Category Archives: Religion/Spirituality

Editor’s Note: Huffington Post Religion has launched a scripture commentary/reflection series, which brings together leading voices from different religious traditions to offer their wisdom on selected religious texts. We are pleased to announce a series of reflections on scripture associated with the Jewish High Holidays with reflections by Rabbis from across the country and diverse traditions.

We hope all readers, Jewish and non-Jewish will gain wisdom from the insights of our contributors during the High Holidays.

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud (horn) blasts. Leviticus 23:24

Rosh Hashanah 2010, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown on September 8th. And while it marks the turn of Jewish calendar year 5770 to 5771, it also celebrates the fundamental human need for liberation, return and renewal.

The Jewish holidays, especially Rosh Hashanah, are not only for Jews. In fact, they celebrate the most basic human quest — the quest to make our lives richer, happier and more productive. They also invite us to think about how to help others achieve the same things.

Without ignoring the centrality of our own happiness and fulfillment, these holidays, especially Rosh Hashanah, remind us that we humans share a common past, present and future — that we, in the widest sense, are in this together.

Leviticus 23:24 speaks of the best-known Rosh Hashanah practice, the blowing of the Shofar, ram’s horn, which has come to symbolize the holiday itself. The verse commands Moses as follows: “Speak to the Israelite people thus — In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud (horn) blasts.”

While that is how the verse is generally translated, taken literally, it teaches us that the Israelites are to have a sacred day marked by “the memory of loud (horn) blasts”. But what horn blasts are to be recalled? While the verse offers no direct answer, it seems to refer to the loud blasts that were sounded, according to Leviticus 25:8, at the beginning of the biblical Jubilee which occurred every 50 years.

During the Jubilee year, as the Shofar was blown, the bible teaches that the ancient Israelites were to “proclaim liberty throughout the land.” This meant that slaves were freed, debts forgiven and that lands were redistributed according to the original map at the time the Israelites entered the land. Whatever inequities had built up over the preceding 49 years, this system was intended to address them and, in the words of Leviticus 25:13, allow each person to return “to their holding” – to what was most deeply their own.

Rosh Hashanah invites us to do the same thing — to be free to return to our holding, to what we feel is most deeply our own, to be the person we most deeply feel we ought to be, not the one we may have become due to the inevitable complexities of life. Rosh Hashanah reminds us that is the person we really are, and that if we stop long enough to remember who that person is, and to get reacquainted with that person, we can be that person. In fact, it is our destiny to be so, no matter what others may say or how often life seems to get in the way.

In case you are wondering who is deemed worthy of this right, the answer is all of us. In fact, that is why the Jewish New Year is celebrated on the first day of what the Bible calls “the seventh month.” After all, there has to be some reason for a people to celebrate New Year’s not on the first day of the first month, but on the first day of seventh, right? And indeed there is.

Rosh Hashanah celebrates the birth of humanity. It may do so on the Jewish calendar, but it celebrates more than Jews and Judaism. The Jewish people were born during what the Bible calls the first month, Nissan, when they left Egypt at Passover. Adam and Eve however, were born according to rabbinic tradition, during what the Bible calls the seventh month, Tishrei. And it is on the first day of that seventh month when Rosh Hashanah, the return to who we most yearn to be — deserve to be — is celebrated. In effect, Rosh Hashanah affords each of us the opportunity to become Adam or Eve, to go back to the beginning and start fresh.

So this Rosh Hashanah, whoever you are, and wherever you may be, take advantage of one ancient tradition’s ideas and practices to relocate the person you most want to be and enjoy the renewal and liberation that come from finding that person once again. Here’s how.

1. Go Back To The Beginning – Imagine that you are actually the first person in the world, that it was created for you. Who do you want to be, regardless of who others expect you to be? What is it that you want to accomplish? Experience? Create?

2. Take Stock Of What You Have – What values, relationships, skills or possessions do you value most and how can they help you achieve that for which you hope?

