Color Me Holy

This class may be over, but I still have one more religious question to ask: What makes someone religious? Maybe the answer is obvious to some people of some faiths, but, to me at least, the problem is uncertain.

Let’s consider a hypothetical character around which to frame this question, and how about we name him Grant. Would Grant be religious if he believes in every dogma within a specific religion? Never mind the fact that he is steals, fornicates, lies, and is a generally dishonest person; Grant still has all the rules, practices, and historical narratives of his religion down cold. Does the fact that he can recite the Beatitudes or the Shama make him a devout individual, even if he never puts his faith into action? Or how about if Grant goes to Mass, donates to needy foundations, and teaches children about their faith in weekend classes, but, as soon as he leaves his church or his classroom, he cuts someone off in the parking lot and screams obscenities at a child for walking in front of his car. He practices his faith, or at least the superficial aspects of it, and lives what people in his congregation would consider a virtuous life. Is it sufficient to perform the physical, monotonous chores of one’s religion even though the essence of love and spirituality are missing? Maybe Grant isn’t a part of any specific religious community, but he is a good person. He helps his neighbors when he sees they are in need; he walks elderly people across the street; he gives money to charities without expecting any recognition in return; he volunteers to help at the local hospital, putting on shows for dying children. However, he doesn’t believe in saints, prophets, a God, or anything divine. Even though he is not following a religion, he is acting the way we expect religious people to act. Now consider that Grant is extremely religious, even overzealously dedicated to his faith. His idea of an eventful weekend is reading the entire Torah or Bible and hearing that sinners in some part of the world were either converted or killed. He pickets at abortion clinics and throws food and rocks at the workers and women entering the building. He believes that all those who have not found his faith or who obstinately continue to live immoral lives deserve immediate judgment—whether at his hand or God’s. He cries for all the sin and transgression that occurs in the world, and he would be willing to give his life in order to make others see the error of their ways. Grant holds his Lord and his faith above anything else in the world: his family, his friends, his life, the lives of others and the laws of his country. Would Grant be religious because he is devoted to his beliefs, even though he is so fastidious and fervent that he would not think twice about killing a man who cheats on his wife?

What I am getting at here is simple: on what grounds can we determine if someone is religious? If someone is not part of any religion or never practices the traditions within his faith, we believe that he is not pious. However, if someone is obsessed with his religion to an unhealthy degree, we consider that person to be mentally unstable; he is distorting the religion rather than following it. I suppose someone could argue that moderation is crucial, but that would mean that you believe in some parts of your creed, are virtuous every so often, and act on your faith when you are in the mood—and I can’t think of anyone who would designate the latter person as devout. Can we just accept that humans are innately evil and, therefore, being a little holy is good enough? Or is the term “religious” now being used to mean anyone who isn’t so wicked as to deserve a one-way ticket to hell?

I don’t have an answer to this question; I’m really wondering what makes someone truly religious in the eyes of their faith, and can anyone besides maybe the pope, the saints, and rabbis—unless maybe they too were only “holy” when they knew they were being observed—be genuinely religious if we choose a rigid definition of piety? I’d like to think that I am holy because I am a fairly good person. Then again, I think my pastor would say otherwise since he hasn’t seen me in our church for a long time.

What's in a name?

When I was writing my second position paper, I asked my neighor--a devout Catholic--to read over it for me. Since it was heavily laden with information about Jesus, I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't offend anyone or that I didn't get anything wrong. After reading it politely, she pointed out that I said "Jesus of Nazareth" in one of my sentences.

"What's wrong with that?"
"Well, no Christian would call him that."

I had never heard this before, but she told me that the only people who use this title are non-Christians. In fact, she seemed almost shocked by it and wanted me to change it.

"But I'm not Christian."

I did not change the name because, had I altered it for her, I would have inadvertently identified myself with that religion. If there is nothing overtly offensive in the title, then why do I have to change it to something that seems more like it was written by a Christian?

How often are names associated with the relation to the thing that we are naming? Jews, for instance, do not say the name of G-d, but members of other faiths have no problem pronouncing similar words. We call people by nicknames all the time. We come up with derogatory catchphrases and epithets for teachers we don't like.

By naming something, we assert some control over it that is not natural. We place our own opinion on them by altering the way that they appear to the world--through their names.

Are we becoming social deities by exhibiting this kind of power over others?

