While housesitting for some friends, I spent some time enjoying their very elaborate selection of movies on demand by watching the Cult Horror flick: “The Wicker Man.” I had seen the modern version starring Nicholas Cage and didn’t think much of it so I thought I’d check out the original. The movie is about a police officer named Neil Howie who travels to a remote island searching for a missing girl. The island, called Summerisle, is home to a community that practices a form of Celtic paganism and it is this theme that runs through the suspenseful plot of the film. After watching this movie, I am convinced of two things: some movies should never be remade and Neil Howie would’ve made a very bad missionary. This is because the character showed a great deal of disgust and disdain toward the overtly non-Christan practices of the Summerisle residents. For example, he becomes greatly disturbed when he sees that the Summerisle residents have turned the local chapel into an alter to a Pagan god, so much much he pushes the Pagan religious items off and places upon it a makeshift cross made with two boards. Any sort of explanation of their beliefs by the residents is usually met with his indignation for being so Un-Christian, it almost makes you feel less sorry for him when you find out the community of Summerisle has plans to sacrifice him.
Like film, missions and missionaries have come a long way throughout Christianity’s history and so I’d like to take some time to discuss how (if at all) missionaries fit in to the liberal form of Christianity that is my specific focus.
When we talk about “Missions” and “Missionaries” it usually conjures up several images, not all of them good. After all, during the colonization of the New World most missionaries had an army to back them up and conversion was usually forced upon indigenous peoples of North and South America. Even up to the earlier part of the 20th century, many missionaries not only wanted to convert people to Christianity but also to assimilate them to Western Culture. This is, of course, no longer the case and the standard training for missionaries these days involves in depth study and respect of a population’s culture and language before going into the field.
Still, to many people, the word missionary tends to evoke images of a coercive influence on unsuspecting innocents. In college, I attended a talk by two missionaries who traveled to Indonesia to spread Christianity. Someone who also attended the talk was very put off by them and said they were forcing their beliefs on other people. However, they were in the most populous Muslim country in the world, they had entered into the country under somewhat false pretenses, and (if found out) they may have faced serious legal repercussions since Indonesia is not very tolerant of foreign missionaries. Therefore, it seemed to me that they were not in the position to force anything on anyone. However, the basic premise behind being a missionary is to convert someone from their beliefs onto your own, something we in liberal Christianity balk at since it suggests “My God is better than your God.”
In searching for Biblical passages to add to the discussion, I was kind of at a loss. Most people consider Jesus’ instructions to the disciples in Matthew 10 to be the basic instructions to evangelists and missionaries, but one of his specific instructions is to NOT enter Gentile or Samaritan towns and only focus on the House of Israel. In Acts, the story of Paul and Barnabas, they preach to a crowd of Gentiles, but only because their message was rejected by the Jews (kind of making the Gentiles their plan B, not really a statement of respect). Therefore, I draw from the story of the Woman at the Well in John 4, specifically looking at what happened after the Woman and Jesus ended their conversation. Afterwards, she gathers up the town saying that some man told her everything about herself and he may very well be the Christ. They follow her and Jesus preaches to them and then they tell the woman: “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this really is the Savior of the world.”
To me, this story really brings into focus the true purpose of missionary work, the people missionaries serve. Most people arguing for missions to convert nonbelievers by force because they don’t know any better or people who say missions shouldn’t exist because they force their beliefs on others. Both sides of that argument are forgetting that the people missionaries preach to are people just like you and me and are capable of making up their own minds about what to believe and what not to. Therefore, people who feel people should be forced into religion are ignoring the fact that people should be able to make up their own minds. Furthermore, people who feel any type of evangelism is coercion also forget that a group missionaries serve are able to decide whether or not Christianity is right for them. The other Samaritans didn’t take the woman’s word for it that Jesus was the Messiah, they heard him speak and decided for themselves.
