(6300,31,'2012-04-25 09:25:43','2012-04-25 16:25:43','I sat in the minister’s office on a Wednesday night, nervous with my parents seated on either side of me.\r\n\r\n“Why now?” he asked.\r\n\r\n“I’m not ready,” I replied.\r\n\r\nConfusion spread across the minister\'s face, and he glanced at my parents doubtfully.\r\n\r\nMy dad turned toward me and asked gently, “Then why are we here, David, if you aren’t ready?”\r\n\r\nMy heart pounded and I saw this moment — my most important moment — begin to slip away from me, and I knew I couldn’t let that happen. I might not get this chance again. If I didn’t seize this moment, I feared I might never get another one, and it would be too late.\r\n\r\n“No, no, no,” I replied, voice shaky and quiet. “I’m not ready to die.”\r\n\r\n“What do you mean?” asked my youth minister.\r\n\r\n“If I died, I think I would go to Hell,” I replied.\r\n\r\nThe room grew quiet.\r\n\r\nI was 10.\r\n\r\nJust a decade old, I had become convinced that I needed to be saved from the specter hell and an eternity with Satan.\r\n\r\nDespite the fact that I had attended church for my entire life, whenever the doors were open — Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday nights. Despite the fact that my family religiously read the Bible together. Despite the fact that I already had faith in Jesus, in God. Despite the fact that Jesus loved me, this I knew.\r\n\r\nMy youth minister talked briefly with me, before finally deciding that I was indeed of the age of accountability and could be baptized. He asked if I wanted to “come forward” on Sunday or just go ahead and be baptized that night.\r\n\r\nThe situation was much too urgent to wait four days. It was now or never.\r\n\r\nWithin a half hour, after he scrounged up some witnesses and I donned thin white clothes, I had been baptized. Until I felt the cool rush of the waters, I was terrified that something would happen and that I would perish unbaptized, unsaved, destined for Satan’s clutches.\r\n\r\nBut it took years, another decade almost, for the fear to stop.\r\n\r\nRichard Nixon reportedly once said, “People react to fear, not love. They don’t teach that in Sunday School, but it’s true.”\r\n\r\nBut, in truth, that is the exact messages echoing throughout Sunday Schools and churches throughout Christianity, where sermons based on fear of Satan and eternal damnation move more people toward the altar than sermons inspired by God, justice, generosity and love.\r\n\r\nIn my own experience of salvation, Satan loomed much larger — and more powerful a motivator — than did God. I didn’t want to commit my life to God because of the divine love offered to me but because I was a terrified 10-year-old. I had the hell scared right out of me.\r\n\r\nNow, this is the perfect place to criticize fear-based religion, to lampoon the notion of sinners dangling in the hands of an angry God. Instead of grasping at low-hanging fruit, however, I want to propose something else. In addition to being psychologically damaging and spiritually abusive, the figure of Satan is fundamentally unorthodox, at odds with Christianity\'s claims of monotheism.\r\n\r\nIn other words, Satan, as much of Christianity has conceived of him and how the idea of him has functioned, is heresy of the highest degree.\r\n\r\nAnd it is a heresy that Christians for millenia have embraced.\r\n\r\nSuppose for a moment you were studying a new religion. In it, there was an eternal being, with supernatural powers to influence the world and humanity, who commanded a legion of angels to do his will, and who would stop at nothing to gain the allegiance of humans.\r\n\r\nThis paragraph describes a god. It certainly could be said to describe traditional Christianity’s God. But it could equally be said to describe its traditional understanding of Satan.\r\n\r\nChristianity, in effect, through its discourse about Satan, has mutated from a monotheistic religion to a ditheistic one, with rival gods battling for the souls of humans. Christians will pay lip service to the notion that God is all-powerful and has or will defeat Satan, while at the same time, acknowledging that the temporal battle is all but lost to the forces of evil.\r\n\r\nIn any other religion, such a dualistic counterpart, locked in eternal warfare with God, would also be considered a god and monotheistic claims would be sneered at.\r\n\r\nAt some point, Christianity needs to face its own unspoken anathema — the theological Frankenstein it created — that Satan has become a god.\r\n\r\nNow, to be clear, I don’t believe that a being called Satan exists. Neither do I think it is biblical or reasonable to do so. At most, I would say that Satan is the human personification of the evil that is present in the world, conceived as a theodicy of sorts to balance the sorry state of affairs on earth with the belief in a good God.\r\n\r\nA clear example of this can be found in the Old Testament during a census ordered by King David. There are two accounts of this story in different books, and they are exactly the same, save for one significant detail. In the earlier one, it is the anger of the Lord which goads David to take the census. In the latter one, it is Satan.\r\n\r\nAn adversary has been made.\r\n\r\nA scapegoat created. But it is not a scapegoat to carry away the sins of the Israelites. Rather, it is a scapegoat created by humans for the misbehavior of their God.\r\n\r\nEventually, Satan comes to function as humanity’s scapegoat as well, the animal that carries off the sins so far away into the dark wilderness that we no longer can claim responsibility for our sins at all. Over the centuries, the figure of Satan has been used to justify all sorts of bad behavior in the world. Humanity’s moral failings are blamed on the influence of Satan, lifting responsibility for deplorable evil to a supernatural level outside the control of humankind. In other instances, our evil work — the Inquisition comes to mind — is justified as a righteous attempt to stamp out Satan’s work. Further, humanity’s infatuation with violence, racism and war are blamed on the work of the Evil One rather than our cravings for power and security.\r\n\r\nHonestly, Satan can be an attractive alternative to the truth because it is much easier to blame a metaphysical boogeyman with horns, a pitchfork and a fiery lair beneath the earth than it is to look at the blood on our own hands. While Jesus might offer forgiveness of our sins, Satan offers us the chance to disavow responsibility for them completely.\r\n\r\nIt\'s no wonder so many Christians seem to focus more on Satan than on Jesus.\r\n\r\nWhat seems more attractive, confessing our failings or blaming them on someone else?','The Making of an Adversary: Satan and Christianity\'s Unspoken Heresy','','inherit','open','open','','6296-revision-3','','','2012-04-25 09:25:43','2012-04-25 16:25:43','',6296,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6296-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6301,1,'2012-04-25 10:06:07','2012-04-25 17:06:07','','school house','','inherit','open','open','','school-house','','','2012-04-25 10:06:07','2012-04-25 17:06:07','',5977,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/school-house.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6302,1,'2012-04-15 11:07:18','2012-04-15 18:07:18','Maybe,\r\nEducation is not a contest.\r\nSeeing how many tomes\r\nand theories we can\r\nload \r\ninto\r\nour\r\nbrain.\r\n\r\nMaybe,\r\nEducation is a fine set\r\nof carving tools.\r\nCreating new path ways,\r\nClipping off unneeded wood,\r\nOpening new spaces,\r\nDiscovering beauty in the \r\n 	tangled mess of a burl,\r\nSanding the rough places until\r\n	they are soft,\r\n		pliable,\r\n			porous.\r\n\r\nEmerges,\r\nThe solid beauty \r\n	of a worked over piece of art.\r\n\r\nA person being formed.\r\n\r\n','Education','','inherit','open','open','','5977-revision-3','','','2012-04-15 11:07:18','2012-04-15 18:07:18','',5977,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/15/5977-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6304,1,'2012-04-18 11:59:56','2012-04-18 18:59:56','Most Christians focus on every word and incident in Jesus’ life as recorded in the four Gospels.  But I’m also drawn to the people involved.  How did they relate to Jesus?  What was their story?\r\n\r\nBeing the mother of three children, there is an event in the Bible I totally understand from Mary’s point of view.  She was Jesus’ mom and caught him teaching the religious teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 after he had been missing for three days.  Here’s the story in Luke 2:41-52.\r\n<blockquote>Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.\r\n\r\nWhen they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.\r\n\r\nHis parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”\r\n\r\n“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”</blockquote>\r\nI can imagine what happened next:\r\n\r\nMary: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nGod: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nJoseph:  “You’re grounded for the next week when we get home, and don’t EVER pull a stunt like this again.”\r\n\r\nJesus got the message.\r\n<blockquote>Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.</blockquote>\r\nWait a minute…..how dare Mary talk to Jesus like this!  She knew he was God’s Son, the Messiah.  The angel Gabriel had told her so on the front end.  But Mary had given birth to him and raised him, and was living with a 12-year-old kid.  Have you ever wanted to strangle a pre-teen?  Jesus was fully God, but also fully human.  Verse 52 says \"Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.\"  Well, he had a lot of growing up left to do when this incident happened, and his parents were stuck with the job.\r\n\r\nI think one of the reasons God picked Mary to be the mother of His Son was she had the guts and strength to take on the challenge.\r\n\r\nIn my book, <em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</em>, I wrote what I think about this woman.  According to Luke, here’s what Mary did after the angel announced she would give birth to the Messiah:\r\n<blockquote>Then she immediately ran to see Elizabeth, excited to tell her the good news.\r\n\r\nI wish Scripture told us more about Mary’s three month visit with her relative. When did reality set in?  For Mary, the pregnancy meant tremendous public scorn, possibly death by stoning.  What would her parents say?  Would Joseph reject her?  At some point, Mary had to think, “What is God doing to me?  Was I insane to agree to this?”  I bet she and God had a world-class wrestling match on the mat with Uncensored Prayer.  We like to think of Mary as pious and demure, but I think she was more than that.\r\n\r\nWhat if God selected her for this challenge of faith and commitment because she was a fighter? I think the key to her courage was she knew that even though Gabriel had left, God hadn’t and wouldn’t.  He was her partner, and she knew she could trust Him to help her handle everything that lay ahead.  Mary was one of the three women who had the courage at stand at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die, even though every one of the disciples except John had abandoned him.  She had faith in God that overcame her fear.</blockquote>\r\nI really like Mary.  I wouldn’t have wanted her job, but we would have been great friends.  She was a lot like me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: small\"> </span>','The Gospel According to Mary, Jesus\' Mom','','inherit','open','open','','6020-revision-4','','','2012-04-18 11:59:56','2012-04-18 18:59:56','',6020,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/18/6020-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6306,1,'2012-04-25 10:13:28','2012-04-25 17:13:28','','mary mother of jesus','','inherit','open','open','','mary-mother-of-jesus','','','2012-04-25 10:13:28','2012-04-25 17:13:28','',6020,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mary-mother-of-jesus.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` VALUES (6307,1,'2012-04-25 10:09:14','2012-04-25 17:09:14','Most Christians focus on every word and incident in Jesus’ life as recorded in the four Gospels.  But I’m also drawn to the people involved.  How did they relate to Jesus?  What was their story?\r\n\r\nBeing the mother of three children, there is an event in the Bible I totally understand from Mary’s point of view.  She was Jesus’ mom and caught him teaching the religious teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 after he had been missing for three days.  Here’s the story in Luke 2:41-52.\r\n<blockquote>Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.\r\n\r\nWhen they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.\r\n\r\nHis parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”\r\n\r\n“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”</blockquote>\r\nI can imagine what happened next:\r\n\r\nMary: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nGod: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nJoseph:  “You’re grounded for the next week when we get home, and don’t EVER pull a stunt like this again.”\r\n\r\nJesus got the message.\r\n<blockquote>Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.</blockquote>\r\nWait a minute…..how dare Mary talk to Jesus like this!  She knew he was God’s Son, the Messiah.  The angel Gabriel had told her so on the front end.  But Mary had given birth to him and raised him, and was living with a 12-year-old kid.  Have you ever wanted to strangle a pre-teen?  Jesus was fully God, but also fully human.  Verse 52 says \"Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.\"  Well, he had a lot of growing up left to do when this incident happened, and his parents were stuck with the job.\r\n\r\nI think one of the reasons God picked Mary to be the mother of His Son was she had the guts and strength to take on the challenge.\r\n\r\nIn my book, <em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</em>, I wrote what I think about this woman.  According to Luke, here’s what Mary did after the angel announced she would give birth to the Messiah:\r\n<blockquote>Then she immediately ran to see Elizabeth, excited to tell her the good news.\r\n\r\nI wish Scripture told us more about Mary’s three month visit with her relative. When did reality set in?  For Mary, the pregnancy meant tremendous public scorn, possibly death by stoning.  What would her parents say?  Would Joseph reject her?  At some point, Mary had to think, “What is God doing to me?  Was I insane to agree to this?”  I bet she and God had a world-class wrestling match on the mat with Uncensored Prayer.  We like to think of Mary as pious and demure, but I think she was more than that.\r\n\r\nWhat if God selected her for this challenge of faith and commitment because she was a fighter? I think the key to her courage was she knew that even though Gabriel had left, God hadn’t and wouldn’t.  He was her partner, and she knew she could trust Him to help her handle everything that lay ahead.  Mary was one of the three women who had the courage at stand at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die, even though every one of the disciples except John had abandoned him.  She had faith in God that overcame her fear.</blockquote>\r\nI really like Mary.  I wouldn’t have wanted her job, but we would have been great friends.  She was a lot like me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;\"> </span>','The Gospel According to Jesus\' Mom','','inherit','open','open','','6020-revision-5','','','2012-04-25 10:09:14','2012-04-25 17:09:14','',6020,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6020-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(6308,1,'2012-04-25 10:16:04','2012-04-25 17:16:04','I think Thomas gets a bad rep. After all, he wasn’t in the room with the other disciples when the risen Christ appeared to them. He didn’t see the nail-scarred hands himself; neither did he stick his hand where Jesus was speared. All he had was the word of his fellow disciples, and they’ve obviously gone crackers!\n\nJesus is dead, remember? They were all there when He died, so they should know. They saw the man they called Lord for three years hanging on a Roman cross, despised and humiliated. They saw the blood pouring from his hands, feet, brow, and side. He’s <em>dead!</em> Dead people don’t just get up and walk around, right? So Thomas says, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).\n\nCan you blame him? I know I would have said the same thing if I were Thomas. In fact, I already do.\n\nIf I can be honest with you, I have trouble believing in the Resurrection. No, it’s not because of anything I read by Marcus Borg or any other Jesus Seminar scholars. It’s because the Resurrection means that death has been defeated. It means that God is restoring God’s creation and God’s kingdom. It means we are free. Yet when I look around, all I see are bondage, misery, suffering, and death.\n\nThat’s why I’ve always had a hard time getting into the Easter season. I can get ecstatic about Advent, Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Good Friday, though. I understand waiting for God to restore the world. I understand death and how we will all return to dust someday. I understand brokenness. And I definitely understand suffering, pain, humiliation, and persecution.\n\nBut resurrection? Death has been defeated? God making all things new? Pfft, I’ll believe it when I see it!\n\nThe other day I was talking to a friend of mine about this. She said she sometimes wants to see the nail-scarred hands, too. “But then I realize,” she said, “<em>we</em> are the proof. Me and you. The sin in my life has been defeated. My life has been resurrected. We are the proof of the Resurrection to the world.”\n\nMaybe she’s right. I can’t see Jesus’ scars, but I can see my own, and God knows I have plenty of them! And yet, I’m still here. I’m breathing. I’m alive. Despite all the pain, suffering, and doubt I’ve been through—and will no doubt go through in the future—I’m somehow able to stand before people and show them my scars.\n\nIf <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2012/04/04/the-suffering-god/\">God suffers with us</a>, then we resurrect with Jesus. Or as Paul puts it, “we have been united with [Jesus] in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). So maybe I don’t need to see Jesus’ scars to believe in the Resurrection. I just need to look at my own.','Seeing The Scars','','inherit','open','open','','6031-autosave','','','2012-04-25 10:16:04','2012-04-25 17:16:04','',6031,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6031-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(6309,1,'2012-04-25 10:18:27','2012-04-25 17:18:27','','jesus engraving','','inherit','open','open','','jesus-engraving','','','2012-04-25 10:18:27','2012-04-25 17:18:27','',6031,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-engraving.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6310,1,'2012-04-18 13:14:46','2012-04-18 20:14:46','I think Thomas gets a bad rep. After all, he wasn’t in the room with the other disciples when the risen Christ appeared to them. He didn’t see the nail-scarred hands himself; neither did he stick his hand where Jesus was speared. All he had was the word of his fellow disciples, and they’ve obviously gone crackers!\r\n\r\nJesus is dead, remember? They were all there when He died, so they should know. They saw the man they called Lord for three years hanging on a Roman cross, despised and humiliated. They saw the blood pouring from his hands, feet, brow, and side. He’s <em>dead!</em> Dead people don’t just get up and walk around, right? So Thomas says, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).\r\n\r\nCan you blame him? I know I would have said the same thing if I were Thomas. In fact, I already do.\r\n\r\nIf I can be honest with you, I have trouble believing in the Resurrection. No, it’s not because of anything I read by Marcus Borg or any other Jesus Seminar scholars. It’s because the Resurrection means that death has been defeated. It means that God is restoring God’s creation and God’s kingdom. It means we are free. Yet when I look around, all I see are bondage, misery, suffering, and death.\r\n\r\nThat’s why I’ve always had a hard time getting into the Easter season. I can get ecstatic about Advent, Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Good Friday, though. I understand waiting for God to restore the world. I understand death and how we will all return to dust someday. I understand brokenness. And I definitely understand suffering, pain, humiliation, and persecution.\r\n\r\nBut resurrection? Death has been defeated? God making all things new? Pfft, I’ll believe it when I see it!\r\n\r\nThe other day I was talking to a friend of mine about this. She said she sometimes wants to see the nail-scarred hands, too. “But then I realize,” she said, “<em>we</em> are the proof. Me and you. The sin in my life has been defeated. My life has been resurrected. We are the proof of the Resurrection to the world.”\r\n\r\nMaybe she’s right. I can’t see Jesus’ scars, but I can see my own, and God knows I have plenty of them! And yet, I’m still here. I’m breathing. I’m alive. Despite all the pain, suffering, and doubt I’ve been through—and will no doubt go through in the future—I’m somehow able to stand before people and show them my scars.\r\n\r\nIf <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2012/04/04/the-suffering-god/\">God suffers with us</a>, then we resurrect with Jesus. Or as Paul puts it, “we have been united with [Jesus] in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). So maybe I don’t need to see Jesus’ scars to believe in the Resurrection. I just need to look at my own.','Seeing The Scars','','inherit','open','open','','6031-revision-2','','','2012-04-18 13:14:46','2012-04-18 20:14:46','',6031,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/18/6031-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6311,1,'2012-04-20 22:18:34','2012-04-21 05:18:34','Women are typically infinitely more creative than men. I think that can be proven through the dreams we have. Allison and I try to share our dreams each day from the night before.\r\n\r\nHere\'s the conversation we just had. Be warned. Her dreams go on for a long time. And feel free to analyze it.\r\n\r\nRay: Hey, sweetie, I had this amazing dream last night. You ever...\r\n\r\nAllison: Oh, let me tell you about my dream. I dreamt we had adopted a little girl from Fiji, but we hadn\'t legally adopted her. The courts were letting us have her until all the paperwork went through.\r\n\r\nR: That sounds legal.\r\n\r\n<em>(Frown)</em> A: Anyway, when they gave her to us, she had nothing. No good clothes to wear or anything. So next thing I know, we were in that little restaurant in Greenville, Kentucky. You, know, the one with the benches.\r\n\r\nR: McDonalds?\r\n\r\nA: No, the one with booths.\r\n\r\nR: Arby\'s?\r\n\r\nA: Stop being silly.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/phillys.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6058\" style=\"margin-left: 6px;margin-right: 6px\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/phillys-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"173\" /></a>R: Philly\'s.\r\n\r\nA: Yeah. And our other three girls were all over our little adopted girl, loving on her. And I said to you, \"We can\'t just let her go out without some new shoes and just a beat up dress! She can\'t go out barefoot!\"\r\n\r\nR: Let me guess, I said, \"Sure we can, it\'s Kentucky.\"\r\n\r\n<em>(Bigger frown)</em> A: So we went out and got her some clothes. And all the way the girls were welcoming into our family, talking about how we could make her a new room with a big bed and give her a beautiful new life. Isn\'t that wonderful?\r\n\r\nR: Oh, yeah. Beautiful dream. You always have such heart warming dreams, sweetie.\r\n\r\nA: Oh, what did you dream about?\r\n\r\nR: Uh, it\'s not quite the heart-warming drama variety.\r\n\r\nA: Is it ever?\r\n\r\nR: Do you ever have a really awesome dream and wake up thinking, \"That dream would be the most awesome movie! I\'ve got to write down the plot points and mail it to Tim Burton!\"\r\n\r\nA: Yeah, sometimes.\r\n\r\nR: Well, I woke up and could only remember the last few seconds of it. It ticked me off. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abebazooka1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-6060\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abebazooka1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"238\" height=\"179\" /></a>\r\n\r\nA: What were the last few seconds?\r\n\r\nR: Abe Lincoln had a bazooka in his hand. He made dead aim for the Golden Gate bridge and blew it up. Then he put down the smoking bazooka and said, \"You had it coming you stupid bridge.\"\r\n\r\n<em>(Silence)</em>\r\n\r\nA: Inspiring.\r\n\r\nR: I thought so.','Men\'s Dreams vs. Women\'s Dreams','','inherit','open','open','','6056-revision-3','','','2012-04-20 22:18:34','2012-04-21 05:18:34','',6056,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/20/6056-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6313,1,'2012-04-25 10:19:37','2012-04-25 17:19:37','Women are typically infinitely more creative than men. I think that can be proven through the dreams we have. Allison and I try to share our dreams each day from the night before.\n\nHere\'s the conversation we just had. Be warned. Her dreams go on for a long time. And feel free to analyze it.\n\nRay: Hey, sweetie, I had this amazing dream last night. You ever...\n\nAllison: Oh, let me tell you about my dream. I dreamt we had adopted a little girl from Fiji, but we hadn\'t legally adopted her. The courts were letting us have her until all the paperwork went through.\n\nR: That sounds legal.\n\n<em>(Frown)</em> A: Anyway, when they gave her to us, she had nothing. No good clothes to wear or anything. So next thing I know, we were in that little restaurant in Greenville, Kentucky. You, know, the one with the benches.\n\nR: McDonalds?\n\nA: No, the one with booths.\n\nR: Arby\'s?\n\nA: Stop being silly.\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/phillys.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6058\" style=\"margin-left: 6px;margin-right: 6px\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/phillys-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"173\" /></a>R: Philly\'s.\n\nA: Yeah. And our other three girls were all over our little adopted girl, loving on her. And I said to you, \"We can\'t just let her go out without some new shoes and just a beat up dress! She can\'t go out barefoot!\"\n\nR: Let me guess, I said, \"Sure we can, it\'s Kentucky.\"\n\n<em>(Bigger frown)</em> A: So we went out and got her some clothes. And all the way the girls were welcoming into our family, talking about how we could make her a new room with a big bed and give her a beautiful new life. Isn\'t that wonderful?\n\nR: Oh, yeah. Beautiful dream. You always have such heart warming dreams, sweetie.\n\nA: Oh, what did you dream about?\n\nR: Uh, it\'s not quite the heart-warming drama variety.\n\nA: Is it ever?\n\nR: Do you ever have a really awesome dream and wake up thinking, \"That dream would be the most awesome movie! I\'ve got to write down the plot points and mail it to Tim Burton!\"\n\nA: Yeah, sometimes.\n\nR: Well, I woke up and could only remember the last few seconds of it. It ticked me off. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abebazooka1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-6060\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abebazooka1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"238\" height=\"179\" /></a>\n\nA: What were the last few seconds?\n\nR: Abe Lincoln had a bazooka in his hand. He made dead aim for the Golden Gate bridge and blew it up. Then he put down the smoking bazooka and said, \"You had it coming you stupid bridge.\"\n\n<em>(Silence)</em>\n\nA: Inspiring.\n\nR: I thought so.','Men\'s Dreams vs. Women\'s Dreams','','inherit','open','open','','6056-revision-4','','','2012-04-25 10:19:37','2012-04-25 17:19:37','',6056,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6056-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6314,1,'2012-04-25 10:23:20','2012-04-25 17:23:20','On April 17-19, 2012, students across New York State took the English Language Arts (ELA) test.  In a fail of epic proportions, a poorly constructed set of test questions was thrown out after an unnamed insider leaked that portion of the exam.  You can <a href=\"http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/the-hare-and-the-pineapple.pdf\">read the original test question</a> at the New York State Education Department web site.\n\nFor a little background, this section of the test included a brief story and six follow-up questions.  The text was adapted from part of a novel by author Daniel Pinkwater.  (You can read his comments and the original tale <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/pineapple-idiots-knew-book-world-dumbest-test-question-article-1.1065566\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/\">here</a>.)  Teachers and other NYSED employees are not allowed to discuss the test questions or publish them, online or elsewhere.  One bold individual shared the question, setting off a chain reaction of events which ultimately resulted in the question set being thrown out.\n\nFrom the glut of news articles on the Pineapple Debacle, one might get the impression that the problem here is one badly-worded question on a state test.  There\'s discussion about whether or not we can trust <em>any </em>of the test questions if one like that slipped through.  While it\'s true that the story is full of grammatical errors and bears no resemblance to the original, and the questions are poorly worded and intentionally misleading, those are not the real issues.\n\nThe problem is that transparency has been eliminated at all levels.  By refusing to allow educators to discuss the questions, even with colleagues, teachers cannot collaborate to ensure quality in state evaluations.  Parents are not informed about the content of the tests their children are taking, leading to broken trust when something like this surfaces.  If we\'re going to base our children\'s success as students on whether or not they can navigate pineapple-style questions, and we base teachers\' worth as educators on how well they teach to the test, then we need everyone to be certain that the tests are an accurate measure.  The consequences of failure here are dire.\n\nThis isn\'t a problem limited to New York State.  The rising panic over standards in education, pass/fail rates, and global competition are driving this push for education that \"proves\" success.  The pressure on schools and teachers is immense.  And why wouldn\'t it be?  If a school is on the watch list for school improvement, there are a limited number of options: Close the school permanently; close the school and reopen under a charter, or privatize; fire half the staff; or submit to a somewhat nebulous \"improvement\" campaign, which also results in at least some degree of job loss.  Every school in every district in the country is potentially at risk.  For that reason alone, it\'s imperative that we have as much integrity in the exams as possible.  A single bad question on a state test won\'t cause much trouble.  A bad test surely would.  Without transparency, there\'s no way to know whether the rest of the test is equally bizarre or whether it was a single oversight.\n\nWhoever blew the whistle on the pineapple question is my hero.  It doesn\'t take a lot of guts for me to sit here and write about the New York ELA test.  There\'s nothing at stake for me.  But that brave individual put his or her job on the line in order that the rest of us might be informed.  Those of us who are invested in public education, whether as employees or as parents, have a responsibility here.  We must stand together and demand that we have the right to know what goes on at the state Education Department.  We must take action and force lawmakers to recognize the flaws in the system.  We can\'t afford not to.','NYSED Fail: What We Can Learn from a Talking Pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','6087-autosave','','','2012-04-25 10:23:20','2012-04-25 17:23:20','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6087-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(6315,1,'2012-04-22 15:07:20','2012-04-22 22:07:20','On April 17-19, 2012, students across New York State took the English Language Arts (ELA) test.  In a fail of epic proportions, a poorly constructed set of test questions was thrown out after an unnamed insider leaked that portion of the exam.  You can <a href=\"http://usny.nysed.gov/docs/the-hare-and-the-pineapple.pdf\">read the original test question</a> at the New York State Education Department web site.\r\n\r\nFor a little background, this section of the test included a brief story and six follow-up questions.  The text was adapted from part of a novel by author Daniel Pinkwater.  (You can read his comments and the original tale <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/pineapple-idiots-knew-book-world-dumbest-test-question-article-1.1065566\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/\">here</a>.)  Teachers and other NYSED employees are not allowed to discuss the test questions or publish them, online or elsewhere.  One bold individual shared the question, setting off a chain reaction of events which ultimately resulted in the question set being thrown out.\r\n\r\nFrom the glut of news articles on the Pineapple Debacle, one might get the impression that the problem here is one badly-worded question on a state test.  There\'s discussion about whether or not we can trust <em>any </em>of the test questions if one like that slipped through.  While it\'s true that the story is full of grammatical errors and bears no resemblance to the original, and the questions are poorly worded and intentionally misleading, those are not the real issues.\r\n\r\nThe problem is that transparency has been eliminated at all levels.  By refusing to allow educators to discuss the questions, even with colleagues, teachers cannot collaborate to ensure quality in state evaluations.  Parents are not informed about the content of the tests their children are taking, leading to broken trust when something like this surfaces.  If we\'re going to base our children\'s success as students on whether or not they can navigate pineapple-style questions, and we base teachers\' worth as educators on how well they teach to the test, then we need everyone to be certain that the tests are an accurate measure.  The consequences of failure here are dire.\r\n\r\nThis isn\'t a problem limited to New York State.  The rising panic over standards in education, pass/fail rates, and global competition are driving this push for education that \"proves\" success.  The pressure on schools and teachers is immense.  And why wouldn\'t it be?  If a school is on the watch list for school improvement, there are a limited number of options: Close the school permanently; close the school and reopen under a charter, or privatize; fire half the staff; or submit to a somewhat nebulous \"improvement\" campaign, which also results in at least some degree of job loss.  Every school in every district in the country is potentially at risk.  For that reason alone, it\'s imperative that we have as much integrity in the exams as possible.  A single bad question on a state test won\'t cause much trouble.  A bad test surely would.  Without transparency, there\'s no way to know whether the rest of the test is equally bizarre or whether it was a single oversight.\r\n\r\nWhoever blew the whistle on the pineapple question is my hero.  It doesn\'t take a lot of guts for me to sit here and write about the New York ELA test.  There\'s nothing at stake for me.  But that brave individual put his or her job on the line in order that the rest of us might be informed.  Those of us who are invested in public education, whether as employees or as parents, have a responsibility here.  We must stand together and demand that we have the right to know what goes on at the state Education Department.  We must take action and force lawmakers to recognize the flaws in the system.  We can\'t afford not to.','NYSED Fail: What We Can Learn from a Talking Pineapple','','inherit','open','open','','6087-revision-6','','','2012-04-22 15:07:20','2012-04-22 22:07:20','',6087,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/22/6087-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(6316,1,'2012-04-25 10:29:49','2012-04-25 17:29:49','','satan','','inherit','open','open','','satan','','','2012-04-25 10:29:49','2012-04-25 17:29:49','',6296,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/satan.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6318,1,'2012-04-25 09:27:44','2012-04-25 16:27:44','I sat in the minister’s office on a Wednesday night, nervous with my parents seated on either side of me.\r\n\r\n“Why now?” he asked.\r\n\r\n“I’m not ready,” I replied.\r\n\r\nConfusion spread across the minister\'s face, and he glanced at my parents doubtfully.\r\n\r\nMy dad turned toward me and asked gently, “Then why are we here, David, if you aren’t ready?”\r\n\r\nMy heart pounded and I saw this moment — my most important moment — begin to slip away from me, and I knew I couldn’t let that happen. I might not get this chance again. If I didn’t seize this moment, I feared I might never get another one, and it would be too late.\r\n\r\n“No, no, no,” I replied, voice shaky and quiet. “I’m not ready to die.”\r\n\r\n“What do you mean?” asked my youth minister.\r\n\r\n“If I died, I think I would go to Hell,” I replied.\r\n\r\nThe room grew quiet.\r\n\r\nI was 10.\r\n\r\nJust a decade old, I had become convinced that I needed to be saved from the specter hell and an eternity with Satan.\r\n\r\nDespite the fact that I had attended church for my entire life, whenever the doors were open — Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday nights. Despite the fact that my family religiously read the Bible together. Despite the fact that I already had faith in Jesus, in God. Despite the fact that Jesus loved me, this I knew.\r\n\r\nMy youth minister talked briefly with me, before finally deciding that I was indeed of the age of accountability and could be baptized. He asked if I wanted to “come forward” on Sunday or just go ahead and be baptized that night.\r\n\r\nThe situation was much too urgent to wait four days. It was now or never.\r\n\r\nWithin a half hour, after he scrounged up some witnesses and I donned thin white clothes, I had been baptized. Until I felt the cool rush of the waters, I was terrified that something would happen and that I would perish unbaptized, unsaved, destined for Satan’s clutches.\r\n\r\nBut it took years, another decade almost, for the fear to stop.\r\n\r\nRichard Nixon reportedly once said, “People react to fear, not love. They don’t teach that in Sunday School, but it’s true.”\r\n\r\nBut, in truth, that is the exact messages echoing throughout Sunday Schools and churches throughout Christianity, where sermons based on fear of Satan and eternal damnation move more people toward the altar than sermons inspired by God, justice, generosity and love.\r\n\r\nIn my own experience of salvation, Satan loomed much larger — and more powerful a motivator — than did God. I didn’t want to commit my life to God because of the divine love offered to me but because I was a terrified 10-year-old. I had the hell scared right out of me.\r\n\r\nNow, this is the perfect place to criticize fear-based religion, to lampoon the notion of sinners dangling in the hands of an angry God. Instead of grasping at low-hanging fruit, however, I want to propose something else. In addition to being psychologically damaging and spiritually abusive, the figure of Satan is fundamentally unorthodox, at odds with Christianity\'s claims of monotheism.\r\n\r\nIn other words, Satan, as much of Christianity has conceived of him and how the idea of him has functioned, is heresy of the highest degree.\r\n\r\nAnd it is a heresy that Christians for millenia have embraced.\r\n\r\nSuppose for a moment you were studying a new religion. In it, there was an eternal being, with supernatural powers to influence the world and humanity, who commanded a legion of angels to do his will, and who would stop at nothing to gain the allegiance of humans.\r\n\r\nThis paragraph describes a god. It certainly could be said to describe traditional Christianity’s God. But it could equally be said to describe its traditional understanding of Satan.\r\n\r\nChristianity, in effect, through its discourse about Satan, has mutated from a monotheistic religion to a ditheistic one, with rival gods battling for the souls of humans. Christians will pay lip service to the notion that God is all-powerful and has or will defeat Satan, while at the same time, acknowledging that the temporal battle is all but lost to the forces of evil.\r\n\r\nIn any other religion, such a dualistic counterpart, locked in eternal warfare with God, would also be considered a god and monotheistic claims would be sneered at.\r\n\r\nAt some point, Christianity needs to face its own unspoken anathema — the theological Frankenstein it created — that Satan has become a god.\r\n\r\nNow, to be clear, I don’t believe that a being called Satan exists. Neither do I think it is biblical or reasonable to do so. At most, I would say that Satan is the human personification of the evil that is present in the world, conceived as a theodicy of sorts to balance the sorry state of affairs on earth with the belief in a good God.\r\n\r\nA clear example of this can be found in the Old Testament during a census ordered by King David. There are two accounts of this story in different books, and they are exactly the same, save for one significant detail. In the earlier one, it is the anger of the Lord which goads David to take the census. In the latter one, it is Satan.\r\n\r\nAn adversary has been made.\r\n\r\nA scapegoat created. But it is not a scapegoat to carry away the sins of the people. Rather, it is a scapegoat created by the people for the misbehavior of their God.\r\n\r\nEventually, Satan comes to function as humanity’s scapegoat as well, the animal that carries off the sins so far away into the dark wilderness that we no longer can claim responsibility for our sins at all. Over the centuries, the figure of Satan has been used to justify all sorts of bad behavior in the world. Humanity’s moral failings are blamed on the influence of Satan, lifting responsibility for deplorable evil to a supernatural level outside the control of humankind. In other instances, our evil work — the Inquisition comes to mind — is justified as a righteous attempt to stamp out Satan’s work. Further, humanity’s infatuation with violence, racism and war are blamed on the work of the Evil One rather than our cravings for power and security.\r\n\r\nHonestly, Satan can be an attractive alternative to the truth of our own culpability in injustice and evil. It is much easier to blame a metaphysical boogeyman with horns, a pitchfork and a fiery lair beneath the earth than it is to look at the blood on our own hands. While Jesus might offer forgiveness of our sins, Satan offers us the chance to disavow responsibility for them completely.\r\n\r\nIt\'s no wonder so many Christians seem to focus more on Satan than on Jesus.\r\n\r\nWhat seems more attractive, confessing our failings or blaming them on someone else?','The Making of an Adversary: Satan and Christianity\'s Unspoken Heresy','','inherit','open','open','','6296-revision-4','','','2012-04-25 09:27:44','2012-04-25 16:27:44','',6296,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6296-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6803,182,'2012-05-28 16:23:06','2012-05-28 23:23:06','&nbsp;\n\nI was not born contemplative.\n\nI was taught from an early age to believe that it is more valuable to know things than it is to learn things. Learning, after all, is a step on the path toward knowing; knowing is the result of learning. Whether at home, in school, or at church, it is far better to know the right answer than to be in the process of learning. Learning means that you have not yet arrived at knowing.\n\nKnowing is also much more fun than learning. Learning requires patience, practice, and being open to new insights. Learning means that you try new things and make mistakes, which just reinforces that you do not know the right answer.\n\nYou do not do well in school by learning, you do well by knowing the right answers.\n\nThe great thing about knowing the answer is that you have successfully completed learning. You do not not need to be open to new insights if you already know the answers.\n\nFor a long time, my understanding of my faith was based in the same approach. I had the right answers, and my mental energies went into sharing and defending those answers rather than being open to gaining new understanding. I was committed to the accuracy of my perspective and, at the same time, beginning to feel stuck because the need to be right is so demanding.\n\nThe spiritual practices I followed were essentially my homework for church. They were the things I needed to do so I could give the right answers and get a good grade.\n\nThe first time someone suggested that I read Benedict’s Rule, I was not very interested. I was both intrigued by and anxious about contemplative spirituality, and quite confident that I already had more than enough rules in my life.\n\nSlowly and surely, the monastic tradition drew me.\n\nI realized that my answers were not always right.\n\nI found a church that values solitude and silence. I gained an appreciation for the ways that liturgy provides a supportive framework for inner work and reflection. I began learning practices and disciplines that helped me recognize that God was always with me, loving me and drawing me closer. I began talking with a spiritual director.\n\nI came to appreciate asking good questions more than having the right answers.\n\nA friend suggested that I might be interested in Benedictine spirituality. After much reading and several retreats at different monasteries, I was received as a lay oblate at a Benedictine monastery and hermitage in Big Sur, California.