Bill's Faith Matters blog

Nov. 30, 2007

A CHRISTMAS OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

Instead of dreaming of the traditional white Christmas, how about if you dream of a green Christmas? The White House and others are.

* * *

REDIRECTING ISLAMIC MILITANTS

As we all know, one of the major religious issues and problems of our day is radical Islam. That is, the people who misuse the ancient and honorable religion of Islam for ideological purposes and who engage in terrorism and other such activities that wound the world.

Saudi Arabia, as we know, has been part of the problem in the sense that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia, as did Osama bin Laden.

The Saudis say they are working to turn around young people there who have wandered off the path. Just recently, in fact, they announced that they have re-educated and released 1,500 extremists who have been prisoners in Saudi jails. These people have repented, they say.

I can only imagine what the Saudi justice system considers to be fair and effective re-education. I'm just glad I don't have to go through whatever it is.

I'm glad that at least there's a public effort to take this problem seriously, but I wonder how effective it is and who is keeping tabs on the people who have "repented" and been released. We all certainly know that the recidivism rate for prisoners in the U.S. is high. And I have no reason to believe it won't be equally high in Saudi Arabia.

I think it will be worth while for all of us to try to keep an eye on all of this and not to get our hopes too high that it's really doing any good, much as we hope it will.

As we watch, continue to note such stories as this one about Saudi officials arresting a bunch more radicals.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here. (My column tomorrow will be about why the theologian Jurgen Moltmann is such a source of hope.)

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Today's religious holiday: St. Andrew's Day (Christianity)

Nov. 29, 2007

HELPING PEOPLE WITH AIDS

As we approach World AIDS Day, Pope Benedict XVI is, quite properly, urging compassion for people afflicted with this terrible disease. Indeed, people of faith everywhere should be responding. One way I've been active in that is through the AIDS Ministry at my church. How about you?

* * *

LEARNING VALUES FROM ANIMALS

Sometimes -- not always, but sometimes -- we can learn how to behave by watching our pets.

I don't mean to make pets seem human, which they're not, or to suggest they aren't driven by some instinctual approaches that place their own survival above other values.

But now and then our pets display an uncanny sort of behavior that gets us thinking about whether we ourselves are making enough effort to live by the values our faith traditions try to teach us.

Take Jake (pictured here next to his friend Allie).

Jake, until one night this week, was a cat belonging to my sister and her husband in North Carolina. It may seem hard to believe, but at his death Jake was 21 and a half years old. And what a cool cat he was.

But here was the thing about Jake: He insisted on friendship with creatures different from himself. Like Allie the dog.

Allie, who is only a few years old, took a little while to get used to Jake's insistence that she be his friend and companion, but Jake was persistent and it worked. When bedtime came, Jake would lead Allie to a warm place in the garage and insist they lie down together, like lion and lamb, for warmth and comfort.

Jake taught Allie that it's OK to love creatures different from yourself. Oh, Jake was no pushover. Jake insisted also on his food when he wanted it and on doing this his own cat way. But he made room for others.

Allie is going to miss Jake, for sure. And so am I. I had hoped he would still be around when I head down there in January for a few days. But all we'll have is a lonely Allie and some photos.

* * *

P.S.: The case of the teacher who faces possible lashing for naming a teddy bear Muhammad is one more public relations disaster for Islam. What's your thought?

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Nov. 28, 2007

A BAD CHRISTMAS TRADITION RETURNS

Speaking of Christmas, as I will be below, once again some poor journalists got assigned to write a story about the cost of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Every year some editor thinks this would be a cute idea and no doubt thinks it's almost an original idea. Does anyone care about this? Well, let me put it this way: Does anyone care less than me?

* * *

A GOOD CHRISTMAS TRADITION RETURNS

No matter what religion we adhere to, we all have favorite holiday traditions -- some of them having precious little to do with the content of the holiday.

But here and there we also develop attachments to traditions that focus explicitly on the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.

One of those traditions in my own life returns this year after a one-year absence that was forced by some construction at my church. An event my congregation calls "Journey to Bethlehem" will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. this Friday and from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday at Second Presbyterian Church at 55th and Brookside in Kansas City, Mo.

