods, and Religion in Popular Culture. A regular contributor to the online magazine, Religion Nerd, she is currently working on her own column for the magazine, ‘The Sacred and the Strange,” which highlights the sometimes paradoxical nature of religious matters. In 2007, Kate co-authored a chapter titled ”Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying: Freedom in Confined Spaces” with Dr. Carolyn Jones Medine, a professor at the University of Georgia.

Bieber, Beliebers and Anne Frank

religionnerd — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:00:16 +0000

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By Gary Laderman, Huff Post Religion

Young pop sensation Justin Bieber is in the news yet again, this time for writing in the guestbook at the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam that the young Jewish woman in hiding was a “great girl” and that she would be a “Belieber” if she were alive with him today. As you might expect, this has sparked quite a bit of controversy, with people viciously attacking the teenage idol from all corners of social media, as well as mocking him mercilessly for laughs and sensationalism. The incomparable entertainment outlet TMZ titled one of its stories “Justin Bieber, No Concentration… All Camp.”

For some, the obvious question that comes to mind when hearing about Bieber’s behavior is, what was he smoking in Amsterdam? For others, the question is even more profound and fundamental: Is nothing sacred? Surely sites dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust are sacrosanct, reverent places for reflection, education, moral clarity and personal, powerful experiences that are difficult to put in words. They demand respect, and are to be kept inviolable — in other words, separate from the profane.

Imaging Anne Frank as a “Belieber,” taking her out of her horrific and incomprehensible historical circumstances and placing her in the pop world of contemporary entertainment, especially in the fandom surrounding a mediocre teenybopper-cum-serious young adult performer, is a profanation of the worst kind to many critics. She is an icon, a heroic figure who figures so prominently and nobly in the histories and popular imagination associated with the rise of Nazis and the extermination of Jews. For Bieber to “belieb” this about Frank, to even think the thought, is both outrageous and offensive.

Another question that comes to mind, at least to my mind, in the present Bieber frenzy is slightly different though full of religious possibilities as well: Can anything be sacred? From this side of the table, Beiber himself and his band of Beliebers are fodder for sacred activities and religious identities.

On the one hand, Bieber is nothing if not a follower of Jesus Christ, and he has frequently proclaimed his evangelical faith in tweets, tattoos and interviews. Although like many young folks today, Bieber tries to emphasize being “spiritual, not religious” and personalize his relationship with God, he clearly attributes his success and blessings to Jesus Christ.

But like a good evangelical, Bieber wants to spread the good news. As he mentioned in a Rolling Stone interview, he feels an “obligation to plant little seeds with my fans” about God’s love. This visit to Anne Frank’s House and his comment in the guest book about Frank as a “Belieber” may not be an explicit, postmortem effort to bring her into the Christian fold, but it certainly blurs the lines between “Belieber” fanaticism and spreading the Gospel. And the particular interest of evangelicals with Jewish history only makes this visit, or tourist pilgrimage, even more complicated.

On the other hand, beyond the very public and proclaimed evangelical identity, Bieber is also at the center of a separate religious culture, one that is focused on worship, moral formation and transcendence: the cult of celebrity. In this case, Bieber and his “Beliebers” are participants in a different kind of religious evangelical culture, and the brouhaha surrounding his visit testifies to the otherworldly power of celebrity and the compelling allure of fame.

It is not Bieber’s talents as a singer or performer that transformed him into a sacred idol; rather, it is his status as a superstar celebrity that catapulted him out of the mundane world and into the religious world where “Beliebers” seek contact and intimacy with him, are devoted to his every move, song, and hair style, and find ways to consume his life for personal fulfillment if not transformation and moral guidance in a chaotic world.

Bieber’s reference to “Belieber” at the Anne Frank house suggests a weightier spiritual meaning than simply being a fan of his music. His visit to the shrine, and the subsequent uproar over his words in the guest book, brought the sacred values of celebrity culture into direct conflict with sacred values of Holocaust memory in the public’s response to the interaction between the manufactured superstar and the celebrated victim. The museum itself, however, released a statement that in some ways reconciled the clashing sacred values by defending Bieber and appreciating the fact the he visited in the first place, seeing this particular visitor as having a potentially positive impact by helping young people be more educated and aware of the life and death of Frank.

Whether or not you accept the museum’s perspective, the religious angles to the story are compelling and speak to the strange and surprising ways sacred and profane intermix and blur in contemporary culture.

Who Bombed the Boston Marathon?

religionnerd — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:00:39 +0000

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By MARK JUERGENSMEYER, Religion Dispatches

We may never know, but some signs point to right-wing terrorists

No one has yet stepped out of the shadows to claim credit for the horrific bomb attacks on the Boston marathon Monday that killed three and seriously injured over a hundred. But rumors abound.

Most of the suspicions point towards right-wing extremist Christian Patriot groups. They are exactly the kind of movement that might be attracted to make its mark on a liberal anti-gun crowd on what many have noted is Massachusetts’ Patriots’ Day. The 26-mile course of the marathon was meant to honor the 26 victims of the Newtown school shooting, with a different victim recognized at each mile marker.

Massachusetts, like Connecticut and several other New England states, has recently enacted tougher gun legislation and its representatives are strong supporters of the pending Congressional gun reform laws strengthening background checks for gun purchases. So it would not be surprising if someone like the gun-loving Hutaree militia group or a lone Timothy McVeigh (whose bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building took place two days after Patriots’ Day in 1995) were found to have been involved.

Groups like this have been on the rise since the election of President Barack Obama, and even more so since his reelection. According to a report issued by the reliable Southern Poverty Law Center last year, the number of extremist Patriot groups has skyrocketed. Only 149 groups existed before Obama was elected in 2008. In 2012 the number had expanded to 1,360. Not all are plotting terrorist attacks, of course. But some are. In September 2012, Daryl Johnson, a terrorist analyst for the US Department of Homeland Security testified before a US Senate committee that there was an “upsurge” of potentially violent non-Islamic extremist activity in the United States.

So fingers point towards right-wing Christian extremists. But the fingers could be wrong. The culprits may turn out to be jihadis or simply deranged individuals, such as the sad young man who carried out the attacks in Newtown. We will have to wait and see.

The disconcerting thing is that we may wait and never find out. This could be yet again a case of terrorism for which no one claims public credit. After all, Timothy McVeigh did not plan to be caught. Only a series of coincidences led to his capture.

But why would terrorists go to the trouble (for them) and the awful experience (for us) to commit a horrendous act of terrorism and not take credit for it? Wouldn’t they want everyone to know what cause was being promoted?

Not necessarily. Anonymous terrorism is actually fairly common. In my own studies of terrorism related to religion, I have found that many if not most of the perpetrators do not make any public statement following the act.

Part of the reason, of course, is that they do not want to say anything that might help authorities locate them and bring them to justice. The manifesto of the Unabomber contained a sufficient number of clues to his identity that eventually someone—his own brother—recognized the familiar writing patterns and revealed his identity to the authorities.

But there is another reason for the anonymity: the perpetrators want the acts to speak for themselves.

If one regards acts of terrorism as a kind of performance violence, one can accept the notion that the act itself is the point. A terrorist event is like street theater, meant to draw the witnesses and all of us who witness it vicariously through television, internet, and other media, into the reality of cosmic war that the perpetrators themselves imagine. They want us to see the world the way they see it: not normal, not business as usual, but a world at war.

Sadly, they are to some extent successful. To the degree that we are frightened and disturbed by their terrorist acts, and approach normal life with fear—even something as joyous and life-affirming as a marathon race—we have been forced into their perception of a life in cosmic war.

It is important for authorities to continue to try to track down the culprits of the Boston marathon attack, whoever and wherever they are, and bring them to justice. But meanwhile, I suggest, we should not let them win. We should let life, and marathon races, run on.

Burning Jesus, Mary, and the Prophets

religionnerd — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:25:30 +0000

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By Kenny Smith & Heather Abraham

In his superb book, The Muslim Jesus (2001), Tarif Khalidi observes that Jesus of Nazareth plays an important role in Islamic religious worlds. As is well known to students of Islam, within the pages of the Qur’an, Jesus (Isa) is “the word and spirit of God,” a prophet sent by Allah (in 7th century Arabia, Allah was the Arabic term local Christians used when speaking of God) to call humankind back to the proper religious path, one who demonstrates his spiritual authority by performing numerous miracles, including the healing lepers and the blind, and raising the dead. Although the Qur’anic Jesus is not crucified and resurrected, nor is he understood as God himself in human flesh (in traditional Islam, Allah transcends the world entirely and thus nothing in the world could be Allah), he was born of a virgin (Mary), fulfilled important messianic prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, and was physically taken up into heaven by God at the end of his life.

A “Muslim Gospel,” Khalidi points out, even overflows the pages of the Qur’an: for nearly a thousand years (from the 8th-18th centuries CE), stories and sayings attributed to Isa continued to emerge in Islamic written and oral traditions. While this Jesus is Islamic in tone, a clear Biblical voice is evident. In one of the earliest of these, “Jesus said to his people,”

Do not talk much without the mention of God, lest your hearts grow hard; for the hard heart is far from God, but you do not know. Do not examine the sins of people as though you were lords, but examine them, rather, as though you were servants. Men are of two kinds: the sick and the healthy. Be merciful to the sick and give thanks to God for health. (52)

Similar arguments could be made for a vast number of important Biblical figures. Noah (Nuh), for example, is the first of five super-important prophets in Islam (along with Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad). Noah, the Qur’an explains, spent centuries preaching to the sinful, begging them to mend their ways or face the wrath of God. His efforts attracted some willing to embrace the strict monotheism of Islam, and it was with resignation that Noah builds the ark and awaits the coming deluge, able to save only a small number.

Moses (Musa), like Jesus, appears in both the Qur’an and in hadith (sayings and stories about the Prophet Muhammad that have come down from the time in which he lived, 7^th century Arabia). In one of these stories, Moses steps out of Biblical history and intercedes on Muhammad’s behalf. As Huston Smith re-tells the story, one night the arch-angel Gabriel visits and takes Muhammad into the seven heavens to the presence of God, who instructed [Muhammad] that Muslims were to pray fifty times each day. On his way back to earth [Muhammad] stopped in the sixth heaven, where he reported the instruction to Moses, who was incredulous. “Fifty times a day!” he said in effect. “You’ve got to be kidding. That will never work. Go back and negotiate. (245) Muhammad accepted Moses’ counsel and appealed to God successfully decreasing the mandated daily prayers from fifty to five.

