If you follow the LDS Church in the media, you may have heard a number of myths:

Blacks can’t be Mormons.

Blacks can’t participate in the Mormon priesthood.

Mormons are all racist.

Some are true. Some were true. Some are quite false.

Fair LDS has a great explanation of the history of the black race in the Mormon Church.

It’s true that Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) wouldn’t allow black members to join the priesthood. But that’s no longer the policy. The original policy, enacted by Brigham Young in 1852, was based on Biblical passages. The Church used those passages to claim that God had set aside the lineage of Cain (yes, Cain and Abel) as a cursed race — purportedly the black race.

Eventually the Church admitted that there is no such cursed lineage in the Bible – just cursed individuals, like Cain himself. The Bible does mention that Cain’s lineage became black, but it doesn’t say why. And it’s certainly not directly connected to Cain’s behavior. The Church reversed its  policies in 1978 under then-president Spencer Kimball.

The author of the Fair LDS article explains that keeping blacks out of the priesthood was, quite simply, racist and unnecessary. It would be wrong to generalize and claim that all Mormons are racist. In fact, founder Joseph Smith did not see reason to keep any specific races out of the priesthood.

Unsatisfied? Still think Mormons are racist as a group? Check out the Q&A section of the article for the Fair LDS response. It’s really quite interesting. It doesn’t excuse it. But it explains it away.

Want more? Their store has a DVD documentary about black Mormons.

Learn more about Mormons on Religion Transcends.

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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Some churches around the world have moved toward online giving – church attendees can go online, tithe a certain amount of money, and have that money pulled directly from their bank accounts or credit cards. It’s especially popular with parachurches, where one megachurch is at the center and satellite churches watch the services on television. And while the trend has made giving easier for some, Ministry Today reports that “many Christians remain hesitant to use a method they believe is susceptible to fraud, theft, and error.”

The magazine claims online giving is secure and makes it easier to make recurring gifts to a church. This is also helpful for church leaders – if they know member X will be giving $50 a month, they can plan ahead for how to use those funds.

On the other hand, the magazine warns that online giving makes it easy to forget the importance of developing face-to-face relationships with congregants and thanking those people for their gifts to God/the church.

What do you think? Is online giving a scam? Or is it a convenient tool for giving?

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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In 1986, Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama recognized Osel Hita Torres as a reincarnation of another lama – Lama Yeshe who had died two years prior. Many Buddhists worshipped the boy like a god. But now at age 24, Torres is abandoning his faith and speaking out about his unhappy childhood.

Background – What is a lama?

A lama is a Tibetan religious teacher (kind of like a guru). The title can mean someone has authority to teach, is spiritually admirable, or is a reincarnation of a past lama. Torres is the latter. The Dalai Lama himself is in the most famous line of reincarnated lamas. Past lamas tend to socialize together. 

Torres speaks out

Torres claims he was often depressed, separated from his family who have voluntarily given him a monastery as a baby. He was placed on a throne and worshipped there. Torres claims he was only allowed to socialize with other lamas and was not allowed to watch TV or experience a normal childhood. When he turned 18, the Spanish Torres began exploring the world (dancing, kissing, two things he’d never seen) and studying film. He has also rejected the Buddhist religion and spoken out against it.

The Buddhist Channel says Torres’ recent behavior has caused “some embarassment” for Buddhists.

What do you think? Do Buddhists have a right to be embarrassed? Are they just disappointed? Is Torres justified in his denouncement of Buddhism or is he just complaining?

Learn about other lamas on Religion Transcends.

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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The Pew Research Center published results of a prayer survey a few weeks ago. After talking to 35,000 Americans, they determined that the following percentages of members of various religions/denominations pray at least once a day:

OVERALL

60% of Americans say they pray daily

CHRISTIANS

Jehovah’s Witnesses: 89% pray at least once a day

Mormons: 82%

Evangelical Protestant Christians: 78%

Black Protestant Christians: 80%

Orthodox Christians: 60%

Mainline Protestant Christians (Methodists, Lutherans, etc.): 53%

Catholics: 58%

MUSLIMS: 71%

BUDDHISTS:  45%

HINDUS: 62%

JEWS: 26%

See the results in graphic form at the Pew site.

It appears women over the age of 65 are the most likely to pray. People with the least amount of income also seem to pray the most (for money, perhaps?).

Of course, the poll doesn’t explain Pew’s definition of “prayer.” And certain factors come into play (e.g., meditation may be more important than prayer for many Buddhists) that affect the results. So it should be kept in mind that prayer may reflect religiosity but is not an exclusive factor in determining religiosity. What do you think about the results?

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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Scientists have taken a deeper look at the brains of people who claim to have had spiritual experiences connecting them to God. Decide for yourself — is the experience real? Or is it just a chemical experience in the brain?

Check it out at npr.org today.

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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Following is a post from guest blogger, Rabbi Jason Miller. Visit his blog at http://blog.rabbijason.com. 

Tonight begins the festival of Shavuot, the holiday in which the Jewish people celebrate the revelation of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Perhaps, the questions about the revelation of the Torah (when, what, how, if, and to whom) are the questions that divide the Jewish people today more than any other questions. The divisions among the modern denominations of Judaism all stem from the question of how the Torah was revealed to the Jewish people. The way in which individuals in the Jewish community consider the event that occurred at Mt. Sinai several millennia ago has vast implications for their approach to the Jewish faith. The sheer magnitude of that event, however, should force us all to transcend denominational differences and feel the power of community – whichever community we choose.

