Religion and Interpretation

 

No one practices their faith exactly the same way as the next guy, and I’m talking about the SAME religions. Everything is subject to interpretation. There’s an old joke in Judaism (my own faith) that goes, “If you ask two Rabbis you’ll get three opinions.”

 

Almost every religious reference, NO MATTER WHICH ONE, is accompanied by “…and by this, it means…” (no wonder TV commentators think they can tell the viewers “this is what you heard”). In their defense most religious volumes have been translated from their original language to the current language of the people. It’s a well known fact that you can lose a lot in the translation.

 

If you read scripture or religious tenets OF ANY FAITH, you can really find yourself horrified at some of the writings.

·       “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” [Deuteronomy 21:18-21]

·       “I decided to order a man to lead the prayer and then take a flame to burn all those, who had not left their houses for the prayer, burning them alive inside their homes.” [Bukhari 11:626]

·      “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” [Matthew 10:34-35]

Are you cringing yet? These are just three of MANY examples from the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Quaran.

 

The other day, on Facebook of course, someone posted a meme that showed a picture of Judge Amy Coney Barrett (a Catholic) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (a Muslim) which was headed, “When her religion is a problem, but hers isn’t”… My response was an innocent “Religion shouldn't matter in either case.” Another FB member (whom I don’t know) responded abruptly about how violent the Quaran is and “Muslims have been fighting Christians since Mohammed!!”

 

Indeed there have been many religious wars through the centuries and ALL of our spiritual texts do contain items that seem callous or violent. But, it is my opinion, that every human being, while respecting the main preaching of their chosen faith, must decide on what kind of a life they want to live. No matter what you call your higher power, HE (or SHE) has also given commandments to love your fellow man, to always strive to be better, and to make this world a better place.

 

Surely we’ve all sinned, sometimes by error and sometimes in anger. But really, are we that different from our fellow beings. We feel pain, we love, we cry, we bleed, and in the end we ALL die.

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Land of the Free and Brave???

In many ways I grew up a bit sheltered — not sheltered from some of the ugliness in the world, but sheltered in that my folks told me that mankind was ultimately good and that things in this country were improving.

While I would never think that the prejudices I did experience in my formative and young adult years were as much as other minorities, I was always aware of the different ways we were treated because our dad was Puerto Rican (raised in PR and NYC) and our mom was a southern white girl who was transplanted to New York. By the way, we were also a Jewish family.

We frequently traveled to the south to visit mommy’s family and we’d laugh because my dad always had her drive through some of the southern states (now I realize it wasn’t so funny, he was genuinely scared of being stopped by a southern state trooper with his dark skin). I remember walking into a diner when I was young and noticing that none of the black families were seated in the same areas as the white families; I also know how heavy my mom laid on her thick southern drawl when the wait staff looked at my dad with questions. My parents agreed that things were improving, everyone was at least allowed to come in and have a meal. I was happy to hear my parents talk so positively. Then, I was just ten years old when a church in Mississippi was bombed and four young black girls were killed, one of them was only a year older than me.

When I was in Junior High School I met my first real boyfriend, Steve, he was blonde haired and blue eyed and oh so cute. We walked to a local bowling alley for our first date and on our way home again we saw his mom on the street. She frowned when she saw me and when my boyfriend proudly introduced me by name, she looked angry when she heard my last name, Cordero. That evening I got a phone call from him, he sounded upset when he told me that he couldn’t see me anymore. I didn’t know why and he wouldn’t tell me. A fellow classmate explained it to me a few days later, Steve wasn’t allowed to go out with a Hispanic (although that was not the term that was used).

As I grew into my teen years my parents were more open about prejudice, its ugliness and the injustices people suffered. And I had become more aware of the tensions in my school when students from other schools were bussed in all in the name of integration. There were a lot of people who weren’t happy and a lot of the new students kept to themselves. Meanwhile I was beginning to feel the way others viewed my ethnicity and who I was. As a (half) Hispanic, “white” Jewish teenage girl I found myself being ostracized my many of the other groups — I wasn’t Spanish enough, I was too white, I was too non-white, I was Jewish and the local parochial schools where teaching that the Jews killed Christ, and being a girl I was excluded from many sports activities at school.

In 1968 when so many cities were rioting, I visited my grandmother living in Miami, I enjoyed sun tanning on the beach. On the way back to NY we visited family in South Carolina. My cousin and I were walking down the street when suddenly there was a huge fuss. I couldn’t understand why I was being called ugly names, we hadn’t done anything. Cops were called and my cousin and I were forcefully separated. A black police officer pushed me into the street while I heard my cousin yelling (in her thick southern accent) “But she’s white!” Suddenly my cousin broke through and pulled on my T-shirt to expose the tan lines from the bathing suit straps.

The black police officer literally fell to his knees and apologized telling me over and over again he needed his job. (The Kennedy-era Civil Rights movement enabled the hiring of black officers, but this small southern town restricted them from laying hands on any white person.) I shrugged and told the cop I was okay and he actually thanked me. I was in shock, because of my darker skin, partially due to the sun tan, and my naturally curly, kinky hair I was mistaken as being black. I had an insight into the prejudice many blacks suffered… and that was only for a few minutes of my life. I thank the good Lord every day for giving me that experience.