I've never had an acting part in this event -- in which people take a journey that finally winds up in a live manger scene -- though one of my daughters once was an angel. But I've taken a number of people through the journey over the years, and it's always different and always moving as it tries to tell the Christmas story using live amateur actors and occasionally live animals.

One year, in fact, a donkey escaped and some of our people were seen chasing it down 55th Street.

I'd be interested in hearing what holiday traditions you enjoy in your own faith community, if any. And have you been to a holiday event in a religious tradition different from your own? If so, what did you learn?

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Today's religious holiday: Ascension of Abdu'l-Baha (Baha'i)

Nov. 27, 2007

SEARCHING FOR PEACE

We all know, I think, that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is at the heart of many relationship problems among Jews, Muslims and Christians. So as the latest  peace conference opens today in the U.S., click here for a pretty good analysis of how things stand from a Council on Foreign Relations writer.

* * *

A TASTE OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP

I'm going to take a bit of a gamble today, but one I think some of you will enjoy. For the rest, well, come back tomorrow.

I'm going to link you to a scholarly paper about the Apostle Paul (who may or may not have looked like this painting of him) delivered recently to the Society of Biblical Literature at its annual meeting in San Diego. It was given by Mark Nanos, a local scholar who teaches at Rockhurst University and the University of Kansas and who writes about Paul from a Jewish perspective. To read much more about -- and by -- Mark, click here for his own Web site. (While you're at Mark's site, by the way, note that he'll be giving three lectures having to do with Paul at Village Presbyterian Church in February.)

I did a longish article about Mark's work a couple of years ago in The Kansas City Star. Nanos is a leader among scholars who in recent years have taken a new look at Paul and have given us quite valuable insights into his thinking and his times in ways that have a lot of implications for Jewish-Christian relations today.

It is silly to try to summarize the work of a careful scholar like Nanos in a few words, but let me at least say this much: He and others are trying to make the point that Paul always saw himself as a Jew, that he was not out to start a new religion (and did not, in fact, start one) and that he believed Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah. Paul, in other words, would always have said he was part of Judaism, though, to be sure, it would be fair to say that there were several different "Judaisms" around in Paul's time. One of those Judaisms would include people, like Paul, who believed the Messiah had come and was, in fact, Jesus.

In the paper to which I've linked you, Nanos is commenting on sections of new books that deal with Paul, and he is taking the authors of those books to task for not understanding all of this new insight about Paul -- that is, for assuming, for instance, that Paul would have understood himself to be a Christian, which is to say a member of a religion separate from Judaism.

Paul's writings often have been used as a warrant for the anti-Judaism that has long infected Christianity, and what Nanos and others are trying to do is to suggest that he has been misread -- and thus misused -- for centuries in this regard. I think the best book on this subject I can recommend for lay people like me is John G. Gager's excellent and quite readable volume, Reinventing Paul.

Well, take a look at Nanos' paper to see the sort of thing biblical scholars talk about with each other and see what you might learn there. I find this stuff fascinating, even though I miss the nuance in some of it and miss everything in some of it.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Nov. 26, 2007

WHY BLAIR KEPT QUIET

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says his faith was vitally important to him while he was in office but he didn't talk about it much because he feared people would think he was a little nuts. Sort of sad to think that might be the general opinion about people of faith in England.

* * *

FINDING RELIGION IN THE FUNNIES

The creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip, the late Charles M. Schulz (pictured here), was born on this date in 1922, and the anniversary gives me a chance to think a little out loud here about the intersection of religion and cartooning.

Perhaps you recall that some years ago -- in 1965, actually -- a young pastor named Robert Short published a book called The Gospel According to Peanuts, in which he used the main characters in Schulz' strip to explain Christianity.

It was a clever thing to do and it made people more sensitive to finding theological meaning in popular culture.

In more recent years several observers have noted that the animated TV show "The Simpsons" is one of the few that takes religion seriously. Click here for more about that. To that list I might also add "South Park," though in a different way. And I say that not as a regular viewer of the show.