Compulsive Away Message Checkers

The Facebook group that bears the name “Compulsive Away Message Checkers” has 310 members in it. For anyone not familiar with how away messages work, they are similar to an answering machine. If you put up an away message, anyone who sends you an instant message while you are not at your computer will automatically be sent your away message. People can also check to see what your away message says without actually sending you an instant message.

This is where the compulsive checkers come in. A new trend of coming up with catchy, creative, and informative away messages has taking over instant message users. With messages becoming so interesting, the practice of gliding your mouse down your buddy list and reading all the away messages of your friends has been a useful procrastination tool.

Could the use of an away message be considered a form of media? Surely it’s communicating information to large amounts of people. There is even an instant message screen name that any student can IM or check the away message for that lists all the parties on campus for any given week.

Are You a Good Person?

Click here to find out! --> http://www.candacecameronbure.net/goodpersontest/

Funny story actually, my friends and I were googling people from our favorite 90's sitcom, Full House, on a random Wednesday Night. We got to DJ, the oldest daughther in the Tanner Family, who was played by Candace Cameron. We looked her up, and found that she has grown a lot, and become a lot more religious. Intrigued, I opened her webpage, to find a picture of her family, a story of her journey with Jesus, and a flashing box asking me "Are you a good person? Click here to find out!!" I clicked, and my friends and I playfully began the short quiz. It turns out that the quiz asks you to say if you have or haven't broken any of God's ten commandments. Not only that, but it says that if you have broken any, you are going straight to hell. The following comments and many similar to these are scatterd throughout the quiz:

Who is God to you? Is he only a god of love and mercy who would never judge anyone and never cast anyone into Hell? If that's your god, then you're right. Your god couldn't cast anyone into Hell because he doesn't exist. He's a figment of your imagination.

Have you always honored your parents in a way that's pleasing in the sight of God? Ask Him to remind you of the sins of your youth. You may have forgotten them, but God hasn't.

Have you ever looked at another person with lust?

If you have told even one lie, that makes you a liar. The Bible warns that all liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire.

What non-religious person would ever read these things and say, "Yeah! Christianity sounds awesome, you can barely breathe without breaking a rule and going directly to Hades!" Evangelism has never really appealed to me, because of this thought that everyone should fear God. The people that stand on street corners and intimidate people into believing and judge those that do not are no more Christian than the ones they are "saving." I do not like forcing ideas on others; I do not think it creates much of a lasting effect. When we finished this quiz, we laughed it off and joked about it. It is not going to change the way I practice religion, and to my knowledge , it hasn't changed any of my friends' views either.

Erotic Biblical Calendar

In Nuremberg Germany, a Protestant youth group just released an erotic 2006 calendar with twelve staged photographs depicting scenes from the Bible. Some of the pictures include a nude Eve offering an apple, a topless Delilah cutting Samson’s hair, and the prostitute Rahab posing on a doorstep in stockings and a garter, as she is depicted doing so in both the Old and New Testament. The goal of the calendar was to spark some enthusiasm in a new crowd who probably otherwise would not be so interested: “We wanted to represent the Bible in a different way and to interest young people.” The pastor of the church Bernd Grasser enthusiastically explains the project at www.bibelkalender.de. If I’m the younger generation they’re trying to attract, I’m not sure it is working so well.

A Tale of Two Families

Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas are the biggest holidays for my family. Every goes to my Grandparents house in Ohio, where the same 20 regulars stay, and an odd six who vary every year. The holidays are filled with laughter and joy, catching up with family about who Aunt Linda is marrying now or the new scandal in Amy’s life. Then we eat a huge meal where all the kids sit at one table and all the adults sit at another table, even my 32-year-old cousin sits with my 8-year-old cousin, it’s really quite a sight.
Next, we will go to see a movie and all of the parent will fight over who gets to pay for everyone. We fall asleep with hot chocolate, pillow fights, and sleeping bags, dreaming about a painless following Sunday.
Next morning, we are woken up by my grandmother’s voice, “Up! We have to go to church!”
I look at the clock; it’s 6:30 am, three and a half hours before mass starts. I try to roll over, but my Aunt Mary Ann is in my face, anticipating my every move. I’m dragged out of my sleeping bag and forced to put on a dress, as my hair is dramatically combed into two tight braids. I look back into the room; four of my cousins are still sleeping, smiling in their comfort.
Half of my family is up at daybreak, the other half goes to church at night. A clear divide begins in the family. What could have caused it?
Both my grandmother and my grandfather are widows. My grandfather had three girls and my grandmother had two boys and three girls. They were married when my mother was ten, and a huge family began; however, there was always a clear divide between my grandfather’s kids and my grandmother’s kids. My grandfather was Lutheran. He wanted to raise his children Lutheran so he sent them to Lutheran school and forced them to participate in a Lutheran community. My grandmother was catholic; she wanted the same for her kids. Therefore, even though, the families lived in the same house, they had completely different lives because of their religious beliefs.
I think the different religions have continued the divide in our family today. At my step-cousin’s wedding, my blood cousin and I sat with the organ player at dinner while my step cousins all sat in the middle of the reception. The family reunions remain separated, my step cousins will go to Vermont, and my blood cousins will go to the beach. There is hardly any mingling.
The different communities that religion provides allows a person to remain separated from diversity in a town, school, or even a family. In history, most towns revolved around the church for their community, like my grandparents. As a result, the two religions remain distant from each other and form a wall to form. I’m so relieved I live in a place where you don’t use church or synagogue as the only method for finding a community, now we can all get to know each other despite our religious differences. Maybe if my family did that, it could’ve been different.