The figure of Mary (Maryam) is also a highly revered figure, recognized for her devotion and obedience to God, and belongs to an exclusive group of women who are considered ‘Perfect’ because of their strength of faith and their unquestioning submission to God’s will. Aliah Schleifer, in Mary the Blessed Virgin of Islam, points out that, “Mary’s position is not just that of the most exalted category of women, but she is ranked in the highest category of all human beings,” with a degree of spiritual development equal to that of Jesus and approaching that of Muhammad. (95) In what is perhaps the most well-known Qur’anic story about Mary, the young heroine retreats to the desert for an extended period of prayer and meditation. When she returns home, villagers are scandalized when the unwed Mary returns with her infant son, Jesus. As they accuse her of deep sinfulness (sex outside of wedlock), the infant Jesus speaks up and defends her!

So, what?

We have struggled with the implications of this discussion for the current climate of intense, anti-Muslim sentiment within a still largely Christian America, epitomized especially well by recent “Qur’an burning campaigns,” and by the larger numbers of Americans that (we suspect) tacitly support such actions.

On one hand, we would hope that the stories discussed above would provide compelling illustrations of “common religious ground” that would give pause to those who might otherwise support the social marginalization that Qur’an burnings (or the quiet support of such actions) suggest.

Mary & Jesus

At the same time, while ecumenically-minded Christians may be intrigued by, and appreciative of, these shared religious resources, religious conservative are likely to find them irrelevant, if not spiritually deceptive and dangerous. “If it is not of the Bible,” this perspective often insists, it is simply not from God. Little is accomplished by demonizing conservative perspectives. More, as Russell McCutcheon has astutely pointed out (in recent Facebook communiqués), to insist that religious conservatives become more ecumenically-minded is to insist that they practice a very different kind of religion, one that gives up a “Bible-only” perspective for one that sees other religious traditions as cousins rather than antagonists. Just as religious pluralists (like us) insist from a kind of transcendent, God’s-eye view, that overlapping Qur’anic and Biblical stories represent resources to be celebrated and explored, Bible-only religious conservatives may adopt this same transcendent perspective to authoritatively declare precisely the opposite!

Still, as history amply demonstrates, cultural boundaries are never static, and American history especially displays all sorts of exchanges between communities that had little to celebrate in common. Thus, while it may appear exceedingly naïve to expect that the above discussion has any chance of persuading those who support Qur’an burnings to re-think their position, it is at least possible that such discussion might, by who knows what unexpected and counter-intuitive paths, arrive at positive ends.

Sources:

Tarif Khalidi ,The Muslim Jesus (2001)
Aliah Schleifer, Mary the Blessed Virgin of Islam (Kentucky: Fons Vitae, 1997)
Huston Smith, The World’s Religions (New York: HarperCollins, 1991)

How Beer Gave Us Civilization

religionnerd — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 21:52:41 +0000

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By JEFFREY P. KAHN, New York Times

HUMAN beings are social animals. But just as important, we are socially constrained as well.

We can probably thank the latter trait for keeping our fledgling species alive at the dawn of man. Five core social instincts, I have argued, gave structure and strength to our primeval herds. They kept us safely codependent with our fellow clan members, assigned us a rank in the pecking order, made sure we all did our chores, discouraged us from offending others, and removed us from this social coil when we became a drag on shared resources.

Thus could our ancient forebears cooperate, prosper, multiply — and pass along their DNA to later generations.

But then, these same lifesaving social instincts didn’t readily lend themselves to exploration, artistic expression, romance, inventiveness and experimentation — the other human drives that make for a vibrant civilization.

To free up those, we needed something that would suppress the rigid social codes that kept our clans safe and alive. We needed something that, on occasion, would let us break free from our biological herd imperative — or at least let us suppress our angst when we did.

We needed beer.

Luckily, from time to time, our ancestors, like other animals, would run across fermented fruit or grain and sample it. How this accidental discovery evolved into the first keg party, of course, is still unknown. But evolve it did, perhaps as early as 10,000 years ago.

Current theory has it that grain was first domesticated for food. But since the 1950s, many scholars have found circumstantial evidence that supports the idea that some early humans grew and stored grain for beer, even before they cultivated it for bread.

Brian Hayden and colleagues at Simon Fraser University in Canada provide new support for this theory in an article published this month (and online last year) in the Journal of Archeological Method and Theory. Examining potential beer-brewing tools in archaeological remains from the Natufian culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, the team concludes that “brewing of beer was an important aspect of feasting and society in the Late Epipaleolithic” era.

Anthropological studies in Mexico suggest a similar conclusion: there, the ancestral grass of modern maize, teosinte, was well suited for making beer — but was much less so for making corn flour for bread or tortillas. It took generations for Mexican farmers to domesticate this grass into maize, which then became a staple of the local diet.

Once the effects of these early brews were discovered, the value of beer (as well as wine and other fermented potions) must have become immediately apparent. With the help of the new psychopharmacological brew, humans could quell the angst of defying those herd instincts. Conversations around the campfire, no doubt, took on a new dimension: the painfully shy, their angst suddenly quelled, could now speak their minds.

But the alcohol would have had more far-ranging effects, too, reducing the strong herd instincts to maintain a rigid social structure. In time, humans became more expansive in their thinking, as well as more collaborative and creative. A night of modest tippling may have ushered in these feelings of freedom — though, the morning after, instincts to conform and submit would have kicked back in to restore the social order.

Some evidence suggests that these early brews (or wines) were also considered aids in deliberation. In long ago Germany and Persia, collective decisions of state were made after a few warm ones, then double-checked when sober. Elsewhere, they did it the other way around.

Beer was thought to be so important in many bygone civilizations that the Code of Urukagina, often cited as the first legal code, even prescribed it as a central unit of payment and penance.

Part of beer’s virtue in ancient times was that its alcohol content would have been sharply limited. As far as the research has shown, distillation of alcohol to higher concentrations began only about 2,000 years ago.

Today, many people drink too much because they have more than average social anxiety or panic anxiety to quell — disorders that may result, in fact, from those primeval herd instincts kicking into overdrive. But getting drunk, unfortunately, only compounds the problem: it can lead to decivilizing behaviors and encounters, and harm the body over time. For those with anxiety and depressive disorders, indeed, there are much safer and more effective drugs than alcohol — and together with psychotherapy, these newfangled improvements on beer can ease the angst.

But beer’s place in the development of civilization deserves at least a raising of the glass. As the ever rational Ben Franklin supposedly said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

Several thousand years before Franklin, I’m guessing, some Neolithic fellow probably made the same toast.

Jeffrey P. Kahn, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, is the author of “Angst: Origins of Anxiety and Depression.”

A Theological Reflection on Shiva on the Occasion of Mahashivaratri

religionnerd — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:40:07 +0000

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By Dr. Anantanand Rambachan, Huffington Post

The Huffington Post | By Jahnabi Barooah

On March 10, Hindus around the world will celebrate Shivaratri (The Night of Shiva). I share these theological reflections on the occasion of this sacred festival.

For centuries, Hindus have worshiped and described God through the name and form of Shiva. The name Shiva connotes kindness, benevolence and grace. Shiva is also commonly known as Shankara, meaning one who acts unceasingly for the good of all. The many names and forms of God available in the Hindu tradition are not just expressions of India’s religious and cultural diversity. These also express profound insights about the nature of God and human existence that enrich our theological understanding. I want to suggest four ways in which the name and form of Shiva speak relevantly to us about divinity and the meaning of human life.

The first insight arises from the contrast between the iconic representations of Shiva and those of God as Vishnu. Although, both may be seen as forms of the one God, there are unmistakable differences. Icons of Vishnu typically represent him in the symbols of royalty, power and affluence. He wears a crown on his head, jewels around his neck, golden earning on both ears, and resplendent robes. Shiva, on the other hand, wears nothing but a loincloth; his only “jewels,” are snakes and rosaries. The icon of Shiva attracts us by its stark simplicity, asceticism and lack of adornment. The eyes of Vishnu are open, looking out to the world; the eyes of Shiva are half-closed in meditation.

The representation of Vishnu with the symbols of kingship and splendor properly emphasizes the nature of God as the omnipotent source, lord and sustainer of creation. The icon of Shiva, empty of all trappings of power and wealth, reminds us that the meaning of human life is be found in who we are and not in what we own. Although wealth and power are important for human wellbeing, these are impermanent, unpredictable and ultimately fail to satisfy the thoughtful person. Our human worth is an intrinsic one that has its source in the divine that exists at the heart of everyone. Shiva’s half-closed eyes point to the condition of being awake to this divine reality.

The second insight about Shiva arises from his association with time and change. As a form of God, Vishnu is associated with preservation and stability, the familiar and the predictable that afford us constancy and continuity. Shiva reminds us that even as we value and seek stability, change is inevitable. On his flowing hair, Shiva wears the crescent moon, the symbol of time, reminding us that there is no creation without movement and motion and that there can be no peace without our acceptance of impermanence. Shiva invites us to see the positive possibilities in change. Without change, our sons and daughters will not grow into beautiful young men and women, the seeds that we plant will not blossom into plants and winter will not come to an end.

The third insight about Shiva is a challenge to our own expectations of where and in what forms we may discover divinity. The city of Varanasi (Banaras) is one of the most sacred locations in Hindu geography. It is famous for its cremation grounds. Elderly and terminally ill Hindus travel to Varanasi in the hope of dying within its sacred precincts. Traditionally, death is an event of in-auspiciousness and ritual impurity; cremation grounds are avoided, as well as contact with a deceased body. Varanasi, however, is the holy city of Shiva and the location of one of the most famous Shiva temples. Shiva is described as frequenting the cremation grounds, dressed in beggarly attire and smearing himself with the ash of the cremation sites. The point seems to be that we must be careful not to associate God only with beautiful temples and richly adorned icons. Although we teach God’s omnipresence, we are more reluctant to discern God in places associated with death and suffering. Shiva reminds us not to place limits on divine reality. Our boundaries, our notions of purity and impurity, are not Shiva’s own. His association with the place of death dramatically states this fact.