Back in 2007, the "Christian Science Monitor" ran a series on the growth of Pentecostal Christian groups in Latin America. On of their pieces looked at Brazil and how people involved in “gang life” no longer wait to be preached to other Pentecostals but make the decision to convert on their own. In the slums of Brazil--where poverty, violence, and drug dealing are rampant--people see conversion as the only way out of the gang life. People who have researched this issue may argue they are being coerced into conversion because there is no other way to remove themselves from their violent past or they point out that converts backsliding into their past lives is frequent. However, the fact remains that many gang members and drug dealers see this choice as a way out and choose to take it. I think this case study, as well, as the story of the Samaritans listening to Jesus puts the focus not on the missionary but those (s)he is working with. These people, like ourselves, have their own reasons for believing or not to and (like us) I’m sure they’d like their reasons to be respected.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Waiting for Christmas Day
For this week's Christmas song, I've decided to go out on a limb a little bit. The song for this week is "Christmas Day," sung by Dido for one of the "Very Special Christmas" compilations. This is going a bit out on a limb b/c it is not a Christmas song in the strictest sense of the word. The Song is about a guy who meets a girl and promises he'll come back to take her away on Christmas day. The rest of the song is her talking about how she's waiting for him to return. Therefore, Christmas day is more a point of time than it is a holiday. However, the song got me thinking since it talks about waiting, something the Holiday seasons seem about.
For those of you who have offspring of a young age, I can imagine they look forward to Christmas for several weeks leading up to the date (Or at least I did, maybe I'm more maladjusted than I've given myself credit for). My Mom has talked about how I was a kid and just couldn't wait for Christmas to come (now there are years where I can't wait for it to be over, go figure). I do remember us getting up very early to open gifts and my parents would tell me I had to wait until it was a reasonable hour (i.e. the sun was at least starting to rise).
Incidents that probably screamed "Emancipated Minor" to my parents aside, the concept of waiting remains a integral part of the Holiday season. In the Christian tradition, the time leading up to Christmas is known as Advent, a time that is characterized by "expectant waiting and participation" for the coming of the Christ. Although Hanukkah is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, it is a celebration of a wait being over. The holiday marks the re-dedication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt was able to retake it and rededicated it after it was desecrated by the Syrians.
I find this holiday season's focus on waiting to be extremely interesting since waiting is something very few people want to do in this day and age. We want what we want and we want it NOW. Currently the political landscape comprises people who are promising to enact changes to help Americans sooner than their opponents. This is, of course, understandable since many Americans are in dire straits and anyone who could get them out of it faster should be in charge. Likewise, I can imagine Israel was getting a little tired of waiting around for God to send the messiah. They had to wander in the desert for 40 years, had been conquered many times, and the Romans had been added to the list of invading armies during the time of Jesus. Therefore, I can see how they appreciated God's love but still wanted to get the show on the road.
So if everyone hates waiting, why do we have to do it? I know it's a cliche, but perhaps we wait so we can "build character." A while back a preached a sermon at Spirit of Peace (and strangely enough it didn't start raining frogs) about how experiences both bad and good can shape us ways that make us a better person. The experience of waiting gives us a time to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. If I had opted for instant gratification when I was a kid, would I have finally gotten it that the Holidays are not just about decorations and gifts but also about being together with those you love, about peace, and about hope? If we view God as a parental figure, the understanding that you can't have whatever you want whenever you want it is valuable life lesson. Furthermore, having to wait for something can make you value it even more. The current dedication to what is now the country if Israel I think, in part at least, comes from the memory that many times it had been taken away from the Jewish people or they had been without a nation of their own.
Getting back to the song by Dido, you will notice that she eagerly anticipates the arrival of her lover, but she doesn't chomp at the bit waiting for him to show up. Anticipation is a feeling we get around this time of year, but instead of holding out for what we're waiting for, enjoy the wait as well as the waiting to be over. So during this holiday season, enjoy the parties, the food, and all the other stuff that goes along with this time of year. However, realize that part of this season is about waiting so embrace the wait and look to see what you find along the way.
