Following the retirement of Protestant John Paul Stevens from the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court will include no Protestants. Elena Kagan, awaiting confirmation to replace Justice Stevens, is Jewish. That puts the count at 6 Catholics and 3 Jews on the court:

Catholic Justices: John G. Roberts, Jr. (chief justice), Anthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor

Jewish Justices: Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan (awaiting confirmation)

Per the U.S. Constitution, religion cannot be a factor in the choice for who will fill a government office. But people certainly think about it. With Kagan in place, the court will no longer have a Protestant voice – a fact some consider scary and others consider hopeful. For those in the latter category, they say it’s great that justices are no longer pigeon-holed into the “woman” or “Jewish” category but are welcomed into the court even if they don’t have a stereotypical role to play. They say it’s exciting that we’ve become diverse enough that we it doesn’t matter whether we have a Protestant in place. Not to mention the Supreme Court existed for almost 50 years before adding a Catholic to the bench and it took another 80 years beyond that to include a Jew.

Those on the other side say the Protestant voice isn’t going to be heard at that level and decisions won’t be made that fit within Protestant values (particularly related to abortion, marriage, etc.). Given that half the United States claims to be Protestant, the lack of a Protestant justice is, at the least, surprising.

The Wall Street Journal speculated as to why more Catholics and Jews than Protestants are becoming justices.

Of course, representation for everyone would be ideal. The court now includes African American and Hispanic justices, women and men, Jews and Christians. But how can we as a nation sit back and question the lack of a Protestant justice when the court is also lacking Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Atheist, LGBT, and Asian-American representation?

Perhaps when it’s time to choose the next justice, we should be considering all genders, all races, and all religions. And for now, we can sit back and be proud of the diversity we have attained so far.

Read biographies of the justices on the Supreme Court site.

Created by Religion Transcends, 2010

Filed under: Catholicism, Christianity, Judaism, Protestantism, Religion and Ethics, Religion and Law, Religion and Politics | No Comments »

In another example of interfaith services, FaithHouse Manhattan in NYC, a multireligious church, is holding interfaith gatherings twice each month. It’s part of a movement called “twinning” in which two or more religious groups get together to worship. The idea is that there are enough similarities that they can focus on those and can understand that all paths lead to God.

This Washington Times article admits that some evangelicals from various religions are not quite accepting of such gatherings, though they are becoming more open to the idea of interfaith dialogue. Perhaps there needs to be a distinction between interfaith foundations/movements/discussions and interfaith churches. It seems likely that more people would agree that talking about peace among religions is important. It seems less likely that evangelicals from all faiths could say “Yes, our religions are all the same and all lead to the same place.”

The goal of interfaith dialogue, interfaith gatherings, and so forth should be to allow each person to freely worship and believe without persecution, discrimination, and other barriers. If (and only if) twinned services can allow this freedom of belief without causing each religion to lose its unique identity or asking religions to ignore central tenets, then perhaps this is another way to transcend hate and work toward understanding.

Would you agree?

Created by Religion Transcends, 2010

Filed under: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism | No Comments »

Talk about diversity.

NorthWood Church, a Baptist congregation in Keller, Texas, recently combined services with the local Jewish temple and an Islamic Center. Over the course of four days, congregants from all three houses of worship met at the Temple Shalom, NorthWood, and the Dallas mosque to hold three separate services highlighting similarities among the religions.

The idea was to create understanding, an opportunity for dialogue, and ultimately cooperation. The pastor admits to receiving criticism about “watering down Christian doctrines” but says each religion does (and should) hold onto its own beliefs as the singular truth. It’s more about the religions opening up to each other to talk about their similarities and differences.

Want the rest of his answer to criticism? Check it out on the Ministry Today site. Religion Transcends applauds this minister’s attempts at love, peace, and understanding. He has transcended criticism and anger and hatred, seeking only to love those around him and to open his doors to them.

Disagree? Think it’s a bad idea?

Created by Religion Transcends, 2010

Filed under: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Protestantism | No Comments »

The following series of winter religious holidays was written by Religion Transcends writer Jackie Walker for the Winter 2009 issue of Relate magazine. Relate’s mission is to inspire teen girls to pursue their dreams with confidence and to teach them to be an example for others in their speech, life, love, faith and purity. Religion overviews may have Christian overtones to make the content relatable for the Christian teen audience.

If you’re putting the finishing touches on a winter wonderland of figgy pudding, jingling bells, and neatly wrapped presents, you’re in good company. Each year, about 93% of Americans celebrate Christmas. That’s more than 9 out of every 10 people in the United States!

Of course, Christmas comes in a variety of packages: Santa and his sleigh, Jesus and his manger, the Grinch and his itty-bitty heart. So just what is the real Christmas story? And what are some of the holy nights that the other 7% of Americans are celebrating this winter?

Set aside those gingerbread cookies and read this holiday list (we checked it twice!).

Judaism

Holiday: Hanukkah

Date: December 12-19

Main Players: The Jewish Temple in Jerusalem

The Story: Compared to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Hanukkah is a less important holiday. But some Jewish families do celebrate it. As history tells, the Jews had a holy temple in Jerusalem. The Greek army seized the temple in 168 BC and destroyed many items like the menorah, a golden candle holder. In 165 BC, after the Jews had cleaned up the temple, they held a dedication ceremony to give some honor back to the building. They looked for oil to light the menorah but found only enough for one day. By some miracle, the oil lasted for eight whole days! The temple was later destroyed in 70 AD; all that remains are fragments like the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. But Jews today remember the night they took the temple back and witnessed the miracle of the oil.

Traditions: Some Jews give presents on Hanukkah, but for the most part Hanukkah involves two traditions:
-Jews light a menorah in their homes. It has 9 candles, one for each night the menorah stayed lit and one candle to light the others. They light one candle each night for eight nights.
-Kids play games like spinning the dreidel. This is a top with four sides that say “Nes, Gimel, Hay, and Shin” which together mean “a great miracle happened there.”

Other installments in this series:
-Buddhism: Bodhi Day
-Christianity: Christmas
-Islam: Ashura
-Hinduism: Vasant Panchami (to come)

Other holidays this winter:
-Islam: Hijra (December 18)
-Wicca: Winter Solstice (December 21)
-Shinto: Gantan-sai (January 1)
-Baha’i: World Religion Day (January 17)
-Buddhism/Confucianism: Chinese New Year (February 14)

Created by Religion Transcends, 2009

Filed under: Holidays, Judaism | No Comments »