Religion: A Community

Going to college has been a major learning experience. It is the first time in your life you are truly treated as an adult. You are independent-all decisions and responsibilities fall on you. As my first semester draws to a close, I can reflect and come to the realization that in approximately three months I have grown a lot as an individual.

A lot of the changes I have experienced have concerned finding my role within a religious community. At home I belong to a conservative temple. At home all my friends belong to a conservative temple. For the first 18 years of my life I never really questioned my decision to identify myself as a conservative Jew.

When I arrived at Penn I had the option of deciding between any of three separate services for Shabbat: reform, conservative, or orthodox. I had a natural desire to attend the conservative services, but most of the friends I had made were reform. That’s when it hit me-I didn’t want to have to pray alone.

I realized how great of a role a sense of community has within religion. I was happy when my temple at home sent me a care package for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) filled with the customary snacks and stories. It was also great getting birthday wishes. I saw the same excitement in my roommate’s face yesterday as she opened up a package filled with a singing Menorah, dreidels, and Hanukkah gelt. And finally, I felt the same way here when the conservative Rabbi invited me over for Shabbat dinner.

Religious? A visual model...

Coming from a Conservative Jewish background, I am expected to go to services every week. Saturday morning if possible, Friday night at the very least. Since I came to Penn, though, I have become extremely unmotivated to go. Saturday mornings are one of my few chances to sleep in, and on Friday nights I always seem to be occupied by something else. When I talk to my family on the phone, they often ask me whether or not I have been going to Hillel. I tell them that I really have not been going very often, and they immediately respond, "Try to go sometime." They are apparently under the impression that the more times I attend services, the "more religious" I will be. They see a "Religious" hierarchy that corresponds to an "Observant" one.

I am beginning to see things differently.

A few days ago my roommate asked me if a friend of ours was an Orthodox Jew. I quickly responded, "No way. She's a Reformed Jew." And then my tongue slipped, and I heard myself say, "I'm Conservative. I'm more religious than she is." I took that remark back immediately after I said it--once I realized that the distinction is not so clear-cut. Being "religious" is more about personal views and beliefs and less about the sect with which a person identifies himself. Regardless of how strictly a sect interprets the laws of a religion, it does not make any single sect more or less religious.

I realized that being religious is not a hierarchy. It is not a direct relationship between one thing and another. The rule is not "If you do this, you are more religious. If you do not do this, you are less so." Instead of being a straight column, the idea of "religiousness" should be a scattered diagram. A person's level cannot be determined by one factor alone, but rather a combination of personal morals, ideas, and thoughts on what constitutes "religious behavior." If a person sees himself as religous, then he is religious because he is adhering to his own rules, his own interpretation of the laws of religion.

There is no way to make a linear representation of this situation. Instead, it should be signified by a scattered graph, showing the presence of numerous factors in the determination of one's religious level. A person is not restricted to just low or high, there are many positions on the graph of religion.

Santa, what's the meaning of Christmas?