The fourth insight about Shiva is concerned with our consciousness of our environment and our need to be good stewards of the earth and its resources. The most popular representation of God as Shiva depicts him as residing in a Himalayan abode in the midst of lush and verdant vegetation. The bull, Nandi, sitting happily next to Shiva and the snakes playfully adorning his neck and arms present us with a portrait of natural harmony. The Ganges River is shown as flowing from and through Shiva’s luxuriant hair, suggesting that nature’s bounties are divine gifts. We are more likely to abuse nature when we disconnect the natural world from its divine origin and strip it of sanctity. The icon of Shiva, placed firmly in the midst of nature speaks, of our interdependence with and our inseparability from the natural world.

One of the compelling forms of Shiva represents him as Dakshinamurti, the teacher of wisdom. He is seated under a banyan tree, surrounded by eager students, As a teacher, Shiva is eternally young, suggesting that his teaching is a continuous process for those of us who are open to learning. As we worship Shiva on Shivaratri, let Shiva also become our teacher. May we learn from him the value of detachment, the positive possibilities in change, the ability to see divinity where we least expect, and a renewed value for nature as a sacred gift.

Religion Lately: Dress Codes, Betting on the Next Pope, Demon Sweaters, and Palestinian-Only Bus Lines

religionnerd — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:09:57 +0000

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By Heather Abraham

Dressing according to God’s law. The New York City Commission on Human Rights has filed a lawsuit against Ultra-Orthodox Jewish business owners who have posted signs requiring clients to dress modestly. I guess the women posing below are persona non grata.

Palestinian-only bus lines? The Israeli Transportation Ministry will begin to operate Palestinian-only bus lines that will connect the West Bank to Israel. The news was met with condemnation by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. “The attempt at bus segregation is appalling, and the current arguments about ‘security needs’ and ‘overcrowding’ must not be allowed to camouflage the blatant racism of the demand to remove Palestinians from buses,” Executive Director Jessica Montell of B’Tselem.

Betting on the next Pope? Las Vegas, the betting capital of the world, hasn’t opened book on the next Pope. American law prohibits gambling on the outcome of elected offices so Americans wanting to place a bet will need to do so through European bookmakers such as Irish owned PaddyPower.com. Paddy Power estimates they will take more that $7 million in bets before the upcoming conclave releases white smoke signaling the start of a new Papacy. Scoff if you will but in 2005, bookies placed Joseph Ratzinger in the top three. Here’s a look at the current favorites.

Stephen Colbert has coined a new term describing the current events at the Vatican. “We have undergone a Popendectomy!” In response to one of PaddyPower’s favorites, Cardinal Turkson of Ghana, Colbert commented “That makes sense. The Church is in a mess right now and they always give the crappy clean up job to a black guy.”

Italian news reported that three days after the Pope Emeritus retired to Castel Gandolfo a mild earthquake (2.5) struck the surrounding area. Combined with the lightening strike to St. Peter’s Basilica on February 11^th, some are wondering if these natural occurrences are a disapproving sign from above.

A heads up to all thrift store shoppers—you may need to find a dry cleaner who can remove demons from slightly used clothing. According to Pat Robertson, there is a slight chance that a great find at a thrift store may be home to demonic entities. I wonder? If demons can attach themselves to clothing through human touch, do we have to worry about demons at the manufacturing level? If so, demon removal may be a great business venture.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDpp9UWVjsQ

The Religious Theft of Sacred Culture?

religionnerd — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:57:53 +0000

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By Kenny Smith

In her Religion Nerd piece, Rise of the Jedi Religion, Heather Abraham introduced us to a new religious movement grounded in the mythic figure of the Jedi Knight, a central component of George Lucas’ famously popular Stars Wars saga. Jediism, she tells us, “is the fourth largest religion in the UK,” and is likewise “thriving in many other English speaking countries,” numbering in the tens of thousands in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Dudeism Symbol

This is clearly a remarkable state of affairs, that a series of commercial films should serve as the foundation for a religious tradition that resonates with impressive numbers across a diverse landscape! For observers of contemporary religion and culture, the return of the Jedi (this time in explicitly religious guise) leaves us with an intriguing puzzle. Has the transition from a series of Hollywood blockbusters to a popular religious pathway rendered the figure of the Jedi (and perhaps other elements of the Star Wars universe) sacred? That is, is the emergence of Jediism a matter of something secular being made into something sacred? Or, was the image of the Jedi Knight able to serve as the basis for a religious movement precisely because it already functioned as sacred within the broader culture? This essay explores these questions by looking at a range of religious communities, both old and new, that seem to have borrowed from popular culture in important ways.

Take, for instance, the new religious movement known as Dudeism, or more formally, The Church of the Latter-Day Dude. Based upon the teachings and example of the character Jeffrey Lebowski (played by Jeff Bridges) in the Coen Brothers’ 1998 classic film, The Big Lebowski, Dudeism teaches a largely passive, hedonistic approach to life emphasizing personal authenticity and the cultivation of pleasures that can be enjoyed without engaging in exhaustive levels of work, competition, and anxieties about the future. As one Dudeist website explains:

Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it. So don’t do anything about it. Just take it easy, man. Stop worrying so much whether you’ll make it into the finals. Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others–that is to say, abide.” (http://www.dudeism.com/whatisdudeism.html)

While Dudeists seem quite clear that their tradition is grounded in a fictional narrative, that fact has done little to undermine its attractiveness as a path of spiritual liberation from what is perceived as an overly complex and deeply troubled society. As of 2009, this tradition claimed some 60,000 Dudeist ministers worldwide, an online newspaper, a range of texts and articles linking Dudeism to the great sages of world history (such as Lao-tzu, Heraclitus, Buddha, Jesus, and Jerry Garcia), and a soon-to-open Dudeist University. Perhaps paradoxically, Dudeists seem to have worked rather diligently to present their tradition as an authentic spiritual path maximally relevant to our times. While it is difficult to predict what the future will hold for this tradition, the philosophy, ethos, and good news of The Big Lebowski seem to offer a coherent, and fulfilling, religious worldview to significant numbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYUD6vs0pg4

In the case of both Jediism and Dudeism, entirely new religious traditions have been created wholesale from the cloth of popular culture. In other cases, key elements are borrowed from popular culture and grafted onto pre-existing religious traditions, resulting in equally innovative and to some degree “new” versions of these traditions, which their critics typically regard as humorous or horrifying.

One superb example are the Klingons for Christ. Founded by Michael James Oetting from a desire to “share the Gospel with non-believers” and “to clear up any misconceptions about Christians or Christianity,” the Klingons for Christ hope to evangelize those “who take the time to dress, look, act, and even speak the language of the mythical aliens,” that is, those attending Star Trek conventions as Klingons. This however is not a superficial sales-pitch in which evangelical Christianity is merely dressed up to appeal to Star Trek fans. Oetting perceives real and important theological affinities connecting evangelical Christianity and the teachings of “Kahless,” an originary Klingon hero who, after slaying the first Klingon deities, established Klingon society according to a set of ruthless (though honorable, it is said) warrior codes, and departed the Klingon world to return (in messianic form) at some future point. “After a thorough examination of the Bible,” Oetting writes, any Klingon would see that “the message of [Jesus] is the same as that of [Kahless], it is all about honor, duty, and obedience.”

A growing community seems to find a Klingon/Christian synthesis compelling, as a range of websites that further develop Oetting’s theological insights attests. The Klingons for Christ Jesus, for example, teaches that,

Klingons accept the teachings of Christ as part of a warrior tradition. Christ brings not peace, but a sword… [He] did not run from pain; he welcomed it…. He defeated his enemies…. Christianity is a warrior’s religion. It offers the Klingon enemies worth fighting: Sin, Death, Satan and his legions. (http://clancmsf.tripod.com/KlingonsForChrist.html)

Such websites also offer a range of passages that are considered central to the biblical message, typically emphasizing war, violence, and the military domination of one’s perceived foes. Some of these passages have even been transliterated into the Klingon language, though a complete effort to render the entire Bible in Klingon is yet to be achieved.

Interestingly, some mainstream Christian commentators have begun to make cognitive room for this highly imaginative version of their tradition. In “Good News for the Klingon Race,” Glen F. Proechel notes that, while some may feel that such movements represent “a monumental waste of time,” for those who watch Star Trek “it will be reassuring to have God’s Word in a medium that speaks to them.” {Bible Collectors’ World, Oct./Dec. 1994, http://www.biblecollectors.org/articles/klingon_bible.htm}

Pagano

We need not look to religious movements inspired by science fiction to find evidence of borrowing from popular culture. On June 27, 2009 Ken Pagano, pastor of New Bethel Church in Louisville, Kentucky, held an Open Carry Celebration “in which visitors and parishioners were invited to bring their firearms to church.” Pagano rejects what he considers “a maudlin, sentimental view of Jesus Christ… a limp-wristed preacher” who refuses to stand up for the right of individuals to protect themselves by use of lethal force if necessary. Instead, Pagano teaches that Jesus is best understood as “a navy seal, a force recon marine, or a green beret.” Consequently, the right to bear (and use) firearms becomes, in Pagano’s view, a fundamental Christian value. (Joseph Laycock, Understanding the Open Carry Celebration, Sightings, July 9, 2009).

While it is perhaps easier to see what Oetting has borrowed from popular culture and sewn into his evangelical Christianity, I would argue that Pagano has also appropriated an enormously popular symbol from the broader culture. In fact, Pagano has brought into his Christianity something that, for significant portions of Americans, was already and independently deeply sacred: guns. As Emory scholar Gary Laderman points out, for many Americans (both now and in past generations) guns have been sacred “because they are intimately linked with the redemptive power to confront fundamental dangers that are perceived to be constantly present in American life, like individual crimes, which may require self-defense, or government tyranny, that may require revolutionary actions from armed citizens” (Sacred Matters: Celebrity Worship, Sexual Ecstasies, the Living Dead, and Other Signs of Religious Life in the United States, p. 133). As with the Klingon movement, it is worth noting the ways in which Pagano’s theology and ethics develop in new ways when notions from the broader culture–be they Klingons or handguns–are incorporated.

Similar dynamics are evident in the teachings of Marc Driscoll, founder of Mars Hill church, a Seattle-based mega-church with nearly 7,600 members, that is currently “planting” hundreds of new churches nationwide.