\n\nAn oblate is a person who commits to following a rule of life and is in relationship to a particular monastery and monastic order. The rule I follow includes a variety of spiritual practices such as regular prayer, Bible study, and silence and solitude. At least once each year I spend some time at the monastery.\n\nMy faith continues to deepen and mature. I continue to be drawn more deeply into contemplative life, and reflect on ways to be a contemplative in today’s world. Contemplation gives me opportunities to find peace and to recognize the presence of the divine each day. Life is not about sitting and reflecting, but about connecting to the peace and gratefulness that can spread through the people around me.\n\nThere are many possible distractions. I wondered, for example, whether social media would keep me from being contemplative. I continue to learn about the history of monasticism, and to overcome my own preconceived notions of what monastic people are like. I am exploring the balance that encompasses both contemplation and activism.\n\nContemplation has turned my understanding of my own faith upside down. My connection to the holy is no longer about getting a good grade, no longer about being right. My spirituality has nothing to do with getting the teacher to like me or earning divine good favor.\n\nEach day is different, yet each is framed in practices which, step by step, redeem my perspective.\n\n&nbsp;','Contemplative in teh Ci','','inherit','open','open','','6801-revision','','','2012-05-28 16:23:06','2012-05-28 23:23:06','',6801,'http://provoketive.com/2012/05/28/6801-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6321,35,'2012-04-25 10:13:59','2012-04-25 17:13:59','Most Christians focus on every word and incident in Jesus’ life as recorded in the four Gospels.  But I’m also drawn to the people involved.  How did they relate to Jesus?  What was their story?\r\n\r\nBeing the mother of three children, there is an event in the Bible I totally understand from Mary’s point of view.  She was Jesus’ mom and caught him teaching the religious teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 after he had been missing for three days.  Here’s the story in Luke 2:41-52.\r\n<blockquote>Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.\r\n\r\nWhen they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.\r\n\r\nHis parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”\r\n\r\n“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”</blockquote>\r\nI can imagine what happened next:\r\n\r\nMary: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nGod: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nJoseph:  “You’re grounded for the next week when we get home, and don’t EVER pull a stunt like this again.”\r\n\r\nJesus got the message.\r\n<blockquote>Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.</blockquote>\r\nWait a minute…..how dare Mary talk to Jesus like this!  She knew he was God’s Son, the Messiah.  The angel Gabriel had told her so on the front end.  But Mary had given birth to him and raised him, and was living with a 12-year-old kid.  Have you ever wanted to strangle a pre-teen?  Jesus was fully God, but also fully human.  Verse 52 says \"Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.\"  Well, he had a lot of growing up left to do when this incident happened, and his parents were stuck with the job.\r\n\r\nI think one of the reasons God picked Mary to be the mother of His Son was she had the guts and strength to take on the challenge.\r\n\r\nIn my book, <em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</em>, I wrote what I think about this woman.  According to Luke, here’s what Mary did after the angel announced she would give birth to the Messiah:\r\n<blockquote>Then she immediately ran to see Elizabeth, excited to tell her the good news.\r\n\r\nI wish Scripture told us more about Mary’s three month visit with her relative. When did reality set in?  For Mary, the pregnancy meant tremendous public scorn, possibly death by stoning.  What would her parents say?  Would Joseph reject her?  At some point, Mary had to think, “What is God doing to me?  Was I insane to agree to this?”  I bet she and God had a world-class wrestling match on the mat with Uncensored Prayer.  We like to think of Mary as pious and demure, but I think she was more than that.\r\n\r\nWhat if God selected her for this challenge of faith and commitment because she was a fighter? I think the key to her courage was she knew that even though Gabriel had left, God hadn’t and wouldn’t.  He was her partner, and she knew she could trust Him to help her handle everything that lay ahead.  Mary was one of the three women who had the courage at stand at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die, even though every one of the disciples except John had abandoned him.  She had faith in God that overcame her fear.</blockquote>\r\nI really like Mary.  I wouldn’t have wanted her job, but we would have been great friends.  She was a lot like me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: small\"> </span>','The Gospel According to Jesus\' Mom','','inherit','open','open','','6020-revision-6','','','2012-04-25 10:13:59','2012-04-25 17:13:59','',6020,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6020-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(6322,35,'2012-04-25 10:54:57','2012-04-25 17:54:57','Most Christians focus on every word and incident in Jesus’ life as recorded in the four Gospels.  But I’m also drawn to the people involved.  How did they relate to Jesus?  What was their story?\r\n\r\nBeing the mother of three children, there is an event in the Bible I totally understand from Mary’s point of view.  She was Jesus’ mom and caught him teaching the religious teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 after he had been missing for three days.  Here’s the story in Luke 2:41-52.\r\n<blockquote>Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.\r\n\r\nWhen they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.\r\n\r\nHis parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”\r\n\r\n“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”</blockquote>\r\nI can imagine what happened next:\r\n\r\nMary: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nGod: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nJoseph:  “You’re grounded for the next week when we get home, and don’t EVER pull a stunt like this again.”\r\n\r\nJesus got the message.\r\n<blockquote>Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.</blockquote>\r\nWait a minute…..how dare Mary talk to Jesus like this!  She knew he was God’s Son, the Messiah.  The angel Gabriel had told her so on the front end.  But Mary had given birth to him and raised him, and was living with a 12-year-old kid.  Have you ever wanted to strangle a pre-teen?  Jesus was fully God, but also fully human.  Verse 52 says \"Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.\"  Well, he had a lot of growing up left to do when this incident happened, and his parents were stuck with the job.\r\n\r\nI think one of the reasons God picked Mary to be the mother of His Son was she had the guts and strength to take on the challenge.\r\n\r\nIn my book, <em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</em>, I wrote what I think about this woman.  According to Luke, here’s what Mary did after the angel announced she would give birth to the Messiah:\r\n<blockquote>Then she immediately ran to see Elizabeth, excited to tell her the good news.\r\n\r\nI wish Scripture told us more about Mary’s three month visit with her relative. When did reality set in?  For Mary, the pregnancy meant tremendous public scorn, possibly death by stoning.  What would her parents say?  Would Joseph reject her?  At some point, Mary had to think, “What is God doing to me?  Was I insane to agree to this?”  I bet she and God had a world-class wrestling match on the mat with Uncensored Prayer.  We like to think of Mary as pious and demure, but I think she was more than that.\r\n\r\nWhat if God selected her for this challenge of faith and commitment because she was a fighter? I think the key to her courage was she knew that even though Gabriel had left, God hadn’t and wouldn’t.  He was her partner, and she knew she could trust Him to help her handle everything that lay ahead.  Mary was one of the three women who had the courage to stand at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die, even though every one of the disciples except John had abandoned him.  She had faith in God that overcame her fear.</blockquote>\r\nI really like Mary.  I wouldn’t have wanted her job, but we would have been great friends.  She was a lot like me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: small\"> </span>','The Gospel According to Jesus\' Mom','','inherit','open','open','','6020-revision-7','','','2012-04-25 10:54:57','2012-04-25 17:54:57','',6020,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6020-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(7343,189,'2012-07-31 09:37:09','2012-07-31 16:37:09','Explain the two words spoken by Jesus—“Follow me”—in 1000 words or less? Hmmm. Maybe I should just stop right there and let you think this through on your own.\r\n\r\nMy understanding of what it means to follow Him has changed over the years. I think our understanding of “following” is <em>supposed</em> to change over time as our maturity in the Lord grows in response to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the ways we experience Him with others. Because I can’t claim to know <em>everything</em> about following Jesus, the best I can offer is to share <em>some</em> of the things I’ve learned about following Jesus—beginning with what “following Jesus” is <strong><em>not</em><em>.</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Following Jesus is not the same thing as: </strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Following the teachings of Jesus is not the same thing as following Jesus or following doctrines or creeds or denominational statements of faith.</li>\r\n	<li>Following a Bible Reading Plan, memorizing scripture, or claiming a “life verse”.</li>\r\n	<li>Following “religious convictions”, or acting upon those convictions, alone or as a group, purely for the sake of acting upon convictions.</li>\r\n	<li>Attending a weekly worship service, and maybe a midweek prayer meeting or Bible study, or meeting with a small group or accountability partner.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere isn’t anything wrong with doing these things. In fact, I  follow  Jesus today because others encouraged me to do these things over the course of my spiritual journey. If, I’ve learned anything, I’ve learned that “Christian practices” are not the same thing as following Jesus. <em></em>I know a lot <em>about</em> <em>Jesus</em> by studying, talking about or meditating on these things—but knowing a lot <em>about Jesus</em> isn’t the same as <em>knowing Jesus</em>. It helps to know Who you’re following.<strong><em></em></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>“Follow me.”</em></strong>  Two words caused Simon and Andrew to drop their fishing nets.  James and John “left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after Him.” (Mark 1:20 Amplified). Levi, son of Alphaeus, left his tax booth: “he arose and joined Him and His disciples and sided with His party and accompanied Him.” (Mark 2:14 Amplified). Philip ran to find his friend Nathanael and they too followed Him. Twelve men, in all, apparently left their life’s work to follow Jesus.\r\n\r\nI find it interesting that the Amplified Version conveys that the words “follow me” carry the connotation, “side with my party”. Against the backdrop of  Hebrew culture—oppressed by the conquering Romans, looking for Messiah to deliver the Children of Israel and fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament—we read Nathanael’s confession, “Teacher, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49) and the reason the twelve “followed” begins to come into focus.  Over the course of the next three and a half years, these men—and later Saul of Tarsus, among others—would come to understand that following Jesus isn’t about following teachings, doctrines, scriptures, convictions or attending religious meetings.  Men and women down through centuries found, in the Gospels and other writings of the New Testament, not <em>something</em> to believe in and follow, but rather <strong><em>Someone</em></strong> to believe in and follow.\r\n\r\nTo follow Jesus is to follow a living <strong><em>Person!</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em> </em></strong>John proclaimed in his Gospel, “And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.” Paul explained more simply:\r\n“For it has <strong>pleased</strong> [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should <strong>dwell</strong> in Him permanently.” <strong>Colossians 1:19</strong>\r\n\r\nFollowing a living Person, who is the Christ, comes with a cost, which He explained Himself to His disciples: “And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, <sup> </sup>forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” (Luke 9:23)\r\n\r\nWhat do we have to gain by following this all-wonderful, all-glorious, all-divine Person? What is the outcome we look forward to? For starters, eternal life! Make that eternal, <strong><em>abundant</em> </strong>life, sustained by Christ who <strong><em>is</em></strong> our life! Many more “rewards” are promised to faithful followers who overcome the trials and temptations of this world—check out the letters to the seven churches in John’s last book!\r\n\r\nThere’s another important thing I’ve learned about following Jesus: it’s something we do <strong><em>together</em></strong>.\r\n\r\n<sup> “</sup>The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,<sup> </sup>and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. <sup> </sup>For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. <sup> </sup>For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. <sup> </sup>For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope <sup> </sup>that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. <sup> </sup>For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. <sup> </sup>And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.__Romans 8:16-23 (ESV)\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus is following a living <strong><em>Person</em></strong>…<strong><em>together!</em></strong>\r\n\r\n“When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory.<strong> </strong><strong>__Colossians 3:4 (Amplified)</strong>','','','inherit','open','open','','7337-revision-5','','','2012-07-31 09:37:09','2012-07-31 16:37:09','',7337,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/31/7337-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(6324,38,'2012-04-24 11:18:24','2012-04-24 18:18:24','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6170\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A mosque in Ghadames\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out-of-bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Allah-Christian-Response-Miroslav-Volf/dp/0061927082/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335241235&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\">Allah: A Christian Response</a>”. It was such a successful course that they will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and they will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n<blockquote>One gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman who I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>halal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affects almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6181\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Muslim women out on the town with friends\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6181\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n<blockquote>I do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n<blockquote>Muslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"105\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\" wp-image-6178 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"105\" height=\"105\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you as a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n<blockquote>One of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim man praying\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-15','','','2012-04-24 11:18:24','2012-04-24 18:18:24','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/6166-revision-15/',0,'revision','',0),(6325,38,'2012-04-23 16:57:50','2012-04-23 23:57:50','<div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6071\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A photo of Carl\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6071 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl Marshall, a Bahá’í gentleman from Detroit, Michigan, moved his coffee across the table. “We are in the middle of a fasting month—or actually at the very end of it—so I should probably stop eating. I think the sun rises at 7:35 today.”\r\n\r\n</div>\r\nThe Bahá\'í calendar has nineteen months with nineteen days in each month. During the last month of the year, which falls between March 2<sup>nd</sup> and March 21<sup>st</sup>, members participate in a fast very similar to Ramadan.\r\n\r\nMy first encounter with the Baha’i faith was with a gentleman that sat next to me on a plane from Orlando to Detroit. We first started talking about the book I was reading, but once I learned what religion he was a part of (how this happened, I have no idea) I asked him all sorts of questions and we talked for the remainder of the flight. It was one of the most wonderful and fascinating conversations I’ve ever had.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6092\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bahá’í Lotus Temple in Delhi, India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6092  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bahai-lotus-temple_flickr_jeeheon-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl grew up as a Christian in Detroit his mother attending Reverend C.L. Franklin’s church. He eventually moved to the Hawaiian Islands, where he became a Baha\'i in 1973. He was reading a book about comparative religion, and he said that the world’s religions seemed separate, compartmentalized, and without connection to each other. But then he met some Bahá\'í s and they explained the concept of Progressive Revelation.\r\n\r\n“What that means is that it’s just one God and one Religion, and every thousand years or so, God sends forth a new messenger, and these messengers have been the founders of the world’s great religions.”\r\n\r\nBahá\'u\'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í religion, is the most recent messenger and is the Promised One of all the religions. “So I saw the unity there, where everything is not coming from a different source, but just a different messenger that’s giving a newer revelation of the previous religion.”\r\n\r\nThe interesting thing about Progressive Revelation is that it gives The Bahá’ís the ability to learn about and appreciate each of the world religions because they are all part of a greater movement through time. “In the Bible you have the Old and New Testament. In the Bahá’í faith, Bahá\'u\'lláh’s revelation consist of the New Testament, and all the previous religions are accepted as the Old Testament.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6095\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"191\" caption=\"Two children in front of the Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6095 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/children-bahai-temple_flickr_upsilon-andromedae-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThey believe in all the major figures of religions across the world: Moses, His Holiness Christ, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, and Mohammed because they are all key messengers with a holy book from God.  Because he is The Promised One of all religions, Bahá\'u\'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the prophecies that were given throughout all of the different holy books. “Bahá\'u\'lláh didn’t come to belittle <em>any</em> religion but to unify, connect and fulfill the previous dispensations.”\r\n\r\nCarl says that this is what the world really needs right now, and in another thousand years there will be another messenger to address the next millennium’s needs, which will occur approximately in the year 2852 AD. “It has to be that way because society advances. So, for example, Moses unified the tribes; Jesus, the church and state; Mohammed, a nation; and now Bahá\'u\'lláh has come to unify the world.”\r\n\r\nMany of the spiritual principles that govern Bahá’í conduct are contained in the book called, “The Hidden Words” of Bahá\'u\'lláh. There are twelve main principles of the Bahá’í faith. One is the elimination of prejudice, and another is the equality of men and women. “It’s not just lip service; it’s one of the founding principles of our faith, and we live by that,” Carl says. There is no clergy or priest hood in the Bahá’í Faith. However elections are held on the 21<sup>st</sup> of April of each year to elect 9 individuals who consult of the teaching, and administrative affairs within their city. Individuals are elected on the basis of their service, purity of heart, and firmness in the covenant.\r\n\r\nThe 9 individuals elected form what is known as the local Spiritual Assembly. Often times women outnumber the men on local spiritual assemblies. “I believe that one reason for this, and this is my own personal opinion, is that women are more spiritually evolved than men. They suffer more and have more test and trials. The equality of women began with the Bahá’í faith. The Bahá’í faith recognized that women have just as much to offer in the way of teaching and spiritual growth as men.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6097\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mt. Carmel where the Shrine and holy scriptures are\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6097\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mt-carmel_flickr_brett-wagner-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo how do the Bahá’ís practice their faith on a daily basis? Carl says that Bahá\'u\'lláh came to renew religion and remove ritual from faith. However, they are required to fast during the last month of the Bahá’í calendar (called ‘Ala), are required to pray and read from the holy writings in every morning and night.\r\n\r\n“So, for instance, today I got up, I read from the writings and I prayed,” Carl says that according to the research department in the Holy Land the revelation of the Bab, the prophet herald of Bahá\'u\'lláh, contains almost five million words. In relation to Bahá\'u\'lláh, the role of the Bab was similar to the role of John the Baptist to Christ. The revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh contains over six million words, equivalent of more than 100 volumes.   “Being a Bahá’í is not something you do on Sunday; it’s a way of life. Since I live from a set of spiritual principles, every time I encounter someone it’s a test, as far as how you react and respond to them.”\r\n\r\nThe Bahá’í faith is one based on love. When you meet someone, Carl says that you try to show them—depending on their age and sex—the kind of love you would give to a brother, sister, father or mother.\r\n\r\nRegarding out daily life; Abdu\'l-Bahá has said; Should any one of you enter a city, he should become a center of attraction by reason of his sincerity, his faithfulness and love, his honesty and fidelity, his truthfulness and loving-kindness towards all the peoples of the world, so that the people of that city may cry out and say: \'This man is unquestionably a Bahá\'í, for his manners, his behavior, his conduct, his morals, his nature, and disposition reflect the attributes of the Bahá\'ís.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-6100\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/shrine-bab_flickr_jay-galvin-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Shrine of the Báb\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>One misconception about the Baha\'i faith is that it’s a cult. Cults are usually small groups that are governed by a radical leader who tries to isolate the group from society and tries to keep them from listening to anyone else. Yet, one of the twelve principles of the Bahá’í faith is the independent study and vetting of your faith. So, in other words, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that his books are open and that you should not believe something because someone tells you to, but because you’ve investigated and discovered the faith for yourself.\r\n\r\nAlso the Bahá’í faith is not a division of any previous religion. It is a new and independent revelation from God. The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh consist of over 100 volumes which are located on God’s holy mountain; Mt. Carmel in Haifa Israel.\r\n\r\nOne of the things Carl loves about being a Bahá’í is the fasting because it has nothing to do with losing weight. “It’s designed to purify the heart and cleanse the soul. And so what happens when you fast is you become detached and it increases your spiritual awareness, which allows for the other thing I love about it which is the understanding of religion in general. You reach a point of certitude where you understand how everything is connected together. Things have a deeper meaning.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6102\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Dome of Light in the Bahai Temple, North of Chicago\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6102\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe way his faith has helped Carl through difficult times in his life is by strengthening his faith. “Basically, a ‘difficult time’ is a test. So, say for instance someone was saying something mean or inappropriate to me. I can react the old way or the Baha\'i way. Bahá\'u\'lláh says there is always a choice. The Bahá’í way is to forgive the person, and ultimately get to the point where it doesn’t bother me anymore. A difficult time is a test used to perfect my character. I know that whatever happens, everything is temporary. So, I think I can make it. I can get through this stuff.”\r\n\r\nGlobally, the Bahá’í practices are consistent, so anywhere in the world you go, the Bahá\'ís will have the same four types of gatherings.\r\n<ol start=\"1\">\r\n	<li>The Devotional Gathering is designed to connect hearts through prayer. They are designed to be a bit more social so people have a way to connect with the larger community and find a home in this tumultuous world. Often times a devotional gathering leads to a Fireside. These take place in the home and during the Fireside a short talk is presented on the Bahá’í Faith and then the floor for questions.</li>\r\n	<li>Study Circles are open to all, and often take place in the home. Course material is based on the revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh. The first Study Circle deals with Prayer, the soul and the afterlife.</li>\r\n	<li>Junior youth classes are available.</li>\r\n	<li>Children’s classes are offered. The goal is to establish more through the metro Detroit area, although some people are not very receptive to them since they are not Christian.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nAs far as the afterlife, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that your soul is destined to undergo a spiritual evolution until it attains the presence of God. This spiritual evolution is eternal.” Quoting from Abdu\'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá\'u\'lláh, Carl says, “When you die, your soul is plunged in the ocean of God’s mercy. Your behavior in this life and the decisions you make impacts your station in eternity. The degree of purity you attain in this world determines where you start in the afterlife.”\r\n\r\nBut what happens to those who don’t become a Bahá\'í? Are there consequences?  “Well, there isn’t any place where you go and you burn.” Carl says. According to the Bahá’í writings “The spiritual meaning of burning in hell refers to the burning desire to be closer to the creator. Those who choose to ignore Bahá\'u\'lláh in this life will be remote from him in the afterlife. I would define hell as acute and grievous remorse for not recognizing the promised one. This remorse is eternal due to remoteness from God.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6088\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The symbol for the Bahá&#039;í Faith (Wikimedia Commons)\"]<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6088 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/400px-Bahai_star-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing I noticed immediately about the Bahá’í faith is the emphasis on unity. I love the fact that two of their main pillars of faith are the elimination of prejudice and the equality of men and women. It’s not just something they try to do when they are in the mood, but it’s something that their faith is built upon.\r\n\r\nAnother thing that I find beautiful is the fact that they have a way of valuing all the different religions. To them, there is a thread running through all of history. Humanity has a greater story than divisions between rival religious factions, arguments between different denominations, or religiously perpetrated bigotry. Humanity has a beautiful story that is being continually shaped and is still growing and changing.\r\n\r\nCarl was extremely kind and very open to any questions I had. He corrected me a couple of times when I got nervous over a stupid question by saying “No, no question is stupid!” Even since our conversation I have emailed him about other things and he has taken the time to answer all of them, and has told me any time I have other questions he will set aside time to talk to me.\r\n\r\nI look forward to future conversations and appreciate him taking time to share his story and his faith with me.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Carl Marshall for his kindness, generosity, and for meeting with me to share his faith with me.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/35176612@N03/3755376430/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">random exposure</a> (Shrine of the Báb and Bahá\'í Gardens), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jeeheon</a> (Bahai Lotus Temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Upsilon Andromedae</a> (siblings at the Shrine), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">brett.wagner</a> (view from Mt. Carmel), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jay galvin</a> (Shrine of the <em>Báb), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctot_non_def/1434223112/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ctot_not_def</a> (Dome of Light)</em> <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (the symbol for the Bahá\'í faith)</em>','Faith Interview Series: The Bahá\'í Faith','','inherit','open','open','','6068-revision-17','','','2012-04-23 16:57:50','2012-04-23 23:57:50','',6068,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6068-revision-17/',0,'revision','',0),(6326,38,'2012-06-01 10:11:38','2012-06-01 17:11:38','The last thing I wanted to talk about before closing the books on this series is interfaith. So, I interviewed Robert Bruttell, the chairman of the <a href=\"http://detroitinterfaithcouncil.org/\" target=\"_blank\">InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit</a>. He attended Catholic Seminary as a young man. He said, “I’ve maintained an interest as to how people come to their community values all my life. One of my constant concerns has been race and the racialization of our community. Much of that has to do with community values.” The IFLC focuses on creating bridges.\n<blockquote>There are a lot of ways to deal with the barriers between people, and talking about race is one of them, along with ethnicity. Another is through talking to people about their values and how to take very different points of view about why you should do things and see if you can get them to work together on some similar or mutually agreeable purpose. And the interfaith conversation is a great place for that.</blockquote>\n<h2>About Robert</h2>\nRobert received a graduate degree in Religious Studies. He is now a professor at a nearby Catholic university teaching History of Religion in America, Religion and Science in the West, World Religion and the occasional Intro to Social Justice course. When I told him about my being told not to go to a secular university as a  child, he said:\n<blockquote>Many religious groups say that other people are not religious, or that they are “secular.” Well, it turns out that in a country that 70% of the people profess to have a religious belief, what you are saying when you say those people are secular is that other religious people make you unhappy and you will call them “secular.” But when you actually have to sit down with them and talk to them and discover that they actually have very strong religious beliefs—much of it coming from what they believe god means to them—they want that to be exercised in very powerful ways in society, and you have to lose that whole sense that there are these people out there with nonreligious beliefs that are vaguely evil and that you are vaguely truthful and good.</blockquote>\n<h2>Why Interfaith Matters</h2>\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6283 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit brings people of all faiths together to work on projects and causes that they can agree on are important. One cause in particular that they are working on right now is literacy. He said that their group realized that while they have holy books that say very different things, they all need people to be able to read them! This is one way people can come together and work on things that matter and help make the world a better place while operating out of a place of respect.\n\nRobert said something very important to me: “And you can see that people have to start thinking about it in terms of people who believe having different points of view rather than people without religious beliefs, or ‘vaguely evil’ who have no religious point of view. And that ‘vaguely evil’ thing is a dangerous for society; it’s another barrier that keeps people from working with each other.”\n<h2>What Now?</h2>\nSo, now that you’ve read all of these articles, what are you supposed to do now?\n\nDon’t worry, there won’t be a quiz later, so you don’t need to remember all the specific terms for everything! But what you can do now is take what you’ve read here and do your own investigation.\n\n<strong><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-6284\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"190\" /></a>If a particular concept struck you as interesting... </strong>Look it up on Wikipedia and read more about it.\n\n<strong>If you’re still feeling in the dark about a religion not mentioned here… </strong>Go to the library or Netflix and find a documentary. Dig into <a href=\"http://www.patheos.com/\">Patheos</a> and find a portal related to that group and explore a little bit.\n\n<strong>If you want to practice a kinder way of being toward other people…</strong> Go read the <a href=\"http://charterforcompassion.org/the-charter/#charter-for-compassion\" target=\"_blank\">Charter for Compassion</a>. Sign it for yourself or just simply contemplate the implications of the words in your life.\n\n<strong>If you’re a voracious learner…  </strong>Go Amazon or your local bookstore and find some books or DVDs. Maybe do your own set of interviews and see what you learn!  If you’re the history buff type, pick up a book and learn more about how these religions came to be.\n\n<strong>If you like talking to people… </strong>Maybe strike up a conversation next time you meet someone with different beliefs. Or better yet, work up the courage to ask some basic questions to someone you already know. Be sensitive and as kind, open, and warm as possible. Religion is still a sticky topic, so if they decline to talk, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">be respectful</span> of that. But more than likely, if you bring a kind approach, they will probably be willing to explain concepts and discuss things a bit more. I know I had to talk to a few Buddhists before understanding the unattachment concept. Ask them a question that you’d like to know more about!\n\n<strong>If you’re ready to put this stuff to the test… </strong>Go find an interfaith group in your area and just show up once or twice. Maybe contact one of the leaders of the group and have a cup of coffee beforehand if you want more information or if you’re hesitant. Padma Kuppa said to me, “Religion has been used to divide us. I want to use interfaith to unite us.”\n\n<strong>If you’re not ready to do any of this…  </strong>That’s okay too! You’re doing good by a lot of people just by bothering to read this article. Maybe just work on thinking twice before slandering against one of these groups. Maybe keep your eyes out for some of them and try to look across the room at them with a new kindness. Instead of glaring, try smiling!\n\nI appreciate you bothering to read this more than you know. If nothing else, thank you for your time and willingness to listen to what I and these wonderful people have to say.\n<h2>The Point</h2>\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6286\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The beautiful (and tough) thing about sharing space with people different than what you’re used to is it takes time. Some people adjust to this concept really quickly, and others it will take a long time, and maybe you’ll never be convinced. It’s okay. It’s a great thing that you made it this far.\n\nThe point is to view others with kindness. Have compassion because they are just like you but in a different body, raised by slightly different people in a slightly different place. The point is to treat others as you would want them to if your roles were reversed.\n\nWe are all a part of this beautiful thing called creation. We were all created in the image of God. Even if you aren’t a person of faith, we are all a <em>global family</em>. The more we know about each other and the more stories we share, the better.\n\nIf nothing else, as Saeed said, \"when the music stops without a chair\", try to find one good thing in whoever you meet. Try to love whoever you meet just a little bit more than you did yesterday.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Jonathan Brink and Provoketive for taking interest in this project. Thank you to all of my interviewees for welcoming me with open arms and for sharing with me. Thank you to my husband who has be patient while I spend hours hunched over my laptop pouring my soul into this. And most of all... Thanks to you, the reader, for opening your heart for a few minutes to listen. </strong>\n\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6049973495/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">NASA Goddard Photo and Video</a> (Earth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hulagway/5116382090/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">whologwhy</a> (girl, smiling), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/3268320322/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">CarbonNYC</a> (HUGS!), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhysasplundh/5770177448/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Rhys Asplundh</a> (girl standing on the shore)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Conclusion','','inherit','open','open','','6279-autosave','','','2012-06-01 10:11:38','2012-06-01 17:11:38','',6279,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6279-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(6328,38,'2012-04-25 12:42:13','2012-04-25 19:42:13','The last thing I wanted to talk about before closing the books on this series is interfaith. So, I interviewed Robert Bruttell, the chairman of the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit. He attended Catholic Seminary as a young man. He said, “I’ve maintained an interest as to how people come to their community values all my life. One of my constant concerns has been race and the racialization of our community. Much of that has to do with community values.” The ILCMD focuses on creating bridges.\r\n<blockquote>There are a lot of ways to deal with the barriers between people, and talking about race is one of them, along with ethnicity. Another is through talking to people about their values and how to take very different points of view about why you should do things and see if you can get them to work together on some similar or mutually agreeable purpose. And the interfaith conversation is a great place for that.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Robert</h2>\r\nRobert received a graduate degree in Religious Studies. He is now a professor at a nearby Catholic university teaching History of Religion in America, Religion and Science in the West, World Religion and the occasional Intro to Social Justice course. When I told him about my being told not to go to a secular university as a  child, he said:\r\n<blockquote>Many religious groups say that other people are not religious, or that they are “secular.” Well, it turns out that in a country that 70% of the people profess to have a religious belief, what you are saying when you say those people are secular is that other religious people make you unhappy and you will call them “secular.” But when you actually have to sit down with them and talk to them and discover that they actually have very strong religious beliefs—much of it coming from what they believe god means to them—they want that to be exercised in very powerful ways in society, and you have to lose that whole sense that there are these people out there with nonreligious beliefs that are vaguely evil and that you are vaguely truthful and good.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Why Interfaith Matters</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6283 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit brings people of all faiths together to work on projects and causes that they can agree on are important. One cause in particular that they are working on right now is literacy. He said that their group realized that while they have holy books that say very different things, they all need people to be able to read them! This is one way people can come together and work on things that matter and help make the world a better place while operating out of a place of respect.\r\n\r\nRobert said something very important to me: “And you can see that people have to start thinking about it in terms of people who believe having different points of view rather than people without religious beliefs, or ‘vaguely evil’ who have no religious point of view. And that ‘vaguely evil’ thing is a dangerous for society; it’s another barrier that keeps people from working with each other.”\r\n<h2>Where to Go From Here</h2>\r\nSo, now that you’ve read all of these articles, what are you supposed to do now?\r\n\r\nDon’t worry, there won’t be a quiz later, so you don’t need to remember all the specific terms for everything! But what you can do now is take what you’ve read here and do your own investigation.\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-6284\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"190\" /></a>If a particular concept struck you as interesting... </strong>Look it up on Wikipedia and read more about it.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re still feeling in the dark about a religion not mentioned here… </strong>Go to the library or Netflix and find a documentary. Dig into <a href=\"http://www.patheos.com/\">Patheos</a> and find a portal related to that group and explore a little bit.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you want to practice a kinder way of being toward other people…</strong> Go read the <a href=\"http://charterforcompassion.org/the-charter/#charter-for-compassion\" target=\"_blank\">Charter for Compassion</a>. Sign it for yourself or just simply contemplate the implications of the words in your life.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re a voracious learner…  </strong>Go Amazon or your local bookstore and find some books or DVDs. Maybe do your own set of interviews and see what you learn!  If you’re the history buff type, pick up a book and learn more about how these religions came to be.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you like talking to people… </strong>Maybe strike up a conversation next time you meet someone with different beliefs. Or better yet, work up the courage to ask some basic questions to someone you already know. Be sensitive and as kind, open, and warm as possible. Religion is still a sticky topic, so if they decline to talk, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">be respectful</span> of that. But more than likely, if you bring a kind approach, they will probably be willing to explain concepts and discuss things a bit more. I know I had to talk to a few Buddhists before understanding the unattachment concept. Ask them a question that you’d like to know more about!\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re ready to put this stuff to the test… </strong>Go find an interfaith group in your area and just show up once or twice. Maybe contact one of the leaders of the group and have a cup of coffee beforehand if you want more information or if you’re hesitant. Padma Kuppa said to me, “Religion has been used to divide us. I want to use interfaith to unite us.”\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re not ready to do any of this…  </strong>That’s okay too! You’re doing good by a lot of people just by bothering to read this article. Maybe just work on thinking twice before slandering against one of these groups. Maybe keep your eyes out for some of them and try to look across the room at them with a new kindness. Instead of glaring, try smiling!\r\n\r\nI appreciate you bothering to read this more than you know. If nothing else, thank you for your time and willingness to listen to what I and these wonderful people have to say.