For those of you who have offspring of a young age, I can imagine they look forward to Christmas for several weeks leading up to the date (Or at least I did, maybe I'm more maladjusted than I've given myself credit for). My Mom has talked about how I was a kid and just couldn't wait for Christmas to come (now there are years where I can't wait for it to be over, go figure). I do remember us getting up very early to open gifts and my parents would tell me I had to wait until it was a reasonable hour (i.e. the sun was at least starting to rise).
Incidents that probably screamed "Emancipated Minor" to my parents aside, the concept of waiting remains a integral part of the Holiday season. In the Christian tradition, the time leading up to Christmas is known as Advent, a time that is characterized by "expectant waiting and participation" for the coming of the Christ. Although Hanukkah is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, it is a celebration of a wait being over. The holiday marks the re-dedication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt was able to retake it and rededicated it after it was desecrated by the Syrians.
I find this holiday season's focus on waiting to be extremely interesting since waiting is something very few people want to do in this day and age. We want what we want and we want it NOW. Currently the political landscape comprises people who are promising to enact changes to help Americans sooner than their opponents. This is, of course, understandable since many Americans are in dire straits and anyone who could get them out of it faster should be in charge. Likewise, I can imagine Israel was getting a little tired of waiting around for God to send the messiah. They had to wander in the desert for 40 years, had been conquered many times, and the Romans had been added to the list of invading armies during the time of Jesus. Therefore, I can see how they appreciated God's love but still wanted to get the show on the road.
So if everyone hates waiting, why do we have to do it? I know it's a cliche, but perhaps we wait so we can "build character." A while back a preached a sermon at Spirit of Peace (and strangely enough it didn't start raining frogs) about how experiences both bad and good can shape us ways that make us a better person. The experience of waiting gives us a time to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. If I had opted for instant gratification when I was a kid, would I have finally gotten it that the Holidays are not just about decorations and gifts but also about being together with those you love, about peace, and about hope? If we view God as a parental figure, the understanding that you can't have whatever you want whenever you want it is valuable life lesson. Furthermore, having to wait for something can make you value it even more. The current dedication to what is now the country if Israel I think, in part at least, comes from the memory that many times it had been taken away from the Jewish people or they had been without a nation of their own.
Getting back to the song by Dido, you will notice that she eagerly anticipates the arrival of her lover, but she doesn't chomp at the bit waiting for him to show up. Anticipation is a feeling we get around this time of year, but instead of holding out for what we're waiting for, enjoy the wait as well as the waiting to be over. So during this holiday season, enjoy the parties, the food, and all the other stuff that goes along with this time of year. However, realize that part of this season is about waiting so embrace the wait and look to see what you find along the way.
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Christians and the Pagans (and an uber-liberal folk singer thrown in for good measure)
In the second installment in my series of "non-traditional Christmas songs" I have selected a Song by the Folk Singer Dar Williams: "The Christians and the Pagans." Those of you who grew up listening to college radio are probably familiar with this song already, it is a song about a pagan lesbian couple (Amber and Jane) who go to visit their Uncle (Tim) and his Family. Being devout Christians, they are a bit hesitant to have 2 pagans over for dinner, but the evening ends well and the general message is that we all have common needs as humans that one person can get from one personal faith as much as someone gets from another. I picked this as my second selection because it is one of the only songs I can think of that actually deals with two religions during the holiday season and not just various reinforcer to Christians reminding everyone how great the holiday is.
Before proceeding, I should qualify by saying I like Christmas as much as the next person and a little reminder of why we like it should not be scoffed at. However, I also find it kind of interesting that a holiday like Christmas which is admired for how it brings families together to share in a common joy can serve to divide since a person may have a different religious belief or hold the holiday in a different regard from someone else. For example, in the song Amber calls her uncle to see if they can stay with him for the evening and he expresses reservation because it is Christmas and "...Our life is not your style."
I also think this song is apt because the modern celebration of Christmas has roots in the original religious practices of indigenous European people (which many modern Pagans draw influence from). The evergreen (the traditional Christmas tree) is a Celtic symbol of enduring life during the winter in which everything dies. The "Yule Log" (before being made into a desert) was a popular Christmas tradition in 17th and 18th century Europe is believed to come from the traditional beliefs of Germanic peoples.
