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Oct
20
During a series of posts at Wide Open, a few comments centered around how people in the religious majority (Christians) feel as though they are, instead, in the religious minority in our religiously pluralistic country.
How, exactly, does that feel?
Well, if you read the comments and posts, not very good at all. In fact, writers there have only identified negative feelings with being in a religious minority in the United States.
Why would that be – how could that be? Especially if the one describing how it feels to be a religious minority here has never been the minority in this country?
One response to that question is that only identifying negative feelings with being in a religious minority in the United States would seem to imply that the people doing so only imagine that being in the minority is a pretty negative experience.
And guess what? In part, they are right. I would not necessarily choose the word “negative” myself – but my life as the member of a religious minority certainly has had and continues to have challenges that people who are in the religious majority most likely have never and will never experience. And until they do, I feel very strongly that the argument about feeling like a minority needs to be kept at exactly that level: it is a feeling – a legitimate feeling, but it is in no way reality.
I made a very strong statement – and wrote it more than once in the Wide Open annals: to act as though you are an “embattled minority” when in fact it is statistically impossible for you to ever be in the minority – no matter how convinced you are by your feelings that you are embattled, as though you must be a minority – is to be delusional (specifically, persecutory).
Anyone – minority or majority – may in fact be “embattled” on a case by case basis.
But, as a sustained, persistent state of existence, not even as an American Jew, with at most 3% of the American population identifying with my religion, would I say that I belong to an “embattled minority.” (Though I am certain that many other Jews have in fact experienced being embattled, and there have been instances when I have been through that as well but, as a general proposition, I don’t carry on as though I am embattled – this, of course, sets me apart in particular from more politically conservative Jews.) Thus, logic indicates that Christians, as 80% or more of the American population, are not now nor have they ever been nor are they likely to become, in the U.S., a minority.
Of course, one quick answer to all this could be supplied if Christians want to poll the Jewish Israeli population in Israel about how they feel when it comes to the likelihood of no longer being in the majority if they were to change the rules of the land and truly be a democracy.
Or, if you really want to know what experiencing anxiety as you anticipate and then actually lose majority status? Check with white South Africans too. What did it feel like not only to know you were going to lose your majority status but to then lose it?
So, there are examples of how anxiety over losing majority status is based on real possibilities and subsequent eventualities. But Christians in the United States do not face a real possibility of losing their majority. And that’s what makes their feelings just that: feelings only. Any action based on those feelings (as opposed to acting on incidents of real bias – such as is pointed out as a possible issue at the UColorado and at Colorado Christian University, between Christians – the story below the main CU story) would be based in delusion.
Tom Blumer helped this line of logic in this post by promoting the idea that even if people feel as though they are in a recession, his read on reality, via economic measures, is that they are not. As he writes, “Y’know, 46% of people could say the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, and that won’t change the fact that it rises in the east and sets in the west.”
Likewise, I’ve been saying, it is statistically impossible for Christians who live in the U.S. to be a member of an embattled minority because it’s a statistical impossibility and when people act on those feelings as though they are reality, they are being, clinically speaking, delusional.
Let me give some concrete examples of how life is as a member of an actual religious minority.
******Enormous disclaimer: Before anyone goes off and starts writing about how miserable Jill says her life is, you can stop right there – or risk having me astroturf your blog with how superficial you are.
I love my life as an American Jew. Period. No qualifications. These instances or examples I cite? 80-90% of the time, mere inconvenience and a teaching moment.
But I live this life I love as a member of an actual religious minority and I’m sharing in this post what that means. My experiences and feelings are not based on an anxiety that I am a minority when in reality I am not.
One day last week, I picked up the phone and it was Scholastic Books. They wanted to send me “an ornament.”
Now, suppose you are Christian and Christians were in fact less than 3% of the American population. Imagine how you would feel if Scholastic called to tell you that they want to send you a box of yahrzeit candles.
Of course, that is never going to happen now, is it?
