This past Sunday morning, children at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, began their production of the musical Annie.

Moments later, a gunman fired on the congregation with a shotgun, killing two and wounding several others. The gunman was Jim Adkisson, a 58-year-old unemployed trucker who has a history of abuse and alcohol charges — and whose wife was a former member of the church.

Adkisson left a four-page note in his car in the church parking lot explaining that he hated the liberal movement, upheld by the Tennessee Valley church’s stance on gay rights, women’s rights, and so forth. He is now being charged with at least one count of murder and is being held on $1 million bond, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, the church is beginning to offer counseling to those affected by the shootings.

What is Unitarian Universalism?

According to the Unitarian Universalist Association Web site, “Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion with Jewish-Christian roots. It has no creed. It affirms the worth of human beings, advocates freedom of belief and the search for advancing truth, and tries to provide a warm, open, supportive community for people who believe that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion.”

Unitarian Universalism is a result of the merger between the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church in 1961. At the time, the church traced its roots to Judeo-Christian traditions and most closely identified with liberal Christianity. But since the merge, the church has become so diverse that it no longer identifies with any one religion and is instead considered a completely separate religious tradition.

While they don’t require adherence to any specific set of beliefs, Unitarian Universalists traditionally

·         believe that God is one (it is thus considered a monotheistic religion but, unlike most Christian denominations, it does not include belief in the Trinity);

·         believe all people will go to heaven; and

·         incorporate ideas and teachings from a variety of sources, including philosophical thinkers, religious figures, and sacred Judeo-Christian texts.

Unitarian Universalists began passing resolutions supporting gay rights in 1970 and remains open to a number of people, movements, and ideas often considered liberal.

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The high court in Great Britain will soon review its open-air cremation laws, according to the Calcutta Telegraph.

Traditionally, when Hindus and Sikhs pass away, they are cremated and their ashes are released into rivers in India. In Hinduism, open-air funeral pyres (which allow for cremation of the dead on platforms out in the open) allow deceased Hindus to be reincarnated in a peaceful manner. Fire is the necessary element for creating the transition from the physical world to the spiritual world.

Hindus in the UK sought to challenge the government’s prohibition of open-air cremation last year, petitioning to maintain their religious traditions. But they lost. Then this April, when a Hindu requested that he be cremated in that manner upon his death,  the high court again opened discussions of the prohibition. They are now gearing up to make a decision.

Many UK Hindus argue that the open-air tradition doesn’t hurt anyone and doesn’t endanger public health. What do you think? Should this religious tradition be allowed? Is it necessary?

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Religion Transcends writer Jackie Walker has contributed a guest blog post to Messianic Jewish Musings, a blog run by Rabbi Derek Leman of Atlanta, Georgia.

Read “Kosher Meals Denied to Messianic Prisoners” here.

Visit Messianic Jewish Musings here.

And watch for a guest posting from Rabbi Derek Leman on Religion Transcends this August.

Filed under: GUEST POSTS, Judaism, Rabbi Derek Leman | No Comments »

Is Hollywood distoring Kabbalah?

According to Rabbi Allan Nadler, the answer is yes.

Rabbi Nadler is a professor of religious studies and director of the program in Jewish Studies at Drew University in Madison, NJ. He recently wrote an editorial for the New York Post about the Hollywood version of Kabbalah and how it distorts and abuses the canon of Jewish mystical teachings.

What is Kabbalah?

Kabbalah is the Jewish form of mysticism. You can find an excellent explanation of the original teachings of Kabbalah here.

What is mysticism?

According to Dictionary.com, mysticism is

a.     Immediate consciousness of the transcendent or ultimate reality or God.

b.    The experience of such communion as described by mystics.

In other words, mysticism involves the practice/seeking of a connection with God or ultimate reality through actual experience – whether that’s physical experience or some sort of mental experience like intuition. Mystics often achieve this connection through meditation which exists in many forms for many religions: prayer or meditation for Christians, meditation or chanting for Buddhists, dancing for Sufi Muslims (see whirling dervishes), and so forth. 

A list of common mystic traditions includes kabbalah (Judaism), Sufism (Islam), Christian mysticism (often practiced by monks and nuns), and yoga (Hinduism).

What do you think?

Is Hollywood distorting Kabbalah?

Filed under: Judaism | 1 Comment »