At my church, when we do communion the pastor notes we are different but a commonality among us is our need for food and (therefore) why the symbols of bread and wine were used by Jesus during the last supper. Therefore, it is my hope for this Christmas season that I focus on not who celebrates Christmas and who doesn't but on what is common among all people and our needs that cause us to seek fulfillment in whatever religion. This is also in the song as Jane tells Tim's son that they are not Christians, but they love the world, their friends, and many other things Christians do.
In closing, I would like to share the last lines as the song which serve to tie the two faiths together by the similarities rather than their differences as food for thought:
"So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold."
Before proceeding, I should qualify by saying I like Christmas as much as the next person and a little reminder of why we like it should not be scoffed at. However, I also find it kind of interesting that a holiday like Christmas which is admired for how it brings families together to share in a common joy can serve to divide since a person may have a different religious belief or hold the holiday in a different regard from someone else. For example, in the song Amber calls her uncle to see if they can stay with him for the evening and he expresses reservation because it is Christmas and "...Our life is not your style."
I also think this song is apt because the modern celebration of Christmas has roots in the original religious practices of indigenous European people (which many modern Pagans draw influence from). The evergreen (the traditional Christmas tree) is a Celtic symbol of enduring life during the winter in which everything dies. The "Yule Log" (before being made into a desert) was a popular Christmas tradition in 17th and 18th century Europe is believed to come from the traditional beliefs of Germanic peoples.
At my church, when we do communion the pastor notes we are different but a commonality among us is our need for food and (therefore) why the symbols of bread and wine were used by Jesus during the last supper. Therefore, it is my hope for this Christmas season that I focus on not who celebrates Christmas and who doesn't but on what is common among all people and our needs that cause us to seek fulfillment in whatever religion. This is also in the song as Jane tells Tim's son that they are not Christians, but they love the world, their friends, and many other things Christians do.
In closing, I would like to share the last lines as the song which serve to tie the two faiths together by the similarities rather than their differences as food for thought:
"So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold."
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Christmas Wrapping
In the first installment in my series on non-tradditional Christmas songs, I've decided to start with a song from the New Wave heyday: "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses. For those of you unfamiliar with the song, the gist is that the singer is resolved to spend Christmas by herself recounting how busy the year has been and how all the things going on in the year have prevented her from getting together with a guy she met earlier the previous year. She fixes a Christmas dinner for one but realizes she forgot the cranberries so she goes to the all-night grocery and ends up seeing the guy who is also spending Christmas by himself. For those of you who want the full song lyrics, they can be found at this website: http://www.hardcafe.co.uk/waitresses/xmas_wrapping.htm.
This song is definitely different from ones you hear on the radio since it tells a story of someone who is not having the stereotypical Christmas with all the gatherings and celebrations and also it ends with her celebrating her Christmas in an unexpected way. Most traditional Christmas songs portray a certain way the season should be celebrated and anything that deviates from that norm is totally unacceptable. My mom has recounted one year we spent with our family in NC and now lives in family history as "the Infamous Flu Christmas" since everyone was sick. Although I don't wish to get sick around the holidays (or any other time for that matter), we made the best of it we could and now have a bit of family memories to share.
Many cherished songs are cherished because they've been around for a very long time and, therefore, portray a very different life. However, in the current day and age, we are often having to "think outside the box" in many aspects of our lives. The tough economic times have limited the amount of gift-giving a person can do, decisions to go elsewhere for the holidays are tempered by rising costs of gas and airline travel, and doing our holiday shopping must be timed just right for fear of crowds looking for that one gift everyone wants as a zombie wants brains. Also, as someone who came from MI, whoever sung about a "white christmas" probably didn't have to drive in a lake-effect snow storm.
