What's the Big Idea?

Frederick Nietzsche famously claimed, "God is dead." There is a joke among theologians that God has since made the same claim about Nietzsche, implying of course that God has had the last laugh, and the joke is on Frederick.

Or is it? Was Nietzsche at least partly correct? Is God dead? Nietzsche did not believe in God at all, and his proclamation was an expression of his own atheism. I don't believe Nietzsche was correct, but I have heard the question asked, Did God ever live, specifically the theistic God of history? This God has been described with certain attributes: separate and apart from humanity; a Being; an omniscient judge who selectively intervenes into the affairs of human beings. But is this in fact who or what God is and does?

I do not have the answers to these questions, but see tremendous significance in the re-examination of how human beings understand and strive to know God. Throughout history our religious identities have been used to separate us from each other, have been grounds for the imprisonment, torture, and murder of anyone with different beliefs. Christian violence against non-Christians is a blot on history. Christian violence against fellow Christians is no less horrific. The current violence in Iraq between Sunni and Shiite Muslims is another example of the complete perversion of the purpose of acknowledging and worshipping God in the first place. History is replete with blood-drenched tales of how one conception of God has been used to justify unspeakable cruelty and inhumanity against anyone with a different conception of God.

So. The Buddha taught his followers to abandon concepts and notions. Have we draped God with inadequate human concepts and notions that do little to help us to actually understand and know God? Are these instead the source of conflict and misunderstanding among peoples and cultures?

I think that these questions and themes are important and worth exploring. I don't have the answers, but feel that the questions are compelling enough that it is a worthwhile investment of time to pursue the answers. If we remove the theistic trappings from our understanding of God, what do we have left? Is the emerging understanding of God one that can be shared in common across faiths and cultures? I think it is worth finding out. Shalom.

- Doug L.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

Book Review: Jesus for the Non-Religious, by John Shelby Spong (Spirituality and Practice.com)

Theism.info

Interfaith Holidays and Holy Days, Week of May 21, 2007

Shavuot (Shavuos), May 22-24, 2007:
The Feast of Shavuot is celebrated on the 6th day of the Jewish month of Sivan, and concludes the 40-day Counting of the Omer. Shavuot marks the day on which God appeared to Moses at the summit of Mount Sinai and delivered the Ten Commandments, thus entering into a holy covenant with the people of Israel.

According to Holidays.net, there are a number of traditional ways to celebrate this important holiday, including consuming dairy foods (re: Israel was described as the "Land of Milk and Honey"), keeping an all-night vigil on the eve of the holiday, and decorating homes and synagogues with flowers to mark the fact that Mount Sinai was described as being lush and verdant.

The Ten Commandments are the first of several hundred laws that comprise the Torah, the Holy Law of God and the most sacred scriptures in all of Judaism. The reproduction of each Torah scroll is a painstaking process, as each one is produced by hand, and only by the most well-trained scribes. It is a high honor to be asked to read from the Torah scroll during synagogue services.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

Shavuot on the Net (Holidays.net)

Chabad.org (Shavuos)

Shavuot Customs and Traditions (Mazornet.com)

Contemporary Shavous Cuisine (Jewish World Review.com)

What Are the Ten Commandments? (AskMoses.com)

Interfaith Marriage and Families

I'm the Catholic half of an interfaith marriage, and my wife, who is Jewish, is the other half. We are still finding our way down the interfaith/multifaith path, but we are mainly happy to make the journey. Yet neither of us is naive enough to think that everyone else in the world holds the same positive view of marriage arrangements like ours. Parents and religious institutions can and have traditionally taken a negative view of such marriages. The source of any such opposition is pretty predictable. Parents want their children to pass on their family's heritage. Religious institutions don't want their congregations to thin out.

My wife and I are very fortunate in that our respective families are giving us the space we need to evaluate what we want for our children and to make the decisions that work for us. We didn't arrive at this point without some real struggle and confusion. The two of us discovered that love and goodwill would only take us so far down the road. As our relationship became more serious, it became necessary to do some deep soul searching and then open up to each other to share what we'd found. This is an ongoing process, and is by no means over. It has, however, helped us to understand ourselves and each other better, to grow closer and more intimate as we work to create a home that is welcoming to both faith traditions.