3. Repair What Is Broken – Reach out to those whom you may have hurt. Seek their forgiveness. Even if they are not ready to grant it, seeking it will help you move forward.

4. Offer Forgiveness – You need not forget the past, but the more able you are to forgive those who have hurt you in the past, the freer you will be of the pain they have caused.

5. Taste Something Sweet – Take a moment to savor something delicious, something that reminds you that even if life is not always sweet and good, we can always find something which is.

6. Make A Plan – Create two lists to carry with you this year. On the first, list a few things to which you feel genuinely entitled and treat yourself accordingly. On the second, list a few things you feel truly obligated to do for others, whether it’s convenient or not.

7. Take It Slow – Our lives are all a work in progress. Often that progress is slow, sometimes we stand still, and we even slip backward from time to time. When that happens, simply return to step one.

Read more: Jewish Holidays, Holidays, Religion, Rosh Hashana, Bible, Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, Leviticus, Rosh Hashanah 2010, Renewal, Religion News

In the late 19th century, the forces of religious division in America targeted Catholics. Josiah Strong’s book Our Country: Its Possible Future and Present Crisis, referred to Catholics as “the alien Romanist” who swore allegiance to the pope instead of the country and rejected core American values such as freedom of the press and religious liberty. The book remained in print for decades and sold nearly 200,000 copies.

In the early 20th century, the forces of religious division in America targeted Jews. Harvard scholar Diana Eck writes, “In the 1930s and early 1940s, hate organizations grew and conspiracy theories about Jewish influence spread like wildfire.” In 1939, Father Charles Coughlin’s Christian Front filled Madison Square Garden with 20,000 people at a vitriolic anti-Semitic event complete with banners that read: “Stop Jewish Domination of America.”

Today, the forces of religious division demonize Muslims. Tennessee’s lieutenant governor, Ron Ramsey, says Islam — a faith of 1.5 billion people founded 1,400 years ago — could well be a cult and not a religion. Therefore, he continues, constitutional religious liberty guarantees might not apply to Muslims.

Mosques and Muslim community centers are being vociferously opposed from New York to Tennessee to California. A church in Florida proudly posts a roadside sign that reads, “Islam is of the Devil,” and is planning an event called “International Burn a Quran Day.”

The same arguments marshaled against Jews and Catholics in previous eras are being advanced against Muslims today. You’ve heard the charges:

•The tenets of Islam are opposed to the values of America.
•Muslims have undue influence with American elites.
•Muslim integration into America is a veiled Islamic invasion.

It is easy to imagine Strong’s book written today with “the alien Islamic” replacing “the alien Romanist,” or a Father Coughlin-style rally at Madison Square Garden with tens of thousands chanting, “Muslim go home.”

The forces of religious division have always been alive in America, but they have never defined America. The core principle of our nation is that a diverse people can live together in unity. Our motto, placed on the seal of the United States in 1776 when we became a country, is E Pluribus Unum: out of many, one.

Our Founding Fathers fought for this ethic. Addressing the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., as America’s first president, George Washington expressed this hope: “May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

But unity in America is not to be taken for granted. Every generation must both preserve and protect our nation’s core principle, and extend and expand it.

What we need today is a force advancing this value of unity and returning the voices of division to the margins. I think this force is going to come from an interfaith movement.

Here’s what that could look like: Civic groups could organize interfaith service projects, such as those fostered by Habitat for Humanity, bringing a community’s Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Humanists and others together for an afternoon of volunteering and interfaith dialogue.

Pastors, rabbis and imams could preach about how the teachings of their respective religions inspire cooperation with those of different faiths. These faith leaders could then hold up things they admire about other faith groups.

Universities could offer courses that emphasize the history of cooperation between religious groups instead of focusing just on the stories of conflict.

Political leaders could give speeches about shared values such as mercy, compassion and hospitality that serve as common ground between religions.