At any rate, all of this raises the question of whether you see anything like theology coming through in any of the comic strips you read today. If so, which? And what are they saying to you? I'll begin by admitting I'm a real "Zippy" fan and by suggesting that its social satire demonstrates for people of faith one of their most difficult tasks -- standing outside of (and, when necessary, against) the prevailing culture and critiquing it in light of foundational theological beliefs (though I admit it would be hard to put together any coherent Zippy theology).

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Today's religious holiday: Day of Covenant (Baha'i)

Nov. 24-25, 2007, weekend

DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

A mayor in Arkansas has resigned, saying he was abducted by Satan worshippers years ago. Seems like a hell of a way to get out of doing his duty.

* * *

CATHOLICISM AND THE REST OF CHRISTIANITY

Cardinals have gathered at the Vatican to discuss, among other things, the relationship of Roman Catholicism with other branches of Christianity. Such internal talk is important, but not as important as sitting down with representatives of those other branches to see if disagreements can be settled. Notice in the story, though, at least a small step to heal the Catholic-Orthodox break.

* * *

WHEN ATHEISTS DIE

From time to time I write about agnostics, atheists, free-thinkers and similar groups who call themselves by various labels.

In my experience, most folks who fit in or near these categories are interesting, educated, thoughtful, well-meaning people whose sense of morality is quite sharp. In fact, it makes people of faith wonder and ask how, in the end (as the old question goes), they can be good without God.

I don't propose to speak for them here or to answer that question today, but I would like to point you to some interesting reading that, I hope, will give you a better sense of how atheists -- at least some of them -- feel about confronting the starkest reality of life, death.

The current issue of a magazine called Free Inquiry, published by the Council for Secular Humanism, there are many articles on this subject. When you click on the link I've given you here, you find, first, an opening essay by Tom Flynn, the editor of the magazine. But under that you'll find links to many articles related to this subject, including a few available only on the Web, not in the magazine.

So I'd enjoy hearing what you think about how these secular humanists think about death and whether they share anything in common with the thinking of people of faith.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Today's religious holidays: Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur and birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Sahib (both Sikhism, both 24th); Christ the King day (Christianity, 25th)

Nov. 23, 2007

WHO KILLED GOD'S BANKER?

Some 25 years after the murder, an Italian court finally indicates who may have killed "God's banker." You didn't know God had a banker? Oh, my, yes. And an odd duck he was, too.

* * *

A CONFUCIAN UPSWING IN CHINA

Partly because of my presumed audience and partly because my own interests often lie elsewhere, I don't much get around to commenting on Eastern religions. Well, it's not that I'm completely silent on them, but they don't get anywhere near as much attention from me as the Abrahamic faiths.

At any rate, let me correct that balance just a little today by pointing you to this story about the resurgence of Confucianism in China.

I know that some of you already are protesting that Confucianism is not a religion at all but, rather, a set of ethical and moral principles. And that's true. But what great religions aren't the source of moral and ethical systems, too? So there's certainly a relationship.

What I find appealing about this story is its suggestion that Confucian thinking may replace Marxian thinking in Chinese Communism. And how could that be anything but good? As this section of the 2007 report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom makes clear, China is among the worst offenders on the planet when it comes to suppressing religious freedom.

Oh, I know that Confucian Communism still would be Communism but surely it would be a better and more humane fit with Chinese tradition than the imported Karl Marx. Heck, for my money I'd prefer Groucho or Harpo over Karl, but that's just me.

Has any of you studied Confucius in any depth and can you add some insight about whether this resurgence will be a good thing for both China and the world?

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here. (My column tomorrow is written from Little Rock and is about what we should expect in the way of moral leadership from presidents.)

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Nov. 22, 2007

A PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE

Each year whoever is president issues a Thanksgiving proclamation. Click here for this year's version.

* * *

THANKS FOR A FOUNDING DOCUMENT

I know you're too busy today to spend much time here, but in case you need a copy of the famous Mayflower Compact to share at your Thanksgiving meal today, click here.

It's a reminder that the Pilgrims agreed to set up a "civil body politic," not a theocracy.

Well, enjoy your day and know that I am thankful for each one of you readers, even when we disagree. I'm also thankful for civil discourse.