I could have done a lot of things, but this call isn’t atypical of what appeals we get when you’re in the minority. And so I simply said, no thank you, I don’t celebrate Christmas and she ended the call.
So – Christians get a free ornament for being a good customer of Scholastic. Jews? Well, we could take the ornament too I suppose, but really – thanks but no thanks. Just doesn’t feel right. Now – if they had offered me my choice of ornament or dreidl, or if they had offered me a free anything else that was secular, that would have been cool and preferable too. But my only choice was an ornament? Thanks. But, no thanks.
I felt that the call was and it actually turned out to be a completely minor intrusion – I probably should not have picked up the phone at all, as I often do screen my calls. But for whatever reason, I picked up. So be it. No big whoop as Linda Richman used to say.
And that’s one example of how it is and how it feels, actually, to be a member of a religious minority in the U.S.
Here are some more examples of how you might actually feel when you actually are a member of an actual religious minority:
1. You get used to it.
2. You ignore it.
3. You thank people who wish you Merry Christmas, Easter etc. Depending on the circumstances, you may or may not add that you celebrate something else and/or don’t celebrate that holiday.
4. You wish people to enjoy their occasions.
5. You are happy if they’re happy (weddings, baptisms) and join them to console (wakes, funeral mass) and celebrate (confirmation, first communion).
6. You might tell people what you do that is analogous to or different from what they do (bar mitzvah versus confirmation).
Those actions, based in my reality of being a Jew in the U.S., are all easy, easy, easy and, for the most part, rewarding.
What I’ve done with the following examples – which are not as easy, easy, easy – is to state how it is in reality (in green font representing the majority religion of Christianity), and then what the equivalent situation would be if, just for debate’s sake, Jews were the majority (hence the blue font) and Christians were the minority.
7. All the books in your child’s classroom highlight Christmas. All the books in your child’s classroom highlight Chanuka.
8. When you go food shopping, all the holiday cookies are green and red Christmas trees. When you go food shopping, all the holiday cookies are blue and white dreidls.
9. The holiday concerts put on by your town, your school district and the orchestra play only Christmas music. The holiday concerts put on by your town, your school district and the orchestra play only Chanuka music.
10. You need to have a garage sale but your town’s ordinances don’t allow them on Sunday because Christian residents are concerned about having too much traffic on their day of rest. You need to have a garage sale but your town’s ordinances don’t allow them on Saturday because Jewish residents are concerned about having too much traffic on their day of rest.
11. Throughout December, when everyone is saying Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you, not once does anyone wish you “Happy Chanuka.” Througout December, when everyone is saying Happy Chanuka to you, not once does anyone wish you “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.”
12. Sporting events – spectator and those for your kids – and neighborhood or work parties are scheduled when you need to be in Shabbat services. Sporting events – spectator and those for your kids – and neighborhood or work parties are scheduled when you need to be in worship services or mass.
13. When radio stations start to play winter holiday music, the only song they choose to play for Chanuka is a joke song by Adam Sandler. When radio stations start to play winter holiday music, the only song they choose to play for Christmas is Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.
14. When you go to buy a calendar, only the Christian holidays are marked. When you go to buy a calendar, only the Jewish holidays are marked.
The eight examples in green font are the realities of being a minority. The eight examples in blue font are the imagined scenarios that, if you want to really try to feel what it feels like to feel and be a member of a religious minority, I would encourage you to envision: close your eyes and spend as much time as it takes to see how it makes you feel as you imagine encountering each of those situations in blue.
So – how did that feel?
Here’s the range of how I feel when I live the reality of those green font examples. These feelings aren’t mutually exclusive but of course I don’t feel each of them with every scenario:
1. Happy to share
2. Like I am teaching
3. The more people I tell, the more people who can no longer say, “I’ve never met a Jew before.”
4. Excluded.
5. Invisible.
6. Insulated.
7. Indignant.
8. Tired.
9. Annoyed.
10. Angry.
11. Wishing it was otherwise.
So – if I’m a member of an actual religious minority, and less than 20% of the time would I say I feel anything more than inconvenienced – despite all the feelings I may feel – well, there really isn’t anyway that people who live in the religious majority can ever argue with any success that they are, in fact, an “embattled minority.”