\r\n<h2>The Point</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6286\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The beautiful (and tough) thing about sharing space with people different than what you’re used to is it takes time. Some people adjust to this concept really quickly, and others it will take a long time, and maybe you’ll never be convinced. It’s okay. It’s a great thing that you made it this far.\r\n\r\nThe point is to view others with kindness. Have compassion because they are just like you but in a different body, raised by slightly different people. The point is to treat others as you would want them to if your roles were switched.\r\n\r\nWe are all a part of this beautiful thing called creation. We were all created in the image of God. Even if you aren’t a person of faith, we are all a global family. The more we know about each other and the more stories we share, the better.\r\n\r\nIf nothing else, as Saeed said, \"when the music stops without a chair\", try to find one good thing in whoever you meet.\r\n\r\nTry to love whoever you meet just a little bit more than you did yesterday.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Jonathan Brink and Provoketive for taking interest in this project. Thank you to all of my interviewees for welcoming me with open arms and for sharing with me. Thank you to my husband who has be patient while I spend hours hunched over my laptop pouring my soul into this. And most of all... Thank you to you, the reader, for opening your heart for a few minutes to listen. </strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6049973495/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">NASA Goddard Photo and Video</a> (Earth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hulagway/5116382090/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">whologwhy</a> (girl, smiling), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/3268320322/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">CarbonNYC</a> (HUGS!), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhysasplundh/5770177448/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Rhys Asplundh</a> (girl standing on the shore)</em>','Faith Interview Series: What Now?','','inherit','open','open','','6279-revision-11','','','2012-04-25 12:42:13','2012-04-25 19:42:13','',6279,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6279-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(6327,38,'2012-04-24 19:36:18','2012-04-25 02:36:18','The last thing I wanted to talk about before closing the books on this series is interfaith. So, I interviewed Robert Bruttell, the chairman of the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit. He attended Catholic Seminary as a young man. He said, “I’ve maintained an interest as to how people come to their community values all my life. One of my constant concerns has been race and the racialization of our community. Much of that has to do with community values.” The ILCMD focuses on creating bridges.\r\n<blockquote>There are a lot of ways to deal with the barriers between people, and talking about race is one of them, along with ethnicity. Another is through talking to people about their values and how to take very different points of view about why you should do things and see if you can get them to work together on some similar or mutually agreeable purpose. And the interfaith conversation is a great place for that.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Robert</h2>\r\nRobert received a graduate degree in Religious Studies. He is now a professor at a nearby Catholic university teaching History of Religion in America, Religion and Science in the West, World Religion and the occasional Intro to Social Justice course. When I told him about my being told not to go to a secular university as a  child, he said:\r\n<blockquote>Many religious groups say that other people are not religious, or that they are “secular.” Well, it turns out that in a country that 70% of the people profess to have a religious belief, what you are saying when you say those people are secular is that other religious people make you unhappy and you will call them “secular.” But when you actually have to sit down with them and talk to them and discover that they actually have very strong religious beliefs—much of it coming from what they believe god means to them—they want that to be exercised in very powerful ways in society, and you have to lose that whole sense that there are these people out there with nonreligious beliefs that are vaguely evil and that you are vaguely truthful and good.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Why Interfaith Matters</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6283 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit brings people of all faiths together to work on projects and causes that they can agree on are important. One cause in particular that they are working on right now is literacy. He said that their group realized that while they have holy books that say very different things, they all need people to be able to read them! This is one way people can come together and work on things that matter and help make the world a better place while operating out of a place of respect.\r\n\r\nRobert said something very important to me: “And you can see that people have to start thinking about it in terms of people who believe having different points of view rather than people without religious beliefs, or ‘vaguely evil’ who have no religious point of view. And that ‘vaguely evil’ thing is a dangerous for society; it’s another barrier that keeps people from working with each other.”\r\n<h2>Where to Go From Here</h2>\r\nSo, now that you’ve read all of these articles, what are you supposed to do now?\r\n\r\nDon’t worry, there won’t be a quiz later, so you don’t need to remember all the specific terms for everything! But what you can do now is take what you’ve read here and do your own investigation.\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-6284\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"190\" /></a>If a particular concept struck you as interesting? </strong>Look it up on Wikipedia and read more about it.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re still feeling in the dark about a religion not mentioned here… </strong>Go to the library or Netflix and find a documentary. Dig into Patheos and find a portal related to that group and explore a little bit.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you want to practice a kinder way of being toward other people…</strong> Go read the <a href=\"http://charterforcompassion.org/the-charter/#charter-for-compassion\" target=\"_blank\">Charter for Compassion</a>. Sign it for yourself or contemplate the implications of the words for your life.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re a voracious learner…  </strong>Go Amazon or your local bookstore and find some books or DVDs. Maybe do your own set of interviews and see what you learn!  If you’re the history buff type, pick up a book and learn more about how these religions came to be.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you like talking to people… </strong>Maybe strike up a conversation next time you meet someone with different beliefs. Be as kind, open, and warm as possible. Religion is still a sticky topic, so if they decline to talk, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">be respectful</span> of that. But more than likely, if you bring a kind approach, they will probably be willing to explain concepts and discuss things a bit more. I know I had to talk to a few Buddhists before understanding the unattachment concept. Ask them a question that you’d like to know more about!\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re ready to put this stuff to the test… </strong>Go find an interfaith group in your area and just show up once or twice. Maybe contact one of the leaders of the group and have a cup of coffee beforehand if you want more information or if you’re hesitant. Padma Kuppa said to me, “Religion has been used to divide us. I want to use interfaith to unite us.”\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re not ready to do any of this…  </strong>That’s okay too! You’re doing good by a lot of people just by bothering to read this article. Maybe just work on thinking twice before slandering against one of these groups. Maybe keep your eyes out for some of them and try to look across the room at them with a new love. I appreciate you bothering to read this more than you know. If nothing else, thank you for your time and willingness to listen to what I and these wonderful people have to say.\r\n<h2>The Point</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6286\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The beautiful (and tough) thing about sharing space with people different than what you’re used to is it takes time. Some people adjust to this concept really quickly, and others it will take a long time, and maybe you’ll never be convinced. It’s okay. It’s a great thing that you made it this far.\r\n\r\nThe point is to view others with kindness. Have compassion because they are just like you but in a different body, raised by slightly different people. The point is to treat others as you would want them to if your roles were switched.\r\n\r\nWe are all a part of this beautiful thing called creation. We were all created in the image of God. Even if you aren’t a person of faith, we are all a global family. The more we know about each other and the more stories we share, the better.\r\n\r\nIf nothing else, as Saeed said, \"when the music stops without a chair\", try to find one good thing in whoever you meet.\r\n\r\nTry to love whoever you meet just a little bit more than you did yesterday.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Jonathan Brink and Provoketive for taking interesting in this project. Thank you to all of my interviewees for welcoming me with open arms and for sharing with me. Thank you to my husband who has be patient while I spend hours hunched over my laptop pouring my soul into this. And most of all... Thank you to you, the reader, for opening your heart for a few minutes to listen. </strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6049973495/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">NASA Goddard Photo and Video</a> (Earth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hulagway/5116382090/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">whologwhy</a> (girl, smiling), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/3268320322/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">CarbonNYC</a> (HUGS!), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhysasplundh/5770177448/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Rhys Asplundh</a> (girl standing on the shore)</em>','Faith Interview Series: What Now?','','inherit','open','open','','6279-revision-10','','','2012-04-24 19:36:18','2012-04-25 02:36:18','',6279,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/6279-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(6329,90,'2012-04-25 10:06:21','2012-04-25 17:06:21','Maybe,\r\nEducation is not a contest.\r\nSeeing how many tomes\r\nand theories we can\r\nload\r\ninto\r\nour\r\nbrain.\r\n\r\nMaybe,\r\nEducation is a fine set\r\nof carving tools.\r\nCreating new path ways,\r\nClipping off unneeded wood,\r\nOpening new spaces,\r\nDiscovering beauty in the\r\ntangled mess of a burl,\r\nSanding the rough places until\r\nthey are soft,\r\npliable,\r\nporous.\r\n\r\nEmerges,\r\nThe solid beauty\r\nof a worked over piece of art.\r\n\r\nA person being formed.','Education','','inherit','open','open','','5977-revision-4','','','2012-04-25 10:06:21','2012-04-25 17:06:21','',5977,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/5977-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(7353,189,'2012-07-31 10:29:22','2012-07-31 17:29:22','Explain the two words spoken by Jesus—“Follow me”—in 1000 words or less? Hmmm. Maybe I should just stop right there and let you think this through on your own.\r\n\r\nMy understanding of what it means to follow Him has changed over the years. Perhaps our understanding of “following” is <em>supposed</em> to change over time as our maturity in the Lord grows in response to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the ways we experience Him with others. Because I can’t claim to know <em>everything</em> about following Jesus, the best I can offer is to share <em>some</em> of the things I’ve learned about following Jesus—beginning with what “following Jesus” is <strong><em>not</em><em>.</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Following Jesus is not the same thing as: </strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Following the teachings of Jesus, or following doctrines, creeds, or denominational statements of faith.</li>\r\n	<li>Following a Bible Reading Plan, memorizing scripture, or claiming a “life verse”.</li>\r\n	<li>Following “religious convictions”, or acting upon those convictions, alone or as a group, purely for the sake of acting upon convictions.</li>\r\n	<li>Attending a weekly worship service, and maybe a midweek prayer meeting or Bible study, or meeting with a small group or accountability partner.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere isn’t anything wrong with doing these things. In fact, I  follow  Jesus today because others encouraged me to do these things over the course of my spiritual journey.  “Christian practices” are not the same thing as following Jesus. <em></em>I know a lot <em>about</em> <em>Jesus</em> by studying, talking about or meditating on these things—but knowing a lot <em>about Jesus</em> isn’t the same as <em>knowing Jesus</em>. It helps to know Who you’re following.<strong><em></em></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>“Follow me.”</em></strong>  Two words caused Simon and Andrew to drop their fishing nets.  James and John “left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after Him.” (Mark 1:20 Amplified). Levi, son of Alphaeus, left his tax booth: “he arose and joined Him and His disciples and sided with His party and accompanied Him.” (Mark 2:14 Amp). Philip ran to find his friend Nathanael and they too followed Him. Twelve men, in all, apparently left their life’s work to follow Jesus.\r\n\r\nI find it interesting that the Amplified Version conveys that the words “follow me” carry the connotation, “side with my party\".  Against the backdrop of  first century Hebrew culture—oppressed by the conquering Romans, looking for Messiah to deliver the Children of Israel and fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament—we read Nathanael’s confession, “Teacher, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49) and the reason the twelve “followed” begins to come into focus.  Over the course of the next three and a half years, these men—and later Saul of Tarsus, among others—would come to understand that following Jesus isn’t about following teachings, doctrines, scriptures, convictions or attending religious meetings.  Men and women down through centuries found, in the Gospels and other writings of the New Testament, not <em>something</em> to believe in and follow, but rather <strong><em>Someone</em></strong> to believe in and follow.\r\n\r\nTo follow Jesus is to follow a living <strong><em>Person!</em></strong>\r\n<blockquote><strong><em> </em></strong>“And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.”__John 1:14 (Amp)\r\n\r\n“For it has <strong>pleased</strong> [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should <strong>dwell</strong> in Him permanently.”__ Colossians 1:19 (Amp)</blockquote>\r\nFollowing a living Person, who is the Christ, comes with a cost, which He explained Himself to His disciples:\r\n<blockquote>“And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, <sup> </sup>forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” __Luke 9:23 (Amp)</blockquote>\r\nWhat do we have to gain by following this all-wonderful, all-glorious, all-divine Person? What is the outcome we look forward to? For starters, eternal life! Make that eternal, <strong><em>abundant</em> </strong>life, sustained by Christ who <strong><em>is</em></strong> our life! Many more “rewards” are promised to faithful followers who overcome the trials and temptations of this world—check out the letters to the seven churches in John’s last book!\r\n\r\nThere’s another important thing I’ve learned about following Jesus: it’s something we do <strong><em>together</em></strong>.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus is following a living <strong><em>Person</em></strong>…<strong><em>together!</em></strong>\r\n<blockquote>“When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory. __Colossians 3:4 (Amp)</blockquote>','','','inherit','open','open','','7337-revision-15','','','2012-07-31 10:29:22','2012-07-31 17:29:22','',7337,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/31/7337-revision-15/',0,'revision','',0),(6336,176,'2012-04-26 04:35:49','2012-04-26 11:35:49','What is happiness? To one person it means owning eight cars. To another it means being in a great relationship. To a third it’s about getting blissed out in kirtan. <a href=\"http://www.themindfulword.org/2012/abiding-happiness-reality-life/\">Happiness</a> means different things to different people. But, despite the discrepancy, one thing is certain — nice things and experiences only offer temporary pleasure. Cars die, relationships end, memories fade. Any definition of happiness based on attaining something or achieving a “positive” state of mind is built on a deck of cards.\n\nAccording to Ven. Sanghasena, a Buddhist monk and spiritual leader in India, equanimity is a higher state of happiness that is steady and long lasting. It is not based on the dualities of pleasure or pain, happy or sad, rich or poor. Rather than the ups and downs that come from a state of happiness based on sensual desires, equanimity is a state of non-attachment based on acceptance of what is happening in the <a href=\"http://www.themindfulword.org/2010/present-moment-presence-process/\">present moment</a> — “good” or “bad,” “pleasure” or “pain” are all concepts created in our minds. With equanimity, all is good.\n\nThe term “equanimity” first entered the English language in the 17<sup>th</sup> century from the Latin “<em>aequanimitas</em>,” which comes from “<em>aequus”</em> (equal) and “<em>animus”</em> (mind). According to the <em>Oxford English Dictionary</em>, it means “calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation” — though that general definition doesn’t capture the true essence of this powerful meta-virtue.\n\n<strong>In Theory</strong>\n\nAll the major spiritual traditions of the world regard equanimity as central to their teachings. In verse 2.48 of the sacred Hindu text the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna teaches: \"Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.\" Hindus and yogis define yoga as “union with God,” designating equanimity as the one all important virtue to realizing their divinity. Krishna advises Arjuna to maintain non-attachment because it’s that even-mindedness that enables us to escape the ego’s firm grip that constantly compels us to strive for this and avoid that. While abiding in equanimity, we can see more clearly that all those events happening on the surface of our existence are only as relevant as we believe them to be. In equanimity, we experience our true Selves.\n\nLooking beyond the spiritual traditions originating in India, Christianity too embraces equanimity as an important part of its beliefs. St. Paul writes in Philippians 4:11:13 about focusing on the divine rather than getting swayed by externalities: \"I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.\"\n\nAccording to Rabbi Chaim Vital, equanimity (“<em>hishtavut” </em>in Hebrew<em>)<strong> </strong></em>is a prerequisite to meditation, which in turn is a prerequisite to realizing divine inspiration and prophecy. Unless we can maintain equanimity, we need to further attach our consciousness to G-d. Rabbi Avner, in a teaching on the secret of equanimity, says to “surrender your heart even more, a true surrendering, until you have attained equanimity. Then you will be able to meditate.”\n\nThe word Islam comes from the Arabic <em>aslama</em>, which means “surrender.” When Muslims pray to Allah they surrender to Allah’s will, which can be considered a state of peaceful acceptance no different than equanimity. The similar sounding Arabic word <em>salam</em> is a greeting that means peace. A peace that can come through surrendering to Allah’s will.\n\nBut when hearing the term equanimity in a spiritual context, it is Buddhism people generally think of because of the virtue’s intrinsic importance to the spiritual tradition. The ancient Sanskrit word “upeksha” roughly translates to equanimity, which along with loving kindness (maitri), compassion (karuna) and joy (mudita), is one of the four immeasurables (the same as the four sublime attitudes in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras).\n\nVietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh translates upeksha as follows in <em>Teachings on Love</em>: “In Sanskrit, ‘<em>upa’</em> means over and ‘<em>iksh’</em> means ‘to look.’ You climb the mountain to be able to look over the whole situation, not bound by one side or the other.” From that vantage point one accesses another aspect of equanimity, “<em>samatajnana</em>” or the wisdom of equality, which Nhat Hanh describes as “the ability to see everyone as equal and not discriminate between ourselves and other people.” When embroiled in conflict, the equanimous will maintain impartiality in an effort to truly understand others’ points of view. They drop their discrimination in order to truly love. In this way, the self, the ego, diminishes and they become one.\n\nAccording to Nhat Hanh’s understanding of equanimity, it is a way to connect. Yet, a common misconception is that it’s a state of indifference. Theravadan Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Bodhi counters that claim: “It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honour and dishonour, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one’s fellow human beings.” When dropping the ego, we naturally connect with others and become better able to assist them.\n\n<strong>In Practice</strong>\n\nVipassana is one of India’s most ancient forms of meditation and has become increasingly popular in recent years partly because of its effectiveness at generating equanimity. Though the Buddha rediscovered it and made it part of the Buddhist practice, it is non-sectarian in nature. “Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation,” says S.N Goenka, one of many Vipassana teachers popularizing the technique worldwide. “It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind.”\n\nVipassana meditators focus on the constantly changing sensations in the body to realize the essential impermanence — and thus limited importance — of all these sensations. It is known as insight meditation, because in developing equanimity with whatever is happening, meditators gain insight into the impermanent reality of life.\n\nThough Vipassana meditators try to apply the principles of their practice in everyday life, their focus is on sitting meditation. In mindfulness, also a non-sectarian practice associated with Buddhism, practitioners focus on being in the present moment throughout the day by using a variety of daily practices such as walking and eating meditation, so when any event occurs, they are aware of it and accept it as just another event. “In touch with the flowers (or any other pleasure or aversion), I breathe in. Smiling with the flowers (or any other pleasure or aversion), I breathe out” is a guided meditation that mindfulness practitioners repeat to themselves as a means of appreciating, but at the same time not clinging to desires or averting themselves from negativities.\n\nAs we become aware of our emotions we can choose to act responsibly rather than react unskilfully. Mindfulness practitioners train themselves to be constantly aware of whatever enters the mind, feeling the emotions and their effect before acting. Equanimity cultivates an acceptance of our emotional vagaries, allowing us to show compassion for ourselves. As we show compassion for ourselves, we can more easily show compassion for others.\n<div>\n\nThe push-pull drama called the pursuit of happiness doesn’t lead to satisfaction, but to the ego trap of attachment and aversion. Setting a goal to attain something that will make us happy inevitably compounds the belief that there is something bad to avoid. Equanimity undoes that errant thinking. It frees us from that dichotomy of good and bad that will forever hound us as much as we believe in those concepts. In letting go of the ego’s grasp through acceptance of all that is, we realize contentment. And with the success struggle out of the way, we realize gratitude for all that we already have.\n\n&nbsp;\n<div align=\"center\">\n\n<hr align=\"center\" size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" />\n\n</div>\nKiva Bottero edits The Mindful Word journal of engaged living. He also writes and edits material for Dew Media, an organization that specializes in providing custom publishing and design services for non-profits and social enterprises. Visit him online at www.themindfulword.org and www.dewmedia.org.\n\n</div>','A HIGHER STATE OF HAPPINESS: Accept the good and the bad with equanimity ','','inherit','open','open','','6335-revision','','','2012-04-26 04:35:49','2012-04-26 11:35:49','',6335,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6335-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6339,178,'2012-05-01 09:00:16','2012-05-01 16:00:16','What is religion?  What is spirituality?  Are the two at odds with one another?  Or can a person be both spiritual and religious?  And can a person truly be one without the other?\r\n\r\nEarlier this month, Amy Julia Becker <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-julia-becker/why-i-am-both-spiritual-and-religious_b_1386187.html?ref=parents\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">wrote a piece for the Huffington Post</span></strong></a> in which she eloquently and persuasively lays out the reasons why religion and spirituality are not at odds with one another.  She explains that she needs the freedom of spirituality and the authority of religion in order to “remember or discover meaning and purpose” within her day-to-day life.\r\n\r\n“[R]eligion and spirituality are not opposed to each other,” she says. “Rather, they are two poles on a continuum, and both reflect the human need to know God\'s presence and to experience the deep rest and purpose that comes from that knowledge.”\r\n\r\nTrue, indeed. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6345\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" /></a>\r\n\r\nI can’t help but notice, however, that religion is frequently portrayed as the bad cop to spirituality’s good cop in the religion versus spirituality debate.  Religion is the rule-setting parent; spirituality is the free-loving older sister.  Religion is standardized tests; spirituality is an independent study course.  Religion is a curfew on prom night; spirituality is trustful permission and keys to the car.\r\n\r\nDiscussions about religion and spirituality tend to focus on religion as a structure of rules, judgment, rituals, and inconvenience, and certainly some religions do prioritize these components of their theology.  But what these characterizations miss is the fact that, at its heart, religion is about <em>community</em>.  It is about accountability to oneself and one’s community, not just to God.   It is about support and friendship and love given from one’s religious network, not just from God.  It is about respect and faithfulness to one’s neighbors, not just allegiance to God’s will.\r\n\r\nGroundbreaking studies revealed in the book <a href=\"http://americangrace.org/\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us</span></em></strong></a> show that religious Americans are generally nicer, happier, better citizens.  Religious Americans tend to be more generous with their time, talent, and resources to both religious and secular causes.  They are more likely to join volunteer associations, attend public meetings, and respond more compassionately when others wrong them.\r\n\r\nBut, perhaps, the most startling revelation in the book comes from studies showing that good neighborliness and happiness is attributed not to theology, but rather to religious <em>communities</em>.  According to the book’s authors, Robert Putnam and David Campbell, data reveals that “communities of faith seem more important than faith itself.”\r\n\r\nChurchgoers are not hardwired to be more generous and nicer people; instead, being part of a religious community promotes altruistic acts.  Religion fosters accountability, not through God-fearing rules or antiquated rituals, but through supportive and encouraging faith communities.\r\n\r\nA strong faith network affects neighborliness and generosity even more than the frequency with which one participates in religious activities and spiritual practices.   In other words, it is a faith-based social network formed through simple things like making friends at church, chatting at coffee hour following church service, joining a small group, or even discussing religion or theology with friends and family that is a far greater contributor to the level of generosity and altruism that person exhibits than the frequency with which a person attends worship services.    In fact, according to Putnam and Campbell, an atheist who is socially involved in a church community is more likely to volunteer than a believer who worships in isolation.\r\n\r\nReligious communities – like all communities – have their drawbacks and my own faith in organized religion is frequently called in doubt.  But accepting a religious community requires the recognition that a religious community is flawed, just as each of its human components is flawed.  It is not the commission of mistakes, but the response to the mistakes, that matter.\r\n\r\nReligion is not about regular Sunday church attendance.  Religion is not about making the sign of the cross or genuflecting or saying the “Our Father.”  Religion is not even about a devout and unwavering belief in God.\r\n\r\nReligion is about deliberate and intentional behaviors and practices within a faith-based community that allow grace, compassion, love and forgiveness to thrive.  Religion is about drawing on the support of God through the presence of a supportive community.  Religion is about the awareness of the things in our life that may be out of sync with living a graceful and grace-filled life, and purposefully trying to correct those flaws.\r\n\r\nBy refocusing religion on the communities that it creates, we can rid ourselves of the characterizations of fear, judgment, and rigidity that many of us have come to associate with religion.  We are free to create our own definitions of what it means to engage in spiritual practices within a religion.  Spirituality and religion need not be “two poles on the continuum,” but spirituality and religion can be part and parcel of each other, each of which is sustained by a vibrant community.\r\n\r\nReligion is often associated with regular church attendance and, for some, worship services are a crucial part of their personal religious and spiritual practices.  For others, religion need not be so narrowly defined.  For the past four years I have been part of a small faith group – there are about five of us - that meets monthly over dinner to talk about God and social justice, personal struggles and work stress, emotional failures and successes, spirituality and religion.  Some of us go to church on a regular basis, many of us don’t.  Some of us believe in God, some of us doubt.  What we lack in rules and rituals, shared beliefs and theology, we more than make up for through our supportive, intentional, contemplative, and grace-filled community.  And it is in that community, that our group is religion.','The Smallest Church in the World','','publish','open','open','','the-smallest-church-in-the-world','','','2012-05-01 09:35:58','2012-05-01 16:35:58','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6339',0,'post','',2),(6340,176,'2012-04-26 12:41:54','2012-04-26 19:41:54','','A Higher State of Happiness','','inherit','open','open','','higher-state-happiness-walking','','','2012-04-26 12:41:54','2012-04-26 19:41:54','',6335,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/higher-state-happiness-walking.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6341,178,'2012-04-26 12:42:30','2012-04-26 19:42:30','','Church','Credit: adamfg on Flickr','inherit','open','open','','2096053188_2a94bbd313','','','2012-04-26 12:42:30','2012-04-26 19:42:30','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2096053188_2a94bbd313.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6342,178,'2012-04-26 12:43:45','2012-04-26 19:43:45','','2096053188_2a94bbd313','','inherit','open','open','','2096053188_2a94bbd313-2','','','2012-04-26 12:43:45','2012-04-26 19:43:45','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2096053188_2a94bbd3131.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6346,178,'2012-04-26 12:46:40','2012-04-26 19:46:40','What is religion?  What is spirituality?  Are the two at odds with one another?  Or can a person be both spiritual and religious?  And can a person truly be one without the other?\n\nEarlier this month, Amy Julia Becker <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-julia-becker/why-i-am-both-spiritual-and-religious_b_1386187.html?ref=parents\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">wrote a piece for the Huffington Post</span></strong></a> in which she eloquently and persuasively lays out the reasons why religion and spirituality are not at odds with one another.  She explains that she needs the freedom of spirituality and the authority of religion in order to “remember or discover meaning and purpose” within her day-to-day life.\n\n“[R]eligion and spirituality are not opposed to each other,” she says. “Rather, they are two poles on a continuum, and both reflect the human need to know God\'s presence and to experience the deep rest and purpose that comes from that knowledge.”\n\nTrue, indeed.\n\nI can’t help but notice, however, that religion is frequently portrayed as the bad cop to spirituality’s good cop in the religion versus spirituality debate.  Religion is the rule-setting parent; spirituality is the free-loving older sister.  Religion is standardized tests; spirituality is an independent study course.  Religion is a curfew on prom night; spirituality is trustful permission and keys to the car.\n\nDiscussions about religion and spirituality tend to focus on religion as a structure of rules, judgment, rituals, and inconvenience, and certainly some religions do prioritize these components of their theology.  But what these characterizations miss is the fact, at its heart, religion is about <em>community</em>.  It is about accountability to oneself and one’s community, not just to God.   It is about support and friendship and love given from one’s religious network, not just from God.  It is about respect and faithfulness to one’s neighbors, not just allegiance to God’s will.\n\nGroundbreaking studies revealed in the book <strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us </span></em></strong>[http://americangrace.org/] show that religious Americans are generally nicer, happier, better citizens.  Religious Americans tend to be more generous with their time, talent, and resources to both religious and secular causes.  They are more likely to join volunteer associations, attend public meetings, and respond more compassionately when others wrong them.\n\nBut, perhaps, the most startling revelation in the books comes from studies showing that good neighborliness and happiness is attributed to theology, but rather to religious <em>communities</em>.  According to the book’s authors, Robert Putnam and David Campbell, data reveals that “communities of faith seem more important than faith itself.”\n\nChurchgoers are not hardwired to be more generous and nicer people; instead, being part of a religious community promotes altruistic acts.  Religion fosters accountability, not through God-fearing rules or antiquated rituals, but through supportive and encouraging faith communities.\n\nA strong faith network affects neighborliness and generosity even more than the frequency with which one participates in religious activities and spiritual practices.   In other words, it is a faith-based social network formed through simple things like making friends at church, chatting at coffee hour following church service, joining a small group, or even discussing religion or theology with friends and family that is a far greater contributor to the level of generosity and altruism that person exhibits than the frequency with which a person attends worship services.    In fact, according to Putnam and Campbell, an atheist who is socially involved in a church community is more likely to volunteer than a believer who worships in isolation.\n\nReligious communities – like all communities – have their drawbacks and my own faith in organized religion is frequently called in doubt.  But accepting a religious community requires the recognition that a religious community is flawed, just as each of its human components is flawed.  It is not the commission of mistakes, but the religious community’s response to the mistakes, that matter.\n\nReligion is not about regular Sunday church attendance.  Religion is not about making the sign of the cross or genuflecting or saying the “Our Father.”  Religion is not even about a devout and unwaveringly belief in God.\n\nReligion is about deliberate and intentional behaviors and practices within a faith-based community that allow grace, compassion, love and forgiveness to thrive.  Religion is about drawing on the support of God through the presence of a supportive community.  Religion is about the awareness of the things in our life that may be out of sync with living a graceful and grace-filled life, and purposefully trying to correct those flaws.\n\nBy refocusing religion on the communities that it creates, we can rid ourselves of the fear, judgment, and rigidity characterizations that many of us have come to associate with religion.  We are free to create our own definitions of what it means to engage in spiritual practices within a religion.  Spirituality and religion need not be “two poles on the continuum,” but spirituality and religion can be part and parcel of each other, each of which is sustained by a vibrant community.\n\nReligion is often associated with regular church attendance and, for some, worship services are a crucial part of their personal religious and spiritual practices.  For others, religion need not be so narrowly defined.  For the past four years I have been part of a small faith group – there are about five of us - that meets monthly over dinner to talk about God and social justice, personal struggles and work stress, emotional failures and successes, spirituality and religion.  Some of us go to church on a regular basis, many of us don’t.  Some of us believe in God, some of us doubt.  What we lack rules and rituals, shared beliefs and theology, we more than make up for through our supportive, intentional, contemplative, and grace-filled community.  And it is in that community, that our group is religion.','The Smallest Church in the World','','inherit','open','open','','6339-revision-2','','','2012-04-26 12:46:40','2012-04-26 19:46:40','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6339-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6343,176,'2012-04-26 12:45:13','2012-04-26 19:45:13','What is happiness? To one person it means owning eight cars. To another it means being in a great relationship. To a third it’s about getting blissed out in kirtan. Happiness means different things to different people. But, despite the discrepancy, one thing is certain — nice things and experiences only offer temporary pleasure. Cars die, relationships end, memories fade. Any definition of happiness based on attaining something or achieving a “positive” state of mind is built on a deck of cards.\n\nAccording to Ven. Sanghasena, a Buddhist monk and spiritual leader in India, equanimity is a higher state of happiness that is steady and long lasting. It is not based on the dualities of pleasure or pain, happy or sad, rich or poor. Rather than the ups and downs that come from a state of happiness based on sensual desires, equanimity is a state of non-attachment based on acceptance of what is happening in the <a href=\"http://www.themindfulword.org/2010/present-moment-presence-process/\">present moment</a> — “good” or “bad,” “pleasure” or “pain” are all concepts created in our minds. With equanimity, all is good.\n\nThe term “equanimity” first entered the English language in the 17<sup>th</sup> century from the Latin “<em>aequanimitas</em>,” which comes from “<em>aequus”</em> (equal) and “<em>animus”</em> (mind). According to the <em>Oxford English Dictionary</em>, it means “calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation” — though that general definition doesn’t capture the true essence of this powerful meta-virtue.\n\n<strong>In Theory</strong>\n\nAll the major spiritual traditions of the world regard equanimity as central to their teachings. In verse 2.48 of the sacred Hindu text the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna teaches: \"Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.\" Hindus and yogis define yoga as “union with God,” designating equanimity as the one all important virtue to realizing their divinity. Krishna advises Arjuna to maintain non-attachment because it’s that even-mindedness that enables us to escape the ego’s firm grip that constantly compels us to strive for this and avoid that. While abiding in equanimity, we can see more clearly that all those events happening on the surface of our existence are only as relevant as we believe them to be. In equanimity, we experience our true Selves.\n\nLooking beyond the spiritual traditions originating in India, Christianity too embraces equanimity as an important part of its beliefs. St. Paul writes in Philippians 4:11:13 about focusing on the divine rather than getting swayed by externalities: \"I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.\"\n\nAccording to Rabbi Chaim Vital, equanimity (“<em>hishtavut” </em>in Hebrew<em>)<strong> </strong></em>is a prerequisite to meditation, which in turn is a prerequisite to realizing divine inspiration and prophecy. Unless we can maintain equanimity, we need to further attach our consciousness to G-d. Rabbi Avner, in a teaching on the secret of equanimity, says to “surrender your heart even more, a true surrendering, until you have attained equanimity. Then you will be able to meditate.”\n\nThe word Islam comes from the Arabic <em>aslama</em>, which means “surrender.” When Muslims pray to Allah they surrender to Allah’s will, which can be considered a state of peaceful acceptance no different than equanimity. The similar sounding Arabic word <em>salam</em> is a greeting that means peace. A peace that can come through surrendering to Allah’s will.\n\nBut when hearing the term equanimity in a spiritual context, it is Buddhism people generally think of because of the virtue’s intrinsic importance to the spiritual tradition. The ancient Sanskrit word “upeksha” roughly translates to equanimity, which along with loving kindness (maitri), compassion (karuna) and joy (mudita), is one of the four immeasurables (the same as the four sublime attitudes in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras).\n\nVietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh translates upeksha as follows in <em>Teachings on Love</em>: “In Sanskrit, ‘<em>upa’</em> means over and ‘<em>iksh’</em> means ‘to look.’ You climb the mountain to be able to look over the whole situation, not bound by one side or the other.” From that vantage point one accesses another aspect of equanimity, “<em>samatajnana</em>” or the wisdom of equality, which Nhat Hanh describes as “the ability to see everyone as equal and not discriminate between ourselves and other people.” When embroiled in conflict, the equanimous will maintain impartiality in an effort to truly understand others’ points of view. They drop their discrimination in order to truly love. In this way, the self, the ego, diminishes and they become one.\n\nAccording to Nhat Hanh’s understanding of equanimity, it is a way to connect. Yet, a common misconception is that it’s a state of indifference. Theravadan Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Bodhi counters that claim: “It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honour and dishonour, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one’s fellow human beings.” When dropping the ego, we naturally connect with others and become better able to assist them.\n\n<strong>In Practice</strong>\n\nVipassana is one of India’s most ancient forms of meditation and has become increasingly popular in recent years partly because of its effectiveness at generating equanimity. Though the Buddha rediscovered it and made it part of the Buddhist practice, it is non-sectarian in nature. “Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation,” says S.N Goenka, one of many Vipassana teachers popularizing the technique worldwide. “It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind.”\n\nVipassana meditators focus on the constantly changing sensations in the body to realize the essential impermanence — and thus limited importance — of all these sensations. It is known as insight meditation, because in developing equanimity with whatever is happening, meditators gain insight into the impermanent reality of life.