Download Out Loud Faith - Housatonic Community College

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OUT
LOUD:
FAITH
Presented by the Housatonic Community College
Diversity Awareness Committee
November 12, 2014
11am – 12:30pm
Beacon Hall Events Center
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Guest Panel
Imam Nasif Muhammad
Al-Aziz Islamic Center, Bridgeport, CT
The Rev. Cass L. Shaw
President and CEO
Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport
Virginia Smith
Congregation President, Unitarian Universalist
Church of Greater Bridgeport
Rabbi Daniel Victor
Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Bridgeport, CT
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Welcome!
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Question:
Can many belief traditions
peacefully and respectfully
coexists?
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Question:
Do faith communities have
an obligation to peaceably
exist together?
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And…
What about the secular
community? What
obligation, if any, do they
and the faith community
have to each other?
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On college campuses…
In Can Religion and Spirituality Find a Place in Higher
Education, Religious Studies scholar Peter Laurence
asks,
“How can we acknowledge the importance
of religion in the lives of students without
establishing a particular religious point
of view as normative?
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And…
“How can we create campus cultures
that validate and support the religious
elements in the lives of students from
a wide variety of traditions?
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Finally,
“What is spirituality, and how does it
relate to religion? Is spirituality also
affected by secularization?”
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According to Diana L. Eck,
Professor of Comparative Religion,
Harvard, University,
A commitment to “pluralism”
may be the answer.
What is pluralism? She explains,
“First, pluralism is not diversity alone,
but the energetic engagement with
diversity.
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“Second, pluralism is not just tolerance,
but the active seeking understanding
across lines of difference.
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Third, pluralism is not [making all
points of view equal or valid] but
the meeting of commitments.
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[Pluralism] does not require us to leave
our identities and our commitments
behind … It means holding our deepest
differences, even our religious
differences, not in isolation, but in
relationship to one another.
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“Fourth, pluralism is based on dialogue.
The language of pluralism is that of
dialogue and encounter, give and take,
criticism and self-criticism. Dialogue means
both speaking and listening, and that
process reveals both common
understandings and real differences.
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“Dialogue does not mean everyone at
the “table” will agree with one another.
Pluralism involves the commitment to
being at the table -- with one’s
commitments.”
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In brief,
To create a respectful and rewarding interfaith
community, including secularists, we must:
Acknowledge our diversity.
Interact across the lines that usually divide us.
Talk to one another.
Seek understanding.
How much do we know
about each other?
Take the Pew Center’s
Religious Literacy Survey.
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Ready?
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Which Bible
figure is most
closely associated
with leading the
exodus from
Egypt?
Job
Elijah
Moses
Abraham
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Answer:
Moses
What was Mother Teresa’s religion?
Catholic
Jewish
+ Buddhist Mormon
Hindu
Answer:
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Catholic
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In which religion are Vishnu and
Shiva central figures?
Islam
Hinduism
Taoism
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Answer: Hinduism
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What was Joseph Smith’s
religion?
Catholic
Jewish
Buddhist
Mormon
Hindu
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Answer: Mormon
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According to rulings by the U.S.
Supreme Court, is a public school
teacher permitted to lead a class in
prayer, or not?
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Answer: Yes, it is permitted.
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What religion do most people in
Pakistan consider themselves?
Buddhist
Hindu
Muslim
Christian
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Answer: Muslim
What was the name of the person
whose writings and actions
inspired the Protestant
Reformation?
Martin
+ Luther
Thomas Aquinas
John Wesley
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Answer: Martin Luther
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Which of the following
best describes the
Catholic teaching about
the bread and wine
used for Communion?
The bread and
wine actually
become the
body and blood
of Jesus Christ
The bread and
wine are symbols
of the body and
blood of Jesus
Christ.
Answer: The bread and
wine actually become the
body and blood of Jesus
+ Christ.
When does the Jewish
Sabbath begin?
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Friday
Saturday
Sunday
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Answer:
Sabbath begins
on
Friday
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Do not commit adultery
Which of the
following is NOT
one of the Ten
Commandments?
Do unto others as you
would have them do
unto you.
Do not steal.
Keep the Sabbath holy.