Never has the spiritual force of revelation affected me more than it did on the early morning of May 31, 1998. I had recently graduated college and was spending Shavuot at a local synagogue, where I served as the youth director. The assistant rabbi decided that the congregation would offer an all-night Tikkun Leil Shavuot (study session) and then a dawn service just before 5:00 in the morning.

It was a memorable night with many opportunities for Torah study with several wonderful teachers including three eighth-grade day school students. With delicious snacks and caffeinated beverages, about thirty of us managed to stay up the entire night. We decided to hold the minyan outdoors in the courtyard so we could enjoy the sunrise while we prayed.

The Torah service that morning took on new meaning for me. The Torah was paraded around and I had the sense that we really were at Sinai claiming what God had lovingly gifted to us. As I stood at the Torah for my aliyah, the sky began to get dark again. The Torah reader pronounced, “On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning…” As the words “thunder” and “lightning” were uttered, a huge thunderstorm ensued. The Torah reader managed to get out a few more words, chanting “…and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.”

At that point, the sky opened up and the heavy rains began. We grabbed the Torah and ran inside where the Torah reading was completed. As I wiped the raindrops from my glasses, I remember thinking that this must be divine revelation. This was the epitome of holiness. This existential experience was full of awe and majesty, thunderclaps, and lightning bolts. Best of all, it was shared with community.

This was a liminal moment in my life. That experience has had a lasting effect on my life in the decade since. Being shaken by the thunder, seeing the lightning, and hearing the words of our Torah convinced me that I really did stand at Sinai. We were all there together. As a community.

That was my revelation. What was revealed to me? The power of community. Was I really at Mt. Sinai several thousand years ago? Maybe not physically there, but with this community, during that early morning storm it was as if I were there. And that is the message of Sinai. A community gathered to receive a gift from God. How that gift is interpreted thousands of years later should not take away from the magic of that moment.

At a time when some segments of the global Jewish community do not recognize other segments as Jewish, let us put aside our denominational differences and hearken back to Sinai. One Torah was given to the entire community. Let us stand again at Sinai with our brothers and sisters, and feel the power of community.

Rabbi Jason Miller was ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2004 where he was the first Gladstein Rabbinic Fellow and also received a Master’s Degree from the William Davidson School of Jewish Education. He is currently the Rabbi of Tamarack Camps, a Jewish camping agency. Additionally, he serves as the director of ATID (Alliance for Teens in Detroit), a Conservative Jewish high school program for teenagers in Metro Detroit, and leads Congregation T’chiyah. He serves on several committees of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and is a board member of JARC, a community-based Jewish residential services agency for individuals with developmental disabilities. He is an alumni of the STAR Foundation’s PEER (Professional Education for Excellence in Rabbis) program, which focuses on spiritual leadership, communication and practical skills for non-profit management. He is also a fellow in CLAL’s Rabbis without Borders fellowship. Rabbi Miller writes and lectures about modern technology’s effect on Jewish life, particularly the impact of the Internet on the global Jewish community. His blog is at http://blog.rabbijason.com; follow him on Twitter.com: @rabbijason.

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

Filed under: GUEST POSTS, Holidays, Judaism, Rabbi Jason Miller | 1 Comment »

Will you lose your PBS station due to religious content?

Public TV stations in the United States are not permitted to air religious programming. So on June 16, PBS (Public Broadcast System) will decide whether to remove its name from stations that broadcast religious services. If a station loses its PBS designation, it would in turn lose PBS-created shows like Sesame Street.

Areas with PBS stations in question include New Orleans; Provo, Utah; and a station in Texas; and stations in two other states.

Learn more about the debate from PBS ombudsman Michael Getler.

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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Recently a woman in France accused the Church of Scientology of conning her out of $30,000. She claims the group convinced her to buy vitamins, thereby acting “illegally as a pharmacy” and conning people. Her trial against the church came to court on Monday.

If guilty, the entire sect would be shut down in France. The church is claiming it is not responsible for its members.

Watch this news video about the case on BBC News. 

Read more about Scientology on Religion Transcends.

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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Pope Benedict XVI is in the Middle East this week. He was supposed to talk about peace and reconciliation. SUPPOSED to…

The Nazi issue

But then, according to CNN, “the pope’s spokesman issued an unsolicited denial that Benedict XVI had ever been a member of the Hitler Youth, only to have to retract that denial within a couple of hours.”

The pope had, indeed, been involuntarily enrolled in Hitler Youth while growing up in Germany. When the issue first came up 10 years ago, the pope claimed he had never actively participated in the group and is anti-Nazi.

But just talking about his enrollment stirred up the public.

Then today, the pope refocused on the peace process, particularly surrounding unrest in the West Bank.

The West Bank issue

The West Bank is an area between Jerusalem and Jordan. Jordan controlled the region for about 2000 years. In 1967, Israel captured it and still maintains a military presence there. Here’s a map.

Palestinians have control of a small portion of the territory, ceded to them by Jordan. Either way, a majority of inhabitants in the West Bank are Palestinians. And many of them want an independent state — separate from Israeli control/occupation.

In 2002, Israel built a wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem (city of Jesus’ birth, in the West Bank). Israel used it for protection against bombings and raids. Palestinians saw it as an illegal wall keeping them out of Jerusalem.

Today, the pope said that wall could be torn down – if Israelis and Palestinians would tear down the walls in their hearts. His speech seemed to throw a line to Palestinians who want to see the wall go. But it also seems to serve as a reminder that the wall can only be removed if peaceful negotiations supercede violence.

So what do you think? Is the pope for or against Israel? Palestine? Neither? Is he on the side of peace?

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends

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