\n\nThough Vipassana meditators try to apply the principles of their practice in everyday life, their focus is on sitting meditation. In mindfulness, also a non-sectarian practice associated with Buddhism, practitioners focus on being in the present moment throughout the day by using a variety of daily practices such as walking and eating meditation, so when any event occurs, they are aware of it and accept it as just another event. “In touch with the flowers (or any other pleasure or aversion), I breathe in. Smiling with the flowers (or any other pleasure or aversion), I breathe out” is a guided meditation that mindfulness practitioners repeat to themselves as a means of appreciating, but at the same time not clinging to desires or averting themselves from negativities.\n\nAs we become aware of our emotions we can choose to act responsibly rather than react unskilfully. Mindfulness practitioners train themselves to be constantly aware of whatever enters the mind, feeling the emotions and their effect before acting. Equanimity cultivates an acceptance of our emotional vagaries, allowing us to show compassion for ourselves. As we show compassion for ourselves, we can more easily show compassion for others.\n<div>\n\nThe push-pull drama called the pursuit of happiness doesn’t lead to satisfaction, but to the ego trap of attachment and aversion. Setting a goal to attain something that will make us happy inevitably compounds the belief that there is something bad to avoid. Equanimity undoes that errant thinking. It frees us from that dichotomy of good and bad that will forever hound us as much as we believe in those concepts. In letting go of the ego’s grasp through acceptance of all that is, we realize contentment. And with the success struggle out of the way, we realize gratitude for all that we already have.\n\n&nbsp;\n<div align=\"center\">\n\n<hr align=\"center\" size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" />\n\n</div>\nKiva Bottero edits The Mindful Word journal of engaged living. He also writes and edits material for Dew Media, an organization that specializes in providing custom publishing and design services for non-profits and social enterprises. Visit him online at www.themindfulword.org and www.dewmedia.org.\n\nphoto courtesy 350.org (<a title=\"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/\">Creative Commons – some rights reserved</a>)\n\n</div>','A HIGHER STATE OF HAPPINESS: Accept the good and the bad with equanimity ','','inherit','open','open','','6335-revision-2','','','2012-04-26 12:45:13','2012-04-26 19:45:13','',6335,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6335-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6344,178,'2012-04-26 12:44:40','2012-04-26 19:44:40','What is religion?  What is spirituality?  Are the two at odds with one another?  Or can a person be both spiritual and religious?  And can a person truly be one without the other?\n\nEarlier this month, Amy Julia Becker <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-julia-becker/why-i-am-both-spiritual-and-religious_b_1386187.html?ref=parents\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">wrote a piece for the Huffington Post</span></strong></a>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6341\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Credit: adamfg on Flickr\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2096053188_2a94bbd313.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-6341\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2096053188_2a94bbd313.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nin which she eloquently and persuasively lays out the reasons why religion and spirituality are not at odds with one another.  She explains that she needs the freedom of spirituality and the authority of religion in order to “remember or discover meaning and purpose” within her day-to-day life.\n\n“[R]eligion and spirituality are not opposed to each other,” she says. “Rather, they are two poles on a continuum, and both reflect the human need to know God\'s presence and to experience the deep rest and purpose that comes from that knowledge.”\n\nTrue, indeed.\n\nI can’t help but notice, however, that religion is frequently portrayed as the bad cop to spirituality’s good cop in the religion versus spirituality debate.  Religion is the rule-setting parent; spirituality is the free-loving older sister.  Religion is standardized tests; spirituality is an independent study course.  Religion is a curfew on prom night; spirituality is trustful permission and keys to the car.\n\nDiscussions about religion and spirituality tend to focus on religion as a structure of rules, judgment, rituals, and inconvenience, and certainly some religions do prioritize these components of their theology.  But what these characterizations miss is the fact, at its heart, religion is about <em>community</em>.  It is about accountability to oneself and one’s community, not just to God.   It is about support and friendship and love given from one’s religious network, not just from God.  It is about respect and faithfulness to one’s neighbors, not just allegiance to God’s will.\n\nGroundbreaking studies revealed in the book <strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us </span></em></strong>[http://americangrace.org/] show that religious Americans are generally nicer, happier, better citizens.  Religious Americans tend to be more generous with their time, talent, and resources to both religious and secular causes.  They are more likely to join volunteer associations, attend public meetings, and respond more compassionately when others wrong them.\n\nBut, perhaps, the most startling revelation in the books comes from studies showing that good neighborliness and happiness is attributed to theology, but rather to religious <em>communities</em>.  According to the book’s authors, Robert Putnam and David Campbell, data reveals that “communities of faith seem more important than faith itself.”\n\nChurchgoers are not hardwired to be more generous and nicer people; instead, being part of a religious community promotes altruistic acts.  Religion fosters accountability, not through God-fearing rules or antiquated rituals, but through supportive and encouraging faith communities.\n\nA strong faith network affects neighborliness and generosity even more than the frequency with which one participates in religious activities and spiritual practices.   In other words, it is a faith-based social network formed through simple things like making friends at church, chatting at coffee hour following church service, joining a small group, or even discussing religion or theology with friends and family that is a far greater contributor to the level of generosity and altruism that person exhibits than the frequency with which a person attends worship services.    In fact, according to Putnam and Campbell, an atheist who is socially involved in a church community is more likely to volunteer than a believer who worships in isolation.\n\nReligious communities – like all communities – have their drawbacks and my own faith in organized religion is frequently called in doubt.  But accepting a religious community requires the recognition that a religious community is flawed, just as each of its human components is flawed.  It is not the commission of mistakes, but the religious community’s response to the mistakes, that matter.\n\nReligion is not about regular Sunday church attendance.  Religion is not about making the sign of the cross or genuflecting or saying the “Our Father.”  Religion is not even about a devout and unwaveringly belief in God.\n\nReligion is about deliberate and intentional behaviors and practices within a faith-based community that allow grace, compassion, love and forgiveness to thrive.  Religion is about drawing on the support of God through the presence of a supportive community.  Religion is about the awareness of the things in our life that may be out of sync with living a graceful and grace-filled life, and purposefully trying to correct those flaws.\n\nBy refocusing religion on the communities that it creates, we can rid ourselves of the fear, judgment, and rigidity characterizations that many of us have come to associate with religion.  We are free to create our own definitions of what it means to engage in spiritual practices within a religion.  Spirituality and religion need not be “two poles on the continuum,” but spirituality and religion can be part and parcel of each other, each of which is sustained by a vibrant community.\n\nReligion is often associated with regular church attendance and, for some, worship services are a crucial part of their personal religious and spiritual practices.  For others, religion need not be so narrowly defined.  For the past four years I have been part of a small faith group – there are about five of us - that meets monthly over dinner to talk about God and social justice, personal struggles and work stress, emotional failures and successes, spirituality and religion.  Some of us go to church on a regular basis, many of us don’t.  Some of us believe in God, some of us doubt.  What we lack rules and rituals, shared beliefs and theology, we more than make up for through our supportive, intentional, contemplative, and grace-filled community.  And it is in that community, that our group is religion.','The Smallest Church in the World','','inherit','open','open','','6339-revision','','','2012-04-26 12:44:40','2012-04-26 19:44:40','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6339-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6345,178,'2012-04-26 12:50:47','2012-04-26 19:50:47','','979763_hope','','inherit','open','open','','979763_hope','','','2012-04-26 12:50:47','2012-04-26 19:50:47','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6347,178,'2012-04-26 12:51:26','2012-04-26 19:51:26','What is religion?  What is spirituality?  Are the two at odds with one another?  Or can a person be both spiritual and religious?  And can a person truly be one without the other?\r\n\r\nEarlier this month, Amy Julia Becker <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-julia-becker/why-i-am-both-spiritual-and-religious_b_1386187.html?ref=parents\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">wrote a piece for the Huffington Post</span></strong></a> in which she eloquently and persuasively lays out the reasons why religion and spirituality are not at odds with one another.  She explains that she needs the freedom of spirituality and the authority of religion in order to “remember or discover meaning and purpose” within her day-to-day life.\r\n\r\n“[R]eligion and spirituality are not opposed to each other,” she says. “Rather, they are two poles on a continuum, and both reflect the human need to know God\'s presence and to experience the deep rest and purpose that comes from that knowledge.”\r\n\r\nTrue, indeed. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6345\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" /></a>\r\n\r\nI can’t help but notice, however, that religion is frequently portrayed as the bad cop to spirituality’s good cop in the religion versus spirituality debate.  Religion is the rule-setting parent; spirituality is the free-loving older sister.  Religion is standardized tests; spirituality is an independent study course.  Religion is a curfew on prom night; spirituality is trustful permission and keys to the car.\r\n\r\nDiscussions about religion and spirituality tend to focus on religion as a structure of rules, judgment, rituals, and inconvenience, and certainly some religions do prioritize these components of their theology.  But what these characterizations miss is the fact, at its heart, religion is about <em>community</em>.  It is about accountability to oneself and one’s community, not just to God.   It is about support and friendship and love given from one’s religious network, not just from God.  It is about respect and faithfulness to one’s neighbors, not just allegiance to God’s will.\r\n\r\nGroundbreaking studies revealed in the book <strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us </span></em></strong>[http://americangrace.org/] show that religious Americans are generally nicer, happier, better citizens.  Religious Americans tend to be more generous with their time, talent, and resources to both religious and secular causes.  They are more likely to join volunteer associations, attend public meetings, and respond more compassionately when others wrong them.\r\n\r\nBut, perhaps, the most startling revelation in the books comes from studies showing that good neighborliness and happiness is attributed to theology, but rather to religious <em>communities</em>.  According to the book’s authors, Robert Putnam and David Campbell, data reveals that “communities of faith seem more important than faith itself.”\r\n\r\nChurchgoers are not hardwired to be more generous and nicer people; instead, being part of a religious community promotes altruistic acts.  Religion fosters accountability, not through God-fearing rules or antiquated rituals, but through supportive and encouraging faith communities.\r\n\r\nA strong faith network affects neighborliness and generosity even more than the frequency with which one participates in religious activities and spiritual practices.   In other words, it is a faith-based social network formed through simple things like making friends at church, chatting at coffee hour following church service, joining a small group, or even discussing religion or theology with friends and family that is a far greater contributor to the level of generosity and altruism that person exhibits than the frequency with which a person attends worship services.    In fact, according to Putnam and Campbell, an atheist who is socially involved in a church community is more likely to volunteer than a believer who worships in isolation.\r\n\r\nReligious communities – like all communities – have their drawbacks and my own faith in organized religion is frequently called in doubt.  But accepting a religious community requires the recognition that a religious community is flawed, just as each of its human components is flawed.  It is not the commission of mistakes, but the religious community’s response to the mistakes, that matter.\r\n\r\nReligion is not about regular Sunday church attendance.  Religion is not about making the sign of the cross or genuflecting or saying the “Our Father.”  Religion is not even about a devout and unwaveringly belief in God.\r\n\r\nReligion is about deliberate and intentional behaviors and practices within a faith-based community that allow grace, compassion, love and forgiveness to thrive.  Religion is about drawing on the support of God through the presence of a supportive community.  Religion is about the awareness of the things in our life that may be out of sync with living a graceful and grace-filled life, and purposefully trying to correct those flaws.\r\n\r\nBy refocusing religion on the communities that it creates, we can rid ourselves of the fear, judgment, and rigidity characterizations that many of us have come to associate with religion.  We are free to create our own definitions of what it means to engage in spiritual practices within a religion.  Spirituality and religion need not be “two poles on the continuum,” but spirituality and religion can be part and parcel of each other, each of which is sustained by a vibrant community.\r\n\r\nReligion is often associated with regular church attendance and, for some, worship services are a crucial part of their personal religious and spiritual practices.  For others, religion need not be so narrowly defined.  For the past four years I have been part of a small faith group – there are about five of us - that meets monthly over dinner to talk about God and social justice, personal struggles and work stress, emotional failures and successes, spirituality and religion.  Some of us go to church on a regular basis, many of us don’t.  Some of us believe in God, some of us doubt.  What we lack rules and rituals, shared beliefs and theology, we more than make up for through our supportive, intentional, contemplative, and grace-filled community.  And it is in that community, that our group is religion.','The Smallest Church in the World','','inherit','open','open','','6339-revision-3','','','2012-04-26 12:51:26','2012-04-26 19:51:26','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6339-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6349,127,'2012-04-26 15:09:29','2012-04-26 22:09:29','','Auto Draft','','inherit','open','open','','6348-revision','','','2012-04-26 15:09:29','2012-04-26 22:09:29','',6348,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6348-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6470,180,'2012-05-08 08:00:24','2012-05-08 15:00:24','I recently wrote a recommendation for one of my best friends. Not for a job, not for LinkedIn, not for a sweet spot at some Ivy League college nor for an elite daycare. But to finally have all of his criminal records expunged.\r\n\r\nPeople will argue that he should not have them removed, that he must pay his debt to society, that he is a bad man and deserves no shot at a normal life. <em>These people have the Devil in them.</em>\r\n\r\nI don’t just say this as one who is hurt by their demonization of my good friend. I say this as one who believes that their tongue is set on fire by hell itself - that <strong>what they represent is to steal, kill, and destroy life</strong> – that ultimately the perspective they espouse is from the Father of Lies.\r\n\r\nMy friend/brother/sometimes-sparring-partner/secret-lover David Henson recently said that he<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2012/04/30/the-making-of-an-adversary-satan-and-christianitys-unspoken-heresy/\" target=\"_blank\"> doesn’t believe in a being called Satan</a>, but that Satan is a scapegoat for the collective sins of humanity. I do believe in spiritual beings, good and evil and - like in the Buffyverse - a whole lot in between. But I also think that much of these beings are devils of our own making.<strong> We place upon them our own very worst tendencies.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe Devil made us do it.\r\n\r\n<em>The Devil makes us imprison entire populations for measly crimes</em>. For, roughly, the crime of being poor, the infraction of being born “losers.” We don’t want to have to deal with the ugliness of the fear that “There I go but for the grace of God” and the terror of proximity to ugliness. So we make a hell and we put those who confound us and trouble our conscience there. They remind us what it means to be poor; they must be removed, marginalized, swept up, and locked away.\r\n\r\n<strong>So we lock them up </strong>for nothing, for something, for violence or for relaxing, but<strong> largely for being poor and colored</strong>. Those who are in need of fixing are combined with those who are in need of an equal shake at a living wage job. In this cocktail, the worst gets to the most of them - schemes are implanted and dreams are haunted.\r\n\r\nThe devil gets to them.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"361\" caption=\"from the Tyne &amp; Wear Archives &amp; Museums via flickr\"]<a title=\"Mustapha Irola by Tyne &amp; Wear Archives &amp; Museums, on Flickr\" href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/6628453347/\"><img src=\"http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6628453347_392b48820f.jpg\" alt=\"Mustapha Irola\" width=\"361\" height=\"500\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnd <strong>they do their time</strong>, waste their time, sitting, lifting weights, smoking, staring, reading, thinking, sulking. They sleep when they’re told. They may watch basketball, or perhaps the news, play pick-up games, whistle at visitors that walk by on their way to talk to their lovers and family, talk to their own lovers and children through a public phone. But mostly they spend inconsiderate and immense hours and days and years – often in solitude, sometimes in nothing but solitude, sometimes with the simplest of communication, but<strong><em> mostly alone</em></strong>.\r\n\r\n<strong>It’s a dark, lonely, wretched, demonic time, bereft of the treatment that is given to a child of God, one made in God’s own image</strong>.\r\n\r\nDepression sets in, because no one was made to psychologically or spiritually withstand that type of treatment. <strong>No one is <em>supposed</em> to be on the defensive at every single moment of life</strong> – waking or unwaking.\r\n\r\nAnd they get tossed from imprisonment back to normal life – <em>but not really</em>. They can’t find living wage jobs; they can’t find decent housing; they can\'t find respect. <strong>There’s a good chance they may have picked up some bad habits while locked up. And if they haven’t, the <em>perception</em> is there</strong>. And if they have, regardless of whether or not they practice them or would ever practice them, we don’t want their kind in our building, workspace, our houses of worship, or near our children. Whether or not they actually pose a risk, they carry the Mark of the Beast – the Mark of the Worst.\r\n\r\nAnd so<strong> two-thirds of released convicts end back up in prison within three years.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>We talk of redemption. We aren’t willing to live by it. It’s much cheaper and easier to demonize.</em></strong>\r\n\r\nIn many states, these same ex-cons are not allowed to vote and therefore have no say in their predicament.<strong> I guess we fear that they may</strong> overtake us so-called law-abiders and replace the US dollar with a cigarette-based currency. Or, that they may<strong> push for leniency toward ex-felons</strong>.\r\n\r\nHeaven forbid.\r\n\r\nBecause <strong>then maybe the streets may not be filled with them</strong>. Homeless, vagabonds, no pillows for their heads. People like my friend, whose family was not able to take him in for any extended period of time, who could not find a quality job with his record, nor with his injuries find <em>any</em> type of job that did not include further injuring himself. Being a Jack of All Trades was not adequate enough for him, not with him being a criminal.\r\n\r\nSo he was forced to live on the streets. It got better because Jesus found him. But even Jesus needs some help.\r\n\r\nWhen I’m able to, maybe I’ll share his testimony. The pertinent part of it being, however, how <em>extraordinary</em> it is – not necessarily because it <em>has</em> to be, but because such are the ways of how we treat our convicts, our homeless, our poor, our “criminal class”. It is such that<strong> only extraordinary people with extraordinary energy and extraordinary skills and who happen to find themselves in extraordinary circumstances are able to rise above the fate of the ex-con</strong>, particularly the ex-con of color.\r\n\r\nI know that <strong><em>I</em></strong> couldn’t make it to the next level. Not with watching my back every moment, not with sleeping with one eye opened, not with constant harassment from cops, not with constant fights over scraps. And not with the daily torment of battling the elements, the weather, animals, and stares and distances that the home-privileged build between ourselves and those with the stench of homelessness – wary that they will beg us, make us feel uncomfortable for having any degree of comfort, and <em>they</em> are wary of our wariness of them and the spaces they find themselves in.\r\n\r\nMy experience with the homeless has taught me that madness sets in, because no one was made to withstand this type of treatment. Not psychologically, spiritually or physically  No one should be on the defensive at every single moment of life – waking or unwaking.\r\n\r\nIt\'s demonic.','Homelessness, Prison, and the Devil of our Making','','publish','open','open','','homelessness-prison-and-the-devil-of-our-making','','','2012-05-06 21:02:08','2012-05-07 04:02:08','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6470',0,'post','',2),(6352,160,'2012-05-04 08:00:50','2012-05-04 15:00:50','I should confess right off that I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 because, in part, he was a man of faith.  He called himself a “compassionate conservative,” which was how I liked to think of myself.   After a couple of years, I realized the man I had voted for wasn’t very compassionate or conservative, at least not fiscally.  By the end of his second term, I was ready for someone totally different.   Yet, even though my politics had shifted, I still wanted to vote for someone that shared my values.\r\n\r\nIn 2007, I heard a rumor that Barrack Obama was going to visit the Bethel AME Church in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.  He was here to campaign with Harold Ford, who was running for the US Senate.  While then-Senator Obama wasn’t yet running for President, he was obviously considering it.  Like a lot of people, I’d heard Senator Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and was intrigued enough that I drove across town to see him in person.\r\n\r\nWhen we got there on Sunday morning, we were surprised that the small church wasn’t even full.   It didn’t seem like word had gotten out.  I don’t remember any cameras or reporters.   While we were about the only white people, we were warmly welcomed.   The young minister admitted he was nervous and then went on to pray in a moving way.  The singing rang to the rafters and there was a real feeling that the Holy Spirit was in the house.\r\n\r\nWhen it came time for Senator Obama to say a few words, I expected to hear a well rehearsed stump speech.   Instead, he openly and enthusiastically talked about his background and his coming to faith.   Apparently, he told us a lot more than he told Franklin Graham about how he came to accept Christ, at least more than Franklin chooses to remember.   We all left moved by the entire service and I felt that I had not just witnessed a great speaker, but someone I could believe in again.\r\n\r\nAs President Obama’s first term nears completion, I am still proud of my vote and the record he is running on for re-election.   He has not worn his faith on his sleeve or taken up the social issues that divide us as a country.   For me, that’s a huge step in the right direction.   To my continual amazement, he has consistently risen above the rancor and the hostility that is regularly hurled at him.   And, whether conscious of it or not, he is quietly following the principals I find in the Bible.\r\n\r\nFor example, President Obama has provided access to medical care for people who least can afford it.   He expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to insure four million children and pregnant mothers.  (President Bush vetoed two attempts to expand coverage to this same group).   Prior to the Affordable Healthcare Act, anyone with a ‘pre-existing condition,’ could be denied coverage, charged two or three times what they were paying, or have their benefits slashed.\r\n\r\nAnother tangible way of sticking up for the little guy is through the Credit Card Reform Act.   This caps and cuts an assortment of fees, gives consumers more reasonable opportunities to pay off their debt, and restricts a credit card company’s ability to arbitrarily raise interest rates.  President Obama boosted funding for the SEC to fight insider trading and started the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, once again standing up to challenges from the powerful banking lobby and Republicans.\r\n\r\nWhile domestic oil production has increased during President Obama’s first term, he has given the EPA more tools to enforce existing laws on the books.   He’s also been investing in cleaner forms of energy, such as wind, solar, and bio-fuels.   Perhaps over-reaching at times, he’s attempting to give alternatives a chance to compete with big oil, gas and coal.  Taking a stand for the environment sometimes comes at political peril and there will be many who will ridicule anything that deviates from business as usual.\r\n\r\nPresident Obama is in the process of ending two foreign wars that have cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars.  While no one can accuse President Obama of being weak on defense, he has sought peaceful solutions first.   His critics will point to the deficit, which is a valid concern.   However, slashing the budget during a recession is a sure way to extend the economic downturn.   It also seems to me that President Obama has been more than willing to negotiate in good faith on deficit reduction, putting cost-cutting measures on the table in exchange for very modest tax increases on the wealthy.\r\n\r\nThese are the types of the issues that affect people’s lives and where principles intersect with reality.  Despite his critic’s inexplicable outrage, President Obama seems to be a pragmatic politician who is gently nudging the country to be a fairer and more just place for all of its citizens.   And many of the issues he’s promoted are the modern day equivalents of what Jesus cared about in his day.   Whether it’s standing up to bullies (the Hate Crimes Bill), defending “the least of these,” protecting creation, or being a peacemaker, President Obama continues to represent my values as a Christian.\r\n\r\nJeff Fulmer lives in Nashville Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hometown-Prophet-Jeff-Fulmer/dp/1463632312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312940193&amp;sr=8-1\">Hometown Prophet</a>.  <em>If God spoke through a prophet today, would we really want to hear what he has to say?   </em>For more information, visit the <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet website</a>.   Follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hometownprophet\">Twitter</a> or like on <a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/HometownProphet\">Facebook</a>.','You Say You Want A Christian in the White House','','publish','open','open','','you-say-you-want-a-christian-in-the-white-house','','','2012-05-02 00:21:55','2012-05-02 07:21:55','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6352',0,'post','',3),(6353,160,'2012-04-26 16:20:36','2012-04-26 23:20:36','','obama-church','','inherit','open','open','','obama-church','','','2012-04-26 16:20:36','2012-04-26 23:20:36','',6352,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obama-church.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6354,160,'2012-04-26 16:21:11','2012-04-26 23:21:11','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obama-church.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-6353\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obama-church-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>\n\nI should confess right off that I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 because, in part, he was a man of faith.  He called himself a “compassionate conservative,” which was how I liked to think of myself.   After a couple of years, I realized the man I had voted for wasn’t very compassionate or conservative, at least not fiscally.  By the end of his second term, I was ready for someone totally different.   Yet, even though my politics had shifted, I still wanted to vote for someone that shared my values.\n\nIn 2007, I heard a rumor that Barrack Obama was going to visit the Bethel AME Church in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.  He was here to campaign with Harold Ford, who was running for the US Senate.  While then-Senator Obama wasn’t yet running for President, he was obviously considering it.  Like a lot of people, I’d heard Senator Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and was intrigued enough that I drove across town to see him in person.\n\nWhen we got there on Sunday morning, we were surprised that the small church wasn’t even full.   It didn’t seem like word had gotten out.  I don’t remember any cameras or reporters.   While we were about the only white people, we were warmly welcomed.   The young minister admitted he was nervous and then went on to pray in a moving way.  The singing rang to the rafters and there was a real feeling that the Holy Spirit was in the house.\n\nWhen it came time for Senator Obama to say a few words, I expected to hear a well rehearsed stump speech.   Instead, he openly and enthusiastically talked about his background and his coming to faith.   Apparently, he told us a lot more than he told Franklin Graham about how he came to accept Christ, at least more than Franklin chooses to remember.   We all left moved by the entire service and I felt that I had seen not just witnessed a great speaker, but someone I could believe in again.\n\nAs President Obama’s first term nears completion, I am still proud of my vote and the record he is running on for re-election.   He has not worn his faith on his sleeve or taken up the social issues that divide us as a country.   For me, that’s a huge step in the right direction.   To my continual amazement, he has consistently risen above the rancor and the hostility that is regularly hurled at him.   And, whether conscious of it or not, he is quietly following the principals I find in the Bible.\n\nFor example, President Obama has provided access to medical care for people who least can afford it.   He expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to insure four million children and pregnant mothers.  (President Bush vetoed two attempts to expand coverage to this same group).   Prior to the Affordable Healthcare Act, anyone with a ‘pre-existing condition,’ could be denied coverage, charged two or three times what they were paying, or have their benefits slashed.\n\nAnother tangible way of sticking up for the little guy is through the Credit Card Reform Act.   This caps and cuts an assortment of fees, gives consumers more reasonable opportunities to pay off their debt, and restricts a credit card company’s ability to arbitrarily raise interest rates.  President Obama boosted funding for the SEC to fight insider trading and started the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, once again standing up to challenges from the powerful banking lobby and Republicans.\n\nWhile domestic oil production has increased during President Obama’s first term, he has given the EPA more tools to enforce existing laws on the books.   He’s also been investing in cleaner forms of energy, such as wind, solar, and bio-fuels.   Perhaps over-reaching at times, he’s attempting to give alternatives a chance to compete with big oil, gas and coal.  Taking a stand for the environment sometimes comes at political peril and there will be many who will ridicule anything that deviates from business as usual.\n\nPresident Obama is in the process of ending two foreign wars that have cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars.  While no can accuse President Obama of being weak on defense, he has sought peaceful solutions first.   His critics will point to the deficit, which is a valid concern.   However, slashing the budget during a recession is a sure way to extend the economic downturn.   It also seems to me that President Obama has been more than willing to negotiate in good faith on deficit reduction, putting cost-cutting measures on the table in exchange for very modest tax increases on the wealthy.\n\nThese are the types of the issues that affect people’s lives and where principles intersect with reality.  Despite his critic’s inexplicable outrage, President Obama seems to be a pragmatic politician who is gently nudging the country to be a fairer and more just place for all of its citizens.   And many of the issues he’s promoted are the modern day equivalents of that Jesus cared about in his day.   Whether it’s standing up to bullies (the Hate Crimes Bill), defending “the least of these,” protecting creation, or being a peacemaker, President Obama continues to represent my values as a Christian.\n\nJeff Fulmer lives in Nashville Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hometown-Prophet-Jeff-Fulmer/dp/1463632312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312940193&amp;sr=8-1\">Hometown Prophet</a>.  <em>If God spoke through a prophet today, would we really want to hear what he has to say?   </em>For more information, visit the <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet website</a>.   Follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hometownprophet\">Twitter</a> or like on <a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/HometownProphet\">Facebook</a>.','You Say You Want A Christian in the White House','','inherit','open','open','','6352-revision','','','2012-04-26 16:21:11','2012-04-26 23:21:11','',6352,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6352-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(6355,160,'2012-04-26 16:28:59','2012-04-26 23:28:59','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obama-church.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-6353\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obama-church-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>\n\nI should confess right off that I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 because, in part, he was a man of faith.  He called himself a “compassionate conservative,” which was how I liked to think of myself.   After a couple of years, I realized the man I had voted for wasn’t very compassionate or conservative, at least not fiscally.  By the end of his second term, I was ready for someone totally different.   Yet, even though my politics had shifted, I still wanted to vote for someone that shared my values.\n\nIn 2007, I heard a rumor that Barrack Obama was going to visit the Bethel AME Church in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.  He was here to campaign with Harold Ford, who was running for the US Senate.  While then-Senator Obama wasn’t yet running for President, he was obviously considering it.  Like a lot of people, I’d heard Senator Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and was intrigued enough that I drove across town to see him in person.\n\nWhen we got there on Sunday morning, we were surprised that the small church wasn’t even full.   It didn’t seem like word had gotten out.  I don’t remember any cameras or reporters.   While we were about the only white people, we were warmly welcomed.   The young minister admitted he was nervous and then went on to pray in a moving way.  The singing rang to the rafters and there was a real feeling that the Holy Spirit was in the house.\n\nWhen it came time for Senator Obama to say a few words, I expected to hear a well rehearsed stump speech.   Instead, he openly and enthusiastically talked about his background and his coming to faith.   Apparently, he told us a lot more than he told Franklin Graham about how he came to accept Christ, at least more than Franklin chooses to remember.   We all left moved by the entire service and I felt that I had seen not just witnessed a great speaker, but someone I could believe in again.\n\nAs President Obama’s first term nears completion, I am still proud of my vote and the record he is running on for re-election.   He has not worn his faith on his sleeve or taken up the social issues that divide us as a country.   For me, that’s a huge step in the right direction.   To my continual amazement, he has consistently risen above the rancor and the hostility that is regularly hurled at him.   And, whether conscious of it or not, he is quietly following the principals I find in the Bible.\n\nFor example, President Obama has provided access to medical care for people who least can afford it.   He expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to insure four million children and pregnant mothers.  (President Bush vetoed two attempts to expand coverage to this same group).   Prior to the Affordable Healthcare Act, anyone with a ‘pre-existing condition,’ could be denied coverage, charged two or three times what they were paying, or have their benefits slashed.\n\nAnother tangible way of sticking up for the little guy is through the Credit Card Reform Act.   This caps and cuts an assortment of fees, gives consumers more reasonable opportunities to pay off their debt, and restricts a credit card company’s ability to arbitrarily raise interest rates.  President Obama boosted funding for the SEC to fight insider trading and started the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, once again standing up to challenges from the powerful banking lobby and Republicans.\n\nWhile domestic oil production has increased during President Obama’s first term, he has given the EPA more tools to enforce existing laws on the books.   He’s also been investing in cleaner forms of energy, such as wind, solar, and bio-fuels.   Perhaps over-reaching at times, he’s attempting to give alternatives a chance to compete with big oil, gas and coal.  Taking a stand for the environment sometimes comes at political peril and there will be many who will ridicule anything that deviates from business as usual.\n\nPresident Obama is in the process of ending two foreign wars that have cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars.  While no can accuse President Obama of being weak on defense, he has sought peaceful solutions first.   His critics will point to the deficit, which is a valid concern.   However, slashing the budget during a recession is a sure way to extend the economic downturn.   It also seems to me that President Obama has been more than willing to negotiate in good faith on deficit reduction, putting cost-cutting measures on the table in exchange for very modest tax increases on the wealthy.\n\nThese are the types of the issues that affect people’s lives and where principles intersect with reality.  Despite his critic’s inexplicable outrage, President Obama seems to be a pragmatic politician who is gently nudging the country to be a fairer and more just place for all of its citizens.   And many of the issues he’s promoted are the modern day equivalents of that Jesus cared about in his day.   Whether it’s standing up to bullies (the Hate Crimes Bill), defending “the least of these,” protecting creation, or being a peacemaker, President Obama continues to represent my values as a Christian.\n\nJeff Fulmer lives in Nashville Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hometown-Prophet-Jeff-Fulmer/dp/1463632312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312940193&amp;sr=8-1\">Hometown Prophet</a>.  <em>If God spoke through a prophet today, would we really want to hear what he has to say?   </em>For more information, visit the <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet website</a>.   Follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hometownprophet\">Twitter</a> or like on <a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/HometownProphet\">Facebook</a>.','You Say You Want A Christian in the White House','','inherit','open','open','','6352-revision-2','','','2012-04-26 16:28:59','2012-04-26 23:28:59','',6352,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6352-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6359,1,'2012-04-26 12:57:53','2012-04-26 19:57:53','What is religion?  What is spirituality?  Are the two at odds with one another?  Or can a person be both spiritual and religious?  And can a person truly be one without the other?\r\n\r\nEarlier this month, Amy Julia Becker <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-julia-becker/why-i-am-both-spiritual-and-religious_b_1386187.html?ref=parents\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">wrote a piece for the Huffington Post</span></strong></a> in which she eloquently and persuasively lays out the reasons why religion and spirituality are not at odds with one another.  She explains that she needs the freedom of spirituality and the authority of religion in order to “remember or discover meaning and purpose” within her day-to-day life.\r\n\r\n“[R]eligion and spirituality are not opposed to each other,” she says. “Rather, they are two poles on a continuum, and both reflect the human need to know God\'s presence and to experience the deep rest and purpose that comes from that knowledge.”\r\n\r\nTrue, indeed. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6345\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" /></a>\r\n\r\nI can’t help but notice, however, that religion is frequently portrayed as the bad cop to spirituality’s good cop in the religion versus spirituality debate.  Religion is the rule-setting parent; spirituality is the free-loving older sister.  Religion is standardized tests; spirituality is an independent study course.  Religion is a curfew on prom night; spirituality is trustful permission and keys to the car.\r\n\r\nDiscussions about religion and spirituality tend to focus on religion as a structure of rules, judgment, rituals, and inconvenience, and certainly some religions do prioritize these components of their theology.  But what these characterizations miss is the fact that, at its heart, religion is about <em>community</em>.  It is about accountability to oneself and one’s community, not just to God.   It is about support and friendship and love given from one’s religious network, not just from God.  It is about respect and faithfulness to one’s neighbors, not just allegiance to God’s will.\r\n\r\nGroundbreaking studies revealed in the book <a href=\"http://americangrace.org/\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us</span></em></strong></a> show that religious Americans are generally nicer, happier, better citizens.  Religious Americans tend to be more generous with their time, talent, and resources to both religious and secular causes.  They are more likely to join volunteer associations, attend public meetings, and respond more compassionately when others wrong them.\r\n\r\nBut, perhaps, the most startling revelation in the book comes from studies showing that good neighborliness and happiness is attributed not to theology, but rather to religious <em>communities</em>.  According to the book’s authors, Robert Putnam and David Campbell, data reveals that “communities of faith seem more important than faith itself.”\r\n\r\nChurchgoers are not hardwired to be more generous and nicer people; instead, being part of a religious community promotes altruistic acts.  Religion fosters accountability, not through God-fearing rules or antiquated rituals, but through supportive and encouraging faith communities.\r\n\r\nA strong faith network affects neighborliness and generosity even more than the frequency with which one participates in religious activities and spiritual practices.   