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.

Filed under: Christianity | No Comments »

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?

Filed under: Hinduism, Sikhism | No Comments »

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: 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 | No Comments »

Is the Bible being made in man’s image?

In India, the answer is yes.

A so-called “Indianized” version of the Bible is selling rapidly in India. Over 15,000 copies were sold in just the first ten days after its release in Mumbai, India, according to Indian Internet Service Sify.com.

This version of the Bible features Biblical characters in Indian garb. Plus it includes references to Indian mythology and ideas from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.

Filed under: Christianity | No Comments »

Chad Hardy created a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries.

On July 13, he was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the LDS church of Mormons), according to Religion News Service.

Hardy had sought to show people that there were many sides to Mormons by showing actual shirtless Mormon missionaries. He himself was once a missionary. But the church felt his actions needed the severest reprimand in order to bring about his repentance.

Though Hardy could appeal the decision, he doesn’t plan to.

Visit Hardy’s Web site to find the calendar that sold 10,000 copies in one year and for news about the upcoming 2009 calendar.

Then find out more about excommunication in the Mormon church.

Knowing what you now know about excommunication and Hardy, do you think the local church’s decision was a good one?

Filed under: Christianity, Mormonism, Religion and Ethics, Sects | 1 Comment »

The Dalai Lama is aging.

At 73 years old, it seems as though he is preparing for what might happen after his death someday. And while typically a successor would be discovered (through recognition that a baby is his reincarnation), it appears he may be placing others in leadership roles in preparation.

Often considered the second in line for Tibetan Buddhists, the Panchen Lama is now 17. But he was kidnapped by the Chinese government as a young child and the Chinese government recognizes their own candidate for Panchen Lama – not the 17-year-old the Tibetan Buddhists recognize.

Nonetheless, with the Panchen Lama on house arrest, another high ranking Tibetan Buddhist leader is making headlines. He is the Karmapa Lama.

In Buddhism, there are four schools of thought (much like schools in Islam or denominations in Christianity). The Dalai Lama leads the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism; the Karmapa Lama leads the Kagyu school. He is considered the embodiment of Buddhist wisdom, and many believe he was reincarnated in a line of Karmapa Lamas in order to bring his wisdom to the current world.

And though he had to dramatically escape China, the Chinese government does recognize the current Karmapa Lama.

With his wisdom and recognition, the 23-year-old Karmapa – whose real name is Ugyen Trinley Dorje —  is garnering attention as an international voice of Buddhism. Some think the Dalai Lama may be prepping him to take his place as the notable Buddhist voice in the world.

Click here to watch or read an interview with the Karmapa Lama. 

Filed under: Buddhism, Religion and Politics | 2 Comments »

A church in Oklahoma was planning to give away a gun to encourage teens to attend their weekend youth conference. That plan has now been cancelled.

A spokesman for Windsor Hills Baptist told Oklahoma’s Channel 5 News that it was planning to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle, just as they did at last year’s conference (which also included a shooting competition). The idea initially was for teens to get together and enjoy a good time, then to subsequently find the Christian faith.

But the church’s head pastor will not be able to attend the event this year. So the youth pastor removed it from the church Web site.

They’ll give the gun away at next year’s conference.

What do you think? Is a gun giveaway appropriate at a youth conference? Is it appropriate for a religious event? Is it different for any specific cultures, regions, or religions?

Filed under: Christianity, Protestantism, Religion and Ethics | No Comments »

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

This is the beginning of the “Serenity Prayer,” an oft-quoted prayer that appears on everything from pillows and mugs to Alcoholics Anonymous literature. It has long been thought that the prayer was composed in the 1940s by Reinhold Niebuhr (d. 1971), a Protestant preacher and popular Christian thinker.

But Fred R. Shapiro, a Yale law librarian, seeks to change this thought. According to the New York Times News Service, Shapiro has found newspaper clippings dating back to 1936 that quote the prayer, with those who quote it saying they don’t know where it came from – a poem, perhaps?

If Shapiro is right, then the prayer was around before Reinhold Niebuhr used it in a sermon and published it widely. Maybe he just used it from memory without realizing he hadn’t written it, Shapiro suggests.

When Shapiro’s article about his findings appears in Yale Alumni Magazine next month, Niebuhr’s own daughter Elisabeth Sifton will rebut.

Sifton says if the prayer was used in the 30s, it’s because Niebuhr’s ideas were spreading quickly and reached other people who didn’t know he had written it.

For more pieces on or by Niebuhr, click here.

Filed under: Christianity, Protestantism, Religion and Law | 2 Comments »

Prisons run by the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia are teaching Islamists they have a distorted view of Islam, according to a recent article from BBC News.

The prison offers a relaxed environment where prisoners (many who follow the ideas and beliefs of al-Qaeda) are allowed to swim, play tennis, make art, and so forth. In exchange, they take classes to learn about the ways al-Qaeda has distorted Islam to achieve its own ends.

When prisoners’ sentences are over, the government helps them pay for weddings and even furnishes them with household goods and cars. The government claims it is a great way to fight ideas with ideas and rehabilitate former offenders.

What is an Islamist?

Islamism is an extreme form of Islam where practitioners combine the Muslim religion with ideologies about their political system. One on end of the spectrum, Islamists appear to be much like other religions that claim to have returned to the core beliefs and original intent of the religion. On the other end, Islamists appear to be militant, ultra-conservative, and strict.

Examples of Islamists (from all ends of the spectrum) include the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, and the Saudi Wahhabis.

Filed under: Islam, Religion and Law, Religion and Politics | No Comments »