Driscoll’s teachings include a return to a Predestinationist theology (i.e., the view, popular among early Protestants in the 16^th-19^th centuries, that God has determined from the very beginnings of time who will enter heaven and who will be damned forever to hell), but also elements expressly drawn from popular culture, such as the wildly popular film, Fight Club. To be clear, unlike the characters in Fight Club, church members do not engage strangers in fist fights, nor do they live communally in abandoned houses, planting explosives in public buildings. What is taken from Fight Club, however, is an aggressive, “hyper-masculinized” sense of Christian identity. From Driscoll’s perspective, the mainstream church “has transformed Jesus into ‘a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,’ a ‘neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture that would never talk about sin or send anyone to hell.’” What is needed to correct this “feminization” of Christianity, he teaches, is precisely the kind of confrontational ethos exemplified in Fight Club.

Driscoll

A Fight Club-Christianity is, apparently, lived at Mars Hill in a variety of ways. Driscoll is known for his especially frank, adult-only sermons on topics such as “Biblical Oral Sex” and “Pleasing Your Spouse,” his tolerance for typically unorthodox behaviors such as swearing, smoking tobacco, and body piercings, as well as his highly authoritarian style of leadership. In her article, Who Would Jesus Smack Down?, for instance, journalist Molly Worthen relates the following narrative:

In 2007, two elders protested a plan to reorganize the church that, according to critics, consolidated power in the hands of Driscoll and his closest aides. Driscoll told the congregation that he asked advice on how to handle stubborn subordinates from a ‘mixed martial artist and Ultimate Fighter, good guy’ who attends Mars Hill. ‘His answer was brilliant,’ Driscoll reported. ‘He said, ‘I break their nose.’

Again, this is not to suggest that pastor Driscoll physically batters church members who question his way of thinking. Nor is it the case that Driscoll’s Christianity can be reduced in some simplistic way to nothing more than the influence of the Fight Club film, which is clearly only one of many different influences upon Driscoll’s religious teachings. At the same time, that the Mars Hill community understands itself as a Christian reflection of the Fight Club universe suggests that, in incorporating this element of popular culture, this community’s sense of what it means to live a proper Christian life has shifted in significant ways, ways that incorporate the brusque, hyper-masculinized sense of identity, ethos, and behavior, so prevalent in the Fight Club film. Borrowing form popular culture always has consequences.

Concluding Thoughts

Each of these examples can be seen as pointing back to the question with which we began. Are these instances in which something secular has simply been made into something sacred, whether that be Jedi Knights, the Dude, Klingons, guns, or ethos of Fight Club? Or is something more going on here? Could it be the case that each of these cultural icons was already functioning as sacred within the broader culture and that this is precisely why they were either made into formal religions or appropriated by pre-existing religious communities?

I believe that the evidence points in the direction of the latter. While The Big Lebowski was relatively unsuccessful in terms of box-office returns and monetary gains, it quickly developed “cult” status within a dedicated subculture (see, for instance, The Big Lebowski Fest website). Klingons, as part of Gene Roddenberry’s imaginary Star Trek universe, represent a paradigm example of a subculture demarked by distinctive styles of dress and behavior, and also its own language (see the Klingon Language Institute). The sacred nature of guns in the American imagination, of course, needs little additional argument. And even a casual on-line search for “Fight Clubs near you” will, in fact, turn up numerous sites for fight-clubbing.

If these cultural elements were already functioning as sacred prior to their being “made into” something explicitly religious, it becomes rather clear why they were appropriated in the first place. It may well be that religious institutions need to take new elements from popular culture in order to remain relevant to changing historical conditions. Hence, new religions rather naturally emerge out of important cultural ideas and practices. This is certainly what happened with reports of “flying saucers” that first emerged en mass in the late 1940’s; by the early 1950’s, explicitly religious movements offering spiritual teachings from space visitors were on the scene. More subtly, pre-existing religious traditions take in and re-contextualize key elements from popular culture, and then quickly forget that this transition has occurred; Klingons, guns, and a Fight Club ethos become obviously Christian.

This, by the way, explains why we are not seeing “MacGyver for Christ,” or “Carry Your Broom to Church” celebrations. I suspect it is precisely because these things do not already and independently function as sacred within the broader culture (though the broom might for some playful Wiccan communities!) that they are not attractive symbols to creative religious thinkers. They do not seem like cultural resources that could, or should, be incorporated.

In any case, if my analysis is correct, we should expect to see continued and creative appropriations of sacred cultural resources across a wide range of religious traditions and communities. “Vampires for Christ,” anyone?

North Carolina Funeral Protest Bill Targeting Westboro Baptist Church Passes State Senate

religionnerd — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:00:48 +0000

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By Mollie Reilly, The Huffington Post

A measure aimed at preventing groups like Westboro Baptist Church from protesting at funerals advanced in the North Carolina state legislature Wednesday and is headed for Gov. Pat McCrory’s (R) desk to be signed into law.

The “Respect Our Fallen Heroes” bill, which expands on a 2006 law limiting when and where picketers can demonstrate at funerals, would require groups like Westboro to vacate the funeral area for at least two hours before and after a ceremony, and to stay at least 500 feet away during the funeral. The measure would also enforce stricter punishments for those who break the law.

The North Carolina state Senate unanimously passed the bill on Wednesday, two weeks after the state House voted 118-0 to advance the measure. According to WRAL, McCrory’s staff said Wednesday that the governor supports the bill.

“It’s always very, very difficult for the families of the deceased soldier to deal with that reality and to get through, to be able to mourn their loved one who’s no longer with us,” state Rep. John Szoka, the bill’s lead sponsor, said earlier this month. “And these groups who like to interject themselves into that process, to make some political statement – that’s just abhorrent to me. I think families should be left alone to get through the process of honoring the fallen soldier.”

The Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for its anti-gay protests at funerals and other events across the country. The group frequently targets military funerals, claiming that American deaths in combat are God’s punishment for the United States’ tolerance of homosexuality. But as the group’s notoriety has expanded, so have the legal efforts aimed at curbing its controversial protests.

Last August, President Obama signed the Honoring America’s Veterans Act into law. The legislation put tougher restrictions on protests at military funerals, countering a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that found that Westboro’s efforts were protected by the First Amendment.

And last week, a measure similar to the one passed in North Carolina advanced in the Florida legislature. Lawmakers expect the bill to pass both chambers.

Spiritual-Not-Religious or Just Lazy?

religionnerd — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:23:52 +0000

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By KATE BLANCHARD, Religion Dispatches

Having hung out with church folk for several decades, I have come to expect the words “spiritual but not religious” to be accompanied by air quotes and a tone of disdain. But lately even non-religious folk have begun to hate on the SBNR.

One recent scientific study draws a link between mental illness and lazy spirituality—and some atheists scorn others for not having the courage to come out and admit what they really are. “Today’s secularists must do more than mount defensive campaigns proclaiming that we can be ‘good without God,’” writes one author;

spiritual, but not religious’… translated from the psychobabble, can mean just about anything—that the speaker is an atheist who fears social disapproval or a fence-sitter who wants the theoretical benefits of faith, including hope of eternal life, without the obligations of actually practicing a religion.

The Reverend Lillian Daniel’s latest book, When “Spiritual But Not Religious” Is Not Enough, will not disappoint readers who have come to enjoy her self-deprecating humor, her theological insights, and of course, snarky jabs at those fence-sitters who want it all: the SBNR.

The book is a collection of stories and essays, some more sermonic than others. There is a lovely reflection on being the “stand-in church” for a dying friend who was not a church member. A chapter on prayer explores the age-old question of why anyone should bother praying to an all-powerful, all-knowing deity—for Daniel, prayer is the prime antidote to self-deception. A tale about her angry grandmother and a naughty dog provides an opportunity to think about prejudice that perpetuates an us-vs.-them mentality. A memoir about often being the new kid in school causes her to consider the radical teachings of Jesus about whom it’s acceptable to eat with. A connection to an ancestor on the Mayflower provides fodder for thought about immigration in the 21st century.

Perhaps the most powerful chapter is a meditation on teaching a class among prisoners at Sing Sing. The writings of Paul the apostle about dying with Christ, in whom new life is hidden, has special resonance among people who are almost literally dead to the world, and whose new life is hidden behind bars.

At the center of most of these reflections is her congregation. It becomes clear that what is most important for her about Christianity is not its doctrines, narratives, sacraments, or even individual faith. It is community—the people who are “stuck with you.” What makes Christian community different from other kinds of community is the fact that it is shaped by a tradition of particular narratives and rituals and practices that, at least ideally, push back against self-serving consumer capitalist culture. It is for this reason—the lack of commitment to being stuck with any particular community of sinners—that the SBNR are particular targets of her judgment.

Daniel is writing primarily for Christians, and she is likely to appeal to the folks for whom ecclesiology is of primary concern. Roman Catholics and neo-orthodox post-liberals alike will especially appreciate her insistence on staying connected, not only to two thousand years of Christian tradition, but also to those annoying, smelly people next to you in the pews. Church, for these folks, is the only antidote to perverse secular rhythms and virtues, and Daniel is playing their song.

Other Christian readers, however, may be dissatisfied. Although Daniel does profess a very personal faith in the nearby Jesus and the awe-inspiring Christ, Bible-thumpers and traditionalists will not necessarily appreciate it coming from an ordained woman in one of the most socially liberal denominations in the world: “a welcoming and inclusive church where you are not expected to leave your brain outside on the sidewalk” (no offense, all you other churches!). And although she is usually very careful to use theological language that no one can call heretical, she also attends yoga classes and has no problem embracing the full meaning of “Namaste” in that context.

The folks most likely to be alienated by her book are, unsurprisingly, the seekers—those who call themselves SBNR, of course, but also those who want religious community, or at leastwant to want it (full disclosure: like me). For these folks, who may be, as she says, “shopping” for a place to belong, Daniel has absolutely no patience. Perhaps the most telling tale in this regard is her meditation on the differences between Marys and Marthas: Martha represents efficiency and good works (not to say control freaks), while Mary represents leisure, passivity, and slackerdom—with perhaps a bit of grace thrown in. Martha does, while Mary is.

