can someone BE interfaith?
I agree wholeheartedly with Will about the impossibility of entering into interreligious dialogue feeling spiritually superior to others, but one aspect of today's theological climate that I find disconcerting is the interfaith ministry.
In other words, there are people who, when asked their religion, actually answer "I'm interfaith." My boyfriend is in a chaplaincy program this summer at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and a fellow chaplain who calls herself interfaith wears a necklace with the symbol of each world religion on it. Whether she personally identifies with a particular religion is hard to know (I think she tends to evade the question), but there is heavy doubt in my mind that she can be fully committed to a specific religion and still call herself interfaith.
What is interfaith? I like the idea - as all of us here do - of engaging in interfaith dialogue and expressing open-minded reverence for other religions, but how much depth could someone have if he/she tries to represent the whole theological spectrum? It reminds me more or less of a peddler, trying to sell what best suits a customer: "Ok, so Islam isn't quite your thing? Forget the Qur'an, then. I've got a communion cup and flask of wine in my left pocket - wanna try Christianity? No? All right, well we can always fast and meditate on the Tao, if you'd like..." I just can't imagine someone being sincere and devout having every religion under the sun within grasp for convenience. And if I were a patient at New York Presbyterian Hospital, I certainly wouldn't want an interfaith person trying to best "cater" to me according to my faith preference. It seems phony to me.
There are also interfaith seminaries, where people learn to "become" interfaith. I can understand studying world religions, but actually converting to an array of faiths (though I don't know how far they take this process) seems highly suspect. If you're interfaith, do you go to temple, mosque, church, and shrine, all in one week? Or perhaps you work on a rotation?
Well it's obvious that I'm not buying into this interfaith thing, but maybe there's something I'm not getting and I'd love to hear what any of you have to say about it. I guess the bottom line for me is that I believe that trying to fit under x number of theological categories drains the substance out of one's spirituality. How meaningful can that be to one's soul? And in the end, what does it mean?
In other words, there are people who, when asked their religion, actually answer "I'm interfaith." My boyfriend is in a chaplaincy program this summer at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and a fellow chaplain who calls herself interfaith wears a necklace with the symbol of each world religion on it. Whether she personally identifies with a particular religion is hard to know (I think she tends to evade the question), but there is heavy doubt in my mind that she can be fully committed to a specific religion and still call herself interfaith.
What is interfaith? I like the idea - as all of us here do - of engaging in interfaith dialogue and expressing open-minded reverence for other religions, but how much depth could someone have if he/she tries to represent the whole theological spectrum? It reminds me more or less of a peddler, trying to sell what best suits a customer: "Ok, so Islam isn't quite your thing? Forget the Qur'an, then. I've got a communion cup and flask of wine in my left pocket - wanna try Christianity? No? All right, well we can always fast and meditate on the Tao, if you'd like..." I just can't imagine someone being sincere and devout having every religion under the sun within grasp for convenience. And if I were a patient at New York Presbyterian Hospital, I certainly wouldn't want an interfaith person trying to best "cater" to me according to my faith preference. It seems phony to me.
There are also interfaith seminaries, where people learn to "become" interfaith. I can understand studying world religions, but actually converting to an array of faiths (though I don't know how far they take this process) seems highly suspect. If you're interfaith, do you go to temple, mosque, church, and shrine, all in one week? Or perhaps you work on a rotation?
Well it's obvious that I'm not buying into this interfaith thing, but maybe there's something I'm not getting and I'd love to hear what any of you have to say about it. I guess the bottom line for me is that I believe that trying to fit under x number of theological categories drains the substance out of one's spirituality. How meaningful can that be to one's soul? And in the end, what does it mean?
posted by Margaret Fuller @ 12:44 PM
3 Comments:
At 9:15 PM,
Satoshi said…
Margaret, your questions always stimulate my interest, and I cannot help but leave my comment.
Let me make a comment from a viewpoint of inter-cultural communication. I'm familiar with this, because I took several intercultural communication classes when I was an undergraduate (it's now more than 5 years ago, wow...).
In my understanding, interfaith is just in-between of two or more religions. That means, you cannot choose the in-between thing. You can believe in a religion, and understand the other or more. But maybe you cannot go further than understanding it. Believing in a religion is more than understanding. It's more than matter of degree, I think.