Ben Franklin — like his fellow Founders Washington, Madison and Jefferson — would recognize such a nation. Franklin helped set in motion our traditions of openness, unity and cooperation. In the 18th century, he helped build a public hall in Philadelphia with the express purpose that it embody the true American spirit. He said that the hall exists “expressly for the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire to say something to the people at Philadelphia … so that even if the mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammadanism (Islam) to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.”

The forces of religious division targeting Muslims seek to take America off course. We must not forfeit the territory to them. In America, we don’t discriminate against people of any religion. In America, we will not be divided by faith. In America, everyone has a place. In America, we are better together.

This piece was originally published in USA Today.

Read more: Islamophobia, Islam, America, Muslims America, First Ammendment, Judaism, Catholicism, Religious Freedom, Religion News

After casting the devil out of The Last Exorcism, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski exercise their analytic on other possession movies in the latest episode of Cinefantastique’s weekly Post-Mortem Podcast. What are the best and worst the genre has to offer: The Exorcist, Exorcist II: The Heretic, The Exorcist III, House of Exorcism?
Also this week: an exploration of the questions:

* What do The Last Exorcism and After.Life have in common?

* Is Predators this year’s most entertaining horror, fantasy, or science fiction film?

* What’s up with trailers for films like Piranha 3D and Predators, which promise scenes not in the movie?

* Does A Matter of Loaf and Death, the latest animated adventure starring plasticene pals Wallace and Gromit, live up to their previous, Oscar-winning work?

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Read more: Exorcist II: The Heretic, Violence, Action-Adventure, The Last Exorcism, Horror, Emotion, Predators, The Exorcist, Sex, A Matter of Loaf and Death, After Life, Drama, Controversy, Death, Piranha 3d, Indie, Comedy, Gore, The Exorcist III, Science Fiction, Acting Legend, Fantasy, Off Beat, Satire, Gritty, Art, House of Exorcism, Animation, Entertainment News

What do Saint Francis of Assisi and the New Orleans Saints have in common? Goggle the term “saints” to find out.

An online search for “saints” first reveals the official site of the football team that won this year’s Super Bowl and then a site for religious saints recognized by the Catholic Church.

These sacred and secular saints do have one thing in common: Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals and the environment, and the New Orleans Saints share a strong connection to place.

Today, stewardship of place has brought together diverse religious leaders — Muslims, Jews, Christians — who are playing on the same team to protect the earth, despite their differing religious beliefs. These faith leaders are standing in solidarity, united by a moral imperative to care for God’s creation.

In his book Making Saints, Kenneth Woodward defines a saint as “someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like — and what we are called to be.” From mosques to monasteries, these saints are revealing a new world where hopeful environmental action happens on an individual, congregational, and community level.

In that spirit of hope, I present a roster of 10 religious-environmental saints. The first five have gained national and even international recognition, while the second list features spiritual leaders encountered in my own daily life. All 10 saints offer lessons for a new world, where congregations model the principles and practices of sustainable communities.

Five Saints of the World

The familiar tune “When the Saints Go Marching In” calls for a new day: “Oh, when the new world is revealed, oh, when the new world is revealed, Lord, I want to be in that number, when the new world is revealed.” These five saints have influenced my own belief that we must respond through faith to environmental degradation here on earth, rather than wait for heaven at St. Peter’s gates.

