A Touchy Subject
Hey, at least I waited until after Christmas
12/26/2001
Over the past few weeks, we’ve discussed a wide range of topics in the message boards. The topics have ranged from sex, to religion, to political ideologies and police protocol. Many of the topics we’ve covered are topics banned in most taverns because of the volatility of them, but we’ve managed to handle it without resorting to too much name calling. Divergence of opinion is a luxury that comes with true freedom, however, it is my belief (which will soon seem like an ironic choice of words) that there is one opinion where this community is sorely lacking in adequate divergence.
In general, there is no true diversity of thought where the issue of religious belief stands in our neighborhoods. In my experience, most people in this town have glommed onto a communal group-think when it comes to all things metaphysical. While there are Wiccans and free-thinkers, and Buddhists and Muslims living amongst us, they tend to keep their true beliefs shrouded from public scrutiny, while the Christian elite brandish their crosses and fish shaped bumper decals with happy and blissful indiscretion.
Now, I’m not saying that the Christians should have to hide their philosophies. Bible thumping is a valid and rightfully respected form of self expression. What I am saying, is that if your neighbor feels uncomfortable about joining in on a group prayer to the Messiah of St. Paul then he should not be asked to participate in such a way that seems designed to make him feel like a pariah for his refusal.
In fairness, I don’t think most of the citizenry realize when they are ostracizing somebody with their religiousness. So allow me to offer up a brief four-point test.
1- Have you ever been talking with a neighbor who you did not know well enough to ask them if they were Christian, but when they mentioned that they were in good health you said to them, “Thank God for that?”
2- Have you welcomed somebody to your neighborhood, and told them how convenient the neighborhood was because it’s so close to all of the different churches? (There are no synagogues or mosques in Toronto, you know)
3- Have you ever thanked somebody for donating to a charity for which you were collecting by saying, “God bless you?” For that matter, what do you say when a stranger sneezes?
4- Would you feel uncomfortable being invited to a neighbor’s house to fill a seat in shiva, but you’d have no problem being a pall bearer if you were needed?
If you said yes to more than one of these questions, then you are human. No big deal. But it should make you think. Are you really sensitive enough to the issue of religious freedom. Many people feel that we should teach creation in school, that the ten commandments should be posted on the walls, that classes should begin with prayer. They feel that the removal of these things was some kind of an attack on God. I’m here to tell you that if that’s how you see it, then you are simply missing the point.
Besides, in this community, none of those things are truly absent. Not in the way that I and others like me feel they should be. Assemblies still begin with a bible verse and the Lord’s prayer. The sport’s teams gather for a team prayer before beginning play. I was recently in Stanton Middle School and saw a teacher-made sign telling the children to remember the victims of 9-11 in their prayers. Hymns of a particularly Christian nature are sung in most of the schools at Christmas time, and in other season’s Handel’s Messiah is a staple of the sundry choirs in the public school system.
None of our children make dreidel’s in art class. Our choir’s will never sing a maha-mantra on the risers before a PTO meeting. None will ever read from the Bhagavad-gita or Qur’an before kneeling toward Mecca to lead the class in a synchronized chant before the mother’s tea assembly. And this is all fine. Most of our children are not Krishnas or Muslims or Jews. Why should they be asked to partake in these barbarous practices? Many of us would just as soon allow them to bathe themselves in chicken’s blood. (Which – by the way – is a practice of a pseudo-Christian religion in the Caribbean.)
The point is not that Christians should be stifled in their religious expression. The point is that nobody else should be either, and when Christianity is forced down our collective throat, it make’s some of us have a reaction in the gag reflex.
Besides, most Christians don’t even know what their religious history is. And they know nothing of other religions. How can anybody claim to be making an informed decision about what they believe, if they don’t even know – let alone consider – the options.
Here’s another test:
To what religions do the following statements belong? The answers are either A-Christianity B-Islam C-Judaism D-Hindu E-Paganism (in a broad sense)
1- If a child’s parent’s believe contrary to holy writings then the child should disown the parents
2- Any harm that you bring to another shall be revisited upon you three times over
3- The entirety of the holiest of holy books came strictly from the creator verbatim
4- All things are intertwined so that to hurt your neighbor is to hurt yourself and God since God and you and your neighbor are one
5- All things are pre-determined. Nothing happens that was not known first by God at the moment of creation.
Each answer fits only one statement best. Can you arrange them in order? If not, why not?
Scroll down for the answers.
Answers
1=A 2=E 3=C 4=D 5=B
1- If a child’s parent’s believe contrary to holy writings then the child should disown the parents
Matthew 10:32-40.
2- Any harm that you bring to another shall be revisited upon you three times over
This is known simply as the Wiccan Reed. It is the fundamental principal of modern Pagans.
3- The entirety of the holiest of holy books came strictly from the creator verbatim
There are thirteen foundations of Jewish belief. The eighth, as written by Maimonides says, “the Torah is from Heaven. This means that we must believe that this entire Torah, which was given to us from Moshe (Moses) Our Teacher, may he rest in peace, is entirely from the mouth of the Almighty.”
4- All things are intertwined so that to hurt your neighbor is to hurt yourself and God since God and you and your neighbor are one
In Hinduism this is called the Brahman which is an impersonal oneness. It is also known as the philosophy of monism.
5- All things are pre-determined. Nothing happens that was not known first by God at the moment of creation
Fatalism. It’s the fifth article of Islam’s six articles of faith. While it was also a belief in early Christianity, it was abandoned for the philosophy of free will which most Christians religions accept and proport today.