And, not to mess up your day with a profound theological question, but do you think God cares who wins the Mizzou-Kansas football game Saturday? Me, too. Which is why Mizzou will win.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Today's religious holiday: Thanksgiving (interfaith)

Nov. 21, 2007

JUST KEEPING YOU ABREAST

Mexican actress Salma Hayek says her breasts are a gift from God. What kind of theology is this? Doesn't Matthew 6:24 tell us we cannot serve both God and mammaries? Well, maybe I'll have to look up that one again. And while I do, tell me what you make of claims such as Hayek's.

* * *

MORE SERIOUSLY

Click here for a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on the apparent stem cell research breakthrough I highlighted here yesterday. If the science really works here, the opponents of early, or embryonic, stem cell research may now be on board.

* * *

CAN RELIGION BE CRUEL?

I'll be really brief today because I know you are busy with preparations for tomorrow, such as looking for your turkey-chip cookie recipe for the inevitable Thanksgiving leftovers and so forth.

I'd just like to share this essay with you today and ask you whether you have experienced a religion teaching you what the essay writer calls "horrible things, cruel things, destructive things."

The writer is Shalom Auslander and he's written a new book called Foreskin's Lament, which -- no doubt to Auslander's chagrin -- I haven't had a chance to read. But it's clear from the essay that he believes religions sometimes -- maybe even often -- teach horrible things and that this messes up the lives of many people.

So give his essay a read today and tell me whether he's speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth or whether you think something else is going on here.

And if, late next week, you whip up a batch of turkey-chip cookies, feel free not to share them with me.

* * *

P.S.: Would you like to receive books of the Bible a piece at a time daily by e-mail? You can sign up for this free at DailyLit.com. You'll find some books of the Bible available this way on the second page of books under "B." Just know that you'll get the King James Version, published in 1611, not a modern translation.

* * *

ANOTHER P.S.: Every religious group, it seems, is learning to use the Internet to get the word out, including a group famous for its approach to words, Unity, which has its international headquarters in the Kansas City area. It has a new online radio presence. To check it out, click here.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.

Nov. 20, 2007

AN ETHICAL STEM CELL BREAKTHROUGH?

Scientists say they may have found a way to achieve the medical advances promised by use of early, or embryonic, stem cells, but without having to use such cells, thus avoiding a huge ethical controversy. This is the first time I can remember that even Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops thinks there would be no serious moral questions in the use of this new technique. But, as always, it's best to wait and see.

* * *

ENOUGH PUBLIC RELIGIOUS DISCLOSURE?

Are we getting from the presidential candidates the religious information about themselves that we need to make an informed judgment? The columnist who wrote this piece doesn't think so. Do you?

* * *

WHAT RELIGIONS TEACH ABOUT HEALTH

How does your religion guide you when it comes to difficult medical situations, such as end of life issues? And does your congregation, if you have one, educate you about all of this?

The other day I had a chance to hear the director of the Jewish Family Concerns division of the Union for Reform Judaism examine exactly those questions in a Jewish context, and it raised for me the question of how other traditions are handling this difficult area.

Rabbi Richard F. Address (pictured here) spoke to the New Reform Temple in Kansas City and said that historically Judaism takes a holistic approach to medical matters: "The mind, the body and the soul are all interconnected," he said. "The medical model is a holistic model. This is not New Age medicine. This is basic Judaism."

Address walked people through various passages of scripture that deal with these matters and shared some traditional prayers and other writings that reflect this holistic approach, in which -- as I said in a column a couple of weeks ago -- the goal is healing, not necessarily curing. The former condition means mental, emotional and spiritual wholeness. The latter means getting rid of symptoms.

If, as Judaism teaches, God is in charge, then how do people get permission to be doctors? Address shared some sacred texts that address this and that require Jews to respect the dignity and sanctity of all life: "In order to save a life," he said, "you can break just about every Jewish law."

Members of congregations in all religious traditions need to be educated about how those traditions would approach these hard questions. It was reassuring to see such eduction being done in a Reform Jewish congregation. It would be even more reassuring to know that all religious congregations are taking this seriously.

* * *

P.S.: Razoo.com is a site that advocates various ways for people to get active in improving the world. It's offering a travel contest that you might want to check out.

* * *

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

ALSO: If you want to give my book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift, you can order it from Amazon.com by clicking here or directly from the University of Missouri Press by clicking here.