Still unable to imagine?
Let me put it yet another way: If you were the wallflower in high school, did you ever wonder what it might be like to be the head cheerleader dating the football quarterback? Or maybe you were the woodshop guy who secretly wished he could have the lead in the school play? And you played a game with yourself, wondering – what would it BE like to actually BE that cheerleader or QB or lead in the play?
Well – how ’bout folks in the religious majority tell me: what do you imagine being in the majority should feel like? Because I am never going to know. And you are saying that you don’t feel like you are in the majority, despite the numbers.
So, then – what are you imagining being in the majority is supposed to feel like and be?
‘Cause I gotta tell ya – the only thing I can come up with, if the Happy Holidays in city hall and the no Bibles in the public school make you feel like an embattled minority, is that your vision of what a majority really would be able to do is to control everything, everyone and leave no room for ever being even the slightest bit inconvenienced.
But of course, that wouldn’t be a democracy that respects minority rights, now would it, but rather a tyranny of the majority, yes?
So – I ask: How much inconvenience are Christians willing to tolerate before the feeling of being an embattled minority kicks in? Because compared to my life as a member of an actual minority who experiences all the examples I gave above, I just cannot get a handle on what inconveniences you are willing to tolerate in this pluralistic country without saying, “We feel like an embattled minority.” Look what I put up with. And I didn’t even go into the being called a Kike and so on. Seriously.
Well – I’ve gone on long enough so I’ll end with this:
Someone who knows me pretty well told me last week that she was realizing that I really didn’t give a rat’s behind about winning. But persuasion – I want to persuade when I’m trying to make a point and I don’t give up easily, if I give up at all.
I’d say that’s a pretty accurate observation.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:37 pm October 20th, 2007 in Jewish, Judaism, Religion
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20 Responses to ““Feeling like” versus “being a member of” a religious minority”
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Shalom Jill,
Very long post and it’s going to take me a while to digest it and provide a proper response, but I have this to say immediately.
Like most non-Christians you commit the error of thinking that all Christians recognize all other Christians as being Christians; they don’t.
I recall one congregation on the outskirts of my home town that actually believed that they were the only true Christians and that all the others were posers. They, and only they, were going to heaven and the rest of the World was doomed to hell.
Such is the stuff of delusion, anger and retribution.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Jeff- I will never invalidate someone’s feeling by suggesting that they can’t feel a certain way. And they say to them, I’m sorry you feel that way. I mean every word – I am sorry that someone would feel that way.
However, I would say the same thing to the congregation you describe as I say to the general population that affiliates with a Christian denomination: take every single one of my examples. Imagine you are the blue and not the green. Then tell me how you feel.
Those green statement still attain for the congregation you describe, and not the blue. And so long as it’s that way, the argument about being a minority simply doesn’t give credence to any complaints of being an actual religious minority in this country, except in the nano-definition of that word.
And, again – I would ask that congregation, okay – so – tell me what being in the majority would look like? Because I don’t have, as you like to say, a fecking clue.
Jill:
Don’t know if any of my comments in the past contributed to motivating this post. I have definitely made the point of saying that the ACLU seems more assertive when they perceive Christians crossing over the line than other religions. My two examples are: a) Muslim kids being released from class to pray in a room in the school set up for that purpose, and, b) and Native American group being invited to a public school to conduct prayers to appease the spirits inhabiting a building, with the public invited to join. Meanwhile the ACLU filed a complaint in court when a Christian group wanted to offer a blessing for their neighborhood elementary school on a weekend.
Some argue that it’s just a matter of getting even for past behavior. That’s a difficult road to go down. It’s hard to imagine a cultural group who has not sometime in their history enslaved others and endevoured to wipe out their enemies. What’s the statute of limitations on the acts of a society?
So are the Christians going to rise up and reclaim their rightful place as ruler of the universe? Anyone who thinks that has never been to a church business meeting. No way Christians could get that organized.