In other words, it is a faith-based social network formed through simple things like making friends at church, chatting at coffee hour following church service, joining a small group, or even discussing religion or theology with friends and family that is a far greater contributor to the level of generosity and altruism that person exhibits than the frequency with which a person attends worship services.    In fact, according to Putnam and Campbell, an atheist who is socially involved in a church community is more likely to volunteer than a believer who worships in isolation.\r\n\r\nReligious communities – like all communities – have their drawbacks and my own faith in organized religion is frequently called in doubt.  But accepting a religious community requires the recognition that a religious community is flawed, just as each of its human components is flawed.  It is not the commission of mistakes, but the response to the mistakes, that matter.\r\n\r\nReligion is not about regular Sunday church attendance.  Religion is not about making the sign of the cross or genuflecting or saying the “Our Father.”  Religion is not even about a devout and unwavering belief in God.\r\n\r\nReligion is about deliberate and intentional behaviors and practices within a faith-based community that allow grace, compassion, love and forgiveness to thrive.  Religion is about drawing on the support of God through the presence of a supportive community.  Religion is about the awareness of the things in our life that may be out of sync with living a graceful and grace-filled life, and purposefully trying to correct those flaws.\r\n\r\nBy refocusing religion on the communities that it creates, we can rid ourselves of the characterizations of fear, judgment, and rigidity that many of us have come to associate with religion.  We are free to create our own definitions of what it means to engage in spiritual practices within a religion.  Spirituality and religion need not be “two poles on the continuum,” but spirituality and religion can be part and parcel of each other, each of which is sustained by a vibrant community.\r\n\r\nReligion is often associated with regular church attendance and, for some, worship services are a crucial part of their personal religious and spiritual practices.  For others, religion need not be so narrowly defined.  For the past four years I have been part of a small faith group – there are about five of us - that meets monthly over dinner to talk about God and social justice, personal struggles and work stress, emotional failures and successes, spirituality and religion.  Some of us go to church on a regular basis, many of us don’t.  Some of us believe in God, some of us doubt.  What we lack rules and rituals, shared beliefs and theology, we more than make up for through our supportive, intentional, contemplative, and grace-filled community.  And it is in that community, that our group is religion.','The Smallest Church in the World','','inherit','open','open','','6339-revision-4','','','2012-04-26 12:57:53','2012-04-26 19:57:53','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/26/6339-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6360,1,'2012-04-28 11:34:40','2012-04-28 18:34:40','What is religion?  What is spirituality?  Are the two at odds with one another?  Or can a person be both spiritual and religious?  And can a person truly be one without the other?\r\n\r\nEarlier this month, Amy Julia Becker <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-julia-becker/why-i-am-both-spiritual-and-religious_b_1386187.html?ref=parents\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">wrote a piece for the Huffington Post</span></strong></a> in which she eloquently and persuasively lays out the reasons why religion and spirituality are not at odds with one another.  She explains that she needs the freedom of spirituality and the authority of religion in order to “remember or discover meaning and purpose” within her day-to-day life.\r\n\r\n“[R]eligion and spirituality are not opposed to each other,” she says. “Rather, they are two poles on a continuum, and both reflect the human need to know God\'s presence and to experience the deep rest and purpose that comes from that knowledge.”\r\n\r\nTrue, indeed. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6345\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/979763_hope.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" /></a>\r\n\r\nI can’t help but notice, however, that religion is frequently portrayed as the bad cop to spirituality’s good cop in the religion versus spirituality debate.  Religion is the rule-setting parent; spirituality is the free-loving older sister.  Religion is standardized tests; spirituality is an independent study course.  Religion is a curfew on prom night; spirituality is trustful permission and keys to the car.\r\n\r\nDiscussions about religion and spirituality tend to focus on religion as a structure of rules, judgment, rituals, and inconvenience, and certainly some religions do prioritize these components of their theology.  But what these characterizations miss is the fact that, at its heart, religion is about <em>community</em>.  It is about accountability to oneself and one’s community, not just to God.   It is about support and friendship and love given from one’s religious network, not just from God.  It is about respect and faithfulness to one’s neighbors, not just allegiance to God’s will.\r\n\r\nGroundbreaking studies revealed in the book <a href=\"http://americangrace.org/\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us</span></em></strong></a> show that religious Americans are generally nicer, happier, better citizens.  Religious Americans tend to be more generous with their time, talent, and resources to both religious and secular causes.  They are more likely to join volunteer associations, attend public meetings, and respond more compassionately when others wrong them.\r\n\r\nBut, perhaps, the most startling revelation in the book comes from studies showing that good neighborliness and happiness is attributed not to theology, but rather to religious <em>communities</em>.  According to the book’s authors, Robert Putnam and David Campbell, data reveals that “communities of faith seem more important than faith itself.”\r\n\r\nChurchgoers are not hardwired to be more generous and nicer people; instead, being part of a religious community promotes altruistic acts.  Religion fosters accountability, not through God-fearing rules or antiquated rituals, but through supportive and encouraging faith communities.\r\n\r\nA strong faith network affects neighborliness and generosity even more than the frequency with which one participates in religious activities and spiritual practices.   In other words, it is a faith-based social network formed through simple things like making friends at church, chatting at coffee hour following church service, joining a small group, or even discussing religion or theology with friends and family that is a far greater contributor to the level of generosity and altruism that person exhibits than the frequency with which a person attends worship services.    In fact, according to Putnam and Campbell, an atheist who is socially involved in a church community is more likely to volunteer than a believer who worships in isolation.\r\n\r\nReligious communities – like all communities – have their drawbacks and my own faith in organized religion is frequently called in doubt.  But accepting a religious community requires the recognition that a religious community is flawed, just as each of its human components is flawed.  It is not the commission of mistakes, but the response to the mistakes, that matter.\r\n\r\nReligion is not about regular Sunday church attendance.  Religion is not about making the sign of the cross or genuflecting or saying the “Our Father.”  Religion is not even about a devout and unwavering belief in God.\r\n\r\nReligion is about deliberate and intentional behaviors and practices within a faith-based community that allow grace, compassion, love and forgiveness to thrive.  Religion is about drawing on the support of God through the presence of a supportive community.  Religion is about the awareness of the things in our life that may be out of sync with living a graceful and grace-filled life, and purposefully trying to correct those flaws.\r\n\r\nBy refocusing religion on the communities that it creates, we can rid ourselves of the characterizations of fear, judgment, and rigidity that many of us have come to associate with religion.  We are free to create our own definitions of what it means to engage in spiritual practices within a religion.  Spirituality and religion need not be “two poles on the continuum,” but spirituality and religion can be part and parcel of each other, each of which is sustained by a vibrant community.\r\n\r\nReligion is often associated with regular church attendance and, for some, worship services are a crucial part of their personal religious and spiritual practices.  For others, religion need not be so narrowly defined.  For the past four years I have been part of a small faith group – there are about five of us - that meets monthly over dinner to talk about God and social justice, personal struggles and work stress, emotional failures and successes, spirituality and religion.  Some of us go to church on a regular basis, many of us don’t.  Some of us believe in God, some of us doubt.  What we lack rules and rituals, shared beliefs and theology, we more than make up for through our supportive, intentional, contemplative, and grace-filled community.  And it is in that community, that our group is religion.','The Smallest Church in the World','','inherit','open','open','','6339-revision-5','','','2012-04-28 11:34:40','2012-04-28 18:34:40','',6339,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6339-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(6362,35,'2012-04-25 10:55:15','2012-04-25 17:55:15','Most Christians focus on every word and incident in Jesus’ life as recorded in the four Gospels.  But I’m also drawn to the people involved.  How did they relate to Jesus?  What was their story?\r\n\r\nBeing the mother of three children, there is an event in the Bible I totally understand from Mary’s point of view.  She was Jesus’ mom and caught him teaching the religious teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 after he had been missing for three days.  Here’s the story in Luke 2:41-52.\r\n<blockquote>Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.\r\n\r\nWhen they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.\r\n\r\nHis parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”\r\n\r\n“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”</blockquote>\r\nI can imagine what happened next:\r\n\r\nMary: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nGod: “I don’t care WHO you are.  Don’t talk to your mother like that.”\r\n\r\nJoseph:  “You’re grounded for the next week when we get home, and don’t EVER pull a stunt like this again.”\r\n\r\nJesus got the message.\r\n<blockquote>Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.</blockquote>\r\nWait a minute…..how dare Mary talk to Jesus like this!  She knew he was God’s Son, the Messiah.  The angel Gabriel had told her so on the front end.  But Mary had given birth to him and raised him, and was living with a 12-year-old kid.  Have you ever wanted to strangle a pre-teen?  Jesus was fully God, but also fully human.  Verse 52 says \"Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.\"  Well, he had a lot of growing up left to do when this incident happened, and his parents were stuck with the job.\r\n\r\nI think one of the reasons God picked Mary to be the mother of His Son was she had the guts and strength to take on the challenge.\r\n\r\nIn my book, <em>Uncensored Prayer: The Spiritual Practice of Wrestling With God</em>, I wrote what I think about this woman.  According to Luke, here’s what Mary did after the angel announced she would give birth to the Messiah:\r\n<blockquote>Then she immediately ran to see Elizabeth, excited to tell her the good news.\r\n\r\nI wish Scripture told us more about Mary’s three month visit with her relative. When did reality set in?  For Mary, the pregnancy meant tremendous public scorn, possibly death by stoning.  What would her parents say?  Would Joseph reject her?  At some point, Mary had to think, “What is God doing to me?  Was I insane to agree to this?”  I bet she and God had a world-class wrestling match on the mat with Uncensored Prayer.  We like to think of Mary as pious and demure, but I think she was more than that.\r\n\r\nWhat if God selected her for this challenge of faith and commitment because she was a fighter? I think the key to her courage was she knew that even though Gabriel had left, God hadn’t and wouldn’t.  He was her partner, and she knew she could trust Him to help her handle everything that lay ahead.  Mary was one of the three women who had the courage to stand at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die, even though every one of the disciples except John had abandoned him.  She had faith in God that overcame her fear.</blockquote>\r\nI really like Mary.  I wouldn’t have wanted her job, but we would have been great friends.  She was a lot like me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;font-size: small\"> </span>','The Gospel According to Jesus\' Mom','','inherit','open','open','','6020-revision-8','','','2012-04-25 10:55:15','2012-04-25 17:55:15','',6020,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6020-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(6364,38,'2012-04-24 18:11:36','2012-04-25 01:11:36','Over the next couple of weeks I am going to be posting a series of interviews with religious leaders and congregants of different religions from the metro Detroit area.\r\n\r\nWhy? Well, that’s a complicated answer.\r\n\r\nI’ve been trying to pin down when I first became interested in interfaith relations. I can look back to a couple of years ago picking up a book of poetry by the Sufi poet Rumi. The way he spoke of God was so beautiful and different from what I had heard before.\r\n<blockquote>This lion of God\r\nwatches over me,\r\nI sing as he roars.</blockquote>\r\n(From “I’ve Got You Now” from <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Dont-Say-Anything-God/dp/0875730841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1332704201&amp;sr=8-1\"><em>Hush, Don’t Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems by Rumi</em></a>.)\r\n<h2>Missing the Guts</h2>\r\nI took a World Religion class a few semesters ago. I inhaled it. However, it was missing the <em>guts</em>. What I mean is that I got all the textbook facts and explanations of the different world religions, but it was missing what it\'s like to be a Buddhist in the world today. It was missing how it feels to be a young Muslim in Detroit. It was missing how it feels to be a Sikh living in the Midwest. I loved the textbook stuff, but I wanted to hear the stories for myself.\r\n\r\nI grew up completely in the dark about other religions. They were this kind of scary blob out there somewhere in the distance. I didn\'t know anyone of other religons, let alone other sects, but I was told very early on that they were dangerous. So, when I grew up and moved out of my beginnings, I started to meet new people around me. They weren\'t Christian, but spoke of faith and god the same way I did. It still meant a lot to them, they still went to worship, and they still had things they could or couldn\'t do because of their convictions.\r\n\r\nThey were just like me.\r\n<h2>Why It Matters to Me</h2>\r\nI grew up in was very isolated from and very ignorant to other religions. At the end of high school I had my own journey with disillusionment/migration from one church to another and I started to see how hurtful my previous views of other religions had been. I know how important, devastating, crucial, life-changing and transformational religion had been in my life, and people of other faiths feel that way about theirs, so how could I be so callous to brush theirs off?\r\n\r\nThe things that I have learned about other religions do not weaken my faith but they <em>enhance it</em>. The more I know about other religions, the more it gives me new perspectives about belief, discipline, love, peace, and faith. How would my faith be stronger if I prayed five times a day? If I committed to not harming other beings? If I stuck to a strong stance of non-violence? These are all principles that are in other religions, but they could be used as tools to understand my own faith better if applied to my own God and faith.\r\n\r\nWe are living in a crucial point in history. Whether we like it or not, we have to share the space on this planet with others. If we cannot learn to live together, we will rip this planet to shreds.\r\n<h2>You Shall Be Free, Indeed</h2>\r\nWhat I found from doing these interviews is that it liberated me. Why?\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I can offer dignity to the people I had taken it away from.</strong>\r\n\r\nI have said hateful things to people of other religions in my former life. I am not proud of them and I wish I could take them back because I know how misinformed I was. I know now how hurtful I was. So now, I get the chance to show the people around me where I was wrong, and how we can all move forward in a more compassionate, loving way.\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I can be the bearer of truth.</strong>\r\n\r\nNope, not everyone wearing something on their head is a terrorist. Catholics do not worship Mary. No, they don\'t have mushy beliefs. Nope, they don\'t advocate murder. No, they don\'t do blood offerings.\r\n\r\nIf you know the truth about other people, about your global neighbors, about the people in your community, you will be able to communicate that to your friends and family. You can correct the conversation, right the injustice, and wipe away the discrimination. If you know the truth, you have the power to change the conversation and bring light back into the room.\r\n\r\nThis is about the golden rule. If someone said some blind accusation about you that was clearly false, wouldn\'t you want that cleared up? Wouldn\'t you wish they had taken an extra minute to learn <em>why</em> you do the things you do? Why then shouldn\'t we extend that to other people?\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I have learned to appreciate diversity.</strong>\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember who said this to me recent, but they said that people are like a garden. If we were all one flower of the same color, the garden would be pretty but wouldn\'t be significant. But if we are a garden of different flowers, of different shapes, colors, scents, and functions, the garden comes to life. We are beautiful because of our diversity.\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I don\'t have to be afraid anymore.</strong>\r\n\r\nThis is the piece that has truely changed my life. If you find out that your coworker has a different faith and you get context to what they believe, you start to care about them. They stop being these scary people on the news. They stop being these people you have to clutch your purse closer when you walk by. They stop being unknown.\r\n\r\nThey come to life. They start becoming human.\r\n\r\nThey believe just like I do. They care about life, love, and their families just like I do. They aren\'t an Other. They are my neighbor and I care about them now because they aren\'t something in the distance. They have a face, a personality, a name, an accent and a story. Instead of being able to insult something in the darkness, I melt in the gaze of their eyes because I know them.\r\n\r\nYou may never get the chance or desire to meet a Druid from Plymouth, Michigan. But now that you can connect a face to a story, to a faith, to a religion, you hopefully will be slower to paint hateful things about them or any other member of faith with your words. I wanted to do this series to bring <em>you</em> the stories. I wanted <em>you</em> to hear it straight from the horse\'s mouth.\r\n<h2>Live Together, Die Alone</h2>\r\nWe don\'t have to agree and we don\'t have to convert. But we do need to inform ourselves so we don\'t spread lies about our neighbors and we need to learn how to share this space safely and kindly.\r\n\r\nIf you haven’t watched the TV series LOST, there\'s a point where after enough division, the main character, Jack, gives this beautiful speech and says \"We either live together, or die alone.\" It\'s not a perfect analogy, but if we start are able to start seeing each other as people seeking love as a humans first, there is a lot more we have in common. We’ll have a lot more to appreciate, a lot more to learn, and a lot more to express and explore with each other.\r\n\r\nIf we can learn about each other and hear each other’s stories we won’t have to be afraid anymore. We’ll be able to see each other as neighbors, as doctors, as teachers, as friends, as real estate agents, and not as terrorists, liars, or aliens. We’ll be able to see each other as God sees us: his beautiful creation.\r\n\r\nThe point of this series is to call out what is good in each of these faith perspectives because at the core of all of them is <em>love</em>. I want to find the expressions of their journeys that bring meaning to our journeys. This allows us to give more grace, redemption and honor to each other as humans without having to agree on logistics or trying to get everyone to believe in one faith.\r\n\r\nAfter all, everyone is created and born long before they have a religious affiliation. If we start to view each other as humans <em>first</em>, it takes the teeth of those heated, damaging religious conversations and redeems us all.\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"Why It All Matters\" target=\"_blank\">macisaguy</a></em>','Faith Interview Series: Why It All Matters','','inherit','open','open','','5638-revision-6','','','2012-04-24 18:11:36','2012-04-25 01:11:36','',5638,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/5638-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(6365,38,'2012-04-28 20:09:36','2012-04-29 03:09:36','<h2>Why It All Matters</h2>\r\nOver the next couple of weeks I am going to be posting a series of interviews with religious leaders and congregants of different religions from the metro Detroit area.\r\n\r\nWhy? Well, that’s a complicated answer.\r\n\r\nI’ve been trying to pin down when I first became interested in interfaith relations. I can look back to a couple of years ago picking up a book of poetry by the Sufi poet Rumi. The way he spoke of God was so beautiful and different from what I had heard before.\r\n<blockquote>This lion of God\r\nwatches over me,\r\nI sing as he roars.</blockquote>\r\n(From “I’ve Got You Now” from <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Dont-Say-Anything-God/dp/0875730841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1332704201&amp;sr=8-1\"><em>Hush, Don’t Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems by Rumi</em></a>.)\r\n<h2>Missing the Guts</h2>\r\nI took a World Religion class a few semesters ago. I inhaled it. However, it was missing the <em>guts</em>. What I mean is that I got all the textbook facts and explanations of the different world religions, but it was missing what it\'s like to be a Buddhist in the world today. It was missing how it feels to be a young Muslim in Detroit. It was missing how it feels to be a Sikh living in the Midwest. I loved the textbook stuff, but I wanted to hear the stories for myself.\r\n\r\nI grew up completely in the dark about other religions. They were this kind of scary blob out there somewhere in the distance. I didn\'t know anyone of other religons, let alone other sects, but I was told very early on that they were dangerous. So, when I grew up and moved out of my beginnings, I started to meet new people around me. They weren\'t Christian, but spoke of faith and god the same way I did. It still meant a lot to them, they still went to worship, and they still had things they could or couldn\'t do because of their convictions.\r\n\r\nThey were just like me.\r\n<h2>Why It Matters to Me</h2>\r\nI grew up in was very isolated from and very ignorant to other religions. At the end of high school I had my own journey with disillusionment/migration from one church to another and I started to see how hurtful my previous views of other religions had been. I know how important, devastating, crucial, life-changing and transformational religion had been in my life, and people of other faiths feel that way about theirs, so how could I be so callous to brush theirs off?\r\n\r\nThe things that I have learned about other religions do not weaken my faith but they <em>enhance it</em>. The more I know about other religions, the more it gives me new perspectives about belief, discipline, love, peace, and faith. How would my faith be stronger if I prayed five times a day? If I committed to not harming other beings? If I stuck to a strong stance of non-violence? These are all principles that are in other religions, but they could be used as tools to understand my own faith better if applied to my own God and faith.\r\n\r\nWe are living in a crucial point in history. Whether we like it or not, we have to share the space on this planet with others. If we cannot learn to live together, we will rip this planet to shreds.\r\n<h2>You Shall Be Free, Indeed</h2>\r\nWhat I found from doing these interviews is that it liberated me. Why?\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I can offer dignity to the people I had taken it away from.</strong>\r\n\r\nI have said hateful things to people of other religions in my former life. I am not proud of them and I wish I could take them back because I know how misinformed I was. I know now how hurtful I was. So now, I get the chance to show the people around me where I was wrong, and how we can all move forward in a more compassionate, loving way.\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I can be the bearer of truth.</strong>\r\n\r\nNope, not everyone wearing something on their head is a terrorist. Catholics do not worship Mary. No, they don\'t have mushy beliefs. Nope, they don\'t advocate murder. No, they don\'t do blood offerings.\r\n\r\nIf you know the truth about other people, about your global neighbors, about the people in your community, you will be able to communicate that to your friends and family. You can correct the conversation, right the injustice, and wipe away the discrimination. If you know the truth, you have the power to change the conversation and bring light back into the room.\r\n\r\nThis is about the golden rule. If someone said some blind accusation about you that was clearly false, wouldn\'t you want that cleared up? Wouldn\'t you wish they had taken an extra minute to learn <em>why</em> you do the things you do? Why then shouldn\'t we extend that to other people?\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I have learned to appreciate diversity.</strong>\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember who said this to me recent, but they said that people are like a garden. If we were all one flower of the same color, the garden would be pretty but wouldn\'t be significant. But if we are a garden of different flowers, of different shapes, colors, scents, and functions, the garden comes to life. We are beautiful because of our diversity.\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I don\'t have to be afraid anymore.</strong>\r\n\r\nThis is the piece that has truely changed my life. If you find out that your coworker has a different faith and you get context to what they believe, you start to care about them. They stop being these scary people on the news. They stop being these people you have to clutch your purse closer when you walk by. They stop being unknown.\r\n\r\nThey come to life. They start becoming human.\r\n\r\nThey believe just like I do. They care about life, love, and their families just like I do. They aren\'t an Other. They are my neighbor and I care about them now because they aren\'t something in the distance. They have a face, a personality, a name, an accent and a story. Instead of being able to insult something in the darkness, I melt in the gaze of their eyes because I know them.\r\n\r\nYou may never get the chance or desire to meet a Druid from Plymouth, Michigan. But now that you can connect a face to a story, to a faith, to a religion, you hopefully will be slower to paint hateful things about them or any other member of faith with your words. I wanted to do this series to bring <em>you</em> the stories. I wanted <em>you</em> to hear it straight from the horse\'s mouth.\r\n<h2>Live Together, Die Alone</h2>\r\nWe don\'t have to agree and we don\'t have to convert. But we do need to inform ourselves so we don\'t spread lies about our neighbors and we need to learn how to share this space safely and kindly.\r\n\r\nIf you haven’t watched the TV series LOST, there\'s a point where after enough division, the main character, Jack, gives this beautiful speech and says \"We either live together, or die alone.\" It\'s not a perfect analogy, but if we start are able to start seeing each other as people seeking love as a humans first, there is a lot more we have in common. We’ll have a lot more to appreciate, a lot more to learn, and a lot more to express and explore with each other.\r\n\r\nIf we can learn about each other and hear each other’s stories we won’t have to be afraid anymore. We’ll be able to see each other as neighbors, as doctors, as teachers, as friends, as real estate agents, and not as terrorists, liars, or aliens. We’ll be able to see each other as God sees us: his beautiful creation.\r\n\r\nThe point of this series is to call out what is good in each of these faith perspectives because at the core of all of them is <em>love</em>. I want to find the expressions of their journeys that bring meaning to our journeys. This allows us to give more grace, redemption and honor to each other as humans without having to agree on logistics or trying to get everyone to believe in one faith.\r\n\r\nAfter all, everyone is created and born long before they have a religious affiliation. If we start to view each other as humans <em>first</em>, it takes the teeth of those heated, damaging religious conversations and redeems us all.\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"Why It All Matters\" target=\"_blank\">macisaguy</a></em>','Faith Interview Series: Introduction','','inherit','open','open','','5638-revision-7','','','2012-04-28 20:09:36','2012-04-29 03:09:36','',5638,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/5638-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(6376,38,'2012-04-25 12:45:26','2012-04-25 19:45:26','The last thing I wanted to talk about before closing the books on this series is interfaith. So, I interviewed Robert Bruttell, the chairman of the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit. He attended Catholic Seminary as a young man. He said, “I’ve maintained an interest as to how people come to their community values all my life. One of my constant concerns has been race and the racialization of our community. Much of that has to do with community values.” The ILCMD focuses on creating bridges.\r\n<blockquote>There are a lot of ways to deal with the barriers between people, and talking about race is one of them, along with ethnicity. Another is through talking to people about their values and how to take very different points of view about why you should do things and see if you can get them to work together on some similar or mutually agreeable purpose. And the interfaith conversation is a great place for that.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Robert</h2>\r\nRobert received a graduate degree in Religious Studies. He is now a professor at a nearby Catholic university teaching History of Religion in America, Religion and Science in the West, World Religion and the occasional Intro to Social Justice course. When I told him about my being told not to go to a secular university as a  child, he said:\r\n<blockquote>Many religious groups say that other people are not religious, or that they are “secular.” Well, it turns out that in a country that 70% of the people profess to have a religious belief, what you are saying when you say those people are secular is that other religious people make you unhappy and you will call them “secular.” But when you actually have to sit down with them and talk to them and discover that they actually have very strong religious beliefs—much of it coming from what they believe god means to them—they want that to be exercised in very powerful ways in society, and you have to lose that whole sense that there are these people out there with nonreligious beliefs that are vaguely evil and that you are vaguely truthful and good.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Why Interfaith Matters</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6283 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-smile_flickr_whologwhy-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit brings people of all faiths together to work on projects and causes that they can agree on are important. One cause in particular that they are working on right now is literacy. He said that their group realized that while they have holy books that say very different things, they all need people to be able to read them! This is one way people can come together and work on things that matter and help make the world a better place while operating out of a place of respect.\r\n\r\nRobert said something very important to me: “And you can see that people have to start thinking about it in terms of people who believe having different points of view rather than people without religious beliefs, or ‘vaguely evil’ who have no religious point of view. And that ‘vaguely evil’ thing is a dangerous for society; it’s another barrier that keeps people from working with each other.”\r\n<h2>Where to Go From Here</h2>\r\nSo, now that you’ve read all of these articles, what are you supposed to do now?\r\n\r\nDon’t worry, there won’t be a quiz later, so you don’t need to remember all the specific terms for everything! But what you can do now is take what you’ve read here and do your own investigation.\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-6284\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hugs_flickr_carbonNYC-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"190\" /></a>If a particular concept struck you as interesting... </strong>Look it up on Wikipedia and read more about it.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re still feeling in the dark about a religion not mentioned here… </strong>Go to the library or Netflix and find a documentary. Dig into <a href=\"http://www.patheos.com/\">Patheos</a> and find a portal related to that group and explore a little bit.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you want to practice a kinder way of being toward other people…</strong> Go read the <a href=\"http://charterforcompassion.org/the-charter/#charter-for-compassion\" target=\"_blank\">Charter for Compassion</a>. Sign it for yourself or just simply contemplate the implications of the words in your life.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re a voracious learner…  </strong>Go Amazon or your local bookstore and find some books or DVDs. Maybe do your own set of interviews and see what you learn!  If you’re the history buff type, pick up a book and learn more about how these religions came to be.\r\n\r\n<strong>If you like talking to people… </strong>Maybe strike up a conversation next time you meet someone with different beliefs. Or better yet, work up the courage to ask some basic questions to someone you already know. Be sensitive and as kind, open, and warm as possible. Religion is still a sticky topic, so if they decline to talk, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">be respectful</span> of that. But more than likely, if you bring a kind approach, they will probably be willing to explain concepts and discuss things a bit more. I know I had to talk to a few Buddhists before understanding the unattachment concept. Ask them a question that you’d like to know more about!\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re ready to put this stuff to the test… </strong>Go find an interfaith group in your area and just show up once or twice. Maybe contact one of the leaders of the group and have a cup of coffee beforehand if you want more information or if you’re hesitant. Padma Kuppa said to me, “Religion has been used to divide us. I want to use interfaith to unite us.”\r\n\r\n<strong>If you’re not ready to do any of this…  </strong>That’s okay too! You’re doing good by a lot of people just by bothering to read this article. Maybe just work on thinking twice before slandering against one of these groups. Maybe keep your eyes out for some of them and try to look across the room at them with a new kindness. Instead of glaring, try smiling!\r\n\r\nI appreciate you bothering to read this more than you know. If nothing else, thank you for your time and willingness to listen to what I and these wonderful people have to say.\r\n<h2>The Point</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6286\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/girl-ocean_flickr_rhys-asplundh-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>The beautiful (and tough) thing about sharing space with people different than what you’re used to is it takes time. Some people adjust to this concept really quickly, and others it will take a long time, and maybe you’ll never be convinced. It’s okay. It’s a great thing that you made it this far.\r\n\r\nThe point is to view others with kindness. Have compassion because they are just like you but in a different body, raised by slightly different people in a slightly different place. The point is to treat others as you would want them to if your roles were reversed.\r\n\r\nWe are all a part of this beautiful thing called creation. We were all created in the image of God. Even if you aren’t a person of faith, we are all a <em>global family</em>. The more we know about each other and the more stories we share, the better.\r\n\r\nIf nothing else, as Saeed said, \"when the music stops without a chair\", try to find one good thing in whoever you meet. Try to love whoever you meet just a little bit more than you did yesterday.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Jonathan Brink and Provoketive for taking interest in this project. Thank you to all of my interviewees for welcoming me with open arms and for sharing with me. Thank you to my husband who has be patient while I spend hours hunched over my laptop pouring my soul into this. And most of all... Thanks to you, the reader, for opening your heart for a few minutes to listen. </strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6049973495/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">NASA Goddard Photo and Video</a> (Earth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hulagway/5116382090/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">whologwhy</a> (girl, smiling), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/3268320322/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">CarbonNYC</a> (HUGS!), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhysasplundh/5770177448/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Rhys Asplundh</a> (girl standing on the shore)</em>','Faith Interview Series: What Now?','','inherit','open','open','','6279-revision-12','','','2012-04-25 12:45:26','2012-04-25 19:45:26','',6279,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6279-revision-12/',0,'revision','',0),(6366,38,'2012-04-25 12:29:09','2012-04-25 19:29:09','<div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6071\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A photo of Carl\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6071 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl Marshall, a Bahá’í gentleman from Detroit, Michigan, moved his coffee across the table. “We are in the middle of a fasting month—or actually at the very end of it—so I should probably stop eating. I think the sun rises at 7:35 today.”\r\n\r\n</div>\r\nThe Bahá\'í calendar has nineteen months with nineteen days in each month. During the last month of the year, which falls between March 2<sup>nd</sup> and March 21<sup>st</sup>, members participate in a fast very similar to Ramadan.\r\n\r\nMy first encounter with the Baha’i faith was with a gentleman that sat next to me on a plane from Orlando to Detroit. We first started talking about the book I was reading, but once I learned what religion he was a part of (how this happened, I have no idea) I asked him all sorts of questions and we talked for the remainder of the flight. It was one of the most wonderful and fascinating conversations I’ve ever had.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6092\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bahá’í Lotus Temple in Delhi, India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6092  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bahai-lotus-temple_flickr_jeeheon-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl grew up as a Christian in Detroit his mother attending Reverend C.L. Franklin’s church. He eventually moved to the Hawaiian Islands, where he became a Baha\'i in 1973. He was reading a book about comparative religion, and he said that the world’s religions seemed separate, compartmentalized, and without connection to each other. But then he met some Bahá\'í s and they explained the concept of Progressive Revelation.\r\n\r\n“What that means is that it’s just one God and one Religion, and every thousand years or so, God sends forth a new messenger, and these messengers have been the founders of the world’s great religions.”\r\n\r\nBahá\'u\'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í religion, is the most recent messenger and is the Promised One of all the religions. “So I saw the unity there, where everything is not coming from a different source, but just a different messenger that’s giving a newer revelation of the previous religion.”\r\n\r\nThe interesting thing about Progressive Revelation is that it gives The Bahá’ís the ability to learn about and appreciate each of the world religions because they are all part of a greater movement through time. “In the Bible you have the Old and New Testament. In the Bahá’í faith, Bahá\'u\'lláh’s revelation consist of the New Testament, and all the previous religions are accepted as the Old Testament.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6095\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"191\" caption=\"Two children in front of the Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6095 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/children-bahai-temple_flickr_upsilon-andromedae-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThey believe in all the major figures of religions across the world: Moses, His Holiness Christ, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, and Mohammed because they are all key messengers with a holy book from God.  Because he is The Promised One of all religions, Bahá\'u\'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the prophecies that were given throughout all of the different holy books. “Bahá\'u\'lláh didn’t come to belittle <em>any</em> religion but to unify, connect and fulfill the previous dispensations.”\r\n\r\nCarl says that this is what the world really needs right now, and in another thousand years there will be another messenger to address the next millennium’s needs, which will occur approximately in the year 2852 AD. “It has to be that way because society advances. So, for example, Moses unified the tribes; Jesus, the church and state; Mohammed, a nation; and now Bahá\'u\'lláh has come to unify the world.”\r\n\r\nMany of the spiritual principles that govern Bahá’í conduct are contained in the book called, “The Hidden Words” of Bahá\'u\'lláh. There are twelve main principles of the Bahá’í faith. One is the elimination of prejudice, and another is the equality of men and women. “It’s not just lip service; it’s one of the founding principles of our faith, and we live by that,” Carl says. There is no clergy or priest hood in the Bahá’í Faith. However elections are held on the 21<sup>st</sup> of April of each year to elect 9 individuals who consult of the teaching, and administrative affairs within their city. Individuals are elected on the basis of their service, purity of heart, and firmness in the covenant.\r\n\r\nThe 9 individuals elected form what is known as the local Spiritual Assembly. Often times women outnumber the men on local spiritual assemblies. “I believe that one reason for this, and this is my own personal opinion, is that women are more spiritually evolved than men. They suffer more and have more test and trials. The equality of women began with the Bahá’í faith. The Bahá’í faith recognized that women have just as much to offer in the way of teaching and spiritual growth as men.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6097\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mt. Carmel where the Shrine and holy scriptures are\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6097\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mt-carmel_flickr_brett-wagner-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo how do the Bahá’ís practice their faith on a daily basis? Carl says that Bahá\'u\'lláh came to renew religion and remove ritual from faith. However, they are required to fast during the last month of the Bahá’í calendar (called ‘Ala), are required to pray and read from the holy writings in every morning and night.\r\n\r\n“So, for instance, today I got up, I read from the writings and I prayed,” Carl says that according to the research department in the Holy Land the revelation of the Bab, the prophet herald of Bahá\'u\'lláh, contains almost five million words. In relation to Bahá\'u\'lláh, the role of the Bab was similar to the role of John the Baptist to Christ. The revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh contains over six million words, equivalent of more than 100 volumes.   “Being a Bahá’í is not something you do on Sunday; it’s a way of life. Since I live from a set of spiritual principles, every time I encounter someone it’s a test, as far as how you react and respond to them.”