Does this mean Christmas is somehow an archaic anniversary we should just ignore and go about our lives? Of course not, but change is not always a bad thing. In my family, as we all age we are finding the need to get someone that special gift gradually diminishes. Both my Mom and my Aunt's prime choice of gifts are dishcloths which continue to be a hot commodity year round when trying to dry your dinner plates. Many people I know have done away with adult gift-giving and reserve it for their kids. Although I have many fond memories of Christmases of my youth, I am kind of glad that I'm of the age where my world doesn't crumble around me because I did not get the big Voltron toy I spent many a day at Meijer salivating over.
As we are a society that (I'd like to think at least) evolves over time, I would hope we would not view doing things differently as an automatic minus to our holiday season. I think at this point I should mention that Jesus (who many people feel is the 'Reason for the Season') was not the traditional leader people had come to expect, but his life and works showed people there is another way to live and, although different, I doubt any Christian would say they are worse off for it.
This song is definitely different from ones you hear on the radio since it tells a story of someone who is not having the stereotypical Christmas with all the gatherings and celebrations and also it ends with her celebrating her Christmas in an unexpected way. Most traditional Christmas songs portray a certain way the season should be celebrated and anything that deviates from that norm is totally unacceptable. My mom has recounted one year we spent with our family in NC and now lives in family history as "the Infamous Flu Christmas" since everyone was sick. Although I don't wish to get sick around the holidays (or any other time for that matter), we made the best of it we could and now have a bit of family memories to share.
Many cherished songs are cherished because they've been around for a very long time and, therefore, portray a very different life. However, in the current day and age, we are often having to "think outside the box" in many aspects of our lives. The tough economic times have limited the amount of gift-giving a person can do, decisions to go elsewhere for the holidays are tempered by rising costs of gas and airline travel, and doing our holiday shopping must be timed just right for fear of crowds looking for that one gift everyone wants as a zombie wants brains. Also, as someone who came from MI, whoever sung about a "white christmas" probably didn't have to drive in a lake-effect snow storm.
Does this mean Christmas is somehow an archaic anniversary we should just ignore and go about our lives? Of course not, but change is not always a bad thing. In my family, as we all age we are finding the need to get someone that special gift gradually diminishes. Both my Mom and my Aunt's prime choice of gifts are dishcloths which continue to be a hot commodity year round when trying to dry your dinner plates. Many people I know have done away with adult gift-giving and reserve it for their kids. Although I have many fond memories of Christmases of my youth, I am kind of glad that I'm of the age where my world doesn't crumble around me because I did not get the big Voltron toy I spent many a day at Meijer salivating over.
As we are a society that (I'd like to think at least) evolves over time, I would hope we would not view doing things differently as an automatic minus to our holiday season. I think at this point I should mention that Jesus (who many people feel is the 'Reason for the Season') was not the traditional leader people had come to expect, but his life and works showed people there is another way to live and, although different, I doubt any Christian would say they are worse off for it.
Songs about the not so silent night
Those of you who know me well know I'm not a huge fan of traditional Christmas music. I've never done anything that would cause my aversion like, say, work in retail where it's played continually from October to mid-January, I have never found it invokes the happy feelings or nostalgia that is the reason many people like it. I think it may be that the trappings of Christmas are only attractive to me if they are accompanied by the REAL reasons for what makes the season so great (being genuinely kind to others, spending time with family/friends etc). Perhaps it is potential inaccuracy, a popular Christmas song is "Silent Night." Although I only know a few people who have gone through childbirth, given the potential duration of the process and that this was before the development of anesthesia, said night possibly was very very NOT silent to those in earshot of the stable.
That being said, now I present to you my plan: to do a series of blog posts (1 per week) on various songs I've heard that relate to Christmas. To say that they are "Christmas Songs" may be a bit of a stretch since some of them deal indirectly with the holiday. I will be upfront that most of these songs are in the vein of alternative music since that is usually what I listen to as my sister and I heard REM one day and all was lost. Anyway, I plan to put up my first post tomorrow which will discuss the song "Christmas Wrapping" originally done by the 80s band The Waitresses.