Think of it this way – every Christian denomination is the result of an argument. A disagreement arises over doctrine, or maybe just over the appropriate color for the choir robes. Rather than reconcile, a group goes off and forms their own congregation, or denomination. I think this is in the process of happening with the denomination with which my congregation is affiliated.
Who knows what will galvanize a generally apathetic and apolitical people of similar interests into revolutionaries willing to use violence to claim their perceived destiny? What caused the Nazis to come to power? How about the men Americans call revolutionaries and heroes that the British called terrorists and seditionists?
I am NOT equating George Washington with Adolf Hitler. But I am suggesting that the first step toward the end is defining an Us and a Them, followed by demonizing Them through polarizing speech and behavior, and finally justifying war with Them – perhaps even to the point of eradication.
Tragically, I don’t see our species on a track to sort things out peacefully. Eventually someone will pull the trigger and the consequence will be a catastrophic kill off of H. sapiens and untold other species.
Then the next guys get their shot at being the dominant species. Planet of the Apes? Maybe when Jesus said ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’ he was thinking cockroaches.
That's a very helpful comment, Paul – more to think about. Always more to think about.
Well – I don't know – part of my thrust is that if a majority feels like a minority, and those feelings are negative, then wouldn't you think that you want to help both the minority not feel so crappy and also help the majority figure out why they think they are being treated crappy too?
Then – find a way so that no one is treated crappy.
I actually always thought that that's what the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are about.
But when religion gets used to define who deserves to be better than others, that's a real problem (I'm thinking specifically in terms of gays but I'm sure there are many examples; but even within Judaism, gays are not treated equally at certain levels).
So – in a pluralistic society, I always thought that this is exactly why we delineated where religion can and can't be present and/or supported in the public domain or with public funds.
People of all stripes should definitely challenge and seek clarification for when those lines become blurry or for whatever reason aren't being enforced as the Constitution and subsequent laws outline.
But again – without being indelicate, it's very hard to be a member of a religious minority that copes with evidence of being a minority on a regular basis and really feel as though members of the religious majority have it bad. Is life not as they used to have it, or different from what they want? Very, very possibly.
But this country is only going to become more diverse, not less – even what you describe about arguing amongst a group supports that expectation.
Why would anyone choose the path of being angry and whining? Why don't people choose the path of figuring out our common interests so that we can all live reasonably close to what we would like?
Jeff Hess and I actually spent time talking about some of this recently and he mentioned how Jews focus on the present, the life on Earth, and Christians – not so much. Maybe that difference is more of a part of this than I understand.
What do you think about that?
I think Jeff misses a point. The key definition of a Christian is one who follows the teaching and example of Jesus. Certainly Jesus spoke of a paradise that follows this life, but he also paid attention to the needs and injustices in the here and now. Many misunderstand the notion of "the Kingdom" as used by Christians, thinking it is referring to Heaven or Paradise or something yet to come. Christian theologians instead talk of the Kingdom as being populated by all those who have accepted Christ, in this life and what follows. The point of saying this is not to engage in theological instruction, but rather to point out that Christian philosophy does not dismiss the here and now, as suggested by Jeff, but rather requires complete dedication to following what Christ taught, which includes behaving as he did while among us – a ministry of compassion and service. Few of us live up to that standard…
Weird – I thought I'd left a comment but maybe not!
I'd written that I will let Jeff clarify his thoughts on the topic of afterlife and Judaism etc.
Just to be sure I understand, so – anyone who accepts Christ during life on Earth is, then, living in the Kingdom? But having accomplished that, that is not enough, correct? Then, people must live life as he did – as you say?
See – some of this gets back to what I've been asking all along – what is the hierarchy of what should be pursued during life on this Earth, once you are in the Kingdom?
As I know you know, it just doesn't work this way in Judaism.
