World Religions And Stuff

The disappearing philosopher

2011-04-26T12:50:00.000-05:00

Sometimes our fate and history really are etched in stone or cast in bronze but they still can be deleted or altered.
Here is a recent article about the Chinese government installing and then removing a statue of Confucius. And this is a related article.
A lot more than pigeons and playful children rest on statuary in public places. Who and what we commemorate in parks, town squares, etc. says a lot about who we are and what we value. Sometimes those values can change over time. Witness the fervor over Confederate notables memorialized in some Southern US public spaces. I visited Germany a few years after reunification and noted that the massive Communist statuary honoring Stalin and Lenin in the former East Germany had been covered up with large wooden crates, their being simply too large or costly to move.
Confucianism continues to be a strong philosophical influence in some parts of the world. Confucius talked a lot about relationship and the responsibilities groups owed each other, such as the young owing respect to their elders. Confucius' target audience was rulers, whom he wanted to teach how to be just to those they ruled. Not many in his own time listened but his "Analects" are still read and revered today. Likewise his disciple Mencius bequeathed "The Doctrine and the Mean" for our edification.
Anyway, Confucius the philosopher had his teaching moment, a brief time of public acclamation and prominent display, only to be ushered away again by the Powers That Be, into a secluded garden corner. Such corners are prime real estate, too, ... for thinking.

In today's news...

2011-02-08T09:04:00.001-06:00

Headlines for today include allegations of money laundering by Buddhist monks, the Mormons are not happy with Broadway, and a screenwriter takes on Scientology. And here is an article about a Hindu temple under threat from military conflict around it.

British peer speaks against Islamophobia

2011-01-20T00:56:00.000-06:00

I just came across this article about a British politician and peer addressing how acceptable prejudice against Muslims is in her country.
Meanwhile the Brits have banned this fellow from Florida who threatened to burn Korans last year. An English group "concerned" about the supposed growing "Islamification" of their country had invited him to speak.

Now Christmas is over

2011-01-06T23:22:00.000-06:00

Happy Feast of the Epiphany.
This day, Jan. 6, marks the formal end to the Christmas season. This is the day the three king (makers) paid homage to Jesus after a star led them to the house where Jesus and his mother were. Yes, house, not stable, and Joseph, the shepherds, and barnyard animals are all absent. They are all in Luke’s version.
The stories get mixed up in popular culture. The Christmas schedule does too, come to think of it, both before and after the Big Day. The weeks before Christmas Day are Advent in the Christian calendar and should be days of quiet reflection. Instead they are filled with frenzied shopping, wrapping, mailing, and housecleaning. Christmas morning is frenzied with unwrapping and the day after Christmas brings more frenzied shopping. Some people even hurry to clean up their Christmas clutter, not just discarded wrappings, but even the tree and decorations.
The trees and decorations stay up until January 1 or 2 in most households, though. Then the holidays are over, on the secular calendar. Christmas light displays go dark. Denuded pine trees get tossed to the curb. The stores relegate any lingering Christmas merchandise to a corner, bearing a “90 percent off” sign. Meanwhile employees with forklifts bring in gardening equipment and tiki lamps in preparation for spring planting and the summer’s first barbeque.
Life goes on, but does have to be that fast? Let us enjoy the final night of Christmas and send the season out with aplomb, and flames. One parish I attended years ago made a big deal out of Epiphany. They had three magi in full costume, spicy food, and a king cake. The night’s festivities culminated in a bonfire. All the Christmas greenery from the sanctuary was set wonderfully ablaze, under the watchful eye of the fire marshal, of course. It was a wonderfully declarative conclusion.
Years ago I learned to my great relief that *proper* Episcopalians and other liturgically inclined Western Christians keep their trees up through January 6. I have always kept mine up as long as possible, not wanting to let go of the season. I will take my tree down tomorrow, maybe. Before the summer’s first barbeque, probably.
Here is a list of materials about Epiphany traditions and liturgies.

Banning veils

2011-01-04T00:31:00.000-06:00

Syria made news today for banning Muslim women on college campuses from wearing the full face veil preferred by some conservative Muslims. Syrian officials made a similar move last summer. Beginning last fall, secondary teachers were no longer allowed to wear the full veil in the classroom. Some quit teaching rather than remove their veil.
Here is an interesting op-ed piece from the Jerusalem Post comparing European and Middle Eastern nations' response to women wanting to wear the niqab, full face veil, in public.

Syrian officials reportedly want their country to appear more modern and secular and the niqab does not fit that image. Or does it? Is it "modern" to restrict how people choose to show their religious affiliation?

The Muslim dress debate has sprung up in both dictatorships like Syria and democracies such as France. Whatever the political situation, an interesting paradox is at play here. Many people, particularly non-Muslims, see the veil, particularly the niqab and the burqa, as oppressive to women. It seems hard to imagine anyone wanting to wear it. Western feminists might assume that such coverings are forced on subordinate Muslim women by jealous and dominating Muslim men. Yet some Muslim women do choose to cover themselves. In fact, Muslim apologists contend that veiling is not mandated by the Koran and that it must be up to individual women to choose whether and how to cover their faces. This article from the New York Times talks about American Muslim women who made this choice and have faced great criticism for it, particularly from other women. Veiling in America is countercultural, rebellious, traits that are quintessentially ... American.

The Syrian women included in the veil bans presumably are intellectual and independent. They are "modern." To be a secondary teacher, one must be fairly educated and have a desire to lead. Young women on a university campus are there to explore the world and develop their independent selves. None of these traits are submissive. So should they have to submit to a dress code that forbids their chosen form of religious piety and modesty?

Jewish and Muslim experience

2010-12-29T13:14:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of articles about religious life in Israel and America. The first is about a growing controversy over payments for lifetime study for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and the next two look at the Muslim experience in America.
Even an ultra-Orthodox rabbi is now saying some of these men should be working for a living rather than being full-time Torah students for their entire adult lives. article

This article talks about Muslim women in America and their growing influence.

A Muslim journalist and a Muslim professor discuss what their fellow American Muslims can learn from the American Jewish experience. video link

iPiety

2010-05-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

An editor at Tricycle, a great magazine about postmodern/Western Buddhism filed a blog post this week in which he mused about some of the iPhone/Pod/Pad applications with a Buddhist twist. This was an update for a post from last year about meditation application.
Yes, there are similar tools for Christian geeks looking to i-ify their prayer lives. Some can be found at iTunes. This specific link is for the Taize podcast page. I also found a site called "Catholicicast," which has a range of Catholic-oriented podcasts, MP3s, and related material. Here is a link to a "professionally recorded" Catholic rosary MP3. And here is Rosaryarmy.com, which as the name implies has MP3s of the Catholic rosary (free, unlike the previously mentioned site), along with related Catholic contemplative piety recordings such as the Stations of the Cross.
I looked for an Episcopal rosary MP3 but do not see one. If someone knows of one, please let me know.
We are supposed to "pray without ceasing" and avoid clinging to material things. Sometimes, though, a material thing such as a physical rosary, a virtual one on a phone, or a meditation app on an iPad can help us spiritually.

Islam meets fashion

2010-05-14T08:43:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to an article and short video about Muslim women blending modesty and fashion. The idea is to help Muslim women fit in and feel comfortable in the Western world while maintaining an Islamic level of modesty.

Introduction

2010-05-14T08:37:00.000-05:00

Hello. I am a religion teacher and scholar. I am starting this blog to share thoughts and links about world religions, material culture, and spirituality.