In the context of intercultural study, without having a strong central intellectual, mental, and emotional axis that you rely on, you cannot move pivotally. In other words, without having central values or culture you rely on, you cannot understand other values or culture well. If you believe in Christianity, you need to believe in it in depth, in order to understand other religions.
So, the bottom line is that you need one main thing. You cannot choose two or more at the same time, and at the same level. This is how I think about culture, and religion. You need one central framework of believes, then you can understand others. Otherwise, you end up with always flowing somewhere without strong roots to stand. Margaret, I agree with you. We cannot be just in-between.
But that does not necessarily mean that we cannot have interfaith dialogues or we cannot understand other religions. You can take an interfaith approach, but you always need to rely on one central value system that makes you "you". That's how I think.
So, in my opinion, saying "I'm interfaith" does not make sense. Can we believe in two religions or more at that same time from the bottom of our heart??? I don't think so.
At 1:52 AM,
Will Brideau said…
I would actually disagree with Satoshi, to a certain extent. For the most part, I agree completely with both of you. Margaret, your analogy of the salesman trying to sell different faiths is particularly insightful and brilliant.
And although I agree that being 'interfaith' is a silly silly statement when confronted about religious feelings, I do strongly advocate syncretic religions. What I mean by this is that you can borrow concepts and beliefs from various faiths and traditions and meld them together.
Now the age old question, and a favorite of Hampshire College students: is this cultural appropriation in a negative way? I myself greatly respect and follow the teachings of the Buddha and also that of Lord Siva from Hindu traditions. I likewise believe that Jainism's adherence to a vegetarian diet and Ahimsa are wonderful qualities, and I try to enact them on a daily basis. I greatly admire the incredible care Sikhs take towards protecting their sacred scripture, and I find this practice also coincides with Tibetan Buddhist and Jewish reverence for the written word.
So yes, I agree...saying that your religion is 'interfaith' seems a bit shifty. But then again, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to draw and meld many different religious practices and traditions into one fluid mixture.
And as for the cultural appropriation thing, 9 times out of 10, I just don't buy it. If your intention is to learn and explore and be respectful and helpful and interested in other faiths and cultures, I say go for it. If I were getting Sanskrit tattoos just because I think they look cool, and if I didn't understand and/or don't make any effort to understand what they mean, or where they're coming from...I hope I'd be inclined to take a good, long look at my behavior.
I'm down for learning about other cultures and other religions. They're great. They've all got something beautiful and interesting about them. If I agree with the practices and beliefs I come across, chances are I'll try and enact them in some way. If that means I'm "appropriating" them...well, so be it.
At 4:33 PM,
macmod datugan said…
From my modest reading on religions, I haven't gone reading yet a faith/belief in the Creator that teaches and commands its adherents to go and kill in its name. What I understand is all religion commands and teaches the believers to love, respect, uphold the dignity and the sanctity of life of humankind.
I am a Maguindanao, one of the thirteen ethnolinguistic Moro indigenous tribes of Southern Philippines who adheres to a unique form of Islam, I took both my high school and undergraduate studies in Catholic schools for eight years. I was employed in an all Christian- employee workplace in a Muslim majority town for almost ten years. I can speak the language of the Christians as much as I can speak my mother tongue.
Am I an interfaith? I do not know. If interfaith means going to places of worship of different denominations one at a time to profess the faith of each, I don't subscribe to that. I feel like torn not just between two lovers but among many lovers. Will, I like your idea of syncreticism. Taking a symbol, a word, or any other things from some other beliefs because someone feels this is the one needed in his/her own belief is really fine as long as it is respected by him/her as how it is reverred by the believers of that faith. At the same time knowing the meaning , both external and internal, of these symbol, word, thing, so that if one day a believer of that faith where these symbol, and etc. came from asks the wearer, the believer would not be vexed if the wearer could explain, in some ways, the significance of these symbol, etc.
I cannot fully explained my feelings every morning when I entered Paul's (Sherbow) office, I usually greet him in the way I greet my elders and anybody in my community, "Assalamu Alaikum". His reply "Alaikum Salam" coupled with his right pronunciation and intonation gives me an inner feeling of happiness. For me it is not just the physical exchange of words but the deeper meaning of these words. From the above example I see Will's and my line synonymous.
I still have to delve deeper to answer Margaret's question.
Macky
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