So far this is pretty standard fare, but I was utterly fascinated to then discover her diagnosis of the church as being overly full of Marys—people who just want to sit and listen to Jesus. Meanwhile she is a Martha—a multi-tasker who (in keeping with the Protestant work ethic) defends being busy: “In order for some people to sit around being still and having deep thoughts, I guarantee you there’s always another group of people running around behind the scenes making it all possible.”

I, for one, have been estranged from church for the past few years specifically because I have the exact opposite feeling: I see the church as being full of Marthas, type-A achievers (albeit of the friendliest kind) with boundless energy who have created church in their own image; and though I crave scripture, communal prayer, and hymnody, I can’t stand the thought of being expected to join in what often feels like busy-ness for busy-ness’s sake. I already have to be a Martha in my work and home lives; what I lack is silence, something more easily found among Buddhists than Christians. I desperately need just to sit, mindfully, with others doing the same. But I feel ashamed of asking for this at church, where I fear—and Daniel’s book seems to confirm—that people will see me as a lazy couch-potato, never doing enough.

But while Daniel has not provided an obviously warm welcome for those who may be trying to figure out a way to be in religious community, it is possible to detect a bit of tenderness between the snarky lines.

She admits to being someone who was never quite sure where she belonged; church, for her, provides a body of people who accept her. She tells a story of struggling with depression over a dying cat; church is where people care about her grief. She also comes from a place of rich white privilege; church is where she finds help in trying to be part of righting the injustices of the economic status quo. And even though she scoffs at SBNR indecision, she then turns around and bemoans her own: “we live in a society that favors decisiveness over perplexity. You are supposed to know what you want and act on it. There’s no room for uncertainty. It’s considered wishy-washy.”

Her thoughts on the prodigal son and his bitter elder brother are strikingly apropos of the book’s overarching concern: “resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other guy to die,” she notes wisely, even amidst nagging thoughts like, “Why am I struggling and that jerk seems to be rushing by me, coasting through life?” In short, this book is a very honest confession of how much Lillian Daniel needs church, as well as how tired she is of having to defend her religiosity to liberals who don’t feel the same need, and who are narcissistic enough to think all religion is therefore for suckers.

So really, who can blame her for being a bit sarcastic? Most of us who are prone to sarcasm would probably admit that it gets worst when we are feeling most vulnerable, and true religion taps into our most vulnerable spots. If the goal of Daniel’s writing is to affirm the faithful in their commitment to church membership, she’s taken exactly the right tack. Her venting will garner lots of laughs and plenty of “Amens!” But if, having vented, she then hopes to win over some of those who might be testing the waters, she might consider ridding her rhetoric of stereotypes and caricatures designed to shame them for not yet belonging.

Divided by Faith?

religionnerd — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:00:18 +0000

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by Craig Martin, Religion Bulletin

It seems to be a common sense notion that people fight over differing religious beliefs. Consider the following paragraph from an NPR news story, which I take to be typical:

When Osama bin Laden declared war on the West in 1996, he cited the Quran’s command to “strike off” the heads of unbelievers. More recently, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan lectured his colleagues about jihad, or “holy war,” and the Quran’s exhortation to fight unbelievers and bring them low. Hasan is accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, last year.

We are to believe, apparently, that these people acted out of their Muslim beliefs, andagainst those who did not share their beliefs.

I am growing increasingly suspicious of this idea that people come to blows or “clash” over differences in belief or faith. I am of course in full agreement with the many anti-essentialist criticisms of the “clash of civilizations” thesis: there are no monolithic civilizations, and as such there can be no monumental “clash” between them (the last chapter of Chiara Bottici’s A Philosophy of Political Myth contains a particularly good version of this criticism). But this is not what I’m angling at here. What bothers me is the very idea that people fight over “beliefs” at all, monolithic or not.

Upon reflection it’s difficult to see how or why people could ever come to blows over differences in mere belief. If you believe that chocolate ice cream is the best, and I believe that vanilla is far superior, what practical difference does this difference make? Where substantial interests do not diverge, getting along is not that difficult. I assume that this is why liberal interfaith work tends to appeal to people with the same middle- or upper-class bourgeois lifestyle: when Jews, Christians, and Muslims of the same social class are living relatively identical material lives, of course there is unlikely to be any conflict of interests between them. Once a set of religious practices and practitioners are domesticated by late capitalism, it is difficult to see where a clash of interests might lie.

I would argue people don’t tend to fight over differences in belief; they tend to fight over conflicts of interest. However, characterizing conflicts in terms of belief has the effect of masking conflicts of interest.

I’m prepared to take this one step farther: perhaps the talk of “religious violence” as resulting from “beliefs” is not merely misguided, but is in fact motivated. Perhaps those who utilize the “divided by faith” rhetoric want to forget that conflicts usually follow from a clash of interests rather than a difference in beliefs.

Were we to openly reflect on our interests, we might have to think about how the interests of the American empire are at odds with the interests of others. We might have to reflect on the fact that al Qaeda’s stated reasons for attacking America were not that America is Christian, but that America is complicit in Israel’s domination of Palestine, that America has a military presence throughout the Middle East (which it uses to manipulate the oil industry), that America supported sanctions against Iraq that prohibited the transfer of medical goods (which resulted in the preventable deaths of many Iraqis), and that America’s military campaign in Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of a number of civilians.

One can read bin Laden’s statements on these matters in an edited volume titled The Al Qaeda Reader. However, the book blurb belies the very contents of the book. Rather than conflicts of interests, Random House’s website says that readers will find:

Despite our tendency to dismiss Islamic extremism as profoundly irrational, al-Qaeda is not without a coherent body of beliefs. Like other totalitarian movements, the movement’s leaders have rationalized their brutality in a number of published treatises. Now, for the first time, The Al Qaeda Readergathers together the essential texts and documents that trace the origin, history, and evolution of the ideas of al-Qaeda founders Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden.

It seems the author(s) of this blurb failed to read the book; while this blurb portrays al Qaeda as a group acting out of a set of “beliefs” and “ideas,” the writings contained therein suggest that al Qaeda acts out of a conflict of interests.

Of course we needn’t take bin Laden’s claims at face value, nor need we take for granted the monolithic identities he constructs or assumes. On the contrary, I fully support subjecting his rhetoric to the hermeneutics of suspicion.

Nevertheless, the rhetoric that posits that he acts out of beliefs rather than a conflict of interests should simultaneously be subjected to the hermeneutics of suspicion. Perhaps the idea that we are “divided by faith” is designed to help us forget that the interests of the American empire are sometimes at odds with the interests of others?

(For more on the myth of religious violence, see Richard King’s contribution to this volumeor William Cavanaugh’s book on the subject. For more on the rhetorical effect of talking about religion as a matter of inward belief, see the first chapter in Talal Asad’s Genealogies of Religion, or Russell McCutcheon’s book on the domestication of religion. For more on the characterization of religion as the irrational “other” of western empires, see Tim Fitzgerald’s book on the rhetoric of civility.)

Cannabis: The American Sacrament

religionnerd — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:20:44 +0000

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By Kenny Smith

In an intriguing piece written for the Sunday, June 27 New York Times, journalist David Segal traces out some of the early consequences of President Obama’s October 2009 announcement that federal law enforcement will no longer prosecute users and suppliers of medical marijuana, provided they are in compliance with state laws. In Colorado, where a November 2000 amendment to the state constitution legalized medical usage, the grass-roots response has been immediate and potent:

hundreds of [marijuana] dispensaries popped up and a startling number of residents turned out to be in “severe pain,” the most popular of eight conditions that can be treated legally with the once-demonized weed. More than 80,000 people here now have medical marijuana certificates, which are essentially prescriptions, and for months new enrollees have signed up at a rate of roughly 1,000 a day…. [In] cities like Boulder, an affluent, whole-grain kind of college town… the number of [marijuana] dispensaries… is larger than the number of Starbucks and liquor stores combined.

What should we make of such a state of affairs? Surely some of these 80,000 cases involve severe physical distress. But aren’t many simply a matter of Coloradoans wanting to get high, a lot? Of course, even if this is in fact the case, it does not rule out the possibility that there are important religious dimensions at play. Getting high a lot might well perform important religious work.

As the great scholar of religion Huston Smith pointed out some four decades past, that consciousness-expanding substances become intimately bound up with the sacred should hardly surprise us. Psychoactive compounds, albeit in varied forms, are indigenous to nearly every geographic region in which human civilization has flourished. Accidental ingestion, he argued (not uncontroversially), may have given rise to humankind’s first religious visions, doctrines, and traditions! (Smith, “Do Drugs Have Religious Import?,” The Journal of Philosophy, 1964) Indeed, many indigenous peoples, such as the Native American Church, continue costly legal battles with federal and state governments in an effort to regain (or preserve) their right to make use of sacred substances such peyote and cannabis.

But we need not look to indigenous traditions. A number of new religious movements have come to see the ritual use of cannabis products as central the religious quest. The Church of the Universe, founded in Ontario, Canada in the late 1960’s, teaches that marijuana provides a vital “calming influence,” helps to focus and “direct [one’s] thoughts without interference from negative forces,” allows for an experience of communion with the natural world, and overall “makes life worth living.” http://www.iamm.com/belief.htm Though this group is not specifically Christian, some who are have likewise produced interesting blends of biblical spirituality and cannabis use, yielding a religious path that emphasizes “getting high for Christ.” The Religion of Jesus Church, founded in Hawaii (also in the late 1960’s), holds that the sacred ingestion of cannabis,

fosters the… personal experience in knowing and doing the will of God and serving the human brotherhood…. Through his indwelling spirit of truth and idealistic beauty, the Prince of Peace is able to be your personal spiritual life partner showing you the ideal way of living as you tread the pathway of spiritual growth…. Such is the religion of Jesus.

More recently, in the 1990’s Reverend Roger Christie founded the THC Ministry: Hawaii Cannabis Ministry. In addition to helping congregants develop a biblically-grounded “Cannabis Spirituality,” this group also “helps to protect you from arrest, prosecution and/or conviction of ‘marijuana’ charges–wherever you live–starting as soon as you sign-up, become ordained and receive your ministry documents.” Membership is free. Applicants need only “be over 21 and sincere.” http://www.thc-ministry.org/ In the summer of 2010, Christie hopes to plant new Cannabis Christian Ministries across the U.S., beginning (of course) in Colorado Spring, Colorado.