\r\n\r\nThe Bahá’í faith is one based on love. When you meet someone, Carl says that you try to show them—depending on their age and sex—the kind of love you would give to a brother, sister, father or mother.\r\n\r\nRegarding out daily life; Abdu\'l-Bahá has said; Should any one of you enter a city, he should become a center of attraction by reason of his sincerity, his faithfulness and love, his honesty and fidelity, his truthfulness and loving-kindness towards all the peoples of the world, so that the people of that city may cry out and say: \'This man is unquestionably a Bahá\'í, for his manners, his behavior, his conduct, his morals, his nature, and disposition reflect the attributes of the Bahá\'ís.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6100\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6100\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/shrine-bab_flickr_jay-galvin-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Shrine of the Báb\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne misconception about the Baha\'i faith is that it’s a cult. Cults are usually small groups that are governed by a radical leader who tries to isolate the group from society and tries to keep them from listening to anyone else. Yet, one of the twelve principles of the Bahá’í faith is the independent study and vetting of your faith. So, in other words, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that his books are open and that you should not believe something because someone tells you to, but because you’ve investigated and discovered the faith for yourself.\r\n\r\nAlso the Bahá’í faith is not a division of any previous religion. It is a new and independent revelation from God. The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh consist of over 100 volumes which are located on God’s holy mountain; Mt. Carmel in Haifa Israel.\r\n\r\nOne of the things Carl loves about being a Bahá’í is the fasting because it has nothing to do with losing weight. “It’s designed to purify the heart and cleanse the soul. And so what happens when you fast is you become detached and it increases your spiritual awareness, which allows for the other thing I love about it which is the understanding of religion in general. You reach a point of certitude where you understand how everything is connected together. Things have a deeper meaning.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6102\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Dome of Light in the Bahai Temple, North of Chicago\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6102\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe way his faith has helped Carl through difficult times in his life is by strengthening his faith. “Basically, a ‘difficult time’ is a test. So, say for instance someone was saying something mean or inappropriate to me. I can react the old way or the Baha\'i way. Bahá\'u\'lláh says there is always a choice. The Bahá’í way is to forgive the person, and ultimately get to the point where it doesn’t bother me anymore. A difficult time is a test used to perfect my character. I know that whatever happens, everything is temporary. So, I think I can make it. I can get through this stuff.”\r\n\r\nGlobally, the Bahá’í practices are consistent, so anywhere in the world you go, the Bahá\'ís will have the same four types of gatherings.\r\n<ol start=\"1\">\r\n	<li>The Devotional Gathering is designed to connect hearts through prayer. They are designed to be a bit more social so people have a way to connect with the larger community and find a home in this tumultuous world. Often times a devotional gathering leads to a Fireside. These take place in the home and during the Fireside a short talk is presented on the Bahá’í Faith and then the floor for questions.</li>\r\n	<li>Study Circles are open to all, and often take place in the home. Course material is based on the revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh. The first Study Circle deals with Prayer, the soul and the afterlife.</li>\r\n	<li>Junior youth classes are available.</li>\r\n	<li>Children’s classes are offered. The goal is to establish more through the metro Detroit area, although some people are not very receptive to them since they are not Christian.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nAs far as the afterlife, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that your soul is destined to undergo a spiritual evolution until it attains the presence of God. This spiritual evolution is eternal.” Quoting from Abdu\'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá\'u\'lláh, Carl says, “When you die, your soul is plunged in the ocean of God’s mercy. Your behavior in this life and the decisions you make impacts your station in eternity. The degree of purity you attain in this world determines where you start in the afterlife.”\r\n\r\nBut what happens to those who don’t become a Bahá\'í? Are there consequences?  “Well, there isn’t any place where you go and you burn.” Carl says. According to the Bahá’í writings “The spiritual meaning of burning in hell refers to the burning desire to be closer to the creator. Those who choose to ignore Bahá\'u\'lláh in this life will be remote from him in the afterlife. I would define hell as acute and grievous remorse for not recognizing the promised one. This remorse is eternal due to remoteness from God.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6088\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The symbol for the Bahá&#039;í Faith (Wikimedia Commons)\"]<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6088 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/400px-Bahai_star-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing I noticed immediately about the Bahá’í faith is the emphasis on unity. I love the fact that two of their main pillars of faith are the elimination of prejudice and the equality of men and women. It’s not just something they try to do when they are in the mood, but it’s something that their faith is built upon.\r\n\r\nAnother thing that I find beautiful is the fact that they have a way of valuing all the different religions. To them, there is a thread running through all of history. Humanity has a greater story than divisions between rival religious factions, arguments between different denominations, or religiously perpetrated bigotry. Humanity has a beautiful story that is being continually shaped and is still growing and changing.\r\n\r\nCarl was extremely kind and very open to any questions I had. He corrected me a couple of times when I got nervous over a stupid question by saying “No, no question is stupid!” Even since our conversation I have emailed him about other things and he has taken the time to answer all of them, and has told me any time I have other questions he will set aside time to talk to me.\r\n\r\nI look forward to future conversations and appreciate him taking time to share his story and his faith with me.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Carl Marshall for his kindness, generosity, and for meeting with me to share his faith with me.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/35176612@N03/3755376430/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">random exposure</a> (Shrine of the Báb and Bahá\'í Gardens), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jeeheon</a> (Bahai Lotus Temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Upsilon Andromedae</a> (siblings at the Shrine), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">brett.wagner</a> (view from Mt. Carmel), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jay galvin</a> (Shrine of the <em>Báb), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctot_non_def/1434223112/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ctot_not_def</a> (Dome of Light)</em> <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (the symbol for the Bahá\'í faith)</em>','Faith Interview Series: The Bahá\'í Faith','','inherit','open','open','','6068-revision-18','','','2012-04-25 12:29:09','2012-04-25 19:29:09','',6068,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6068-revision-18/',0,'revision','',0),(6367,38,'2012-04-24 11:35:57','2012-04-24 18:35:57','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion\". Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”.)\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n<h3>About the Gurdwara</h3>\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n<h3>Life as a Sikh</h3>\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, Punjab in India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5871  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n<h3>How 9/11 Affected the Sikh Community</h3>\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n<blockquote>I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, \"Hello!\" And I thought, \"I just did it to them!\" My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.</blockquote>\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh. His kind smile puts me at ease and he very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh young man), </em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Arian Zwegers</a> (Amritsar, the Golden Temple in Punjab)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-20','','','2012-04-24 11:35:57','2012-04-24 18:35:57','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/5851-revision-20/',0,'revision','',0),(6368,38,'2012-04-24 16:22:43','2012-04-24 23:22:43','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h2>About Judaism</h2>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6155\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6155\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university-300x281.jpg\" alt=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h2><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h2>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6157\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A synagogue in Budapest\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6157\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n<blockquote>In preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.</blockquote>\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h2><strong>Holidays</strong></h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6160\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Rabbi in traditional dress\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6160\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical reign in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites\' rededication the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Star of David, a symbol of Judaism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6161\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\nI appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/3380936274/\" target=\"_blank\">david_shankbone</a> (A Jew kissing the Wailing Wall) <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/14599621@N02/4185625144/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Chatham University JKM Library</a> (Nazareth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/parisharing/6809648392/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ParisSharing</a> (synagogue in Budapest), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/molotalk/5895823303/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">molotalk</a> (Rabbi), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/klearchos/3065649911/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Klearchos Kapoutsis</a> (Star of David)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-14','','','2012-04-24 16:22:43','2012-04-24 23:22:43','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/6108-revision-14/',0,'revision','',0),(6369,38,'2012-04-28 20:25:16','2012-04-29 03:25:16','[caption id=\"attachment_6153\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6153 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi-jason-miller-2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rabbi Jason Miller\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where he graduated with a degree in International Relations. He then went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he became an ordained Rabbi and earned a master’s degree in Education.\r\n\r\nI asked Rabbi Jason how he came to the Jewish faith. “I was raised in the Jewish faith,” he told me. When he was in college he became involved in the Jewish community on campus. “That led me to make the decision that after I graduated I would attend rabbinical school instead of law school.”\r\n\r\nHow does one practice the Jewish faith on a daily basis? Rabbi Jason replied: “I’m an observant Jew. I have daily prayer, I keep kosher, Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays.”\r\n\r\nA misconception that people have about him when he talks about being a Rabbi is that people automatically think he must be in charge of a large congregation. He is not, but is instead a businessman and social media guru. “I’m a teacher, entrepreneur, businessman, visiting Rabbi at several congregations, and I perform ceremonies for life cycle events,” Rabbi Jason said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6151\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Synagogue of Pécs in Hungary\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6151\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagogue-hungary_flickr_Emmanuel-Dyan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Huffington post named Rabbi Jason as one of the top ten most influential Jews in social media and he recently won a Jewish Influencer award from the National Jewish Outreach Program. He <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller\">writes articles</a> for The Huffington Post and has a <a href=\"http://blog.rabbijason.com/\">personal blog</a> which he has run since 2006. He took over the family business, Access Computer Technology, from his father in 2010. The company began in 1994 and provides IT support, social media marketing, and website design/build. He also owns Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency.\r\n\r\nI asked him how social media interacts with his faith and he said, “Through social media, the global Jewish community appears smaller than it used to be. Traditional borders and barriers that have kept us from each other have virtually disappeared. We’re becoming much more interconnected educationally, religiously, socially, and culturally.”\r\n<h2>About Judaism</h2>\r\nJudaism is an Abrahamic faith and is one of the oldest surviving monotheistic faiths in the world. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism\">According to Wikipedia</a>, in 2010 there were an estimated 13.4 million Jews around the world, 42% of which live in Jerusalem and another 42% of which live in the United States or Canada.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6155\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6155\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nazareth_flickr_chatham-university-300x281.jpg\" alt=\"A street view of Nazareth, the Holy Land, circa 1880-1900\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLife cycle events in the Jewish faith include things like birth and the first month of life (ritual circumcision on the eighth day for baby boys), bar and bat mitzvahs, divorce, marriage, and death and grieving.\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason Miller loves being a part of the Jewish faith. He said “I love the time-honored traditions, celebrations, and also the emphasis on education.”\r\n\r\nJudaism does not have a set of things you absolutely have to believe to be a Jew, but there is a list of 13 principles that encompass the most widely accepted principles written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.  These principles work hand-in-hand with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Commandments\">10 Commandments</a>.\r\n<h2><strong>13 Principles of Faith</strong></h2>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>God exists</li>\r\n	<li>God is one and unique</li>\r\n	<li>God is incorporeal</li>\r\n	<li>God is eternal</li>\r\n	<li>Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other</li>\r\n	<li>The words of the prophets are true</li>\r\n	<li>Moses\' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets</li>\r\n	<li>The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses</li>\r\n	<li>There will be no other Torah</li>\r\n	<li>God knows the thoughts and deeds of men</li>\r\n	<li>God will reward the good and punish the wicked</li>\r\n	<li>The Messiah will come</li>\r\n	<li>The dead will be resurrected</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6157\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A synagogue in Budapest\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6157\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/synagoge_flickr_parissharing-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nRabbi Jason does not believe this personally, but the reason you will sometimes see the word “God” written by Jews with the dash in place of the “o” is because according to some Jewish traditions one should not speak or write the name of God frivolously, which is the fourth commandment. Also, it is rooted in a respect for God; His name is to remain sacred and not spoken unless in prayer or recitation. Substitutions like “Adonai” are often used in place of God’s name.\r\n\r\nThe majority of Jews do not read the New Testament or believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is where Christianity and Judaism part ways. In one of his most recent articles written for The Huffington Post called “<a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/jesus-we-can-finally-talk_b_1241538.html\">Jesus, We Can Finally Talk about Jesus</a>”, Rabbi Jason Miller talked about how at the end of his time at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was asked to do a presentation for a group of undergrads at The College of St. Elizabeth.\r\n<blockquote>In preparation for my visit [the teacher] asked the students to submit a list of five questions each that they would like me to consider. Without any exaggeration, a full 90 percent of the students included at least one question about Jesus Christ in their list. […] Many of the women in that class at the College of St. Elizabeth were surprised to learn that Jews do not consider Jesus to be the messiah and the entire class was shocked to discover that Jesus\' teachings were not part of the required coursework I was doing in my rabbinical school studies.</blockquote>\r\n<em>Kosher</em> (“kashrut” in Hebrew) is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods\">set of dietary laws</a> for those of the Jewish faith to ensure that their food is fit to eat, though the work can also mean things that are proper, legitimate, or approved for use. From a historical context, this code was a way of ensuring <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods#Ritual_slaughter\">humane slaughtering</a>, kept the Jews from eating animals prone to infection, and kept their food disease free.\r\n<h2><strong>Holidays</strong></h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6160\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Rabbi in traditional dress\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6160\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rabbi_flickr_molotalk-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nJews celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year and the celebrations can vary from group to group, but here are a few of the top holidays that are celebrated by almost all of them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Passover</strong> – This holiday commemorates the Israelite’s exodus from a tyrannical reign in Egypt. This holiday typical lasts from seven to eight days and starts on the first full moon in April.\r\n\r\n<strong>Rosh Hashanah</strong> – This is the Jewish New Year according to the Judaic calendar. It lasts between one to two days and falls between Labor Day and Columbus Day. (On the site <a href=\"http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm\">JewFAQ.org</a>, they mention that ‘You\'ve heard of \"twice-a-year Christians’ who go to church only on Christmas and Easter? ‘Twice-a-year Jews’ go to synagogue only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Yom Kippur</strong> – This holiday occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It is a somber holiday that is used as an annual day of repentance for sins that have been committed throughout the previous year.\r\n\r\n<strong>Chanukkah (Hanukkah)</strong> – This is the festival of lights which starts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Chanukkah is in memory of the Israelites\' rededication the temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against Seleucid Greeks.\r\n\r\nHis faith has helped him through difficult times in his life through learning what it means to truly engage with faith, through connecting with G-d in prayer, and through reliance on the community. He said, “Here in Detroit we have a very close-knit community that transcends denominations and different walks of life. It’s wonderful.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Star of David, a symbol of Judaism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6161\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-david_flickr_Klearchos-Kapoutsis-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the central ideas that originates from Jewish culture is that of <em>chesed</em>, which roughly means “loving-kindness” and going the extra mile to take care of others. I have heard translated to mean “Love G-d, Love Man”. Another key idea is <em>tikkun olam</em> which means “repairing the world”. Basically, Jews aren’t supposed to simply focus on self-preservation but work for the healing and restoration of the world we live in. Followers of the Jewish faith are to build their lives on these two ideas and show love and kindness to everyone they interact with.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nRabbi Jason Miller has devoted his life to the Jewish way of life and connecting the community. Through social media he is doing his part to bring the Jewish world together. Through his companies he is working to better the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike in Detroit. And through his writing he is challenging and inspiring fellow Jews and Detroiters.\r\n\r\n<strong>I appreciate Rabbi Jason taking the time to talk to me and I hope that someday it be said of me that I have done even a fraction of what he has for his community.</strong>\r\n\r\nEver met a Druid? Now you\'ll get the chance to! We\'ll hear from Robert, a Neopagan Druid from Plymouth, Michigan.\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/3380936274/\" target=\"_blank\">david_shankbone</a> (A Jew kissing the Wailing Wall) <a href=\"http://www.rabbijason.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Miller</a> (used with permission), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmanueldyan/5131506614/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmanuel Dyan</a> (Syangogue in Hungary), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/14599621@N02/4185625144/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Chatham University JKM Library</a> (Nazareth), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/parisharing/6809648392/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ParisSharing</a> (synagogue in Budapest), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/molotalk/5895823303/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">molotalk</a> (Rabbi), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/klearchos/3065649911/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Klearchos Kapoutsis</a> (Star of David)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Judaism','','inherit','open','open','','6108-revision-15','','','2012-04-28 20:25:16','2012-04-29 03:25:16','',6108,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6108-revision-15/',0,'revision','',0),(6370,38,'2012-04-24 17:40:04','2012-04-25 00:40:04','[caption id=\"attachment_6188\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rev. Rob Henderson\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rob-henderson_stand.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6188\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rob-henderson_stand-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe sun was out in Downtown Plymouth. The town was full of people bearing possibility and happiness. It was late Saturday afternoon the day before the Christian holiday, Easter. The park in the center of town was full of dogs, families, and people climbing in trees and the restaurants had their sidewalk tables out. The sun warmed the skin on my face as I walked down the street to Starbucks.\r\n\r\nI found Rev. Rob Henderson, Senior Druid of <a href=\"http://www.shininglakes.org/\">Shining Lakes Grove, ADF</a> sitting to one side of the store on his laptop. He has lived in Michigan as long as he can remember. He grew up in the Ann Arbor area and studied Computer Science at the University of Michigan.\r\n\r\nShining Lakes Grove was founded in 1993 and it was well established by the time Rob joined the group in 1996. They currently have about fifteen members spread across lower Michigan. He was raised Catholic but his family “had pretty much exited the faith by the time I was ten or eleven, and then I wandered around aimlessly for a bit,” he told me.\r\n\r\nRob first became interested in Druidism when he met some pagans in his teen years. They told him about paganism and explained the beliefs. “It seemed to be who I was, and I thought ‘Well, they seem like nice, stable, well-adjusted people,’” Rob chuckled. “You know, I think I’ve reached the point where I’ve been a Druid for half my lifetime.” He also dabbled in occultist/ceremonial magic for a while, but quickly realized it wasn’t for him before moving completely into Neopagan Druidism.\r\n\r\n“So, what exactly do you believe?” I asked him.\r\n“Well, we are a orthopraxis belief system, so it’s more about right worship and practice than right belief.”\r\n<h2>About Shining Lakes Grove</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6193\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The SLG banner\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/convo02banner.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6193\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/convo02banner-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nShining Lakes Grove is a part of the ADF, which stands for A Druid Fellowship, the largest Neopagan Druidism organization in the world. According to <a href=\"http://www.adf.org/\">their website</a> ADF is “a completely independent Druid tradition” with over 4500 cumulative and 1100 current members across the globe.\r\n\r\nOn their website, <a href=\"http://www.adf.org/about/basics/beliefs.html\">ADF says</a> that “We believe in a multiplicity of gods and goddesses, as well as lesser beings, many of whom are worthy of respect, love and worship. […] While some of us believe in a ‘Supreme Being,’ Neopagan Druidism is emphatically polytheistic.”\r\n<h2>Neopagan Druid Beliefs</h2>\r\nRob explained to me that there are three types of entities that he and his fellow Druids worship, which are\r\n\r\ncollectively referred to as “the Kindreds”: nature spirits, ancestors (direct, inspired, local, etc.), and deities, the latter of which includes Indo-European gods of the Celtic, Norse, Hellenic, Roman, Vedic and Slavic traditions.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6196\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"&quot;It must be Beltaine, the trilliums are everywhere!&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/trillium_flickr_tasitch.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6196\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/trillium_flickr_tasitch-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDruids have home worship on a weekly—or in Rob’s case, daily—basis by doing things like burning incense or lighting and candle and praying or meditation. They don’t gather as a group on a weekly basis because distance is an obstacle, so they gather for eight High Days throughout the year.\r\n\r\nThree Cranes Grove, another ADF Grove located in Columbus, Ohio explains what the eight High Days celebrate:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#samhain\">Samhain</a> (November 1<sup>st</sup>) – The New Year celebration related to Halloween, The Festival of the Dead, and in the Greek tradition the beginning of Demeter’s mourning during her daughter’s six month spell in Hades</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#wisolstice\">Winter Solstice</a> (around December 22<sup>nd</sup>) – The celebration of the return from darkness and rituals are performed to bring back the sun that has been hidden, and God was conceived on the Winter Solstice</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#imbolc\">Imbolc</a> (February 1<sup>st</sup>) – This celebration focused on the fact that the first signs of life are starting to come back into the world, and it’s important to join with friends to warm your heart even if the Earth will remain cold for a while.</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#spequinox\">Spring Equinox</a> (around March 21<sup>st</sup>) – This is the celebration of the start of the light half of the year, gardening and planting is commenced, and according to some traditions, the God begins to court the Goddess.</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#beltaine\">Beltaine</a> (May 1<sup>st</sup>) – This holiday focuses around fertility and the joining of new life (which is said to be the marriage date of God and Goddess and is chosen to be the wedding day of many Neopagans), many times includes a maypole dance.</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#susolstice\">Summer Solstice</a> (June 22<sup>nd</sup>) – Height of the year, celebration of the middle of the year and the hill downward toward Autumn and Samhain</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#lughnassad\">Lughnassad</a> (August 1<sup>st</sup>) - Beginning of the harvest, is associated with the god Laugh, and the continuing marriage of the God and Goddess</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#auequinox\">Autumnal Equinox</a> (around September 22<sup>nd</sup>) – The beginning of the dark half of the year, the approach and the beauty of Fall, and preparations for the chill that is coming.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6203\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A maypole during Beltaine\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/maypole_flickr_intangiblearts.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6203\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/maypole_flickr_intangiblearts-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nShining Lakes Grove is about to celebrate Beltaine in a few weeks. “We just celebrated Spring Equinox a couple of weeks ago, so my friends and I remark that we were confused when grocery stores still had egg dying kits around. ‘Why are these still here? We already celebrated! Oh, that’s right, Easter!’”\r\n\r\n“Is Beltaine the one with the Maypole?” I asked. Rob said, “Yes!” He told me the Norse had a mythical concept of a World Tree, which in modern times is represented by a wooden pole, called a bilé, used in all Druid rituals including the Maypole celebrations. According to Norse traditions the bilé was made out of an Ash tree, but the members of the Shining Lakes Grove didn’t want to kill a tree to create one. Instead, they used a Quaking Aspen, which has multiple trunks, so they were able to create a bilé while leaving the tree remain intact and alive.\r\n\r\nRob isn’t sure whether or not his community will have a maypole dance as the owner of their sacred grove passed away and they have to relocate, “which is a shame, because I really liked the owner and we had developed good relationships with the land spirits there.”\r\n<h2>Misconceptions</h2>\r\nHe talked about how people were kind towards him when they find out he is a pagan, but he thinks that might be part of living in Ann Arbor, a rather spiritually open city. I mentioned that the influx of college students from the nearby university probably helped, but he said, “Actually, we don’t get that many college-aged students. It seems like college-aged people want more <em>energy-</em>based types of spirituality, with stuff like Chi and combining personal energy and focusing it on something.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6208\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Druids out for a dance during Beltaine\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druids-dance_flickr_Shadowgate.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6208 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druids-dance_flickr_Shadowgate-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEnergy combining was the only concept of paganism that I really had, so I asked Rob how the energy-based types differed from Druidism. He said “We are building a modern religion based on Indo-European cultures by incorporating elements from their languages, beliefs and practices because none of them really left us a robust enough system to have a standalone religion. Druidism is based on of the concept of giving and receiving and building relationships.” Giving and receiving is exhibited through giving offerings and forms of worship (which include song, dance, group and individual praise) so the Kindreds will help the Druids in their lives. The building of relationships takes place with the Kindreds and with each other as a community.\r\n\r\nThere are several misconceptions about the Neopagan Druid community, one of which is that all Druids are men. “There is evidence in ancient texts that there were female Druids. We believe in the equality of women. They are welcome to participate equally and be clergy,” which almost half of the Shining Lakes Grove Clergy are. Druids have no prejudice as far as race, gender, or sexual orientation. “All are welcome to be a part of our community,” he told me.\r\n\r\nThe other misconception is that people think when Druids use the words “offerings” or “sacrifices” that they mean blood offerings. “The ADF specifically bans blood offerings. Any kind of blood offering: animal, human, and even cutting yourself for rituals is prohibited. One of the ADF’s main goals is to be a religion for the 21<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">st </span>century.” ADF Druids use grains, incense, oils, and even art as offerings.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nOn <a href=\"http://adf.livejournal.com/151342.html\">ADF’s Livejournal</a>, a member by the username <em>filiavallis</em> <a href=\"http://adf.livejournal.com/151342.html\">said</a>:\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6205\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Druid at the Stonehenge Summer Solstice (2009)\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druid_flickr_vintagedepot.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6205 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druid_flickr_vintagedepot-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“And the last time a couple of representatives of one of our local churches came around […] we stood and talked about Druidism for about forty-five minutes. They’d never met or talked to anyone on a Druid path before. So now, for good or ill, whatever preconceptions they had of ‘Pagan’ are at least partially superseded by the picture of a slightly grubby, cheerfully talkative, and generally rather ordinary suburban housewife-and-mom with some unusual but rational &amp; understandable ideas &amp; beliefs.”\r\n\r\nThis is what I found in Rob Henderson. While I was completely unfamiliar with the Druid path before speaking to him, I found Rob to be a very thoughtful, kind, and intelligent person. His beliefs, while very different from the traditions I grew up in, were rooted in the understanding and study of ancient cultures that allow him to appreciate nature, seasons, history and the way the world works together.\r\n\r\nRight before we parted ways, Rob added that Shining Lakes Groves is open and welcomes visitors even if they are unfamiliar with pagan practices. “You don’t have to know how to do rituals or know how to meditate to be a part of our community. We want people to know that we welcome them and that you don’t have to be an experienced Druid to join.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Rob Henderson for being willing to meet with me, and for talking to be about the Druid path, ADF, and his own community, Shining Lakes Grove, ADF. I look forward to future interactions and conversations with him and his fellow Druids.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Mannanan Shrine, Rev. Rob Henderson, SLG Banner (used with permission courtesy of Shining Lakes Grove, ADF), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/tasitch/24606530/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Tasitch</a> (Trilliums), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/intangible/2467735011/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IntangibleArts</a> (Maypole), <em> <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowgate/3512844987/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Shadowgate</a> (Beltaine dancing),</em> <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/vintagedept/3645742207/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">vintagedepot</a> (Stonehenge Druid)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Neopagan Druidism','','inherit','open','open','','6187-revision-18','','','2012-04-24 17:40:04','2012-04-25 00:40:04','',6187,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/6187-revision-18/',0,'revision','',0),(6371,38,'2012-04-23 16:59:54','2012-04-23 23:59:54','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple of years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th</span> Physical Education and 7<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th </span>and 8<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th</span> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipotent (all-powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeserving.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Falwell or Rick Santorum represent everybody. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6139\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A cross, a Christian symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6139 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spina bifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people who are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Square: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4035421598/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Snodgrass</a> (Cross)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-15','','','2012-04-23 16:59:54','2012-04-23 23:59:54','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/23/6110-revision-15/',0,'revision','',0),(6374,38,'2012-04-28 20:29:27','2012-04-29 03:29:27','For the section about Christianity, I ended up talking to two different men, a pastor and interfaith leader, and a former pastor who is now an elder and school teacher. Both of them serve very different roles in their community, but they both have been affected greatly by Christianity and have devoted their lives to it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6112\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Dr. Bob Cornwall\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6112\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bob-headshot-92010-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob Cornwall, pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. He is a Disciples of Christ pastor who has been ordained for 25 years and has been pastoring for about 14 of them. He’s a graduate of Fuller Seminary with a PhD in Historical Theology.\r\n\r\nHis passion is ecumenical interfaith conversation and building bridges between people of different faiths. He also does a lot of writing for a living. Along with being a pastor of a church, he has written a couple of books, done a lot of academic writing, and a few years ago he wrote a regular column in a local newspaper.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6113\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Curt Motsinger\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6113\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curt-and-family-fb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Curt Motsinger\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt Motsinger is a school teacher and an elder at Grace Chapel Church in Waterford, Michigan. He spent his teenage years living at a youth camp that his parents ran in Rose City. He attended Liberty University. “I had hoped to get onto the wrestling team, but since I had to pay my bills somehow I auditioned for a student missionary singing team,” he said. He met his wife Arli, a Philippine woman, while travelling on tour with the team.\r\n\r\nHe used to be a full-time pastor at Shepherd Fellowship Church, but he left a couple of years ago and now teaches a class for adults and is an elder at a small, non-denomination church called Grace Chapel. He also teaches K-12<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th</span> Physical Education and 7<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th </span>and 8<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th</span> grade Math and Science for a classical style school.\r\n<h2>Coming to Faith</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6115\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Holy Land of Jerusalem, Israel\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6115\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jerusalem_flickr_swallroth-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob’s family was Episcopalian growing up and he doesn’t remember having a moment where he came to faith specifically. However, in high school he did have a type of conversion experience which lead to him leaving his Episcopalian background and become a Pentecostal.\r\n\r\n“Changing from being an Episcopalian to being a Pentecostal was a major change for me. It came out of a deep need for me to be more connected with a community that really took my faith seriously (which I didn’t feel what happening at the Episcopalian church),” he said. Episcopalians are much more liturgically based than Baptist or non-denominational churches. Pentecostal churches are charismatic, which often have boisterous worship services, and practice things like speaking in tongues and healing (which is generally unique to their denomination).\r\n\r\nDr. Bob said, “I pretty much went from one extreme to another.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6123\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"224\" caption=\"Jesus depicted in stained glass\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6123\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass-Wikimedia-Commons-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob eventually found the Pentecostals to be overly emotional and not very intellectual based. He knew he needed to go someplace else, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to the Episcopalians. “So that’s how I ended up with the Disciples of Christ, who are non-creedal, so it has a lot of freedom. It allowed me to be me.”\r\n\r\nCurt was also raised in the faith, but he remembers one moment from his childhood that changed his understanding of life.\r\n\r\n“When I was eight years old I was given a BB gun for Christmas. One afternoon I was hunting big game in my backyard. I squeezed the trigger and a robin dropped onto her nest. I ran over and picked up the nest and she was just lying there over those powder blue eggs. I gave it to my mom and she said, ‘Oh Curty, that’s the Michigan state bird!’ And I just knew the cops were coming to take me away.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6125\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A church in New England\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6125\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/new-england-church_flickr_aliwest44-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCurt explained that he was a good kid, so the concept of sin didn’t make much sense to him at the time. “I believed that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I didn’t <em>need</em> him at that point, and then suddenly I did.  And that was what showed me my need for a savior. I knew all I needed to do was trust in him.”\r\n\r\nA few weeks after this happened, there was a man who came to Curt’s church to preach on the different levels of Hell. He said that <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain\">Cain</a> would be hanging onto the bars saying “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The man went through a few more examples when he came to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa_I\">King Agrippa</a>. Paul gives his testimony to Agrippa and he responds, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” (<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&amp;version=NKJV\">Acts 26:28</a>) The speaker said that’s what Agrippa would be saying in his room in Hell. The message was concluded with the question: “What would you be saying?”\r\n\r\n“I wanted to jump up and say, ‘I didn’t know it was the state bird!’” Curt said.\r\n<h2>About Christianity</h2>\r\nChristianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion which claims 2.07 billion people across the globe. This makes it the largest religion in the world with over 32% of the world’s citizenship. Below are some of the basic beliefs that Christian adherents believe (there are variations and exceptions between sects):\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>God is the creator of the universe</li>\r\n	<li>God is omnipresent (always present), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipotent (all-powerful)</li>\r\n	<li>God sent his son, Jesus, to be born into the human world</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was born fully God and fully human from a virgin woman</li>\r\n	<li>Since Jesus was fully God, he was incapable of sinning in his lifetime. When he was put to death by the religious leaders and people of his time, this meant he died 100% innocent. Because he was 100% innocent when he died, he was punished undeserving.