Jill, the preview has no para breaks in it, but the comment are does. If this looks lousy, sorry."even if people feel as though they are in a recession"Jill, the term "recession" is reserved for whole economies. It simply does not apply to individual people, who may or may not feel that their circumstances are going downhill or not improving.The whole idea of even asking people if the economy is in a recession is incoherent, because it doesn't matter what they think about the truth or falsity of a technical measurement.A question that would be relevant (but without the potential for political haymaking, which after all is the point of asking the "recession" question in the first place) would be something like, "Do you think the economy is worse than it was six months ago (or a year, or whatever) or better?"A person could make an argument that the economy is "worse," even if the measurment say otherwise (growth is good, jobs are growing, etc.), because something qualitative might be bothering them, such as income distribution, flat wages, etc.As to the persecution thing, in some cases it is overplayed. If Christians want to make a better case, they need to:- Point out that it's often Judeo-Christian persecution (removing the 10 Commandments from courthouses after their non-controversial presence for decades is an outrage against Christians and Jews).- Call the situation what it is — Jews and Christians represent a persecuted majority.- The persecution is intellectual and not physical (true here, but not in other parts of the world), but nevertheless real. Our Founders' bedrock Christianity (which informs our Founding documents), and MLK's Christian beliefs that drove the civil-rights movement, are just two examples of religious influences that are being airbrushed from our schools' history books. Expression of Christian beliefs in certain college courses is a sure ticket to conflict and/or grade deflation from hostile profs at too many institutions. There's much more.
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Jill: You hit on topics which have divided Christians for centuries: 1. Some believe in predestination – the notion that God has a plan for each of us, and we're just living out the plan; 2. Some believe there is a plan, but we have the free will to stray from it, at our own risk; 3. Some believe that once a profession of faith is made, your salvation (ie ticket to enter Heaven) is assured and cannot be lost; others disagree; 4. Some believe that once salvation is accepted, that's enough; others say one must continue to do 'good works' to earn a spot in Heaven. 5. Some believe only those who accept Christ will be accepted into Heaven; other Christians believe one can be accepted into Heaven after being judged under the Laws of Moses; others believe there are many paths to achieving communion with God in the afterlife. 6. … This list is long. Disagreements over the answers is one primary cause for the formation of new denominations. So when I try to answer your questions about Christianity, I can only answer them in the context of where I am in my faith journey. If we're still blogging in 20 years, and you ask me the same questions, you might get different answers. There must be some parallel to this in Judaism. Why are there different sects (Orthodox, Conservative, Reformed, et al)? Why do some keep the Kosher laws, and some not? Do the Jews who keep the Kosher laws do so because they feel they are optional, but good tradition, or do they think God will punish them somehow if they break the Kosher laws? Isn't it a shame that religion, a word that derives from an ancient root connoting 'connectedness' (as in ligament), is the catalyst for centuries of conflict?
ps – there appears to be something screwy about the commenting component of the blog app – all my spacing was lost in the last comment!
Sorry about the spacing thing! I had read that this plugin can have funky things happen – I might have to remove it – it seemed to be fine.
I could go in and try and figure out where I would think you put breaks – but I could really mess up what you all wrote – more than I might anyways!!
Thanks for putting up with it – I'll try to get to it soon.
Tom:
I like how you differentiate the notion of recession from giving an opinion on whether someone feels that things are better or worse. That's a good point. The only thing is, the more media or anyone (us included) pushes labels and soundbites on people to make things sound the way the politicians or WHOMEVER want people to perceive things, people will spew it back.
Believe it or not, that's one of the reasons I do work so hard at saying, I'm not calling Stark an idiot. Then, everyone else will feel free to do the same when whether or not he IS an idiot really isn't the issue – the issue is the propriety of what he said and where he said it, and the substance of what he said. NOT whether he is an idiot or not.
Likewise – I can agree with you that "recession" or not – what matters is how people FEEL they are affected and can or can't get what they think they should be able to and how hard it is to do that.
Look – I'm a social scientist through and through and I will cling to anecdotal evidence long before I will trust numbers. I'm not saying that is right or wrong, but I trust people more than numbers. That is me.