Like all religious communities, these groups interpret their inherited religious resources in ways that reflect their most basic commitments, which in this case means the centrality of cannabis. According to Christie, “what did Moses do after kneeling by the burning bush? He smoked it… Moses was healed by the burning bush,” which is said to be one of many biblical references to sacred weed. As the scholar of Chinese religion, Jonathan Herman, has often remarked, “it does not matter so much what scripture says; what matters is how it is interpreted.” And our most important commitments typically constitute the lens through which we read scripture. This helps to explain why scriptures yield such varied interpretations, each of which seem self-evident to those who support them.

Setting aside for the moment admittedly unusual religious groups, could legalized cannabis come to function in ways comparable to other culturally sacred substances ritually consumed each day in the workaday world or with family and friends at dinner parties, picnics, baseball games, and holiday celebrations, such as Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Marlboro, MacDonalds, or Starbuck’s coffee? For at least some persons and communities, one suspects this is already the case, and that the economic dynamics of further legalization efforts will only serve to broaden the ways in which cannabis products manifest within the larger culture. As Segal explains,

Americans spend roughly $25 billion a year on marijuana… which gives some idea of the popularity of this drug. Eventually, we might be talking about a sizable sum of tax revenue from its sales as medicine, not to mention private investment and employment. A spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws says hedge fund investors and an assortment of financial service firms are starting to call around to sniff out opportunities.

Currently, thirteen other states (such as Rhode Island and New Jersey), as well as the District of Columbia, have already passed medicinal marijuana laws and are poised to initiate dispensary programs similar to that in Colorado. Given the longstanding connection between economics and the sacred within American cultural history, it is worth taking seriously the possibility that, with widespread economic success and increased availability on the horizon, cannabis may well become a sacred reality for a great many Americans, putting down roots alongside baseball, apple pie, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Starbuck’s and (after a good case of the munchies) more apple pie.

See Religion Nerd article by Heather Abraham: Cannabis Cafes of Amsterdam

Sources

David Segal’s article in NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/business/27pot.html?ref=todayspaper
Religion of Jesus Church: http://www.hialoha.com/konagold/church/sacrament.html
http://www.gazette.com/articles/expand-100645-burning-hopes.html
http://www.gazette.com/articles/expand-100645-burning-hopes.html

Tucker Carlson Apologizes to Witches

religionnerd — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:21:01 +0000

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By Betsy Rothstein, Fishbowl DC

Over the weekend, The Daily Caller‘s Editor-in-Chief and Fox News Contributor Tucker Carlson unloaded on the Wiccan community. Is Carlson not afraid of the spells they could cast on him?

“I don’t spend a lot of time on Twitter, so I’m not sure of the dimensions of it, but I’m pretty sure that I’m unpopular in the witchcraft community, and I understand why,” Carlson told FishbowlDC this afternoon. “I probably was unduly harsh. As far as I know, most Wiccans are peaceful taxpayers. I’ve never been mugged by one anyway. So I apologize for hurting anyone’s feelings.”

On Sunday’s Fox & Friends, the crew was discussing the University of Missouri’s “Holiday and Recommended Accommodations” guide that lists eight Wiccan holidays. “The bad side of Wiccanism is it’s obviously a form ofwitchcraft,” Carlson said. “But the upside is you get a ton of holidays. Twenty percent of all school holidays, as described by the University of Missouri, are Wiccan holidays. Twenty percent of all.”

He later added that “any religion whose most sacred day is Halloween, I just can’t take seriously. I mean, call me a bigot. And I’m not, you know, not offering an editorial against Wiccanism.”

Carlson said Wiccan was either a “compulsive Dungeons & Dragons player or is a middle-aged, twice-divorced older woman living in a rural area who works as a midwife.”

Needless to say, a portion of the resident peanut gallery on Twitter wasn’t pleased. They called him a “douche” and an “asshole” and an “asshat.” They said they thought his bow-tie was tied too tight. Many suggested that the pagans turn him into a bow-tied newt. And the worst? Someone calling herself Auntie Meme says he has been looking “a little toadlike” lately.

Uh oh.

House of the Virgin Mary: The Discovery at Ephesus

religionnerd — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:10:52 +0000

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By Heather Abraham

Atop a distant mountain in southwest Turkey, overlooking the ancient city of Ephesus, lies a shrine shrouded in mystery. Called Meryem Ana Evi (House of Mother Mary) by the native Turks, it is believed to be the last earthly home of the Virgin Mary. Unlike the Marian shrines of Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and Knock, which are held to be the locations of apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Ephesus is a shrine connected to Mary’s physical historical presence. Pilgrims who journey to Nightingale Mountain to visit the shrine believe it to be the site of her last earthly residence, the place of her death, and, for some, the location from which she was bodily assumed into heaven. Although sought out by more than a million Christian and Muslim pilgrims annually, Our Lady of Ephesus has received little attention from the academic world.

House of Mary (Our Lady of Ephesus)

“Discovered” in 1891, Our Lady of Ephesus is a comparatively recent Marian phenomenon and was little known outside of the Izmir region of Turkey until 1906 when it received the first pilgrims from abroad. The Ephesus tradition of Mary’s last years is supported in the traditional belief that Mary, after Jesus’ crucifixion, came to live with and be cared for by the Apostle John who Jesus commanded from the cross to care for his mother. John 19:26-27 is witness to the event.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

To the Christian faithful, it is reasonable to assume that John would have honored Jesus’ request to care for his mother and as Church tradition holds that John’s ministry was based in and around Ephesus, some have concluded that Mary, at the very least, spent time in Ephesus.

Although Mary is mentioned by several early church fathers as having lived in Ephesus in the years following the death of Jesus, the Jerusalem tradition, as the place of her death and Assumption, overshadowed and eventually replaced the Ephesus tradition and through the centuries, Mary’s connection to Ephesus was forgotten to all but the local Greek Christian population. With the silting up of its harbor, Ephesus, an important Christian center, port city, and banking center for centuries, became a shadow of its former self. After facing economic hardship, earthquakes, and catastrophic soil erosion that forced a significant portion of its population to flee, the city fell in to a state of decline from which it never recovered. The conquest of the Ephesus and Izmir region by Seljuk Turks, in the eleventh century CE, saw the remaining Christian population’s flight to the isolated mountains surrounding the Ephesus valley. These Christians, known at the Kirkindje, would keep the Marian Ephesus tradition alive whereas outside of the Ephesus valley, sources containing information about the Ephesus tradition were lost in the silt of the centuries until revived in the visions of an eighteen-century stigmatic Augustinian nun.

Anne Catherine Emmerich’s visions of Mary’s life in Ephesus add yet another layer of mystery to the elusive ruins atop Nightingale Mountain. Emmerich’s visions, as recorded by the German Poet Clemens Brentano, were instrumental to the shrine’s ultimate discovery in 1891. In Our Lady of Ephesus, Father Bernard Deutsch stresses the importance of Emmerich’s visions as a catalyst for the discovery of the shrine. He writes,

It is altogether proper to say that without Catherine Emmerich, Mary’s home would in all probability not be known to the world today. Without her, then, this house of the Holy Virgin, where already hundreds of thousands have venerated Mary, would still be nothing but a relatively deserted ruin, known only to a few.

Anne Catherine Emmerich

Born in 1774 in a small town in western Germany, Emmerich lived a pious but difficult life filled with poverty and illness. At the age of twenty-eight, Emmerich entered a small Augustinian convent at Dulmen as a novitiate, and one year later she took her solemn vow becoming an Augustinian nun. With the rise of Napoleon and France’s domination over Europe, the convent at Dulmen was closed by the state, leaving the destitute Emmerich alone and homeless. With nowhere to go, Emmerich remained at the abandoned convent, until her health deteriorated and she could no longer care for herself. Hearing of her plight, a compassionate woman from a nearby village took her into her home and cared for Emmerich until her death in 1824.

In 1812 Emmerich allegedly began to bear the stigmata, including a cross over her heart, and wounds from the crown of thorns. Witnesses to the event reported, “that as she prayed her face became flushed and she was seized by high fever. Then all of a sudden she was infused by a brightness that specifically illuminated her hands and feet, which were seen to be covered with blood, as if they were punctured.”(Carroll) After reports of the appearance of the stigmata, Emmerich began to attract visitors including the German Poet Clemens Brentano who spent the next six years recording the visions that ensued shortly after the onset of the stigmata.

Emmerich’s visions consisted of detailed accounts of the Passion of Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary after of the Crucifixion, including the location of her home on Nightingale Mountain overlooking the city of Ephesus. Brentano spent six years at the bedside of Emmerich, recording and documenting her visions. His manuscripts entitled The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (inspiration for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ) were published in 1842. Both books would become and remain classic Catholic literature, but it was Brentano’s The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary that some believe ultimately led to the discovery of Our Lady of Ephesus.

While perhaps filled with lore, the circulated story of the modern “discovery” of the shrine is a fascinating one. In 1891, Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey presented visiting priests to her convent in Smyrna (Izmir) with a copy of Clemens Brentano’s The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After reading and discussing Emmerich’s visions, Sister Mandat-Grancey challenged the priests to go to nearby Ephesus and investigate the validity of Emmerich’s visions, which included detailed descriptions of Mary’s House and its location on a mountain overlooking the ancient city. Taking up the challenge, Father Jung and his fellow adventurers embarked on an expedition they believed would prove Emmerich’s visions false. Armed with only the book to guide them, the skeptical Catholic Priests set off for the ruins of Ephesus.

The expedition left Smyrna and traveled to the seaside town of Kusadasi where they hired a local guide, Mustapha, to take them to Ephesus. After touring the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus and some of the area surrounding the city, Jung and his expedition spent the night in nearby Seljuk. The next morning, armed only with the accounts of Emmerich’s visions, Jung chose Nightingale Mountain as a target for exploration. At Jung’s instruction, Mustapha led the expedition on an arduous climb up the side of Nightingale Mountain. Upon reaching the crest, the exhausted and overheated party went in search for water and a place to rest.