</li>\r\n	<li>Jesus was put to death on a cross and came back to life three days later and ascended into Heaven, showing that even Death has no power of God</li>\r\n	<li>Sin is anything that separates man from God (sin means crime, “missing the target,” or an act that violates the nature of man or God) and all people have sinned</li>\r\n	<li>The penalty for sin is eternal death (Hell)</li>\r\n	<li>God is holy, meaning he cannot have sin in his presence (Heaven). Since all people have sinned, they cannot ever be with God. But since Jesus was took a punishment he didn’t deserve, he took the punishment for the sin of people across the world so that they would not be sent to Hell and could enter into Heaven</li>\r\n	<li>Salvation is not obligatory or automatic. Christians say things like “Salvation is a gift. You can accept the gift, or deny the gift.”</li>\r\n	<li>To be saved you must believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and is the way to God and eternal life</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe holy scriptures of the Christian religion is the Bible, which is made up of 66 books. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God (meaning man wrote it, but God spoke through them) and that it is infallible text. Christians also believe that salvation isn’t just a once-and-done, but a living part of their life. Thus, they strive to have a personal relationship with God.\r\n<h2>Daily Practice</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6136\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Garden Grove Church, also known as The Crystal Cathedral\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6136\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/megachurch_flickr_IKs-world-trip-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Back in the day there was a computer term called ‘GIGO’ (Garbage In, Garbage Out),” Curt said. “My dad always said that the world feed us all kinds of garbage and we needed offset that with scripture. Romans 12 says to continually renew our minds. So I try to do that on a regular basis,” he added. He explained to me that he tries to live out the scripture in his life and express it to his students as well.\r\n\r\nDr. Bob answered, “I’m professionally religious. So everything I do is rooted in and connected to that.” He tries to pray often and study as much as he can. “I read and work with scripture all the time for teaching and studying.”\r\n\r\nHe said that he loves Christianity because he feels grounded and like he has a vision for his life. “I’m not in this on my own, and I know God is with me. It gives me comfort and confidence,” he added.\r\n\r\nCurt loves being a Christian because of the brotherhood. In college he had some friends that met together for a Bible study, called the Agape group, which turned into a close-knit group of friends. He has remained in constant contact with them through adulthood and they have been there for each other through immense difficulties.\r\n<h2>Misconceptions about Christianity</h2>\r\nDr. Bob mentioned that one misconception is that people think Christianity is narrow, and that Christians are narrow-minded and bigots. “I mean, a lot of them <em>are</em>. But the misconception is that people think that Christians are all the same, that Jerry Falwell or Rick Santorum represent everybody. Well, they don’t represent me and they don’t represent a lot of people.”\r\n\r\nCurt says that there’s a misconception in the political arena that Christians are mean, angry, self-righteous and hypocritical. “Some of which is deserved, and I think some of mainline Christianity has created that,” he said. “But I hope to prove that wrong in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6139\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A cross, a Christian symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6139 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/cross_flickr_steve-snodgrass-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDr. Bob and Curt are two people who seem to really be living out their faith. Dr. Bob is very active with the Troy Interfaith Group (along with Padma Kuppa) and he is bringing members of his congregation with other faith groups across metro Detroit together. Through TIG he is promoting understanding, education, and is helping others see how they can find good causes to work together on for make this world a better place. He was immediately willing to talk to me and invited me to stay for a TIG event after our conversation.\r\n\r\nCurt and his wife tried for 7 years to have children, after which they decided to adopt a baby girl from a friend from high school who had a dream that she gave them her child. “We were on our way to get her when we found out that she had spina bifida. But we already felt that God had given her to us so we went and got her, and that was 18 years ago.” They are incredible parents to her and one of the reasons that Curt stepped down from being a pastor was to spend more time with his daughter, Abbey.\r\n\r\nCurt has been very influential in my husband’s life and is a living example of the love that Christians aim to show. He also conducted our marriage counseling and presided over our wedding. Through it all it he was very kind to us and imparted practical wisdom for being better spouses and people.\r\n\r\nI appreciate Curt and Dr. Bob taking time to talk to me, and for being the kind of people who are not armchair Christians. They don’t just give lip service; they are working every day to live out the kind of change they wish to see in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Dr. Bob Cornwall and Curt Motsinger for meeting with me. Also, if you’ve liked what you have read so far of Dr. Bob, check out his <a href=\"http://www.bobcornwall.com/\">blog</a> and his recently released book, “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Public-Square-Robert-Cornwall/dp/189372946X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335057353&amp;sr=8-1\">Faith in the Public Square: Living Faithfully in 21<sup>st</sup> Century America</a>”. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>\"Hindus worship cows?\" No, not exactly. Hear why from our next interviewee, Padma Kuppa, a Hindu and Patheos blogger from Troy, Michigan.</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Dr. Bob Cornwall (used with permission), Curt Motsinger (used with permission), Flickr / swallroth (<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallroth/6022372857/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Jerusalem</a>), <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Jesus in stained glass), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/alismith44/4086845511/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">aliwest44</a> (New England church), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikkoskinen/334450012/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IK\'s World Trip</a> (Megachurch), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisteresa/2619711259/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">fradaveccs</a> (Jesus on cross), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4035421598/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Snodgrass</a> (Cross)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','6110-revision-16','','','2012-04-28 20:29:27','2012-04-29 03:29:27','',6110,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6110-revision-16/',0,'revision','',0),(6372,1,'2012-05-06 23:03:07','2012-05-07 06:03:07','Padma Kuppa, a Hindu woman from Troy, Michigan, was born in India. Her family moved to the United States where they remained until the 80’s when her family moved back to India. It wasn’t easy adjusting to being uprooted and moving back to mainstream Indian culture, since she was a teenager when her family moved.\n\nPadma attended engineering school in India, which is an extremely competitive program. In an <a href=\"http://www.blitzkriegpublishing.com/Indian%20Culture.htm\">article for Metro Parent Magazine</a>, she said, “I was at the highest levels in math and science when I returned to India after 10th grade, but that was the norm for students there.”\n<h2>The National Day of Prayer</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6262\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Hindu woman and boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-woman-boy_flickr_tejal-patel.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6262\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-woman-boy_flickr_tejal-patel-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nPadma’s story of living her faith in the public square begins in May of 2005, when she heard about a National Day of Prayer event being put on in her area. She volunteered to help organize the event but was denied. A year later, when the next National Day of Prayer was coming up, Padma approached the overall coordinator for the National Day of Prayer to ask again if she could help organize the event and participate. She was denied a once again, but this time she found it was a specifically Judeo-Christian event.\n\nThis caused a stir in local media. To prevent people like Padma from interfering again, the National Day of Prayer Task Force tried to get the city of Troy to declare the holiday to be a strictly Christian observance. The city exploded into controversy with threats of lawsuits in violation of the First Amendment. “I was not used to my faith being such a public thing before that. Faith had been so private to me, but then overnight I was on the front page of the Free Press,” she said.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6264\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"276\" caption=\"Statues of Hindu gods at Batu Caves, a famous Hindu Temple\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/batu-caves-statues_flickr_auswandern-malaysia.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6264\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/batu-caves-statues_flickr_auswandern-malaysia-276x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"276\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nPadma then decided to join forces with a few other people and begin the Troy Interfaith Group. On May 4<span style=\"font-size: 11px;\">th</span>, 2006, the Troy Interfaith Group held its first National Day of Prayer celebration at St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church in Troy, Michigan. As a result, Harvard University approached Padma about using the National Day of Prayer situation a case study for <a href=\"http://pluralism.org/reports/view/66\">The Pluralism Project</a>.\n\nPadma was born into the Hindu faith. She grew up in a family with a lot of religious variety with close family members who were Catholic, Jewish, and Hindu. She and her family had appreciation and respect for people of other faiths, so her involvement in the interfaith arena was natural. “When I went off for college, my father sent me with the Gita,” (one of the Hindu scriptures) “the Bible, and Shakespeare.”\n\nIn 2008, Padma lost a close friend and began a blog called “Seeking Shanti” in her honor. Her blog was eventually moved to <a href=\"http://www.patheos.com/About-Patheos/Padma-Kuppa.html\">Patheos</a>, where she is an advocate for Hinduism online. In 2009 she also began work with <a href=\"http://www.interfaithwisdom.com/\">WISDOM</a> (Women’s Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in Metro Detroit). Additionally, Padma is a part of her local Hindu Temple’s outreach committee and works with the National Temple Organization.\n\n“Hinduism isn’t a religion for us; it’s a way of living,” Padma said.\n<h2>About Hinduism</h2>\nHinduism is the third largest religion in the world with around one billion followers. It’s a religion that does not fall into one category as it is monotheistic, polytheistic, and also pantheistic. It’s monotheistic because Hindus have a belief in an ultimate being called Brahman, but it’s polytheistic because they believe in multiple deities, whose numbers range in the thousands and beyond who all express different aspects of Brahman. Hinduism is also pantheistic because they often worship spirits and believe that all people and nature are of divine nature.\n\n“There’s a lot of misinformation about Hinduism in this country,” Padma told me while we sat at a table in Starbucks. There was an egregious error in one of her son’s textbooks from school. “It said that ‘Hindus worship cows.’ Right there in his book! Hindus do not worship cows,” she said. “We revere cows; just like we do all of nature because we believe that the divine is in all things.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6266\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Hindu Temple of Shri Venkateswara in Tividale\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-temple_flickr_ahisgett.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6266\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-temple_flickr_ahisgett-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAs it has with Sikhs, cross-discrimination has affected Hindus since 9/11. She told me, “One time when I was at an airport I was approached by someone and was asked, ‘So, are you Shi’ite or Sunni?’ And he was a well-educated man!”\n\nIn an <a href=\"http://www.freep.com/article/20110911/OPINION05/109110480/Commentary-Learning-how-faith-can-divide-unite\">article in the Detroit Free Press</a> Padma said “What happened on 9/11, and in any instance where religion is called into play, teaches us that faith is something that has the potential to divide or unite. It is in us to choose the latter to make a more peaceful world for ourselves, by learning more about our neighbors and examining our own belief systems. To that end, 9/11 had a domino effect on my life.”\n\nShe said that the misinformation is not without reason: “I admit that we as a Hindu community have not done a good job of educating the public as to what we are about, and I’m trying to help change that with my work with the HAF [Hindu American Foundation].” The Hindu American Foundation is an advocacy group which offers education resources about Hinduism that works for the interests of Hindu Americans across the country.\n\nWhile the specific beliefs and practices of the Hindu faith vary wildly between individuals, families, and geographic areas, it can be understood through <a href=\"http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/a/principles.htm\">5 main principles and 10 disciplines</a> as taught by Dr. Gangadhar Choudhury.\n<h2><strong>5 Main Principles (Beliefs)</strong></h2>\nThe first principle is that God exists. According to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman\">Wikipedia</a>, Brahman is “is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe; that is the one supreme, universal spirit.”\n\nHinduism has a Great Trinity, the Trimurti, which consists of Brahma (creator), Vishnu (the maintainer or preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer). These three deities use their various manifestations to keep the cosmos in balance.\n\nThe remaining four principles are:\n<ol>\n	<li><strong>All human beings are divine</strong> – Because Brahman is the divine matter that makes up the universe, the divine is in everything.</li>\n	<li><strong>Unity of existence through</strong> <strong>love</strong></li>\n	<li><strong>Religious harmony</strong> – This principle is greatly evidenced through Padma’s life and her work to unify the hearts and celebrate people of different faiths in metro Detroit.</li>\n	<li><strong>Knowledge of 3 Gs</strong> – <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges_in_Hinduism\">Ganga</a> (sacred river), <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gita\">Gita</a> (sacred scripture), <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri\">Gayatri</a> (sacred mantra)</li>\n</ol>\n<h2><strong>10 Disciplines (Ways of Living)</strong></h2>\n<ol>\n	<li><strong><em>Satya</em></strong> – Truth, which includes social justice and environmentalism</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa#Hinduism\"><strong><em>Ahimsa</em></strong></a> – Non-violence, including towards animals, making Hindus vegetarian</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmacharya\"><strong><em>Brahmacharya</em></strong></a> – Celibacy, sobriety, self-control, non-adultery (also one of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashrama_(stage)\">four stages of life</a>)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteya\"><strong><em>Asteya</em></strong></a> – No desire to possess or steal (also a main principle of Jainism)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aparigraha\"><strong><em>Aparighara</em></strong></a> – Non-corrupt, living simply and not being obsessed with material acquisition (another main principle that Jainism and Hinduism share)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaucha\"><strong><em>Shaucha</em></strong></a><em> </em>– Cleanliness, purity</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santosh\"><strong><em>Santosh</em></strong></a> – Contentment, gratefulness, happiness</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadhyaya\"><strong><em>Swadhyaya</em></strong></a> – Gathering and reading of scriptures</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas_(Sanskrit)\"><strong><em>Tapas</em></strong></a> – Austerity, perseverance, penance, discipline, spiritual enlightenment</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishvarapranidhana\"><strong><em>Ishwarpranidhan</em></strong></a> – Regular prayers</li>\n</ol>\n[caption id=\"attachment_6268\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"90\" caption=\"The symbol for Hinduism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-symbol_flickr_ahisgett.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-6268 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-symbol_flickr_ahisgett-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"90\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAs far as worship on a daily basis, devout followers observe at home through things like: chores and food preparation for the family shrine, lighting lamps, meditation, recitation of scripture and mantras, and singing hymns.\n\nAdditionally, there is an emphasis on celebration special events and periods in one’s life in Hinduism, with rituals and rites to boot. Among others, Hindus celebrate birth, first feeding, marriage, and death.\n\nOne of the practices that the world has picked up on from Hinduism is the tradition of <em>yoga</em>. In Hinduism, yoga simply means “path” or “way of knowing God”. There are several paths or approaches to learning about God:\n<ul>\n	<li><strong>Bhakti</strong> – Path of devotion, which includes <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana\">Asana</a>, among other things, which is what the physical activity of Westernized yoga is derived from.</li>\n	<li><strong>Gñāna</strong> – Path of knowledge</li>\n	<li><strong>Dhyana</strong> – Path of meditation</li>\n	<li><strong>Karma</strong> – Path of action</li>\n</ul>\nPadma had an equal representation of all of the paths while she was growing up. “I used to tell people that my mother was Bhakti, my father was Gñāna, my aunt was Dhyana and my uncle was Karma.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6271\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Hindu god statues\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-statues_flickr_chem7.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6271\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-statues_flickr_chem7-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnother piece of Hinduism that people seem to misunderstand is reincarnation. One of the beliefs of Hinduism and other Eastern religions that came out of India is that we are all trapped in the cycle of <em>Samsara</em>. <em>Samsara</em> is the cycle of life and death. The way to escape S<em>amsara</em> is through <em>karma</em>, <em>dharma</em>, and <em>yoga</em>.\n\nOnce you achieve purity and spiritual enlightenment you can finally escape <em>Samsara </em>(and attain liberation), but you are perpetually reborn until you reach that point. How you are reborn is linked with <em>karma</em>, which is the idea that your actions create ripples through the universe, also described as “each action has an action and a reaction force”.\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\nMy time with Padma Kuppa was wonderful. She was very well-spoken and was very passionate about her work. I appreciate her taking time out of her busy schedule to sit and talk with me to tell me about her work in interfaith and beautiful heritage. I look forward to getting to know her better.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_6272\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Hindu bride\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-bride_flickr_tejal-patel.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6272\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-bride_flickr_tejal-patel-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe thing that really stood out during my time spent with Padma was a sense of her passion because it was utterly contagious. She wasn’t doing these things in her community and devoting countless hours to these organizations out of obligation; no, she was doing them because she believes in them deep down in her soul. It was stunning.\n\nIt was incredible to talk to someone from a completely different walk of life who expressed with her every breath her desire to bring people together, show love, and celebrate diversity through unity. This is one thing that everyone I have interviewed has had in common with Padma: they all have heart.\n\nPadma finished our conversation with the following statement, which sums up her way of life perfectly: “Forget what you don’t believe, live what you <em>do</em> believe. Learn a little, but act together,\" meaning, don\'t spend so much time bickering over the little things that you never actually <em>live what you claim to believe</em>.\n\n<strong>Thank you to Padma Kuppa for meeting with me and to Dr. Bob Cornwall for introducing me to her. If you want to hear more from Padma, <a href=\"http://www.patheos.com/About-Patheos/Padma-Kuppa.html\" target=\"_blank\">read her blog at Patheos</a>.</strong>\n\n<strong><em>Zen Buddhism is more than just about sitting on cushions and humming. Hear from three lovely Zen Buddhists living in Ferndale, Michigan next!</em></strong>\n\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/mckaysavage/3509727527/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">mckaysavage</a> (Top image: Batu Caves), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/tejspics/418805382/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Tejal Patel</a> (Hindu woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/carworld/3898972515/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Auswandern Malaysia</a> (Batu Caves statues), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/3526951764/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ahisgett</a> (Hindu temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/3272485440/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ahisgett</a> (Hindu symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/88087720@N00/3048151272/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">chem7</a> (Hindu god statues), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/tejspics/418806036/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Tejal Patel</a> (Hindu bride)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Hinduism','','inherit','open','open','','6258-autosave','','','2012-05-06 23:03:07','2012-05-07 06:03:07','',6258,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6258-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(6373,38,'2012-04-24 18:43:16','2012-04-25 01:43:16','Padma Kuppa, a Hindu woman from Troy, Michigan, was born in India. Her family moved to the United States where they remained until the 80’s when her family moved back to India. It wasn’t easy adjusting to being uprooted and moving back to mainstream Indian culture, since she was a teenager when her family moved.\r\n\r\nPadma attended engineering school in India, which is an extremely competitive program. In an <a href=\"http://www.blitzkriegpublishing.com/Indian%20Culture.htm\">article for Metro Parent Magazine</a>, she said, “I was at the highest levels in math and science when I returned to India after 10th grade, but that was the norm for students there.”\r\n<h2>The National Day of Prayer</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6262\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Hindu woman and boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-woman-boy_flickr_tejal-patel.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6262\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-woman-boy_flickr_tejal-patel-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nPadma’s story of living her faith in the public square begins in May of 2005, when she heard about a National Day of Prayer event being put on in her area. She volunteered to help organize the event but was denied. A year later, when the next National Day of Prayer was coming up, Padma approached the overall coordinator for the National Day of Prayer to ask again if she could help organize the event and participate. She was denied a once again, but this time she found it was a specifically Judeo-Christian event.\r\n\r\nThis caused a stir in local media. To prevent people like Padma from interfering again, the National Day of Prayer Task Force tried to get the city of Troy to declare the holiday to be a strictly Christian observance. The city exploded into controversy with threats of lawsuits in violation of the First Amendment. “I was not used to my faith being such a public thing before that. Faith had been so private to me, but then overnight I was on the front page of the Free Press,” she said.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6264\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"276\" caption=\"Statues of Hindu gods at Batu Caves, a famous Hindu Temple\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/batu-caves-statues_flickr_auswandern-malaysia.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6264\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/batu-caves-statues_flickr_auswandern-malaysia-276x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"276\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nPadma then decided to join forces with a few other people and begin the Troy Interfaith Group. On May 4<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">th</span>, 2006, the Troy Interfaith Group held its first National Day of Prayer celebration at St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church in Troy, Michigan. As a result, Harvard University approached Padma about using the National Day of Prayer situation a case study for <a href=\"http://pluralism.org/reports/view/66\">The Pluralism Project</a>.\r\n\r\nPadma was born into the Hindu faith. She grew up in a family with a lot of religious variety with close family members who were Catholic, Jewish, and Hindu. She and her family had appreciation and respect for people of other faiths, so her involvement in the interfaith arena was natural. “When I went off for college, my father sent me with the Gita,” (one of the Hindu scriptures) “the Bible, and Shakespeare.”\r\n\r\nIn 2008, Padma lost a close friend and began a blog called “Seeking Shanti” in her honor. Her blog was eventually moved to <a href=\"http://www.patheos.com/About-Patheos/Padma-Kuppa.html\">Patheos</a>, where she is an advocate for Hinduism online. In 2009 she also began work with <a href=\"http://www.interfaithwisdom.com/\">WISDOM</a> (Women’s Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in Metro Detroit). Additionally, Padma is a part of her local Hindu Temple’s outreach committee and works with the National Temple Organization.\r\n\r\n“Hinduism isn’t a religion for us; it’s a way of living,” Padma said.\r\n<h2>About Hinduism</h2>\r\nHinduism is the third largest religion in the world with around one billion followers. It’s a religion that does not fall into one category as it is monotheistic, polytheistic, and also pantheistic. It’s monotheistic because Hindus have a belief in an ultimate being called Brahman, but it’s polytheistic because they believe in multiple deities, whose numbers range in the thousands and beyond who all express different aspects of Brahman. Hinduism is also pantheistic because they often worship spirits and believe that all people and nature are of divine nature.\r\n\r\n“There’s a lot of misinformation about Hinduism in this country,” Padma told me while we sat at a table in Starbucks. There was an egregious error in one of her son’s textbooks from school. “It said that ‘Hindus worship cows.’ Right there in his book! Hindus do not worship cows,” she said. “We revere cows; just like we do all of nature because we believe that the divine is in all things.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6266\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Hindu Temple of Shri Venkateswara in Tividale\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-temple_flickr_ahisgett.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6266\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-temple_flickr_ahisgett-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs it has with Sikhs, cross-discrimination has affected Hindus since 9/11. She told me, “One time when I was at an airport I was approached by someone and was asked, ‘So, are you Shi’ite or Sunni?’ And he was a well-educated man!”\r\n\r\nIn an <a href=\"http://www.freep.com/article/20110911/OPINION05/109110480/Commentary-Learning-how-faith-can-divide-unite\">article in the Detroit Free Press</a> Padma said “What happened on 9/11, and in any instance where religion is called into play, teaches us that faith is something that has the potential to divide or unite. It is in us to choose the latter to make a more peaceful world for ourselves, by learning more about our neighbors and examining our own belief systems. To that end, 9/11 had a domino effect on my life.”\r\n\r\nShe said that the misinformation is not without reason: “I admit that we as a Hindu community have not done a good job of educating the public as to what we are about, and I’m trying to help change that with my work with the HAF [Hindu American Foundation].” The Hindu American Foundation is an advocacy group which offers education resources about Hinduism that works for the interests of Hindu Americans across the country.\r\n\r\nWhile the specific beliefs and practices of the Hindu faith vary wildly between individuals, families, and geographic areas, it can be understood through <a href=\"http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/a/principles.htm\">5 main principles and 10 disciplines</a> as taught by Dr. Gangadhar Choudhury.\r\n<h2><strong>5 Main Principles (Beliefs)</strong></h2>\r\nThe first principle is that God exists. According to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman\">Wikipedia</a>, Brahman is “is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe; that is the one supreme, universal spirit.”\r\n\r\nHinduism has a Great Trinity, the Trimurti, which consists of Brahma (creator), Vishnu (the maintainer or preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer). These three deities use their various manifestations to keep the cosmos in balance.\r\n\r\nThe remaining four principles are:\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li><strong>All human beings are divine</strong> – Because Brahman is the divine matter that makes up the universe, the divine is in everything.</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Unity of existence through</strong> <strong>love</strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong>Religious harmony</strong> – This principle is greatly evidenced through Padma’s life and her work to unify the hearts and celebrate people of different faiths in metro Detroit.</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Knowledge of 3 Gs</strong> – <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges_in_Hinduism\">Ganga</a> (sacred river), <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gita\">Gita</a> (sacred scripture), <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri\">Gayatri</a> (sacred mantra)</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n<h2><strong>10 Disciplines (Ways of Living)</strong></h2>\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li><strong><em>Satya</em></strong> – Truth, which includes social justice and environmentalism</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa#Hinduism\"><strong><em>Ahimsa</em></strong></a> – Non-violence, including towards animals, making Hindus vegetarian</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmacharya\"><strong><em>Brahmacharya</em></strong></a> – Celibacy, sobriety, self-control, non-adultery (also one of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashrama_(stage)\">four stages of life</a>)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteya\"><strong><em>Asteya</em></strong></a> – No desire to possess or steal (also a main principle of Jainism)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aparigraha\"><strong><em>Aparighara</em></strong></a> – Non-corrupt, living simply and not being obsessed with material acquisition (another main principle that Jainism and Hinduism share)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaucha\"><strong><em>Shaucha</em></strong></a><em> </em>– Cleanliness, purity</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santosh\"><strong><em>Santosh</em></strong></a> – Contentment, gratefulness, happiness</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadhyaya\"><strong><em>Swadhyaya</em></strong></a> – Gathering and reading of scriptures</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas_(Sanskrit)\"><strong><em>Tapas</em></strong></a> – Austerity, perseverance, penance, discipline, spiritual enlightenment</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishvarapranidhana\"><strong><em>Ishwarpranidhan</em></strong></a> – Regular prayers</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6268\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"90\" caption=\"The symbol for Hinduism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-symbol_flickr_ahisgett.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-6268 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-symbol_flickr_ahisgett-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"90\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAs far as worship on a daily basis, devout followers observe at home through things like: chores and food preparation for the family shrine, lighting lamps, meditation, recitation of scripture and mantras, and singing hymns.\r\n\r\nAdditionally, there is an emphasis on celebration special events and periods in one’s life in Hinduism, with rituals and rites to boot. Among others, Hindus celebrate birth, first feeding, marriage, and death.\r\n\r\nOne of the practices that the world has picked up on from Hinduism is the tradition of <em>yoga</em>. In Hinduism, yoga simply means “path” or “way of knowing God”. There are several paths or approaches to learning about God:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><strong>Bhakti</strong> – Path of devotion, which includes <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana\">Asana</a>, among other things, which is what the physical activity of Westernized yoga is derived from.</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Gñāna</strong> – Path of knowledge</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Dhyana</strong> – Path of meditation</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Karma</strong> – Path of action</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nPadma had an equal representation of all of the paths while she was growing up. “I used to tell people that my mother was Bhakti, my father was Gñāna, my aunt was Dhyana and my uncle was Karma.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6271\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Hindu god statues\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-statues_flickr_chem7.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6271\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-statues_flickr_chem7-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnother piece of Hinduism that people seem to misunderstand is reincarnation. One of the beliefs of Hinduism and other Eastern religions that came out of India is that we are all trapped in the cycle of <em>Samsara</em>. <em>Samsara</em> is the cycle of life and death. The way to escape S<em>amsara</em> is through <em>karma</em>, <em>dharma</em>, and <em>yoga</em>.\r\n\r\nOnce you achieve purity and spiritual enlightenment you can finally escape <em>Samsara </em>(and attain liberation), but you are perpetually reborn until you reach that point. How you are reborn is linked with <em>karma</em>, which is the idea that your actions create ripples through the universe, also described as “each action has an action and a reaction force”.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nMy time with Padma Kuppa was wonderful. She was very well-spoken and was very passionate about her work. I appreciate her taking time out of her busy schedule to sit and talk with me to tell me about her work in interfaith and beautiful heritage. I look forward to getting to know her better.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6272\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Hindu bride\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-bride_flickr_tejal-patel.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6272\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hindu-bride_flickr_tejal-patel-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe thing that really stood out during my time spent with Padma was a sense of her passion because it was utterly contagious. She wasn’t doing these things in her community and devoting countless hours to these organizations out of obligation; no, she was doing them because she believes in them deep down in her soul. It was stunning.\r\n\r\nIt was incredible to talk to someone from a completely different walk of life who expressed with her every breath her desire to bring people together, show love, and celebrate diversity through unity. This is one thing that everyone I have interviewed has had in common with Padma: they all have heart.\r\n\r\nPadma finished our conversation with the following statement, which sums up her way of life perfectly: “Forget what you don’t believe, live what you <em>do</em> believe. Learn a little, but act together,\" meaning, don\'t spend so much time bickering over the little things that you never actually <em>live what you claim to believe</em>.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Padma Kuppa for meeting with me and to Dr. Bob Cornwall for introducing me to her. If you want to hear more from Padma, <a href=\"http://www.patheos.com/About-Patheos/Padma-Kuppa.html\" target=\"_blank\">read her blog at Patheos</a>.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/mckaysavage/3509727527/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">mckaysavage</a> (Top image: Batu Caves), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/tejspics/418805382/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Tejal Patel</a> (Hindu woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/carworld/3898972515/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Auswandern Malaysia</a> (Batu Caves statues), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/3526951764/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ahisgett</a> (Hindu temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/3272485440/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ahisgett</a> (Hindu symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/88087720@N00/3048151272/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">chem7</a> (Hindu god statues), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/tejspics/418806036/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Tejal Patel</a> (Hindu bride)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Hinduism','','inherit','open','open','','6258-revision-11','','','2012-04-24 18:43:16','2012-04-25 01:43:16','',6258,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/6258-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(6375,38,'2012-04-25 12:28:47','2012-04-25 19:28:47','[caption id=\"attachment_6172\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Saeed Khan\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6172\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/S.Khan-photo-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSaeed Khan is a professor at Wayne State University, a PhD candidate, and a Muslim living in greater Detroit.  Saeed was born in Pakistan, raised in England, but has lived in the United States most of his life. He spent time in Houston, New York City, and then moved to Michigan where he is now. He attended Michigan University for his undergraduate degree and practiced law for a while after receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School.\r\n\r\n“Once 9/11 happened, I realized there was a need for not only getting into the public debate, but helping to really reshape the contours of the public debate.”\r\n<h2>The Transformative Power of Education</h2>\r\nSaeed developed a relationship with some of the professors at Rochester College, a local evangelical Christian university, and has been teaching once a quarter at the school for their World Religions class.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6170\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A mosque in Ghadames\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6170 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mosque-ghadames_flickr_david-stanley-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"A mosque in Ghadames\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“My policy—which is the same wherever I go—is that no question is out-of-bounds and I’ll be there to answer the last question. I would not it want it to be said of us that we were being evasive, or lecturing at length but avoiding the 800-pound gorillas in the room.”\r\n\r\nLast year Rochester College had a “Muslim and Christian Interaction” course based on Miroslav Volf’s book “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Allah-Christian-Response-Miroslav-Volf/dp/0061927082/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335241235&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\">Allah: A Christian Response</a>”. It was such a successful course that they will be having it again at the Rochester College campus in the fall and they will using it as a model to open similar classes at evangelical universities across the country. Saeed told me about an incredible story about one student who was dramatically changed by this course.\r\n<blockquote>One gentleman in his first journal entry (one of the required assignments) wrote \"I can’t help but think that I see the devil standing next to Professor Khan when he lectures.” I couldn’t put a name to face, however, as to who had written the entry. A few weeks later, one of the students came up to me and asked if he could talk to me after class. I put two and two together and realized that this was the author of the journal entry. After witnessing to me and telling me his testimony, he said that he felt he had become a better Christian and a better person as a result of the class. And he actually admitted his flaws of having been so judgmental and so sanctimonious that he was alienating people. From going from the start where he thought the devil was standing next to me lecturing to having that kind of moment, and being honest about it was to me one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s something that I talk about when I talk about this class and the transformative power that it’s had.\"</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Islam</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6174\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The Quran, the Islamic holy scriptures\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6174\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/quran_flickr_insansains-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion with roughly 1.25 billion followers spread throughout the world. It is the second largest religion with 21% of the Earth’s population, meaning almost 1 in 5 people are Muslim, with the highest concentrations of adherents being in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran.\r\n\r\nI also interviewed Tuba Rizvi, a young Muslim woman who I met through school. Tuba was born in Pakistan, was raised in Saudi Arabia, and then came to the United States as a sophomore in high school.\r\n\r\n“The foundation of Islam is believing in the Oneness of God: the fact that God has no preceding or succeeding family and the fact that he is All-Knowing and has control over everything. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, we have several rules we are to abide by,” she said. A few of which are: not eating meats that aren’t slaughtered properly (called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallal#Dhabiha:_method_of_slaughter\"><em>halal</em></a>, similar to the Jewish <em>kosher</em>), abstaining from alcohol and keeping sex within the bounds of marriage. “Islam also has several sects, just like many other religions do. The two most common ones are the Sunni, the more dominant sect, and the Shia, which I belong to.