1. Rev. Sally Bingham: As a stay-at-home mom, the Rev. Sally Bingham questioned why clergy in her Episcopal church were not talking about faith and the environment. As an ordained priest, she now serves as the founder and director of the Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) Campaign, which provides a religious response to global warming. With IPL affiliates in 38 states, this campaign has become a powerful interfaith force to address climate change.
2. Wangari Maathi: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, Wangari Maathi’s work resulted in 20 million trees planted on farms, church compounds, and gardens in Kenya. The founder of the Green Belt Movement, Maathi began planting trees as a grassroots initiative to improve the lives of women and conserve the environment. She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn her doctorate degree and credits the Benedictine sisters with promoting her love of science.
3. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: The leader of the Orthodox Church, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has earned the title of “the Green Patriarch.” He brought together scientists, religious leaders, and government officials for visits to major bodies of water in the world, including the Danube, the Amazon, and the Arctic, to integrate scientific and spiritual understandings of water.
4. Wendell Berry: From his farm near Port Royal, KY, Wendell Berry writes as a farmer and activist, challenging people of faith to practice their convictions. Berry, who attends a local Baptist church, has criticized Christians as complacent about an economy that destroys the environment. His writings urge a “home economy” of raising food and animals through a life rooted in one place.
5. Rev. Mitch Hescox: When oil poured in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, the Rev. Mitch Hescox decided to walk from Waveland, Miss. to Venice, La. and pray with Gulf Coast residents affected by the spill. In 2009, he became president/CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network. This year, he also organized an 18-day walk from West Virginia to Washington, DC to bear witness to mountaintop removal sites and pray for victims of climate change.

Five Saints in my Life

“I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” was one of my grandmother’s favorite hymns: “And one was a doctor and one was a queen, and one was a shepherdess on the green. They were all of them saints of God and I mean, God helping, to be one too.”

Religious-environmental saints are acting with conviction to conserve the places I love. One is a writer, and one is a priest, and one is a mother, just like me. If I can find these saints in my small circles, these natural saints are among us all.

1. LeeAnne Beres: “A thousand acts of kindness can be wiped away with a single act of Congress,” says LeeAnne Beres, executive director of Earth Ministries in Washington State. Among its many programs, Earth Ministries provides training in environmental advocacy skills for congregations. This organization has brought together interfaith religious leaders and legislators in a campaign to transition the state from coal to clean energy by 2015.
2. Rev. John Rausch: In his work with the Catholic Committee on Appalachia, Father John Rausch has led countless tours of mountaintop removal sites for seminarians, community members, and interfaith groups. This Sept. 11, Rev. Rausch will lead an interfaith prayer service facing a mountaintop removal site to pray for jobs that build a just society and steward creation. He often ends these services by giving wildflower seeds to participants to scatter amid the rubble as a sign of hopeful action.
3. Jill Rios: Jill Rios and her daughter Aja worship at La Capilla de Santa Maria, where her husband is the priest for this Episcopal parish that ministers to Latino immigrants. With her leadership, La Capilla has weatherized the sanctuary, planted a garden, and built a cob oven as a microenterprise for parishioners. As the former director of North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light, she also created a program to weatherize 300 low-income homes and provide climate justice tours for congregations.
4. Rabbi Larry Troster: Rabbi Larry Troster fosters the next generation of religious-environmental saints through his leadership with the GreenFaith Fellowship program. This training builds the skills of interfaith leaders to care for creation using a framework of justice, spirituality, and stewardship. Based in New Jersey, GreenFaith also promotes initiatives such as solar panels on sanctuaries and an environmental certification program for congregations.
5. Will Harlan: A practicing Buddhist and environmental writer, Will Harlan lives off the grid with his wife and son on their farm in Western North Carolina. His spirituality connects him to the earth and to his avocation as an elite ultramarathoner in places like the Appalachian Mountains and Cooper Canyon, Mexico. Last year, Harlan completed a 72-mile run in the Smoky Mountains to raise awareness about mountaintop removal.

Fans of the New Orleans Saints chant this song with a religious fervor: “Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say gonna beat dem Saints?” The call and response creates a power greater than the individual voices in the stadium. Likewise, believers are creating collective momentum from individual acts: one cob oven built, one interfaith service organized, one church garden tilled, one piece of legislation passed.

Together, these people of faith represent a communion of saints rooted in God’s earth, but moving forward, one step at a time. And I mean to be one too.

Read more: Rev. John Rausch, New Orleans Saints, Saints, Rabbi Larry Troster, Environmentalism, LeeAnne Beres, Will Harlan, Environmental Saints, Jill Rios, Christianity, Religion News