Finding a group of Turkish women harvesting tobacco on the side of a hill, the party inquired as to where they could find water and shade in which to rest. The locals directed them farther up the mountain to the “monastery where there is a fountain.”(Poulin) Curious, as they were not aware of any monastery in the area, the expedition continued up the mountain until they came upon a well. After quenching their thirst and resting, they set about exploring their surroundings. A short distance from the well, they discovered the ruins of a small stone house.

Remembering Emmerich’s description of the house and geographic location, Jung asked Mustapha if one could see both the Aegean Sea and the city of Ephesus from this place on the mountain. Mustapha went off to investigate and retuned with an affirmative answer; both could be seen only from this place on the mountain. Emmerich had described the location, the house, and the surrounding grounds in great detail.

A little way behind the summit of the rocky hill from which one could see over the trees and hills to Ephesus and the sea with its many islands. The place is nearer the sea than Ephesus, which must be several hours’ journey distant from the coast. (Palairet)

Regarding the house itself, Emmerich described St. John as building a house of stone on the mountainside where several Christian families where living in nearby caves. After several days in the area, the priests stumbled upon caves and other geological features included in Brentano’s book. In The Holy Virgins House, Father P. Eugene Poulin, a member of the expedition, writes, “I confess I was quite astonished when, at first sight, details one after another, details of great value appeared all of a sudden, just as C. Emmerich had indicated. Truth surpassed conviction. There was nothing to say.” (Poulin) Convinced they had uncovered the impossible, the expedition returned to the Convent in Smyrna (Izmir) and announced that they had found Mary’s House. Father Vervault, another member of the expedition, recorded in his journal these words: “We looked, and we have found it.”(Caroll) Reporting their “discovery,” the priests awaited further instruction from the Vatican. Reacting immediately to the report, Vatican officials authorized a secession of expeditions and ordered a thorough investigation of the ruins and the surrounding area. The priests would soon encounter, in a nearby mountain village, the Kirkindje Greeks, descendents of the Ephesian Christians who were not only aware of the sacred ruins atop Nightingale Mountain, but had kept the tradition of Mary’s home alive through the centuries with an annual communal pilgrimage to Our Lady of Ephesus.

Today, Our Lady of Ephesus receives more than a million pilgrims a year and it boasts a century of interfaith pilgrimage. This unique Marian shrine not only attracts Christian pilgrims from a multitude of traditions but also Muslims who journey to Our Lady of Ephesus to connect with and pay respect to one of the Four Perfect Woman in Islam.

For more information on Mary in Islam, see Religion Nerd article entitled “Mary, A Bridge Between Christianity and Islam”

Sources:

Father Bernard F. Deutsch, Our Lady of Ephesus (Milwaukee, WI: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1965)
Carroll, Donald, Mary’s House ( London: UK: Veritas Books, 2000)
Eugene Poulin, The Holy Virgin’s House: True Story of its Discovery (Istanbul, Turkey: Arikan Yayinlari, 1999)
Sir Michael Palairet, The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1970)

Moonies Marry In South Korean Mass Wedding

religionnerd — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 04:01:30 +0000

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Sky News

Some 3,500 identically-dressed couples from 70 countries have tied the knot in a so-called “Moonie” mass wedding in South Korea.

The couples were members of the Unification Church and many were of mixed nationality who had met just days earlier and did not speak the same language.

The wedding was the first since their “messiah” and controversial church founder Sun Myung Moon died five months ago aged 92, of complications from pneumonia.

The latest ceremony carried a special resonance, with Mr Moon’s 70-year-old widow Hak Ja Han presiding for the first time without her husband.

It took place in a stadium at the church’s global headquarters in Gapyeong, east of the capital Seoul, where Mr Moon’s elaborate funeral was held on September 15.

Such mass weddings, including some held in giant sports stadiums, have long been a feature of the church and one that “Moonie” critics have suggested is evidence of cult leanings.

In recent years, matchmaking responsibilities have shifted towards parents.

But 400 of the latest church members to be married had chosen to be paired off a few days before at an “engagement ceremony” presided over by Mr Moon’s widow.

“Yeah, I was pretty nervous,” admitted Jin Davidson, a 21-year-old student from the United States, whose Australian father and Japanese mother were matched by Mr Moon.

“Then all of a sudden she popped up in front of me, and I said okay,” Mr Davidson said of his Japanese bride-to-be, Kotona Shimizu, also 21.

“We struggle a little to communicate right now, as I speak no Japanese at all, and she only speaks a little English, but we see it as an exciting challenge and proof of our faith,” he said.

Nineteen-year-old Swedish-Italian Anna Misook, who married to Congolese-Brazilian bridegroom, said: “It feels very great. We get along very well.

“We met four days ago by True Mother’s matching. And we are happy to be here and, yeah, looking forward to life together and yeah It’s a good life, good, we’re happy. We’re really happy.”

Lisa, from Trinidad and Tobago, first met her bridegroom, Hubert from Poland, on Skype after being put in contact by family and church friends.

Hubert visited her family in December and the couple decided to attend the event in South Korea to receive the blessing of “mother Moon”.

“I’ve been waiting for him all my life,” Lisa said. “Language isn’t such an issue. We’re connected by the church.”

Tibetan sets himself on fire in front of shrine in Nepal

religionnerd — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:47:55 +0000

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By Manesh Shrestha, for CNN

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) – A Tibetan man set himself on fire in front of a famous Buddhist shrine in the Nepalese capital on Wednesday, police said, becoming the latest Tibetan to adopt this harrowing form of protest over Chinese rule.

The man, believed to be in his early 20s, came out of a nearby restaurant doused in petrol and set himself alight in front of the revered Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, said Keshav Adhikari, a police spokesman.

“The whole of his body is burnt,” Adhikari said, adding that the Tibetan was not able to communicate when he was taken to a hospital for treatment. Authorities are still trying to identify the man.

Self-immolation has become a dramatic and desperate form of protest in recent years for ethnic Tibetans unhappy with Chinese rule.

Tibetan advocacy groups say the number of self-immolations by Tibetans inside China since February 2009 stood at 99 at the end of January. Several others have set themselves on fire in other countries, including India.

Self-immolation began as a form of protest among Tibetans in China in February 2009, when a young monk set himself ablaze. In March 2011, another young monk followed in his footsteps, becoming the first to die. Scores of others have since followed suit.

Should Dalai Lama condemn immolations?

Independently verifying the reported self-immolations inside China is often difficult because of restrictions on reporting from the restive areas and the reluctance of local officials to comment on the accounts provided by foreign-based Tibetan advocacy groups.

Beijing has taken a tough line on the protesters and their associates, accusing the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, of fomenting unrest inside Chinese borders.

Last month, a court in southwestern China gave heavy sentences to two ethnic Tibetans convicted of murder for “inciting” people to set themselves of fire.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising, has long denied China’s assertion that he’s seeking Tibetan independence. He says he wants only enough autonomy to protect their traditional Buddhist culture.

Beijing rejects accusations of oppression, saying that under its rule, living standards have greatly improved for the Tibetan people. It makes centuries-old historical claims on the region.

The Sacred and the Strange: Transvestite Nuns?

religionnerd — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:50:18 +0000

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By Kate Daley-Bailey

While the term ‘hagiography’ may not appear in the average American’s day to day lexicon, this genre of religious literature, a type of spiritual biography of a Christian saint, proves to be an enduringly fascinating corpus. One such hagiography, the life of St. Mary/St. Marinos, stands out for numerous reasons. This saint’s dual names, one feminine and one masculine, might pique one’s interest. St. Mary/ Marinos’ story places her in the company of extraordinary women, a group known as the ‘transvestite nuns,’ holy women who disguised themselves as men in order to enter monasteries. Here is a very brief synopsis of her story:

Eugenios and his wife, both pious Christians, have a daughter whom they name Mary. After his wife’s death, Eugenios takes charge of his young daughter and raises Mary to live a devout life. Her father decides one day to enter a monastery, leaving all his worldly possessions to his daughter, but Mary begs her father to allow her to go with him to the monastery. He explains that there is no way for her to follow him because it is through the female sex that the devil continues to wage war on the righteous. Mary announces that she will cut her hair, dress as a man, and take the masculine form of her name (Marinos) so that she may go with him into monastic life. Mary and her father live in the monastery for many years where she gains a reputation for asceticism, humility, and the gift of healing. Some monks believed she was a eunuch, accounting for her lack of beard and her feminine voice. Eugenios passes away and Mary continues to live among the other monks, still disguised as a male.

Mary is later sent out, as many monks were, to minister to the greater monastic community outside their walls. The monks who traveled were known to stop at a particular inn, midway on their journey. One day, while Mary was away from the monastery, the innkeeper’s daughter was deflowered and impregnated by a soldier. The soldier convinced the innkeeper’s daughter to lie to her father and say that it was the young monk, Marinos, who impregnated her. Once the innkeeper learned of this, he went to the father superior and berated him for Marinos’ behavior.

The young monk (Mary) does not deny the charges and the father superior expels ‘him’ from the monastery. Later, the innkeeper comes to the monk (Mary) and gives ‘him’ the infant son to whom his daughter had given birth to after the supposed affair. After three years of exile, fellow monks in the monastery convince the father superior to accept the monk and ‘his’ young son back into the monastery. The child grows into a man and takes the habit himself… living in the monastery with his ‘father.’

One day, Marinos is found dead in ‘his’ cell and ‘his’ body is taken to be washed and prepared for burial. Those preparing the body start shrieking when they unclothe the body and find out that Marinos was a woman. The father superior runs to see what the shouting is about and learns the startling truth. He falls at the feet of the corpse and begs forgiveness from Mary/Marinos. The father superior summons the innkeeper and informs him of the monk’s true identity. Upon seeing the body, the innkeeper too laments his actions. The monastery buried her, singing hymns and psalms. The innkeeper’s daughter appears before the tomb of St. Mary, possessed by a demon, and she confesses that it was indeed the soldier, and not the ‘monk’ who made her with child. After her confession, the innkeeper’s daughter is healed and everyone marvels at this great miracle. The hagiography closes with a call for the Christian community to emulate Mary and her patience so that they too may, upon the Day of Judgment, receive mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Although St. Mary’s hagiography doesn’t give readers much specific historical information about the saint herself, it does provide us with some compelling insights. Scholars suggest that the original text was written in Greek and dates, roughly, from the 6^th to 7^th century Common Era. Perhaps one of the most startling aspects of St. Mary/ St. Marinos’ hagiography is where the three surviving manuscripts of the text reside. The monasteries of Mount Athos, located in northeastern Greece, are infamous for their strict exclusion of women, which oddly extends even to females of the animal species. Surprisingly, the only surviving copies of St. Mary/St Marino’s story are located in a sacred place famous for its exclusion of women. This peculiar twist seems to add to the mystery of this remarkable woman’s story.