Now – you wrote:
"Our Founders' bedrock Christianity (which informs our Founding documents), and MLK's Christian beliefs that drove the civil-rights movement, are just two examples of religious influences that are being airbrushed from our schools' history books. Expression of Christian beliefs in certain college courses is a sure ticket to conflict and/or grade deflation from hostile profs at too many institutions. There's much more."
This concept of religious influences being airbrushed from schools' history books.
I don't know Tom – I am only a few years younger than you – my history books didn't have all kinds of religion in them, at all. But even if what you say is precisely true and true across the board of public schools, our country is far more diverse now than it was when you and I were in elementary or secondary school. And I interpret our Constitution, Bill of Rights and history to allow for and accommodate and tolerate that increase in diversity.
Holding on to what you had in the face of what will no longer be – that's, ugh – I hate to say it again – delusional and/or desperate. And it's also what gave rise to people leaving to start the colonies.
Agreed – lots more here.
Paul – what you describe does cover the bare minimum of what I know about the different denominations. I also had to take a few required theology and philosophy courses at GU – one of which is still required and it's called The Problem of God. It was a survey course – I had A B Reddington – for "A" or "B" being the only grades he gave. He spent years in India, was a Jesuit, drank a lot (or so they said) and was very very gentle-seeming kind of fellow. We read Carlos Castenada in that class! In addition to St. Augustine (which I had to read like five times in four years, maybe more it seems like!).
Anyway – in Judaism, first of all, we don't believe that God punishes us per se if we do something that's interpreted as being forbidden, unless it's a sin against God. I really am NOT well versed in these things – it's a weakness I've sought to correct but I'm extremely far.
Here's some of what I can tell you, for example though:
Keeping kosher? Only makes you closer to Godliness so to speak but it is not a sin to not be kosher from what I understand.
Are you familiar with the 613 mitzvot? These are the efforts Jews are to make daily, but not making them doesn't mean you have sinned. Being a Jew, itself, is a continuum.
But the different sects represent, just as with denominations, different interpretations.
I could tell a zillion stories that contradict each other.
For example, in Israel, about 80% of the Jews are not what is called "religious" – religious Jews are, however, what we would call in the U.S. Orthodox.
Now – within the Jews who are Orthodox, they adhere to whatever their rebbes tell them to, for the most part. They belong to shuls all along whereever they live.
So – some Orthodox women keep their heads shaven and wear black polyester kerchiefs, always. But my relatives there, with whom I spent a lot of time and who are also Orthodox – they let me eat with them, stay in their home, go to their shul, everything. But they had brothers and sisters who would not invite me into their home because, as a Reform Jew, I was as good as not Jewish at all.
One of the things that is so nutty to me, for example, is that some Orthodox Jews there say you need to keep eating of milk and meat one hour apart (if you have the meat first). Some say five hours and some say six hours.
None of this has to do with God – it's all an interpretation of the Old Testament.
I don't keep kosher and I don't expect to and everyone in my shul knows that and many in my shul are the same. My clergy all keep kosher though and we keep kosher in the shul, of course. But my son's bar mitzvah party? Not kosher.
Frustrating though it may be to others, in Judaism, it really is ingrained into us to not judge others (I hope Tom has a chance to read this comment, but I'll be happy to write about it elsewhere – it might help a little).
I think I have written about this elsewhere but "loshon hora" or literally "bad tongue" is considered the same as murder in Judaism, and there isn't anything worse than murder. You cannot be forgiven for murder.
Let me give you an example of this in practice:
I went to interview a few caterers for my son's bar mitzvah. One is a modern Orthodox guy – very good reputation. The other is a woman who doesn't keep kosher but also has an excellent reputation and will do kosher, not kosher – whatever.
So – I go to interview them and I ask them both, at the end of each interview, okay – so – you and the other, both have excellent reputations. If you could tell me one thing that you do that you think gives you an edge over the other, what would it be?
And guess what? Neither one would answer. They both had almost the EXACT same reaction: they said, look-I can only tell you what we do and how we are the only ones that do this or do that etc.