Every Christmas season, without fail, I question the commercialization of the holiday, and wonder why the Christian and secular societies have transformed Christmas so much from what it was originally meant to be. And every Christmas season, without fail, I snuggle on the couch with some hot chocolate and sisters or friends, and watch one of my all-time favorite movies, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Whether it’s the cartoon version from 1966 that warms the heart and reminds me of childhood, or the more modern and ultimately funnier version with Jim Carrey, the movie has a great message for us all. Though there is no specific religious aspect, the Who’s society “coincidentally” mirrors ours. They rush to buy the best present, spend hours fixing the perfect roast beast, work tirelessly to put up the most lights in Whoville, and make sure the Christmas tree is decorated just right. It is a competition for them, not a holiday. Little Cindy Lou Who doesn’t know quite what to make of the madness; it seems she is the only one not entirely swept up in it. When the Grinch “ruins” Christmas and steals the presents and trees and feast, he thinks he has destroyed the Who’s down in Whoville. But no, they wake up on Christmas morning, join together, and sing. “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! ‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more.’” This is an idea that everyone today, Christian or not, could take to heart. What would happen if we woke up on December 25th and all our gifts had simply disappeared? What if we didn’t stress for hours about buying the best present ever? What if we spent time with loved ones and gave to those who really needed it? What if, this holiday season, we helped someone whose heart is two sizes too small, instead of thinking of ourselves first? Just a thought.

Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!

Most people around campus know that the new Harry Potter movie opened last week on Friday, but few students know that just two days prior, Harry and the Potters, the HP pseudo-religion’s equivalent of Christian rock, were rocking out at the Rotunda to an audience of Potter fans and curious outsiders. I was a member of the latter group. I’m not a big Harry Potter fan (I lost interest around the fourth book), but my girlfriend is, and I was told that if I didn’t take go to the show and take a hundred pictures, I would soon find myself without a girlfriend. Not desiring this outcome, I went to the show without knowing quite what to expect.

The band consists of two members, Joe and Paul, who go by the stage names “Harry Potter” and, well— “Harry Potter.” The two Harrys don the typical Potter costume, thick-rimmed glasses and all, and perform songs about the events and characters in the popular book series. Although the closely resemble the Harry of the movies, they don’t act like him, rather, the Potter they personify speaks with a nasally voice in a Midwestern accent and is far more inept at conversing than the one from the movies. He’s a true nerd, representing the common American interpretation of the book character, and he resonated well with the audience that night. Unlike the movies, where Potter’s plight, personality, and heroics charm the audience, we loved the stage Potters for their nerdy qualities as well as their spot-on sense of fun.

After spending $24 dollars on merchandise (or, in my case, girlfriend-insurance), I joined my friends from the Quad to watch the Potters bounce along to the beats they brought along on their iPod, which they hooked up to speakers in lieu of a backup band. Sometimes they played their own instruments, but their electronic accompaniment was present for every tuned they played. The opened with a crowd favorite, “Voldemort Can’t Stop the Rock,” where they danced through the audience, who jumped up and down to greet their stars. Throughout the entire show, we were transfixed. This is the joy of going to small shows: the music is usually enjoyable and sometimes very good, you don’t have to spend a lot to get a spot where you can touch the musicians (just arrive a little early), and half the audience stays for autographs, which takes just under half an hour.

No, I haven’t been inspired to pick up the fifth book. But I am determined to see more music around Philly. For more information on Harry and the Potters, check them out at http://www.eskimolabs.com/hp/.

Having Faith in Friends

Last weekend when I saw the movie "RENT" I kept thinking about the lack of religion in a movie with so much faith. Of course there are some references to Jesus, as part of the movie takes place on Christmas Eve, and Mark mentions how a rabbi's daughter taught him to dance at his Bar Mitzvah. However, more importantly is the underlying theme of having faith in others.

The movie (and play) follows a group of eight friends over the course of a year. We learn about their loves and losses and the compassion for each other. The group is made up of men and women from different races, backgrounds and sexual orientations. Four of them have AIDS and many have drug addictions. They are from all walks of life, but together they form a support group for one another. They are all loyal and encouraging. When Mimi drops out of drug rehab her friends seach all over the city hoping to find and rescue her. Mimi, Angel, Collins and Roger attend a support group for AIDS patients and Mark often goes with them merely for moral support (and to work on his documentary). They all have faith in each other based on love, trust and friendship. It is their friends who ultimately save them. They do not need any form of religion to bind them together--they just need each other. In fact, when one of the characters dies, even though the funeral is held in a church, there is no specific clergy present and no religions or spiritual concerns are addressed.

Rent shows us that people can have faith in others, and in themselves, without being an active member of a religious group. What is important for these people is that they have faith in one another and have their friends to depend on, not any sort of spiritual leader or higher being.