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Papal Retirement: A Matter of Conscience

religionnerd — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:13:16 +0000

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By Mary E. Hunt, Religion Dispatches

The unexpected announcement of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a welcome breath of fresh air. A human being, even a pope, ought to have the option to say enough is enough, I have done what I can do, and now it is time for someone else to take over. I applaud his move and read it as a sign of hope in a dreary ecclesial scene.

Speculation about his health is rampant. As with many elders whose offspring plot to take away the car keys, I suspect there was some backdoor lobbying to make this retirement happen. But I dare to hope that it was at least in part the considered judgment of an octogenarian who saw his predecessor propped up long after his prime and did not want the same for himself.

But before looking for the backstory there’s something in Benedict’s resignation statement that bears noting: “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”

Conscience, Benedict reminds us today, is still primary for Catholics. Examination of conscience: that is just the formula millions of us use to explain why we use birth control, enjoy our sexuality in a variety of ways, and see enormous good in other religious traditions. Conscience is the ultimate arbiter, and the Pope relied on his. Good on him, and good on the rest of us.

There has been a lot of fudging on the matter of conscience in recent decades. The post-Vatican II hierarchy has claimed that conscience is primary if, and only if, it is informed as they see fit. But Pope Benedict XVI is giving conscience a new lease on life. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander—the appeal to conscience cannot be denied now that the Pope himself has had recourse to it.

Another takeaway: Just because a pope has not resigned since Gregory XII in 1415 does not mean it cannot be done. Nothing is forever. Much of what passes as “the way it is” in Rome is really just custom—like not ordaining women, claiming birth control to be a sin, regarding same-sex love as morally disordered, and the like. Customs change. Roman PR people say, “in the fullness of revelation such and such is now the case.” Then the new thing emerges as “the way it is” and life goes on. I fully expect the next pope to be cut out of the same cloth as this man, but there is no stopping the feeling that the pressure to change customs is simply overwhelming.

News reports of the papal announcement include the fact that many of the cardinals in the Consistory where Benedict XVI quietly dropped the news did not immediately understand his words because they were in Latin. A quick translation on their iPads surely rectified the situation. But it is fascinating to note that many of those 118 cardinals who will elect his successor are not competent enough in the ancient language to understand, “Quapropter bene conscius ponderis huius actus plena libertate declaro me ministerio Episcopi Romae, Successoris Sancti Petri, mihi per manus Cardinalium die 19 aprilis MMV commissum renuntiare ita ut a die 28 februarii MMXIII, hora 20, sedes Romae, sedes Sancti Petri vacet et Conclave ad eligendum novum Summum Pontificem ab his quibus competit convocandum esse.” Quick translation: by month’s end I’m outta here and you need to elect a new person.

This does demystify the process a bit. Lesson learned: Latin is helpful but knowing how to push the translation button is another skill religious leaders need. More to the point, we need people who can listen and discern what is meant by words they do not understand coming from people they do not know. In our well-connected world the universal language is no longer Latin but listening.

What is news this time around is that rank and file Catholics want a new Church, not just a new pope.

We know that change is in the air because we put it there. Progressive Catholics all over the world are creating new forms of church since the old is so thoroughly discredited. No institution can withstand the onslaught of negative publicity that the Vatican earned over clergy sexual abuse and episcopal cover-ups without major changes. No hierarchy however fortified can hold out forever against spirit-filled steps toward equality and justice. This time, just electing a new pope will not do. Nor will closeting away a group of elite electors responsible to no one but themselves cut it for an election process.

Catholic people have consciences too. We expect to have a say in how we organize and govern ourselves. We cannot in conscience abdicate our authority to 118 mostly elderly men. Those days are over. If a pope can abdicate before he goes out feet first without the sky falling in then new egalitarian models of church can and will emerge too.

Even though knowledge of Latin is apparently no longer a required for leadership, we have a lot of people—women, married men, openly gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics—who are “ready and willing” to take on ministry and leadership. I know hundreds who are already actively involved in base communities, parishes, religious communities and social change groups doing a wonderful job of living new ways of being church. Some of them even know Latin.

What do you give to the Pope on the occasion of his retirement? I am sure he has more Rolex watches than he needs, and the red shoes he likes are out of my price range. But a new church would be just the thing to assure him a dignified old age. Instead of simply retiring quietly to Castel Gandolfo, if his health permits, Joseph Ratzinger might enjoy a good Bavarian beer with the rest of us as part of a renewed Church where all are welcome.

Benedict to resign, first pontiff since Middle Ages to quit

religionnerd — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:33:46 +0000

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Philip Pullella, Reuters

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, said on Monday he will resign on Feb 28. because he no longer has the strength to fulfill the duties of his office, becoming the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to take such a step.

The 85-year-old German-born Pope, hailed as a hero by conservative Catholics and viewed with suspicion by liberals, said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months.

His papacy has been beset by a child sexual abuse crisis that tarnished the Church, one address in which he upset Muslims and a scandal over the leaking of his private papers by his personal butler.

In a statement, the pope said in order to govern “…both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

“For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter,” he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff would step down from 2 p.m. ET on February 28, leaving the office vacant until a successor was chosen to Benedict who succeeded John Paul, one of history’s most popular pontiffs.

Elected to the papacy on April 19, 2005 when he was 78 — 20 years older than John Paul was when he was elected — he ruled over a slower-paced, more cerebral and less impulsive Vatican.

But while conservatives cheered him for trying to reaffirm traditional Catholic identity, his critics accused him of turning back the clock on reforms by nearly half a century and hurting dialogue with Muslims, Jews and other Christians.

Before he was elected Pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was known by such critical epithets as “God’s rottweiler” because of his stern stand on theological issues.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; editing by Janet McBride and Peter Millership)

“No religion” is the third-largest world group after Christians, Muslims

religionnerd — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:00:52 +0000

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By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor Reuters

(Reuters) – People with no religious affiliation make up the third-largest global group in a new study of the size of the world’s faiths, placing after Christians and Muslims and just before Hindus.

The study, based on extensive data for the year 2010, also showed Islam and Hinduism are the faiths mostly likely to expand in the future while Jews have the weakest growth prospects.

It showed Christianity is the most evenly spread religion, present in all regions of the world, while Hinduism is the least global with 94 percent of its population in one country, India.

Overall, 84 percent of the world’s inhabitants, which it estimated at 6.9 billion, identify with a religion, according to the study entitled “The Global Religious Landscape” issued by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life on Tuesday.

The “unaffiliated” category covers all those who profess no religion, from atheists and agnostics to people with spiritual beliefs but no link to any established faith.

“Many of the religiously unaffiliated do hold religious or spiritual beliefs,” the study stressed.

“Belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7 percent of unaffiliated Chinese adults, 30 percent of unaffiliated French adults and 68 percent of unaffiliated U.S. adults,” it said.

ISLAM EXPANDS

Exact numbers for religious populations are impossible to obtain and estimates for the size of the larger faiths can vary by hundreds of millions. This study by the Washington-based Pew Forum appears to be one of the most extensive to date.

Pew Forum demographer Conrad Hackett said the 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers used to compile the report did not allow a further breakdown to estimate the world population of atheists and agnostics.

“It’s not the kind of data that’s available for every country,” he said. “A census will typically ask what your religion is and you can identify a number of particular affiliations or no religion.

An age breakdown showed Muslims had the lowest median age at 23 years, compared to 28 for the whole world population. The median age highlights the population bulge at the point where half the population is above and half below that number.

“Muslims are going to grow as a share of the world’s population and an important part of that is this young age structure,” Hackett said.

By contrast, Judaism, which has 14 million adherents or 0.2 percent of the world population, has the highest median age at 36, meaning its growth prospects are weakest.

Hackett noted that Israel, which has 40.5 percent of the world Jewish population, had a younger age structure than the United States, where 41.1 percent of the world’s Jews live.

Global Christianity’s median age is 30 and Hinduism’s 26. With a median age of 34, the growth prospects for religiously unaffiliated people are weak, the study showed.

WORLDWIDE BREAKDOWN

The study estimated Christianity was the largest faith at 2.2 billion adherents or 31.5 percent of the world’s population.

The Roman Catholic Church makes up 50 percent of that total, with Protestants — including Anglicans and non-denominational churches — at 37 percent and Orthodox at 12 percent.

There are about 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, or 23 percent of the global population. “The overwhelming majority (87-90 percent) are Sunnis, about 10-13 percent are Shia Muslims,” the study said.

Among the 1.1 billion unaffiliated people around the world, over 700 million, or 62 percent of them, live in China alone, where they make up 52.2 percent of the Chinese population.

Japan comes next with the second largest unaffiliated population in the world with 72 million, or 57 percent of the national population. After that comes the United States, 51 million people — 16.4 percent of all Americans — said they have no link to an established faith.

The world’s Hindu population is concentrated mostly in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Half of the world’s Buddhists live in China, followed far behind by Thailand at 13.2 percent of the world Buddhist population and Japan with 9.4 percent.

The study found that about 405 million people, or about 6 percent of the world population, followed folk religions such as those found in Africa and China or among Native American and Australian aboriginal peoples.

Another 58 million, or nearly 1 percent of the world population, belonged to “other religions” including Baha’i, Taoism, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Tenrikyo, Wicca and Zoroastrianism. Most were in the Asia-Pacific region.

The study said that 97 percent of the world’s Hindus, 87 percent of its Christians and 73 percent of its Muslims lived in countries where they were a large to overwhelming majority.

Christians make up the majority in 157 countries and Muslims in 49, including 19 of the 20 states in the Middle East and North Africa, with the exception of Israel.

By contrast, Hindus are in the majority only in India, Nepal and Mauritius.

(Reporting By Tom Heneghan, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Follow all posts on Twitter @ RTRFaithWorld

For more on this topic see The Pew Forum article “Nones” on the Rise: One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation or download the complete Pew Forum study

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