For interfaith couples in general, there are any number of possible outcomes that can result from these deeply and intensely personal discussions. Some couples opt for no religion at all in the home, leaving it to their children to forge the religious path of their own choosing. Some couples opt to include only one faith tradition in their home, with the other partner either celebrating his or her own faith separately, or else converting to the household faith, while other couples choose to celebrate both faith traditions. In terms of deciding to celebrate both of our faith traditions, the questions people ask us the most have to do with how we'll raise our kids. We have been outright discouraged by more than one person from going the dual-faith route, and others have merely questioned how such an arrangement can work. In most of these cases, the questioner is primarily concerned as to what type of identity issues this might cause for our children someday.

However, despite the seeming contradictions inherent to this approach, we're not convinced that our decision will confuse our children or result in their having no cultural or faith identity as adults. In the PsychCentral.com article, "The Emotional Challenges of Interfaith Families" (cited below), Dr. Allan Schwartz comments that this is not necessarily cause for concern or otherwise threatening to the healthy development of a child's identity:

"It is less the presence of a single religious identity in the home and more the parental style of discipline and involvement with the children and with each other that produces well-adjusted children. Research shows that children whose parents were firm, consistent, involved and affectionate did best in school and in their relationships later in life. The particular religious affiliation of one or both parents is less important to good adjustment than the fact that the parents love and support their children."

Choosing to marry someone of a different faith tradition than one's own, including no faith tradition at all, is an implicit admission that one has accepted a less-than-orthodox arrangement for marriage and child rearing. In our marriage my wife and I have found that the key to making peace with the sacrifices inherent to any interfaith arrangement is open communication and maintaining a strong sense of trust. The benefits of relating this way are obviously not limited to questions of faith and religion, but for any harmony to exist around such questions these are absolutely necessary. Shalom.

- Doug L.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE (Links Updated 05/27/07)

The Challenges of Interfaith Marriage, and Half Life: Jewish Tales from Interfaith Homes (Interfaith Radio, May 24, 2007)

"The Emotional Challenges of Interfaith Marriage," by Allan Schwartz. PsychCentral.com, December 12, 2006

Interfaith Marriage Discussion Board (Beliefnet.com)

Interfaith Marriage Stumbling Blocks and Guidance (About.com)

Divorce Rates Among Inter-Faith Marriages (ReligiousTolerance.org)

Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name

One of the meanings of the word "devil" is slanderer, and to this extent at least, Devil is a title richly deserved by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. His passing this week has unleashed a flood of commentary, a great deal of it based upon several decades' worth of his hate speech condemning everything and everyone from the civil rights movement, homosexuals, feminists, Jews and other non-Christians, non-evangelical/born-again Christians, Democrats, the ACLU... the list goes on and on. In Jerry's world, there was no end to his list of enemies and destroyers of his vision of a Christian America. Likewise, there was no insult too debased, no claim too fantastic to fling against those he imagined to be a threat to the moral foundation of the American Republic. The extent of Falwell's power and influence is a matter of some debate, but if his reach exceeded his grasp it did not deter him from continuously striving to grab that brass ring.

Hate is a many-headed creature, of course, and the loss of Falwell does not leave the far, far right without other champions. There continue to be members of the "Religious" Right who will go to any extreme to prove they can out-hate anyone. Seeing as how Rev. Falwell and others of his ilk are self-described Christians, it is worth recalling the words of Jesus, the putative founder of the belief and value system they espouse: "Stop judging, that you will not be judged." And, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them."

- Doug L.

Bill Maher's Touching Tribute to Jerry Falwell


FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

Slate.com:

"Faith-Based Fraud." (May 16, 2007)

"The Devil and Jerry Falwell." (May 15, 2007)

"Jerry Falwell's Hit Parade." (May 15, 2007)

"The Legacy of Falwell's Bully Pulpit." The Washington Post, May 19, 2007

"Jerry Falwell's Deal with the Devil." Baltimore Chronicle, May 16, 2007

Jerry Falwell-Pat Robertson-Usama Bin Laden Quiz (FunnyStrange.com)

Interfaith Reader Recommends...

Living Buddha, Living Christ, by Thich Nhat Hanh

"Twenty years ago at a conference I attended of theologians and professors of religion, and Indian Christian friend told the assembly, 'We are going to hear about the beauties of many traditions, but that does not mean that we are going to make fruit salad.' When my turn came to speak I said, 'Fruit salad can be delicious! I have shared the Eucharist with Father Daniel Berrigan, and our worshipping became possible because of the sufferings we Vietnamese and Americans have shared over many years.' Some of the Buddhists present were shocked to hear that I had participated in the Eucharist, and many Christians seemed truly horrified. To me, religious life is life. I do not see any reason to spend one's whole life tasting just one kind of fruit. We human beings can be nourished by the best values of many traditions." (Pp. 1-2.)