I grew up and got married to a really super guy, his family came from northern Europe and a few folks snidely remarked that he was marrying a non-white. It didn’t bother him and I really never thought of myself as being “white” or not. Recently I’ve been delving into my family genealogy and found several documents including both my dad’s and my father-in-law’s WW2 military records; my fil is listed as White and my dad is listed as Non-White. I also submitted a DNA test; I am a mixture of northern European, Ashkenazi Jew, Spanish, African and Native American. I am damn proud of everything I am. I would imagine that most of us have quite an unexpected mix as well. In America there are too many people who don’t want to accept differences and I would find it amusing to know the DNA background of some of our bigots.

But I will never find it amusing that someone of color is looked down simply for their skin color. And I find it tremendously sad that black parents have to teach their children the seven words (yes sir, no sir, thank you sir) and pray that they will be able to come home every night. Prejudice has no place in “the land of the free”.

RIP George Floyd

What is religion? ~ #MondayBlogs

Religion is a belief system, a road map of sorts, something to give us all guidance through life. Yes, many of these belief systems have a Deity (mono or poly theistic) that we direct our prayers and hopes to, but ultimately the rules that are dictated by a particular belief system are designed to help us function and thrive in this world among our fellow humans.

Religion should not be used as a mask, a false front or an excuse for intolerance or cruelty. There are extremists in every religion who use interpretations of commandments to their own self-serving benefit. Unfortunately when these extremists represent themselves as spokespersons of the faith, there are others who let their resentments rule. Religious precepts are misunderstood and prejudice begins.

Some religions are philosophies, a way of living life using positivity, compassion, and cooperation. There are people who believe in a higher-power, but not a god – nature, the earth’s elements, their fellow man/woman, and their own inner strength. Atheism, mistakenly cited as a belief that there is NO god is really a lack of belief that there is a god — it’s a minor difference but not as negative as some claim. Agnostics neither claim that there is a god, nor do they claim there isn’t; in many ways agnostics are relatively open-minded to possibilities.

“The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e., "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels.” [Wikipedia] An open dialogue between people of different faiths is not an attempt to merge or dissolve religious beliefs; rather it is a way to work together with mutual respect. Learning about other faiths should never be seen as an affront to one’s own religion or belief system. Education is, in Judaism, a mitzvah, a commandment and something we should all be doing; other faiths have similar edicts.

It shouldn’t matter if you read the King James Bible, the Hebrew Tanakh, the Hindi Sanskrit, the Buddhist Tipitaka, or the Muslim Quran… it shouldn’t matter if you study the sky and the stars, or let the soil run through your fingers, or if you are Wiccan, Atheist, Jehovah's Witness, or celebrate Kwanzaa… we are ALL quite literally in this thing TOGETHER. All religions and belief systems share commandments and principles that encourage the love of family, respect for life (human and animal), and provide guidance to help us share this great planet.

I am pleased to say that my family is interfaith. While we each remain true to our individual upbringing, it is a joy to share our unique cultures with each other. It is a blessing to observe the Ruach (Hebrew word meaning energy and spirit) in our rituals. Ultimately our family thrives on LOVE.

So be who you are and practice your faith. And if you find it hard to be compatible with others, don’t meet it with anger and hostility — use it as an opportunity to LEARN about your own and other religions. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many similarities there really are. 

Faith should never be divisive; we are all one people in the long run. 

Time to reflect - #MondayBlogs

This past weekend was Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement is a day set aside to "afflict the soul," to atone for the sins of the past year. These "sins" are between the individual and G-d, a time to repent and sincerely make an effort to do better; if there are transgressions against your fellow man, you are expected to make your peace with that individual.

As children we always thought this holiday was the day we received our get-out-of-jail-free card.

I spent the day in a lot of self-reflection. Whether it is religious obligation, court-ordered (can they do that?), a suggestions from a friend, or simply common-sense, spending a day looking at yourself and your actions, meditating about your life, is a healthy and calming thing to do. Your actions do not have to be action-verbs like running, driving, talking, etc., they also include your thoughts and emotions.

Are you spending your day being angry at someone who has done you wrong? Are you dwelling in the past or filled with regrets about what you didn't get to do or say? Are you wasting your life with crippling thoughts about things that can't be undone, or obsessed with people who bring nothing positive to your world? Are you allowing anger to consume you and destroy your happiness?

When you meditate and inspect your own being, you give yourself a chance to resolve issues, find your strengths, realize your potential. and look ahead to the future. Spend some time concentrating on yourself, sorting out what your priorities are, and learning how to be happy. Whatever term you use, count your blessings, the positives, the "things" you have (not just material) that make you feel rich. Don't waste time plotting revenge on those that have hurt you or being envious of the things someone else has - instead get to know yourself.

During the days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Jews believe the Book of Life is opened and our fate for the coming year is inscribed; this gives great inspiration to sincerely atone for our transgressions and promise to be better.

There is no need to wait for once a year though, we can make daily efforts to be better people, to be more considerate of our fellow man, and more truthful, Just one act of kindness can improve someone's life, a random smile can bring happiness, an hour of selfless time can make someone feel important, a compassionate ear may be salvation for someone who feels lost and desperate.

At the end of the day you can take stock in your contribution to the world - and that can make your day.

May you all have a healthy peaceful and fulfilling year.