Here is a quick backgrounder on Sikhism:

The major players: 10 gurus, teachers who passed the torch onto one another until the tenth guru told Sikhs to follow the eternal guru one year on Baisakhi Day. The first guru was Guru Nanak Dev whose life and preaching resulted in the founding of Sikhism.
The major scripture: Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the eternal guru, a collection of the teachings of the ten gurus and writers from other religions. It is the so-called “head” of the Sikh religion, though Sikhs do not worship the book as an idol.
The major tenets: There is only one God, he cannot take human form, one should devote oneself daily to remembering God, one should reject rituals (such as fasting, yoga, and pilgrimages) as one should focus more on good conduct and right mind than things connected to the world
The goal: To break the cycle of death and rebirth and merge with God
Encouraged practices: Meditation, following the teachings of the gurus, service, and charity
The social connection: Equality for all sexes, races, castes, and creeds; social responsibility and community service emphasized

Learn more about Sikhism.

1. My student won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem. Isn’t this unpatriotic?

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that actions such as saluting the flag, singing the national anthem, and saying the Pledge of Allegiance give reverence to one’s country, instead of God. To the Jehovah’s Witness, patriotism is a form of idolatry to be avoided.

How to respond: Your student may ask to sit during the pledge, stand quietly, or even be dismissed from the classroom. You may not agree with her beliefs, but you can respect them by allowing her to take part (or sit in the hallway) as her conscience permits.

2. Can my student participate in a holiday celebration?

Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays or holidays (including Christmas) because they believe holidays originated as pagan festivities and put the focus on humans instead of God.

How to respond: Do not automatically plan a birthday celebration for your Jehovah’s Witness student. If you are planning any sort of birthday or holiday celebration to be held during class, pull him aside ahead of time and ask whether he would be allowed to attend. If not, make arrangements for him to be elsewhere during the celebration. Be sure to give him a fun activity to do in the other room (not homework) since your other students will be doing something fun.

If you are holding a holiday celebration that’s intended to teach a student about a culture (such as Mexico’s Day of the Dead), give your Jehovah’s Witness student instruction and classroom materials that will help him understand what that holiday means to the culture…but don’t require him to participate in the celebration.

3. Will my student try to convert people in school?

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus sent followers out to share his message. Children often accompany adults on missionary activities. The steps that are believed to lead to conversion include passing out literature at homes but do not include passing out materials in schools. That said, students may be excited to share their beliefs just as any student from another religion might want to tell others what he believes.

How to respond: For the most part, if a student wishes to pass out evangelistic materials to her classmates, public school districts can’t prohibit them from doing so. However, they can place restrictions on when and where those materials are distributed. If you have concerns, talk to your administrators.

To learn more about what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe and how you might respond, visit their official website or this BBC site.

Created by Religion Transcends, 2011.

The event was moderated by Art Norman, anchor at NBC5 Chicago and included three panelists:

• Manya Brachear, religion reporter for the Chicago Tribune
• Odette Yousef, reporter for WBEZ (Chicago public radio)
• Kevin Eckstrom, editor-in-chief of Religion News Service

Watch this video to hear the panelists answer a student’s question:

“How do you balance fact and faith when reporting religion?”

Created by Religion Transcends, 2011.

…horror flicks, people on the train wearing Scream masks…and then there was that house down the street with fake body parts attached to the fence. Yep, apparently we have death on the brain. But scarier than the kind of slasher films that seem sort of unbelievable, are those bumps in the night that make us pause and question what’s real and what’s perhaps a figment of our imagination: ghosts, apparitions, demons…

What are demons?

“Demons” are defined as evil spirits or, if you trace the original meaning, higher beings from the Devil’s realm. Demons are thought to be able to take hold of or possess people. And, according to Catholic thought, those demons can be exorcised out of human beings. The act of driving demons out is mentioned several times in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Perhaps the best known of these is the story of Legion in Mark 5:

¹ They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.² When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. ³ This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. ⁴ For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. ⁷ He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” ⁸ For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”⁹ Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.¹¹ A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹² The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” ¹³ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.¹⁴ Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵ When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶

Mayan religion and astronomy

Much of the Mayan religion is based on astrology and astronomy–the Mayans’ understanding of how they were to relate to the sun, moon, stars, earth, and universe. This understanding is illustrated in pictures of the Mayan Tree of Life, thought to stand between the cosmos above and the underworld below. This particular picture also shows why several Mayan structures are built in the shape of a pyramid: The sun (worshipped as a god) also followed a path around the Tree of Life. It rose up on one side of the earth, made its way through the heavens/cosmos along the eliptic, dove to the other side of the earth, and then descended into the underworld overnight before rising again the next morning.

Exclusive video: The Mayan god, Huracan

During a recent trip to Tulum (Mayan ruins in Mexico), we captured this video of a local Mayan tour guide. Watch to hear the story of the Mayan god Huracan:

Learn more about the Mayan religion here.

Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2011.

A new Barna Group study found that 93% of church-attending Christians are concerned about global poverty and 20% of practicing American Protestants have traveled outside of the United States to serve the global poor. But what’s really striking is the info they gathered about young adults:

Younger Christians, those under 40, are more than twice as likely to have traveled outside the U.S. to serve the global poor.

Younger Christians give 50% more than older Christians toward the cause of global poverty.

45% of younger Christians believe their churches should be more involved in helping the poor…and 37% said they would donate more to their church if their church increased its involvement.

Do your religious beliefs affect your concerns about poverty? Are you doing anything to eradicate hunger?

Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2011

Ever mistaken a Sikh for a Muslim?

Want to know why Sikhs traditionally do not cut their hair?

RT writer Jackie Walker Gibson recently wrote a post for Teaching Tolerance (a mag and website for teachers) describing certain Sikh traditions that could lead to discrimination in schools. The post is intended to educate teachers on Sikhism so that they can demonstrate understanding in the classroom.

Check out the full post at TeachingTolerance.org.

Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2011

“A 9/11 Reflection and Call to Action”
By Jackie Walker, Religion Transcends
September 11, 2009

September 11 was personal.

A national tragedy in the United States, September 11 also represented a world-wide awakening. It demonstrated that terrorism and religious rhetoric were not relegated only to specific pockets of the world or particular sects. Terrorism, particularly terrorism that employs the name of God, offends us all.

The events of September 11 resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, a direct offense to family and friends of the victims. But those same events also offended the entire population of religious adherents throughout the world. Attackers hijacked the name of God and used it for horrific purposes. Their acts claimed the name of love and used it for hate. They took the sacred and made it profane. Such blatant abuse of sacred texts and religious symbolism certainly offends each and every one of us who respect and uphold the world’s religions.

Yet God (Brahman, Allah, the invisible unifying substance) has a way of taking evil and squeezing the good out of it. Thanks to September 11, university religion programs have grown exponentially. More and more students seek to learn about other religions to banish their own stereotypes and support coexistence. I was one of those students in 2001 who watched the Twin Towers fall on a TV screen and quickly switched majors to religious studies. Innocence shattered, it seemed time to dust ourselves off and figure out how we could live in a world where terrorism in the name of religion was ever-increasing.

It was and is time to demonstrate that religious understanding is necessary and that anything that thwarts a more peaceful coexistence is unacceptable. The first step toward such peace is education. Borrowing from the words of Charles Kimball in his book When Religion Becomes Evil (HarperOne, 2002):

“The more effective we are at identifying dangerous patterns of corrupted religion, the more likely people of goodwill can avert disaster inspired or justified by religion. Whether or not one believes that religion itself is the problem, the diverse religious traditions will continue to be a powerful fact of life in our increasingly interdependent world community. Whatever philosophical or theological explanation one may hold for the evil things that happen, approaching the future passively is unacceptable. In the aftermath of September 11, it is incumbent on all of us to educate ourselves about religious attitudes and behaviors that lead to widespread suffering.”

Let’s honor the victims of 9/11 by doing our part to learn more about the people around us and to work together to eradicate hate.

More resources for understanding religious violence:

• When Religion Becomes Evil by Charles Kimball
• Terror in the Mind of God by Mark Juergensmeyer

Use the links at the left to find more information on particular religions, then check out these sites:

• Religion Transcends
• BBC – Religion
• Religious Tolerance
• Religion News Service

Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2011

According to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, fewer than half of Americans can match the Dalai Lama to his religion. If you’re one of them use these tools to get familiar:

• View this old post from Religion Transcends that explains his political/religious position.
• Click here for the religion overview about Buddhism (from the top navigation).
• Hear it from him – visit his web page.

See you over at @religionblogger this afternoon!

The recent spate of violence stems from years of tensions resulting from the mash-up of two groups: Coptic Christians and Wahhabi Muslims. Watch this video from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly to learn about these recent tensions.

Some definitions to know before you watch this video…

Who are the Coptic Christians?

Nowadays, this term refers to Egyptian Christians (including those who first came to the region in the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries), particularly members of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The term “Desert Fathers” refers to Christians of the desert in Egypt around the 3^rd century. They became the first real monastic community, leading the way for present-day monks and nuns. As Egypt has changed from a mostly Christian country to a mostly Muslim country, the freedom and acceptance of Copts in Egypt has waned.

What is Wahhabi?

Wahhabism is a branch of Sunni Islam named after Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. (Click here to learn the difference between Sunni and Shi’ite.) It is prominent in Saudi Arabia, though often viewed as an extremist branch of Islam. Learn more about Wahhabism from PBS.

Created by Religion Transcends, 2011