That is the sound of two hands clapping in support of the notion that it is no irreverence or betrayal to participate fully in the rituals and sacraments of faith traditions different than one's own. Quite to the contrary, Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh sees this as a means to deepening and strengthening one's own spirituality. Exploring the truths taught by many faiths and partaking of the rituals and teachings of other faith traditions s a way of honoring the best values of one's own faith tradition. As Hanh explains:

Before I met Christianity, my only spiritual ancestor was the Buddha. But when I met beautiful men and women who are Christians, I came to know Jesus as a great teacher. Since that day, Jesus Christ has become one of my spiritual ancestors. I do not feel any conflict within me. Instead, I feel stronger because I have more than one root.

This position underscores Hanh's thesis that no one faith has cornered the market on all truth about God and human existence. To fully expand upon this theme, Hanh juxtaposes the lives and teachings of to two of history's epochal religious figures, Siddhartha Gautama, or the Buddha, and Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ.

Buddhism is not Christianity and Jesus is not the Buddha. However, it is not Hahn's intention to pursue either of these points. Rather, his writing is the pursuit of the common ground shared by both the Buddha and Jesus, and the respective faith traditions named for them. To be sure, there are important ways in which Buddhism and Christianity differ, particularly with regard to the immortal human soul, the unique and singular role of Jesus
in the salvation of the human race, and Christianity's specific monotheistic foundation. However, from Hanh's interfaith point of view, these differences only matter with regard to the emphasis placed on them, and are not necessarily obstacles to real dialogue and understanding between faiths:

It is good that an orange is an orange and a mango is a mango. The colors, the smells, and the tastes are different, but looking deeply, we see that they are both authentic fruits. Looking more deeply, we can see the sunshine, the rain, the minerals, and the earth in both of them...If religions are authentic, they contain the same elements of stability, joy, peace, understanding, and love. The similarities as well as the differences are there. They differ only in terms of emphasis (emphasis added). Glucose and acid are in all fruits, but their degrees differ. We cannot say that one is a real fruit and the other is not.

This, to me, is the most important point that the author makes, namely that no one religious tradition is the repository of the real or entire truth about who or what God is, what it is that God wants for the human race, and how we are to conduct ourselves in accordance with these truths. What can result from this exclusive type of thinking but separation between human beings that manifests itself through hatred, violence, discrimination and intolerance? If we belong to a faith tradition that teaches "stability, joy, peace, understanding and love," how can we possibly honor these when we have convinced ourselves that God sanctions our particular faith alone?

For a faith tradition such as Christianity, this is a very challenging notion. Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth and the life," second to none among history's religious figures. Yet, is the path to Christ paved exclusively by one's entire devotion to and belief in him and in the teachings of the church? Hanh does not think so:

The living Jesus is the Son of God who was resurrected and who continues to live. In Christianity, you have to believe in the resurrection or you are not considered a Christian. I am afraid this criterion may discourage some people from looking into the life of Jesus. This is a pity, because we can appreciate Jesus Christ as both an historical door and an ultimate door.

I happen to agree. Last year, an Israeli friend of ours asked me about my Christian faith and why I loved Jesus. I thought for a moment, and then replied that I held Jesus in deep respect and reverence for his teachings and his sacrifice on the cross. I added that when I die someday, if I discover that Jesus was not in fact the literal Son of God and was not resurrected from the dead, I would not love or revere him any less. The example of his life is strong enough reason for me to believe in and appreciate Jesus, to borrow Hanh's phrase, as an ultimate door. From this point of view, the teachings and living example of Jesus Christ can be made much more accessible to non-Christians, which in turn furthers dialogue and understanding between different people. Is this not the aim of any faith that preaches "stability, joy, peace, understanding and love"? How does exclusivity advance this aim?

Jesus preached a message of love, compassion and forgiveness. The Buddha taught his followers to treat each living creature with loving kindness and to be mindful, to truly present to each creature, in each moment. Similar teachings that intersect across faith traditions. Hanh's book reminds us of the importance of being mindful of what we emphasize in our relationships with other human beings, the differences or the similarities: The lack of understanding brings about the lack of tolerance and true love, which results in the alienation of people from the church. True understanding comes from true practice. Understanding and love are values that transcend all dogma. Shalom.

- Doug L.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

Plum Village Practice Center

Buddhanet.net

World Buddhist Directory

Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings, edited by Marcus Borg

The Buddha - Jesus the Christ (Myths, Dreams, Symbols.com)

Guide to Buddhist Teaching on Reincarnation

Interlog