They absolutely would not say anything about the other one. And, as I say, one is Modern Orthodox and the other is Reform or Conservtive – I'm not even sure.
Likewise, as I grew up – judging others was just not something you did. You just did. not. do. it.
So this whole who is better, who is more next to God, who will live life loved, who will go to hell or heaven etc – all in comparison to others? We just don't do that.
At least, we're not supposed to and our clergy set the example to not do it.
Frankly, in my weaker moments I'm convinced that religion is a sham and we do not need it – i go back to the college debates I had regarding whether religion is a man-made crutch for not so Godly purposes.
When you live in a world where it is perverted and defended in ways that just feel so unnatural or have to be teased and tortured out of the text – I mean, how can that be something any superior being would desire?
Jill: Thanks for taking the time to make that response. Did you run into Prof James Haught at GU? I recorded a lecture he did at UCSD, and really liked some of the things he said. His notion is that God set the universe in motion at the Big Bang, and is watching it perfect itself via evolution (biological, spiritual). Kind of a game I guess. The question is how much God tweaks the universe, or interacts with it as it goes its course. Ultimately, religion is the most personal choice we ever make. No matter what we say or do, we are probably not revealing our inner self. Some faiths, including Christianity, believe that on one's death, you will stand in judgement for not only what you did, but what you thought. Next is Heaven or Hell, depending on how you were judged. Some faiths think you get to do it over and over again until you get it right. Humanness is almost there, but screw it up and you could come back as a dung beetle, or maybe a rock. Hard to work your way back to humanness. Which one is right? Who knows. I liked Joseph Campbell's thinking: stick with the system you know.
Hi Paul – I remember the name and I am sorry, I know you’ve asked me before – I didn’t mean to ignore the reference.
I don’t think I knew him but I do remember the name. There are a lot of fathers there.
I loved it there and I really loved most of the professors. my favorite was Fr. Chris Johnson who was either Franciscan or Dominican – I can’t remember anymore. He was in the sociology dept and I often tell the story of how in socio 101, during a lesson on labels, he tore off his collar and stomped all over it. I was in SHOCK. I went up to him after class to tell him how I thought that he couldnt’ do that! And he smiled and said, it’s only a symbol – that’s it.
Pretty radical still I think, huh!? But I believe he is right.
Haught is not a priest, at least he wasn't wearing clerical garb.
The thing about symbols is another source of conflict in Christianity by the way. This isnt'a big issue, but you may not have realized that Roman Catholics and Orthodox Catholics often depict Jesus on the cross (eg a crucifix), while most Protestant denominations prefer the empty cross (Jesus is arisen, not still dead). Catholic churches are often full of icons of saints, while Protestants tend to view such things as the 'graven images' addressed in the First Commandment.
I think I understand what your professor was trying to say, but it's rarely 'just a symbol' is it?
PL
His point to the class, which, again, was the 101 Sociology crowd, was that the symbol only represents thoughts, ideas, concepts. By itself as a strip of white cloth, separated from his neck and clothing, it would attain only the value that each of us gives to it – and that's going to be different. To a Jew, it's a thin strip of white cloth that I thought had to be worn to show me that he's a priest.
To him, it's part of uniform but it's not what makes him a priest.
Without it, he is still a priest – both in his eyes and in mine – because of his title and how he behaves.
So – the point, for class, was to separate the deeds that demonstrate who or what someone is from the label or symbol identified from it. In that way, you can assess anyone or anything without automatically imbuing certain characteristics to it.
I would say that that class and that professor in particular really galvanized me against labels etc., but before then I also had been exploring why labels bother me so much. What he taught was very consistent with what I'd been experiencing and thinking – which is that labels really mess with our heads and independent thinking.
Although maybe worse than that? When you live in a world and try to engage with people who insist on the use and value of labels, be prepared for a long engagement!
Amen Sister!
[...] kind of thing happens all the time when you are a religious minority. Just last week, on a Friday, I overheard a non-Jewish person say to a Jewish person – two people [...]