That being said, now I present to you my plan: to do a series of blog posts (1 per week) on various songs I've heard that relate to Christmas. To say that they are "Christmas Songs" may be a bit of a stretch since some of them deal indirectly with the holiday. I will be upfront that most of these songs are in the vein of alternative music since that is usually what I listen to as my sister and I heard REM one day and all was lost. Anyway, I plan to put up my first post tomorrow which will discuss the song "Christmas Wrapping" originally done by the 80s band The Waitresses.
Friday, November 19, 2010
What do you do???
As we are in the holiday season, it seems I get invited to at least one holiday gathering every year where I only know one or two people. Given that I can wallflower at home, I try to talk with people I don't know and, through this, I have found an almost automatic question is "what do you do?" Although this question is perfectly normal and meant as a conversation starter, it does make me think about our view towards work and how we can ask what someone does, but asking something like how much money they make is walking into the mine field of invasive. It also reminds me of the line in the movie "Party Monster," the film about alpha NYC club kid Michael Alig, when the main character is asked "what do you do?" he answers "we don't do, we just are."
If we are looking for a way to get to know someone, asking their vocation is usually a pretty good way of doing that although maybe not for the right reasons. We make assumptions about a person based on their job: we assume a doctor is rolling in dough, a teacher is the reincarnation of our fifth grade taskmaster, and a social worker has a kind disposition. Also, we tend to associate certain people with their vocations and assume all people who fill those jobs are like that. Since Jesus was a carpenter, the profession of carpentry sometimes earns an extremely dignified place among career paths. First, current Biblical scholarship is led to believe Jesus was a carpenter because he made things out of wood and wasn't framing houses or installing cabinets (Sorry if I've destroyed your vision of Jesus as the Bob Villa of Biblical times). Second, one need only read the Bible to know that Jesus' ministry and sacrifice (i.e. what he's known and loved for) was mutually exclusive with his job as a carpenter. If I were a more daring person, I'd ask if Jesus was a tele-marketer or worked for a collection agency would those professions not earn the ire that they do now?
This is not to criticize any particular vocation or a person's choice of employment be it money, fulfillment, or schedule. However, we put so much emphasis on what a person does for a living and we tend to forget that there are other aspects to them. A friend of mine who went through a bout of unemployment, found a job, and then lost it due to downsizing. He received some grief from people he knew because he couldn't "keep" his job. This was like saying his worth as a human being seemed to be based on how well he crunched numbers and did spreadsheets and the fact that he is a cool guy was thrown to the wayside.
My Mom retired about 5 years ago or so from a long career as a high school math teacher (she currently moonlights and mine and my sister's moral compass)and, although most of her former students have only positive things to say about her, there were of course the occasional students who's feelings toward her were not, shall we say "fluffy bunny." Still, there are many teachers in the world and few would do some of the things that she did. She volunteered to help a student who would be out of school for months due to a serious injury with his mathematics because the teacher/tutor the school got for him was untrained in teaching high-school math. She wrote thank you notes to everyone (leads, chorus, band etc) in each of the school plays letting them know how much she liked the performance. If anyone she knows is going through a hard time, she is usually there to help out in any way she can. To me, that says alot about who she is even though it is independent of her ability to explain the quadratic equation.
I don't expect that people won't ask me "what do you do?" at parties. Getting back to someone saying, "we just are" I think that how I would like to be seen. I don't save lives as part of my job or make loads of money, but I think I would rather be judged based on how I do my job than what exactly that job is. I try to do my job honestly, with realism, and in gratitude for my boss' good treatment of his employees. This, I think, is reflective of the person I try to be and a value that defines me much better than my job.
If we are looking for a way to get to know someone, asking their vocation is usually a pretty good way of doing that although maybe not for the right reasons. We make assumptions about a person based on their job: we assume a doctor is rolling in dough, a teacher is the reincarnation of our fifth grade taskmaster, and a social worker has a kind disposition. Also, we tend to associate certain people with their vocations and assume all people who fill those jobs are like that. Since Jesus was a carpenter, the profession of carpentry sometimes earns an extremely dignified place among career paths. First, current Biblical scholarship is led to believe Jesus was a carpenter because he made things out of wood and wasn't framing houses or installing cabinets (Sorry if I've destroyed your vision of Jesus as the Bob Villa of Biblical times). Second, one need only read the Bible to know that Jesus' ministry and sacrifice (i.e. what he's known and loved for) was mutually exclusive with his job as a carpenter. If I were a more daring person, I'd ask if Jesus was a tele-marketer or worked for a collection agency would those professions not earn the ire that they do now?
