Here’s one to think about…

According to the AP, “The Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy team could be headed for a regional championship on Saturday, March 8, if it wins one more game. But the Denver team’s religious beliefs prohibit students from playing on the Jewish Sabbath between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday.” The state’s high school athletic association refused to change the date of the regional game. So if they make it into the regionals and refrain from playing on the Sabbath, they will have to forfeit the game.

That is, unless the state senate can change the association’s minds. Lawmakers argued that the athletic association does not allow games to be played on Sundays, the Christian Sabbath, so it should not allow games to be played on the Jewish Sabbath. The association’s excuse? Sunday is just a traditional day of rest in the United States; its rules against playing on Sundays have nothing to do with the Christian Sabbath.

What do you think? Should the association change its rules to accommodate various religious holidays from multiple religions? Is Sunday a traditional day of rest for Americans or is it recognized because of the Christian Sabbath?

**Kudos to my roommate for finding this story.

Filed under: Judaism, Religion and Law | No Comments »

Should you stay or should you go?

When it comes to growing up in a religious tradition, it seems more and more people are choosing to leave that tradition when they grow up.

According to the Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life with 35,000 respondents, 28 percent of Americans leave religion behind, and another 44 percent change their religious affiliation in adulthood, switching to a different religious tradition. Who leaves the most? It seems Catholicism sees the most turnover in the United States, with many Catholics switching to Protestantism. (For those of you confused by those terms, if you identify yourself as a Christian, you may further identify yourself as either part of the Catholic Church or part of a number of Protestant churches, the umbrella term for all other Christian denominations like Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and so on.) Some sociologists suggest that Catholics are more likely to admit they haven’t been practicing their faith than Protestants (consider the widely used term “practicing Catholic” and the lack of the use of “practicing Protestant”), so it’s possible the results are skewed by respondents’ perceptions of what makes one part of a tradition.

I must admit, I’m surprised by that statistic. Just a few years ago, I interviewed a professor at Indiana University who said 80 percent of people remain in the religion they were born into (see “Finding Faith” in my sampling of published articles). It seemed like it made sense at the time — after all, isn’t it easier to just do what your parents do than to study up on a new religion or try out a tradition that’s unfamiliar? The idea of more and more people leaving the faith they grew up with is surprising and should be a call to action to the nation’s faith traditions to figure out why they aren’t retaining their youth. Is your doctrine sound? Are you both welcoming new members and making old adherants feel accepted and loved? Are you ensuring your youth know your mission and your beliefs? Are you challenging them to dig deep and find out what they believe?

I could blog all day about the many issues brought up in this survey — of course, I won’t put you through that. To see some great graphs the Washington Post made out of the results, go here. The graphs also show how many people are practicing various religions in the United States (did you know 1 in 4 American adults reports not being a part of any particular religion?). Also, if you have some time on your hands and you’d like to read all of the survey results (which include information on interfaith marriage, religious competition, and age and gender stats), go here.

Filed under: Catholicism, Christianity, Protestantism, Statistics | No Comments »

In a recent article in Newsweek titled, “Talking to Kids about God,” Kathleen Deveny said that “even when I agree with the church, I’ve discovered I’m just not that comfortable discussing the mysteries of faith” when it came to her children. She explained that oftentimes she wasn’t able to come up with answers to questions like, “Does God have arms?” But even more than that, she said she didn’t want a spiritual emphasis in her daughter’s Sunday School class. It almost sounds like she doesn’t want her child to talk about God at all because she’s not comfortable with it.

Should we be telling our kids about God? Should we be offering explanations to them about the 10 Commandments or what the Quran says about His power or about the covenants he made with the Jews? Or should we run from those discussions because we don’t have all the answers?

More importantly, should we encourage children to seek out answers on their own? If a child is wondering about God, should we encourage them to look into it? Is it like when a child asks the meaning of a word and we say, “Go get a dictionary”? Should we have all the answers for them first? As Deveny said, “Come Ash Wednesday, I will be prepared to explain the dirty smudge on my head. Because I Googled it.” Or should we not be encouraging them to explore any religion at all? Should they not even know what the person next to them in class believes?

What do you think?

Filed under: Catholicism, Christianity, Protestantism | No Comments »

My sincerest apologies for missing the Chinese New Year on February 7. (I know, it’s February 18 now. But if this were 2007, it would have been today. You know how hard it is to remember it’s 2008 this early in the year!)

Just a day after Christians acknowledged Ash Wednesday, Chinese religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism) and those Chinese of no particular religion celebrated the start of a new year. Check out a succinct rundown of the day and the celebrations here.

BBC also created a great photo feature containing pictures of various celebrations throughout the world.

Here’s wishing you a happy new year!

Filed under: Buddhism, Confucianism, Holidays, Taoism | No Comments »

On January 27, 2008, Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley died at the age of 97.

Yesterday, the Church of Latter-Day Saints (nicknamed the “Mormon Church”) named Thomas S. Monson, 80, as the new president. Monson will be the 16th president and will remain in his office until his death, as is expected of all LDS Church presidents. He takes over at a time when Mormons seem to be getting more press than usual (with Mitt Romney’s candidacy in the presidential race) and when the LDS Church seems to be growing rapidly.

Mormon presidents have a lot of “say” and a lot of power over adherants. They are considered prophets and thus have the ability to change church laws and direct LDS beliefs. In the past, presidents have outlawed polygamy and allowed African Americans into the church. They have also published a number of revelations directing the belief system of followers.

To learn more about Mormons, check out one of my previous posts explaining the religion here, and watch for my upcoming article about the LDS Church in the winter issue of Relate magazine.

(Pictured above: Monson, at the time he was a first counselor to Hinckley; Hinckley, center, during his presidency; James Faust, right, the second counselor to Hinckley)

Filed under: Christianity, Mormonism | No Comments »