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Answer:
Do unto others
as you would have
them do unto you.
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Which of these
religions aims at
nirvana, the state
of being free from
suffering?
Islam
Buddhism
Islam
Hinduism
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Answer:
Nirvana
is a concept in Buddhism
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Bahá’í
In mid-nineteenth century Iran, “Twelver”
Shi’ite Muslims recognized a line of leaders
called Imams: successors within the family
lineage of Muhammad who became the
spiritual guides and authoritative leaders
of the Muslim community. They expect the
twelfth Imam—Muhammad al-Mahdi, who
disappeared in the ninth century—to
return to establish a rule of truth and
justice in the last days.
Source: Pluralism.org
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Shintō
The “way of the
kami,” is a tradition
indigenous to
Japan. Some may
translate the term
kami into English
as “god,” “deity,”
or “spirit,” but kami eludes an easy
translation. The kami are everywhere
and myriad. They are known by both
presence and power, the sense of
“divine presence” that rests upon or
dwells in a particular place, the “holy
power manifest in nature or abiding
in a shrine. In the shrine, the kami are
not
depicted in
image form
but
symbolized most
commonly by a
mirror.
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Christianity
The common
source of its
denomination
is the life,
teachings, the
death and
resurrection of
Jesus.
Source: Pluralism.org
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Buddhism
Seeks
understanding of
the suffering of
living beings and
Buddha’s
teachings about
overcoming
suffering through
moral living,
meditation , and
insight into reality.
Source: Pluralism.org
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Native
Traditions
Today’s Native peoples link themselves to
a long, rich heritage on this land through
ceremonies performed and stories
recounted, through herbal healing and
sacred foods, and through particular
sacred places, such as Eagle Butte in South
Dakota or the ceremonial kiva buildings on
the plazas of New Mexico’s Pueblo villages.
Source: Pluralism.org
Humanism
Humanists seek goodness and wisdom
without a God.
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Source: Pluralism.org
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Judaism
Simply put, Judaism is the way of life of the
Jewish people. In the English-speaking
Western world, “Judaism” is often considered
a “religion," but there are no equivalent
words for “Judaism” or for “religion” in
Hebrew; however, there are words for “faith,”
“law,” or “custom." The Jewish tradition is
much broader than this. As a way of life, it
includes the social, cultural, and religious
history of a widespread and diverse
community, including people who do and do
not think of themselves as “religious.”
Judaism is perhaps best conceptualized as a
triad with three points of reference: God,
Torah, and the people Israel (that is, the
Jewish people). None is central; all are
interdependent, with varying degrees of
emphasis at various times.
Source: Pluralism.org
Paganism
Worship of deities associated with human,
animal, and plant fertility around the world.
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Source: Pluralism.org
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Hindu
The people who
today call
themselves “Hindus”
have many forms
of practice, both in
India and around
the world. On the whole, none
considers the other heretic. There are
commonalities: The universe is
permeated with the Divine, a reality
often described as Brahman; the
Divine can be known in many names
and forms; this reality is deeply and
fully present within the human soul's
journey to full self-realization which is
not accomplished in a single lifetime.,
but takes many
lifetimes; and the
soul’s course
through life after
life
is shaped by one’s
deeds.
Source: Pluralism.org
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Islam
The call of Islam begins and ends with
prayer, shaped by the conviction that God
is one and has sent messengers to guide
humanity on an authentic and purposeful
journey.
Contained in this call is the shahadah, the
“witness” to the two fundamental
convictions upon which Muslims stand:
“There is no God but God, and Muhammad
is the Messenger of God.”
Source: Pluralism.org
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Afro-Caribbean
This group includes Cuban “Santería,”
Haitian Vodou, Jamaican Revivalism, and
Rastafarianism. The presence of these
Afro-Caribbean traditions in the U.S.
has contributed to new forms of
African-influenced religious life among
African-Americans.
Source: Pluralism.org
Universalists
Universalists believe that God is too good to
damn people, while the Unitarians believe that
people are too good to be damned.” Gradually,
both traditions have broadened to include postChristian theists and, beginning in the twentieth
century, “humanists” who avoid all ideas of the
divine or of the supernatural.
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SOURCE: PLURALISM.ORG