This is not to criticize any particular vocation or a person's choice of employment be it money, fulfillment, or schedule. However, we put so much emphasis on what a person does for a living and we tend to forget that there are other aspects to them. A friend of mine who went through a bout of unemployment, found a job, and then lost it due to downsizing. He received some grief from people he knew because he couldn't "keep" his job. This was like saying his worth as a human being seemed to be based on how well he crunched numbers and did spreadsheets and the fact that he is a cool guy was thrown to the wayside.
My Mom retired about 5 years ago or so from a long career as a high school math teacher (she currently moonlights and mine and my sister's moral compass)and, although most of her former students have only positive things to say about her, there were of course the occasional students who's feelings toward her were not, shall we say "fluffy bunny." Still, there are many teachers in the world and few would do some of the things that she did. She volunteered to help a student who would be out of school for months due to a serious injury with his mathematics because the teacher/tutor the school got for him was untrained in teaching high-school math. She wrote thank you notes to everyone (leads, chorus, band etc) in each of the school plays letting them know how much she liked the performance. If anyone she knows is going through a hard time, she is usually there to help out in any way she can. To me, that says alot about who she is even though it is independent of her ability to explain the quadratic equation.
I don't expect that people won't ask me "what do you do?" at parties. Getting back to someone saying, "we just are" I think that how I would like to be seen. I don't save lives as part of my job or make loads of money, but I think I would rather be judged based on how I do my job than what exactly that job is. I try to do my job honestly, with realism, and in gratitude for my boss' good treatment of his employees. This, I think, is reflective of the person I try to be and a value that defines me much better than my job.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
After four seasons, a cadre of great actors, and quite a bit of dramatic license, the Showtime series “The Tudors” has now ended. Although the story of Henry the VIII makes for prime dramatic fodder, I do hope no one will think all the juicy bits of history ended with his passing. The power struggle after his passing was a series of events that would put any missing ballots to shame and the reign of his daughter, Elizabeth the I, has been the subject of numerous TV programs, books, film and even video games. Probably the most current well-known telling of Elizabeth’s story are the two films directed by Shekhar Kapur: “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: the Golden Age.”
As with many things that retell history, these pieces were not without controversy. One point of contention was the portrayal of the Catholic Church using ruthless tactics in an attempt to overthrow Elizabeth’s rein and portrayed her polices on Catholicism as being very moderate. Kapur has defended both movies saying that, although many policies during that time could be seen as punitive to Catholics, she routinely rejected calls from her advisors and parliament to wipe out all adherents to the “old religion” and make no concession for them. Although I’m sure people who’s knowledge of the subject comes from actual history and not from film could argue both sides of the issue until they are blue in the face, it did cause me to think about the subject of religious tolerance and what it means in this day and age.
Those of us here in the US are largely tolerant of beliefs different from our own and often point out that such tolerance is mandated by our constitution. I would go one step further and say that our religious freedom makes it so we often cannot fully appreciate how there are other places in the world where what you believe can get you into serious trouble. That being said, I don’t think any person can (and should be) completely tolerant to different beliefs. After all, many people try to use religion to justify their actions that would, otherwise, be completely unacceptable. The most obvious example of this is the tragedy of 9/11 that was carried out by Muslims believing it was ok to commit such acts because of their interpretation of the Koran. Another example is the persecution of Protestants in England in the 16th century by Mary Tudor (Elizabeth’s predecessor) as part of her attempt to restore England to a Catholic country.
