An article in last week’s Dispatch discussed the Pew Report
findings that fewer teens were attending church, yet claiming
basically the same amount of spiritual belief as teens of the past.
Maybe that’s healthy; maybe it worries some.
An article in last week’s Dispatch discussed the Pew Report findings that fewer teens were attending church, yet claiming basically the same amount of spiritual belief as teens of the past. Maybe that’s healthy; maybe it worries some.
Certainly, we want kids to grow up with morals and compassion, and church-going of any denomination can be a way to instill that. But some churches are by their nature intolerant (of women holding roles of power, of gays even existing, of other religions), so there goes the compassion theory.
There’s fear now that Egypt’s overthrown government will become strongly Muslim, again chipping away at the Christian network many Americans hoped would continue to lead the world. Well, surprise, Egypt was already predominantly Muslim, and shouldn’t the government reflect the majority of the people? Isn’t that the idea behind democracy? Islam has been the official state religion since 1980, before which Egypt was known as secular.
I’d like to point out that Egypt historically has found ways to embrace different aspects of various religions. After moving from the famously polytheistic range of gods and goddesses like Horus and Ra and Isis, Egyptians formed their own unique brand of Christianity, known as Coptic, and also turned largely Islamic.
Which of course turns our minds to the planned mosque in San Martin, and some people’s thoughts of preventing it. How dare they? Our forebears, those drafters of the Constitution and its first amendment, are probably spinning in their graves, tearing their shrouds: we are the nation that supports freedom of religion.
One of the finest examples of religious toleration I’ve ever witnessed firsthand took place in a Gilroy living room. There, a woman who is so devoutly Muslim that she keeps a copy of the Koran in her car hosted a holiday party for children at which Santa Claus was present. So it was one of those holiday parties, really a diplomatically-worded Christmas party. Already a very graceful, generous act on her part. But thanks to the dearth of available men, that beautiful, slim woman slipped into the ample Santa Claus suit, donned a white beard, and made her voice as husky as possible to state her “Ho, ho, ho’s.” She crossed gender lines and belief lines to make some little kids of another religion happy.
I was stunned and moved. Can you imagine a devout Christian holding an Eid party (Eid el-Adha is the Muslim holiday that falls closest to Christmas in the calendar) – and taking it a step further by dressing the part of some element of that religion? (Obviously, there’s no Muslim equivalent of Santa Claus.) I think we can all take a lesson from that woman, that we can be flexible, and it doesn’t hurt to listen to other people’s beliefs.
I’ve attended a Jewish Shabbat and hidden my eyes during the blessing after the candles are lit. I’ve spent weeks at an Evangelical Christian summer camp. I’ve enjoyed a Baha’i Ayyam-i-Ha party. I’ve been on a train in Egypt at sundown when the Ramadan observers joyously opened their food baskets and ate for the first time that day. I appreciated all those experiences and see that all religions, if we’re honest about it, hark back to the same thing: death.
From the moment the first cavepeople saw their first death, we’ve been searching for answers.
“That fellow we know as Urgk lies silent on the ground and his chest no longer rises and falls …will we never hear from him again?” they asked worriedly. And the first religion arose as an explanation. “Yes, there was something inside Urgk-let’s call it a soul – and that is somewhere else now. And when our chests no longer rise and fall, our soul will meet his. We get to see him again!”
Or, “Yes, we’ll see Urgk again. In the form of a lowly snail or the mighty mammoth, we will see the glint of personality that was once him. He will live again!”
Or, “We’re relieved we won’t see Urgk again, because his soul is in the bad people place. Since Urgk never shared his sabertoothed tiger steaks and frail Urgda therefore died, he will be punished in a way we couldn’t have done here on earth.”
And each tribe across the world added their own details. That there were a host of gods and goddesses sitting atop a mountaintop in Greece. That God sent his son to live as a mortal and take away the world’s sins. That a prophet named Mohammed set down the rules of living. That Buddha says we can understand the world by exploring human suffering. Et cetera.
Many of us want reassurance that there’s more. That’s the link that can join us all – we’re vulnerable before the specter of death.
