Religious but Not Too Religious

Religious but Not Too Religious

Found this story about the same time as the last one although this is a CNN blog posting instead of an actual news report.  I found it very interesting and I wasn’t sure if I would find another bit on the Jewish faith.  I just could not pass up the chance to talk about the Jewish culture.  This woman is from a Jewish community but lives in the western culture with her husband and kids.  Her husband is not Jewish so for her the problem is how does she make she kids feel a part of the Jewish culture without actually having a fully  practicing Jewish family? Judaism does not believe in atonement (Jesus taking away our sins) because they do not believe we were born with a sinful nature.  To have a perfect relationship with God one must live a holy life through repentance, prayer, and acts of kindness.   What this article is about is Laurel's personal experiences of previously failing to implement the rituals and the beliefs of her Jewish faith into her household.  I personally thought it was kind of cute that she wants her kids to be a part of the Jewish culture but than I thought about how  being a Jew is not just a cultural thing, it is an actual religion.  When I thought of it being as cute I did not think of it as being a religion but as something like commparing it to Tim Hortons being a Canadian thing.  They just are not comparable.  I think the reason why we (or maybe it was just me) forgets that Judaism is a real religion is because Judaism is a selective religion, rarely does one just convert to Judaism.  You are a Jew if at least your Mother is a Jew.  In this case this is true which means her children are technically Jewish but because the father is not this could too conflicting to carry on with full force.  Putting that into consideration is she still Jewish even if her heart is not entirely there?  To be honest I do not really know, I have a feeling it is much more complicated than that, being Jewish is about the ansestory as well as the rituals.  I don’t think it is like Christianity where the rituals do not define the religion at all or the ancestory, I think it is quite the opposite so that changes the definition of Judaism or maybe you just say a “practicing Jew”, just like one could say a “practicing Christian”, although the definitions are different.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/13/my-faith-raising-non-kosher-jewish-kids/    

Secret or Sacred

Secret or Sacred?

I just watched a CNN new cast taking a first look into a Mormon temple.  I was quite surprised that this was possible considering Mormon temples and churches are quite privite.  This was a very unique and individual exception since this specific temple was brand new and not yet used to be worshiped in by the Mormons.  The news reporter was able to go in and have tour but was not able to have it videotaped from the inside.  We were however able to see pictures of each room including the one with the baptismal tub where hundreds of baptisms for the dead are taken place.  The baptisms are usually directed towards Mormon ancestors who have not yet chosen the faith after their death.  There has been instances however where people have chosen to baptise those from other beliefs such as Ann Frank, the famous holocaust victim. 

                Now I have heard only bits and pieces of the Mormons practices but no clear understanding even though they are quite open with their evangelizing.  Why such the secret, why are the practices not more publicized?  Well when the news reporter brought up these allegations the response was, “it’s not about secret it’s about sacred”.  This could be very much true but could trying to keep the church sacred stop people from coming to the church in the first place?  Once this temple is opened for worship not even all Mormons are invited unless they have an special recommendation from their local church leader.  There are certain expectations that one must exceed if they want to observe or think about being a Mormon but it seems most religions have expectations.  The man in the interview did explain that they have made mistakes and will get better which is admirable enough to note.  I look at Christianity and see us being in danger of falling into the same rut, that religion is private unless you are willing to be one of us in your behavior and mentality.  Now I’m not saying that I know all about Mormons and maybe they are more open then I think, I am just saying what I heard from others and this news report.  Actually one of my friends almost became a Mormon interestingly enough.  Now compared to other religions maybe Christianity looks lazy, I mean we don’t all where the same thing and we don’t have a temple par say.  At the same time though we all for the most part dress formally and try not to stick out too much.  We often don’t talk about our church life to our co-workers or Christianity in general so I think it’s safe to say we can be quite secretive as well.  If we talk more about our faith and church life maybe people wouldn’t feel threatened to even come as a observer, see what it is all about.  They can know that they are always welcome and that we do not expect anything from them except to just show up. 

Check out the News Cast on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/04/09/tsr-todd-mormon-temple-rare-look.cnn?iref=allsearch 

Honour Killing?

When I starting thinking about what articles and other media I would find on the topic of world religions one article stood out particularly in my head.  It was a few months back when my parents were talking about this article they found in the paper about four women being murdered by their Father, Mother, and brother.  Now I rarely read the news paper but how could one hear about something so tragic and cruel and not want to learn more about it.  Then just today I found a full news cast on the Fifth Estate website titled, “The House of Shafia”.  They call this murder tragedy, “Honour Killing” as the women were said to be bringing disgrace to the Muslim family name.  The children’s behaviour displayed western thinking in the way that they dressed and displayed themselves in public.   I’m not going to give away all the details as the article is posted all over the internet but long story short Mohammad, Tooba, and the brother Hamed were charged for killing these four women by pushing their car off the in a Kingston canal.

                Now I have a Muslim friend and I am a Christian so I have to responsibility to make the right presumptions or to not make them at all because Muslims deserve the same respect and dignity that I do.  So to say that it is the Shafia’s religious views that got them to killing their family members is a big and very dangerous assumption.  Are there some religious undertones in this story?  Yes I believe there is.  Do I think religion is the reason why those girls are killed?  No of course not.  If Muslims truly followed the Qur’an and the teaching of Mohammed then it would be in their very nature to protect their children, not to kill them.  They do however have a responsibility to raise the children in the faith, it is their duty and they take it very seriously coming from a predominantly Muslim country like Pakistan.  This story would be considered a bad representation of the Muslim faith for sure because if one actually spends time with the Muslims or goes to visit the mosque they more than anything are concerned with living pure lives that please Allah.  Much of the reading that a part of a mosque service have to do with finding ways to show love to the family by spending time with them, getting to know them better.  Now I’m sure there are still other stories that show evidence of Muslims being violent or not so pure just as there is evidence of Christians being not so Christ like.  I would argue that they were not Muslim to begin with, just going through the motions.  To associate all Muslims with the actions of one Muslim family is narrow minded and will cost you an opportunity to build valuable relationships with them.