Furthermore, even though religious tolerance is something that is part of our laws that does not mean that individual people treat you with the same tolerance the laws of our land would. An example of this was the well-publicized story of Jeremy Hall, a soldier serving overseas in Iraq, who encountered hostility from other soldiers for his Atheist beliefs. Although Israel is supposed to be a country for all Jewish people, stories have come to light of Ultra-Orthodox Jews vandalizing stores for selling items that don’t meet with their standards of modesty and attacking people who they feel are conducting themselves inappropriately. The 2006 case of Abdul Rahman brought to light that, even after the Taliban government was overthrown in Afghanistan, conversion to another religion from Islam remains a capitol offense in that country.
Getting back to the story of Elizabeth, in the beginning of “The Golden Age,” she is counseled by her advisors to regard every Catholic in England as a potential assassin given the Pope action against her and the attempts of other nations to raise Mary Stewart (a Catholic) to the throne. She disregards this advice saying that she will not punish her people because of their beliefs, only for their deeds.
You probably have your own ideas about God or a higher power and it is no my attempt to sway you one way or the other. However, my question to you is how do you act out those beliefs? Do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should help those in the world who face difficulty, treat other people with respect, and show that love by being the best people we can be?” On the other hand, do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should harass people who don’t share our beliefs, destroy that we believe are not acceptable, or make having a different belief illegal?” The former sounds like a better idea than the latter to me and, as Elizabeth pointed out, it’s what our faith moves us to do that makes a difference.
As with many things that retell history, these pieces were not without controversy. One point of contention was the portrayal of the Catholic Church using ruthless tactics in an attempt to overthrow Elizabeth’s rein and portrayed her polices on Catholicism as being very moderate. Kapur has defended both movies saying that, although many policies during that time could be seen as punitive to Catholics, she routinely rejected calls from her advisors and parliament to wipe out all adherents to the “old religion” and make no concession for them. Although I’m sure people who’s knowledge of the subject comes from actual history and not from film could argue both sides of the issue until they are blue in the face, it did cause me to think about the subject of religious tolerance and what it means in this day and age.
Those of us here in the US are largely tolerant of beliefs different from our own and often point out that such tolerance is mandated by our constitution. I would go one step further and say that our religious freedom makes it so we often cannot fully appreciate how there are other places in the world where what you believe can get you into serious trouble. That being said, I don’t think any person can (and should be) completely tolerant to different beliefs. After all, many people try to use religion to justify their actions that would, otherwise, be completely unacceptable. The most obvious example of this is the tragedy of 9/11 that was carried out by Muslims believing it was ok to commit such acts because of their interpretation of the Koran. Another example is the persecution of Protestants in England in the 16th century by Mary Tudor (Elizabeth’s predecessor) as part of her attempt to restore England to a Catholic country.
Furthermore, even though religious tolerance is something that is part of our laws that does not mean that individual people treat you with the same tolerance the laws of our land would. An example of this was the well-publicized story of Jeremy Hall, a soldier serving overseas in Iraq, who encountered hostility from other soldiers for his Atheist beliefs. Although Israel is supposed to be a country for all Jewish people, stories have come to light of Ultra-Orthodox Jews vandalizing stores for selling items that don’t meet with their standards of modesty and attacking people who they feel are conducting themselves inappropriately. The 2006 case of Abdul Rahman brought to light that, even after the Taliban government was overthrown in Afghanistan, conversion to another religion from Islam remains a capitol offense in that country.
Getting back to the story of Elizabeth, in the beginning of “The Golden Age,” she is counseled by her advisors to regard every Catholic in England as a potential assassin given the Pope action against her and the attempts of other nations to raise Mary Stewart (a Catholic) to the throne. She disregards this advice saying that she will not punish her people because of their beliefs, only for their deeds.
You probably have your own ideas about God or a higher power and it is no my attempt to sway you one way or the other. However, my question to you is how do you act out those beliefs? Do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should help those in the world who face difficulty, treat other people with respect, and show that love by being the best people we can be?” On the other hand, do you say: “Our God(s) loves the world so we should harass people who don’t share our beliefs, destroy that we believe are not acceptable, or make having a different belief illegal?” The former sounds like a better idea than the latter to me and, as Elizabeth pointed out, it’s what our faith moves us to do that makes a difference.
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