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Everyday Life</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6169\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Tuba Rizvi\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6169\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tubarizvi-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike Saeed who said that he was practically born into Islam, Tuba has a slightly different story. While she has been Muslim her whole life, she has only been a <em>fully practicing</em> Muslim since December 2011. She decided to embrace her Muslim roots during the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar, Muharram, which is a time of mourning for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson for Shias.\r\n\r\n“During Muharram, I just sat there and thought to myself, if someone as great as the grandson of our Prophet sacrificed his entire family just to save Islam in its true form, then I don’t understand why I should give up on my religion so quickly.”\r\n\r\nHer new commitment to Islam changed her a lot as a person, as it affects almost everything she does during the day. “It made me more aware of my choices as a Muslim. What I wear, what I do during the day, what I eat, basically everything I do is influenced by my faith. Islam is not just a religion, it is a lifestyle.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6181\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Muslim women out on the town with friends\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6181\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-women-hijab_flickr_taufiq-at-eyecreation-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nTuba said that she had a hard time deciding to wear her Hijab (the Arabic word for the Islamic headscarf). “I was so scared to go out there with a scarf on my head, especially in America, a country with so many islamophobes,” she said. “It took everything in me to start wearing the Hijab here. Thankfully though, I have yet to face severe discrimination. Mostly I have met people who are really great about everything. They ask me questions, which makes me happy because they are not jumping to conclusions but instead trying to learn more about my religion.”\r\n<h2>Islam and Femininity</h2>\r\nI asked her how she felt when someone told her that she is oppressed because she is wearing her Hijab. She said, “At first I used to find it annoying … Now I just find it humorous. It’s funny someone would tell me that my personal decision to cover my body was more oppressive than a woman struggling to fit into societal standards of beauty.” Tuba continued:\r\n<blockquote>I do not think I am being oppressed, if anything I am the opposite of oppressed. A hijab is my <em>choice</em>. Despite the stigma attached to that little piece of cloth I carry around with me, my decision to wear the hijab liberates me. My body is mine, and I choose not to share it with anybody except the man I plan to fall in love with. I want to be judged by what is <em>in</em> my head, not by what’s on it. If trying not to fit into the plastic mold that our society has carved for us is oppressive, then I guess I am oppressed.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Islam and Terrorism</h2>\r\nTuba said something very poignant to me about this subject:\r\n<blockquote>Muslims are <em>not</em> terrorists. In fact, terrorism has no religion. There have been so many times I have seen people crack bomb jokes and think it is funny. It’s not. I would also like to let everybody know that we are overly sensitive to this topic, and people still seem to push our buttons, knowing that we are sensitive. This is because, like I said, Islam is not just our religion, it is our lifestyle, and making fun of our religion is like making fun of our lives. No one likes being told that their whole life is a joke. People are always misquoting the Quran, saying that it promotes violence and the killing of everyone who is not Muslim, when in actuality our Holy Book says that a man who kills another man is not a Muslim at all.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>About Sharia</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6177\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim woman and her boy\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6177\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-woman-boy_flickr_amrufm-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the big messages being heralded throughout the political landscape is the attempt to ban the Sharia. I knew enough about the Sharia to know the perception of it was incorrect, but I asked Saeed to explain it a little bit better to me. “<em>Sharia</em> basically means ‘law’. I would say it’s more of a code, but it’s a fairly encompassing code which has in it dimensions of the legal and dimensions of ethics,” he said. The Sharia was instrumental in reshaping culture during the time of Muhammad.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6178\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"105\" caption=\"The star and crescent, a symbol of Islam\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons.png\"><img class=\" wp-image-6178 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/star-and-crescent_wikipedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"105\" height=\"105\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Generally when a non-Muslim hears about Sharia, they tend to think corporal or capital punishment, cutting off the hands for thefts, cutting off the head for murder, stoning to death for adultery. And then it extends into ‘Well then, what would be asked of a non-Muslim?’ If you ask a Muslim what they think of Sharia, he or she will say that it conducts their code of conduct, it tells them when and how to pray, when and how to fast, how to deal with my family and community, and what to eat and what not to eat. It’s much more of an ethical impetus.”\r\n\r\nSaeed said that the trouble in the debate about Sharia comes when Muslims tell people not to think of Sharia so violently and Americans say “No, we know what Sharia is about,” the trouble is that both parties are right. He said: “The ideas about the corporal punished <em>are</em> part of Sharia the same way that up until recently in the arc of American history, a black man and a white woman couldn’t get married in Mississippi.”\r\n<blockquote>One of the things that scares people about Sharia is the enforcement issue. There is no enforcement of Sharia in America except through the honor system of the individual. I mean, even the local imam has no authoritative jurisdiction over you. And they are also worried that maybe Muslims here will be taking direction from Saudi Arabia or Iran which are considered the centers of Islamic culture, but no one would even give them the respect to do that. So what I think it comes down to is ‘What provisions does the American legal system make for Sharia?’ And it does already in the same way it does Jewish law and Christian law. I mean, people don’t find it a contradiction in this conversation that people have off for Easter. They are worried that sharing the space with others will mean the eroding of Christian culture, and I don’t really see that being under threat by anyone other than Christians.</blockquote>\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6179\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Muslim man praying\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6179\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/muslim-man-praying_flickr_dvidshub-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing that I love about Islam is the commitment to prayer. It makes me feel weird sometimes about my own faith because if Muslims stop what they are doing five times a day and stop and pray… That’s quite a bit of commitment. Why aren’t I doing that?\r\n\r\nBoth Saeed and Tuba are remarkable, personable people. Saeed is doing so much good work speaking all over the world on behalf of Muslims and interfaith efforts.  Tuba has infectious laughter, is wonderful to be around and is incredibly smart.\r\n\r\nSaeed and Tuba answered any questions I had to ask them, which is key to building a healthy and loving respect that can exist between people of very different backgrounds. I know this is only scratching the surface and I can’t wait to get to know both of them and their cultures better.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Saeed Khan and Tuba Rizvi for talking to me about themselves, their beliefs, and their beautiful cultures.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/363218273/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">hashmil</a> (Nimal Road Mosque in Colomo), Saeed Khan (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/5282815849/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">David Stanley</a> (Mosque in Ghadames), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47018070@N08/4412748105/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">insansains</a> (the Qur\'an), Tuba Rizvi (used with permission), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/txh62/3177087544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">taufiq @ eyecreation</a> (Muslim girls wearing hijab), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">amrufm</a> (Muslim woman and boy), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/578107847/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia Commons</a> (the star and crescent), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/6074152050/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DVIDSHUB</a> (Muslim man praying)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Islam','','inherit','open','open','','6166-revision-16','','','2012-04-25 12:28:47','2012-04-25 19:28:47','',6166,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/25/6166-revision-16/',0,'revision','',0),(6377,38,'2012-04-28 20:16:56','2012-04-29 03:16:56','<div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6071\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A photo of Carl\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6071 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl Marshall, a Bahá’í gentleman from Detroit, Michigan, moved his coffee across the table. “We are in the middle of a fasting month—or actually at the very end of it—so I should probably stop eating. I think the sun rises at 7:35 today.”\r\n\r\n</div>\r\nThe Bahá\'í calendar has nineteen months with nineteen days in each month. During the last month of the year, which falls between March 2<sup>nd</sup> and March 21<sup>st</sup>, members participate in a fast very similar to Ramadan.\r\n\r\nMy first encounter with the Baha’i faith was with a gentleman that sat next to me on a plane from Orlando to Detroit. We first started talking about the book I was reading, but once I learned what religion he was a part of (how this happened, I have no idea) I asked him all sorts of questions and we talked for the remainder of the flight. It was one of the most wonderful and fascinating conversations I’ve ever had.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6092\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bahá’í Lotus Temple in Delhi, India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6092  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bahai-lotus-temple_flickr_jeeheon-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl grew up as a Christian in Detroit his mother attending Reverend C.L. Franklin’s church. He eventually moved to the Hawaiian Islands, where he became a Baha\'i in 1973. He was reading a book about comparative religion, and he said that the world’s religions seemed separate, compartmentalized, and without connection to each other. But then he met some Bahá\'í s and they explained the concept of Progressive Revelation.\r\n\r\n“What that means is that it’s just one God and one Religion, and every thousand years or so, God sends forth a new messenger, and these messengers have been the founders of the world’s great religions.”\r\n\r\nBahá\'u\'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í religion, is the most recent messenger and is the Promised One of all the religions. “So I saw the unity there, where everything is not coming from a different source, but just a different messenger that’s giving a newer revelation of the previous religion.”\r\n\r\nThe interesting thing about Progressive Revelation is that it gives The Bahá’ís the ability to learn about and appreciate each of the world religions because they are all part of a greater movement through time. “In the Bible you have the Old and New Testament. In the Bahá’í faith, Bahá\'u\'lláh’s revelation consist of the New Testament, and all the previous religions are accepted as the Old Testament.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6095\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"191\" caption=\"Two children in front of the Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6095 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/children-bahai-temple_flickr_upsilon-andromedae-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThey believe in all the major figures of religions across the world: Moses, His Holiness Christ, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, and Mohammed because they are all key messengers with a holy book from God.  Because he is The Promised One of all religions, Bahá\'u\'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the prophecies that were given throughout all of the different holy books. “Bahá\'u\'lláh didn’t come to belittle <em>any</em> religion but to unify, connect and fulfill the previous dispensations.”\r\n\r\nCarl says that this is what the world really needs right now, and in another thousand years there will be another messenger to address the next millennium’s needs, which will occur approximately in the year 2852 AD. “It has to be that way because society advances. So, for example, Moses unified the tribes; Jesus, the church and state; Mohammed, a nation; and now Bahá\'u\'lláh has come to unify the world.”\r\n\r\nMany of the spiritual principles that govern Bahá’í conduct are contained in the book called, “The Hidden Words” of Bahá\'u\'lláh. There are twelve main principles of the Bahá’í faith. One is the elimination of prejudice, and another is the equality of men and women. “It’s not just lip service; it’s one of the founding principles of our faith, and we live by that,” Carl says. There is no clergy or priest hood in the Bahá’í Faith. However elections are held on the 21<sup>st</sup> of April of each year to elect 9 individuals who consult of the teaching, and administrative affairs within their city. Individuals are elected on the basis of their service, purity of heart, and firmness in the covenant.\r\n\r\nThe 9 individuals elected form what is known as the local Spiritual Assembly. Often times women outnumber the men on local spiritual assemblies. “I believe that one reason for this, and this is my own personal opinion, is that women are more spiritually evolved than men. They suffer more and have more test and trials. The equality of women began with the Bahá’í faith. The Bahá’í faith recognized that women have just as much to offer in the way of teaching and spiritual growth as men.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6097\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mt. Carmel where the Shrine and holy scriptures are\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6097\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mt-carmel_flickr_brett-wagner-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo how do the Bahá’ís practice their faith on a daily basis? Carl says that Bahá\'u\'lláh came to renew religion and remove ritual from faith. However, they are required to fast during the last month of the Bahá’í calendar (called ‘Ala), are required to pray and read from the holy writings in every morning and night.\r\n\r\n“So, for instance, today I got up, I read from the writings and I prayed,” Carl says that according to the research department in the Holy Land the revelation of the Bab, the prophet herald of Bahá\'u\'lláh, contains almost five million words. In relation to Bahá\'u\'lláh, the role of the Bab was similar to the role of John the Baptist to Christ. The revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh contains over six million words, equivalent of more than 100 volumes.   “Being a Bahá’í is not something you do on Sunday; it’s a way of life. Since I live from a set of spiritual principles, every time I encounter someone it’s a test, as far as how you react and respond to them.”\r\n\r\nThe Bahá’í faith is one based on love. When you meet someone, Carl says that you try to show them—depending on their age and sex—the kind of love you would give to a brother, sister, father or mother.\r\n\r\nRegarding out daily life; Abdu\'l-Bahá has said; Should any one of you enter a city, he should become a center of attraction by reason of his sincerity, his faithfulness and love, his honesty and fidelity, his truthfulness and loving-kindness towards all the peoples of the world, so that the people of that city may cry out and say: \'This man is unquestionably a Bahá\'í, for his manners, his behavior, his conduct, his morals, his nature, and disposition reflect the attributes of the Bahá\'ís.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6100\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6100\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/shrine-bab_flickr_jay-galvin-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Shrine of the Báb\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne misconception about the Baha\'i faith is that it’s a cult. Cults are usually small groups that are governed by a radical leader who tries to isolate the group from society and tries to keep them from listening to anyone else. Yet, one of the twelve principles of the Bahá’í faith is the independent study and vetting of your faith. So, in other words, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that his books are open and that you should not believe something because someone tells you to, but because you’ve investigated and discovered the faith for yourself.\r\n\r\nAlso the Bahá’í faith is not a division of any previous religion. It is a new and independent revelation from God. The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh consist of over 100 volumes which are located on God’s holy mountain; Mt. Carmel in Haifa Israel.\r\n\r\nOne of the things Carl loves about being a Bahá’í is the fasting because it has nothing to do with losing weight. “It’s designed to purify the heart and cleanse the soul. And so what happens when you fast is you become detached and it increases your spiritual awareness, which allows for the other thing I love about it which is the understanding of religion in general. You reach a point of certitude where you understand how everything is connected together. Things have a deeper meaning.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6102\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Dome of Light in the Bahai Temple, North of Chicago\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6102\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe way his faith has helped Carl through difficult times in his life is by strengthening his faith. “Basically, a ‘difficult time’ is a test. So, say for instance someone was saying something mean or inappropriate to me. I can react the old way or the Baha\'i way. Bahá\'u\'lláh says there is always a choice. The Bahá’í way is to forgive the person, and ultimately get to the point where it doesn’t bother me anymore. A difficult time is a test used to perfect my character. I know that whatever happens, everything is temporary. So, I think I can make it. I can get through this stuff.”\r\n\r\nGlobally, the Bahá’í practices are consistent, so anywhere in the world you go, the Bahá\'ís will have the same four types of gatherings.\r\n<ol start=\"1\">\r\n	<li>The Devotional Gathering is designed to connect hearts through prayer. They are designed to be a bit more social so people have a way to connect with the larger community and find a home in this tumultuous world. Often times a devotional gathering leads to a Fireside. These take place in the home and during the Fireside a short talk is presented on the Bahá’í Faith and then the floor for questions.</li>\r\n	<li>Study Circles are open to all, and often take place in the home. Course material is based on the revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh. The first Study Circle deals with Prayer, the soul and the afterlife.</li>\r\n	<li>Junior youth classes are available.</li>\r\n	<li>Children’s classes are offered. The goal is to establish more through the metro Detroit area, although some people are not very receptive to them since they are not Christian.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nAs far as the afterlife, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that your soul is destined to undergo a spiritual evolution until it attains the presence of God. This spiritual evolution is eternal.” Quoting from Abdu\'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá\'u\'lláh, Carl says, “When you die, your soul is plunged in the ocean of God’s mercy. Your behavior in this life and the decisions you make impacts your station in eternity. The degree of purity you attain in this world determines where you start in the afterlife.”\r\n\r\nBut what happens to those who don’t become a Bahá\'í? Are there consequences?  “Well, there isn’t any place where you go and you burn.” Carl says. According to the Bahá’í writings “The spiritual meaning of burning in hell refers to the burning desire to be closer to the creator. Those who choose to ignore Bahá\'u\'lláh in this life will be remote from him in the afterlife. I would define hell as acute and grievous remorse for not recognizing the promised one. This remorse is eternal due to remoteness from God.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6088\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The symbol for the Bahá&#039;í Faith (Wikimedia Commons)\"]<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6088 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/400px-Bahai_star-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing I noticed immediately about the Bahá’í faith is the emphasis on unity. I love the fact that two of their main pillars of faith are the elimination of prejudice and the equality of men and women. It’s not just something they try to do when they are in the mood, but it’s something that their faith is built upon.\r\n\r\nAnother thing that I find beautiful is the fact that they have a way of valuing all the different religions. To them, there is a thread running through all of history. Humanity has a greater story than divisions between rival religious factions, arguments between different denominations, or religiously perpetrated bigotry. Humanity has a beautiful story that is being continually shaped and is still growing and changing.\r\n\r\nCarl was extremely kind and very open to any questions I had. He corrected me a couple of times when I got nervous over a stupid question by saying “No, no question is stupid!” Even since our conversation I have emailed him about other things and he has taken the time to answer all of them, and has told me any time I have other questions he will set aside time to talk to me.\r\n\r\nI look forward to future conversations and appreciate him taking time to share his story and his faith with me.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Carl Marshall for his kindness, generosity, and for meeting with me to share his faith with me.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Next, we\'ll hear from Mandheer Singh, a Sikh gentleman from Rochester Hills.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/35176612@N03/3755376430/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">random exposure</a> (Shrine of the Báb and Bahá\'í Gardens), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jeeheon</a> (Bahai Lotus Temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Upsilon Andromedae</a> (siblings at the Shrine), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">brett.wagner</a> (view from Mt. Carmel), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jay galvin</a> (Shrine of the <em>Báb), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctot_non_def/1434223112/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ctot_not_def</a> (Dome of Light)</em> <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (the symbol for the Bahá\'í faith)</em>','Faith Interview Series: The Bahá\'í Faith','','inherit','open','open','','6068-revision-19','','','2012-04-28 20:16:56','2012-04-29 03:16:56','',6068,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6068-revision-19/',0,'revision','',0),(6378,38,'2012-04-28 20:47:32','2012-04-29 03:47:32','<div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6071\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A photo of Carl\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6071 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Carl_Marshall-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl Marshall, a Bahá’í gentleman from Detroit, Michigan, moved his coffee across the table. “We are in the middle of a fasting month—or actually at the very end of it—so I should probably stop eating. I think the sun rises at 7:35 today.”\r\n\r\n</div>\r\nThe Bahá\'í calendar has nineteen months with nineteen days in each month. During the last month of the year, which falls between March 2<sup>nd</sup> and March 21<sup>st</sup>, members participate in a fast very similar to Ramadan.\r\n\r\nMy first encounter with the Baha’i faith was with a gentleman that sat next to me on a plane from Orlando to Detroit. We first started talking about the book I was reading, but once I learned what religion he was a part of (how this happened, I have no idea) I asked him all sorts of questions and we talked for the remainder of the flight. It was one of the most wonderful and fascinating conversations I’ve ever had.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6092\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bahá’í Lotus Temple in Delhi, India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6092  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bahai-lotus-temple_flickr_jeeheon-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nCarl grew up as a Christian in Detroit his mother attending Reverend C.L. Franklin’s church. He eventually moved to the Hawaiian Islands, where he became a Baha\'i in 1973. He was reading a book about comparative religion, and he said that the world’s religions seemed separate, compartmentalized, and without connection to each other. But then he met some Bahá\'í s and they explained the concept of Progressive Revelation.\r\n\r\n“What that means is that it’s just one God and one Religion, and every thousand years or so, God sends forth a new messenger, and these messengers have been the founders of the world’s great religions.”\r\n\r\nBahá\'u\'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í religion, is the most recent messenger and is the Promised One of all the religions. “So I saw the unity there, where everything is not coming from a different source, but just a different messenger that’s giving a newer revelation of the previous religion.”\r\n\r\nThe interesting thing about Progressive Revelation is that it gives The Bahá’ís the ability to learn about and appreciate each of the world religions because they are all part of a greater movement through time. “In the Bible you have the Old and New Testament. In the Bahá’í faith, Bahá\'u\'lláh’s revelation consist of the New Testament, and all the previous religions are accepted as the Old Testament.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6095\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"191\" caption=\"Two children in front of the Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6095 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/children-bahai-temple_flickr_upsilon-andromedae-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThey believe in all the major figures of religions across the world: Moses, His Holiness Christ, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, and Mohammed because they are all key messengers with a holy book from God.  Because he is The Promised One of all religions, Bahá\'u\'lláh is believed to have fulfilled the prophecies that were given throughout all of the different holy books. “Bahá\'u\'lláh didn’t come to belittle <em>any</em> religion but to unify, connect and fulfill the previous dispensations.”\r\n\r\nCarl says that this is what the world really needs right now, and in another thousand years there will be another messenger to address the next millennium’s needs, which will occur approximately in the year 2852 AD. “It has to be that way because society advances. So, for example, Moses unified the tribes; Jesus, the church and state; Mohammed, a nation; and now Bahá\'u\'lláh has come to unify the world.”\r\n\r\nMany of the spiritual principles that govern Bahá’í conduct are contained in the book called, “The Hidden Words” of Bahá\'u\'lláh. There are twelve main principles of the Bahá’í faith. One is the elimination of prejudice, and another is the equality of men and women. “It’s not just lip service; it’s one of the founding principles of our faith, and we live by that,” Carl says. There is no clergy or priest hood in the Bahá’í Faith. However elections are held on the 21<sup>st</sup> of April of each year to elect 9 individuals who consult of the teaching, and administrative affairs within their city. Individuals are elected on the basis of their service, purity of heart, and firmness in the covenant.\r\n\r\nThe 9 individuals elected form what is known as the local Spiritual Assembly. Often times women outnumber the men on local spiritual assemblies. “I believe that one reason for this, and this is my own personal opinion, is that women are more spiritually evolved than men. They suffer more and have more test and trials. The equality of women began with the Bahá’í faith. The Bahá’í faith recognized that women have just as much to offer in the way of teaching and spiritual growth as men.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6097\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mt. Carmel where the Shrine and holy scriptures are\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6097\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mt-carmel_flickr_brett-wagner-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo how do the Bahá’ís practice their faith on a daily basis? Carl says that Bahá\'u\'lláh came to renew religion and remove ritual from faith. However, they are required to fast during the last month of the Bahá’í calendar (called ‘Ala), are required to pray and read from the holy writings in every morning and night.\r\n\r\n“So, for instance, today I got up, I read from the writings and I prayed,” Carl says that according to the research department in the Holy Land the revelation of the Bab, the prophet herald of Bahá\'u\'lláh, contains almost five million words. In relation to Bahá\'u\'lláh, the role of the Bab was similar to the role of John the Baptist to Christ. The revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh contains over six million words, equivalent of more than 100 volumes.   “Being a Bahá’í is not something you do on Sunday; it’s a way of life. Since I live from a set of spiritual principles, every time I encounter someone it’s a test, as far as how you react and respond to them.”\r\n\r\nThe Bahá’í faith is one based on love. When you meet someone, Carl says that you try to show them—depending on their age and sex—the kind of love you would give to a brother, sister, father or mother.\r\n\r\nRegarding out daily life; Abdu\'l-Bahá has said; Should any one of you enter a city, he should become a center of attraction by reason of his sincerity, his faithfulness and love, his honesty and fidelity, his truthfulness and loving-kindness towards all the peoples of the world, so that the people of that city may cry out and say: \'This man is unquestionably a Bahá\'í, for his manners, his behavior, his conduct, his morals, his nature, and disposition reflect the attributes of the Bahá\'ís.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6100\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Shrine of the Báb\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6100\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/shrine-bab_flickr_jay-galvin-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Shrine of the Báb\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne misconception about the Baha\'i faith is that it’s a cult. Cults are usually small groups that are governed by a radical leader who tries to isolate the group from society and tries to keep them from listening to anyone else. Yet, one of the twelve principles of the Bahá’í faith is the independent study and vetting of your faith. So, in other words, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that his books are open and that you should not believe something because someone tells you to, but because you’ve investigated and discovered the faith for yourself.\r\n\r\nAlso the Bahá’í faith is not a division of any previous religion. It is a new and independent revelation from God. The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh consist of over 100 volumes which are located on God’s holy mountain; Mt. Carmel in Haifa Israel.\r\n\r\nOne of the things Carl loves about being a Bahá’í is the fasting because it has nothing to do with losing weight. “It’s designed to purify the heart and cleanse the soul. And so what happens when you fast is you become detached and it increases your spiritual awareness, which allows for the other thing I love about it which is the understanding of religion in general. You reach a point of certitude where you understand how everything is connected together. Things have a deeper meaning.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6102\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Dome of Light in the Bahai Temple, North of Chicago\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6102\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dome-of-light_flickr_ctot-not-def-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe way his faith has helped Carl through difficult times in his life is by strengthening his faith. “Basically, a ‘difficult time’ is a test. So, say for instance someone was saying something mean or inappropriate to me. I can react the old way or the Baha\'i way. Bahá\'u\'lláh says there is always a choice. The Bahá’í way is to forgive the person, and ultimately get to the point where it doesn’t bother me anymore. A difficult time is a test used to perfect my character. I know that whatever happens, everything is temporary. So, I think I can make it. I can get through this stuff.”\r\n\r\nGlobally, the Bahá’í practices are consistent, so anywhere in the world you go, the Bahá\'ís will have the same four types of gatherings.\r\n<ol start=\"1\">\r\n	<li>The Devotional Gathering is designed to connect hearts through prayer. They are designed to be a bit more social so people have a way to connect with the larger community and find a home in this tumultuous world. Often times a devotional gathering leads to a Fireside. These take place in the home and during the Fireside a short talk is presented on the Bahá’í Faith and then the floor for questions.</li>\r\n	<li>Study Circles are open to all, and often take place in the home. Course material is based on the revelation of Bahá\'u\'lláh. The first Study Circle deals with Prayer, the soul and the afterlife.</li>\r\n	<li>Junior youth classes are available.</li>\r\n	<li>Children’s classes are offered. The goal is to establish more through the metro Detroit area, although some people are not very receptive to them since they are not Christian.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nAs far as the afterlife, Bahá\'u\'lláh says that your soul is destined to undergo a spiritual evolution until it attains the presence of God. This spiritual evolution is eternal.” Quoting from Abdu\'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá\'u\'lláh, Carl says, “When you die, your soul is plunged in the ocean of God’s mercy. Your behavior in this life and the decisions you make impacts your station in eternity. The degree of purity you attain in this world determines where you start in the afterlife.”\r\n\r\nBut what happens to those who don’t become a Bahá\'í? Are there consequences?  “Well, there isn’t any place where you go and you burn.” Carl says. According to the Bahá’í writings “The spiritual meaning of burning in hell refers to the burning desire to be closer to the creator. Those who choose to ignore Bahá\'u\'lláh in this life will be remote from him in the afterlife. I would define hell as acute and grievous remorse for not recognizing the promised one. This remorse is eternal due to remoteness from God.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6088\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The symbol for the Bahá&#039;í Faith (Wikimedia Commons)\"]<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6088 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/400px-Bahai_star-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne thing I noticed immediately about the Bahá’í faith is the emphasis on unity. I love the fact that two of their main pillars of faith are the elimination of prejudice and the equality of men and women. It’s not just something they try to do when they are in the mood, but it’s something that their faith is built upon.\r\n\r\nAnother thing that I find beautiful is the fact that they have a way of valuing all the different religions. To them, there is a thread running through all of history. Humanity has a greater story than divisions between rival religious factions, arguments between different denominations, or religiously perpetrated bigotry. Humanity has a beautiful story that is being continually shaped and is still growing and changing.\r\n\r\nCarl was extremely kind and very open to any questions I had. He corrected me a couple of times when I got nervous over a stupid question by saying “No, no question is stupid!” Even since our conversation I have emailed him about other things and he has taken the time to answer all of them, and has told me any time I have other questions he will set aside time to talk to me.\r\n\r\nI look forward to future conversations and appreciate him taking time to share his story and his faith with me.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thank you to Carl Marshall for his kindness, generosity, and for meeting with me to share his faith with me.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><strong><em><strong>Hear about gurus, turbans, and the Five K\'s next from </strong></em>Mandheer Singh, a Sikh gentleman from Rochester Hills.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/35176612@N03/3755376430/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">random exposure</a> (Shrine of the Báb and Bahá\'í Gardens), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeeheon/4663379544/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jeeheon</a> (Bahai Lotus Temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/upsand/427782737/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Upsilon Andromedae</a> (siblings at the Shrine), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwags/3048517550/sizes/z/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">brett.wagner</a> (view from Mt. Carmel), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaygalvin/230687375/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">jay galvin</a> (Shrine of the <em>Báb), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctot_non_def/1434223112/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ctot_not_def</a> (Dome of Light)</em> <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bahai_star.svg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (the symbol for the Bahá\'í faith)</em>','Faith Interview Series: The Bahá\'í Faith','','inherit','open','open','','6068-revision-20','','','2012-04-28 20:47:32','2012-04-29 03:47:32','',6068,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6068-revision-20/',0,'revision','',0),(6379,38,'2012-04-28 20:28:20','2012-04-29 03:28:20','[caption id=\"attachment_6188\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Rev. Rob Henderson\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rob-henderson_stand.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6188\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rob-henderson_stand-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe sun was out in Downtown Plymouth. The town was full of people bearing possibility and happiness. It was late Saturday afternoon the day before the Christian holiday, Easter. The park in the center of town was full of dogs, families, and people climbing in trees and the restaurants had their sidewalk tables out. The sun warmed the skin on my face as I walked down the street to Starbucks.\r\n\r\nI found Rev. Rob Henderson, Senior Druid of <a href=\"http://www.shininglakes.org/\">Shining Lakes Grove, ADF</a> sitting to one side of the store on his laptop. He has lived in Michigan as long as he can remember. He grew up in the Ann Arbor area and studied Computer Science at the University of Michigan.\r\n\r\nShining Lakes Grove was founded in 1993 and it was well established by the time Rob joined the group in 1996. They currently have about fifteen members spread across lower Michigan. He was raised Catholic but his family “had pretty much exited the faith by the time I was ten or eleven, and then I wandered around aimlessly for a bit,” he told me.\r\n\r\nRob first became interested in Druidism when he met some pagans in his teen years. They told him about paganism and explained the beliefs. “It seemed to be who I was, and I thought ‘Well, they seem like nice, stable, well-adjusted people,’” Rob chuckled. “You know, I think I’ve reached the point where I’ve been a Druid for half my lifetime.” He also dabbled in occultist/ceremonial magic for a while, but quickly realized it wasn’t for him before moving completely into Neopagan Druidism.\r\n\r\n“So, what exactly do you believe?” I asked him.\r\n“Well, we are a orthopraxis belief system, so it’s more about right worship and practice than right belief.”\r\n<h2>About Shining Lakes Grove</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6193\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"The SLG banner\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/convo02banner.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6193\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/convo02banner-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nShining Lakes Grove is a part of the ADF, which stands for A Druid Fellowship, the largest Neopagan Druidism organization in the world. According to <a href=\"http://www.adf.org/\">their website</a> ADF is “a completely independent Druid tradition” with over 4500 cumulative and 1100 current members across the globe.\r\n\r\nOn their website, <a href=\"http://www.adf.org/about/basics/beliefs.html\">ADF says</a> that “We believe in a multiplicity of gods and goddesses, as well as lesser beings, many of whom are worthy of respect, love and worship. […] While some of us believe in a ‘Supreme Being,’ Neopagan Druidism is emphatically polytheistic.”\r\n<h2>Neopagan Druid Beliefs</h2>\r\nRob explained to me that there are three types of entities that he and his fellow Druids worship, which are\r\n\r\ncollectively referred to as “the Kindreds”: nature spirits, ancestors (direct, inspired, local, etc.), and deities, the latter of which includes Indo-European gods of the Celtic, Norse, Hellenic, Roman, Vedic and Slavic traditions.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6196\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"&quot;It must be Beltaine, the trilliums are everywhere!&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/trillium_flickr_tasitch.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6196\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/trillium_flickr_tasitch-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDruids have home worship on a weekly—or in Rob’s case, daily—basis by doing things like burning incense or lighting and candle and praying or meditation. They don’t gather as a group on a weekly basis because distance is an obstacle, so they gather for eight High Days throughout the year.\r\n\r\nThree Cranes Grove, another ADF Grove located in Columbus, Ohio explains what the eight High Days celebrate:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#samhain\">Samhain</a> (November 1<sup>st</sup>) – The New Year celebration related to Halloween, The Festival of the Dead, and in the Greek tradition the beginning of Demeter’s mourning during her daughter’s six month spell in Hades</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#wisolstice\">Winter Solstice</a> (around December 22<sup>nd</sup>) – The celebration of the return from darkness and rituals are performed to bring back the sun that has been hidden, and God was conceived on the Winter Solstice</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#imbolc\">Imbolc</a> (February 1<sup>st</sup>) – This celebration focused on the fact that the first signs of life are starting to come back into the world, and it’s important to join with friends to warm your heart even if the Earth will remain cold for a while.</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#spequinox\">Spring Equinox</a> (around March 21<sup>st</sup>) – This is the celebration of the start of the light half of the year, gardening and planting is commenced, and according to some traditions, the God begins to court the Goddess.</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#beltaine\">Beltaine</a> (May 1<sup>st</sup>) – This holiday focuses around fertility and the joining of new life (which is said to be the marriage date of God and Goddess and is chosen to be the wedding day of many Neopagans), many times includes a maypole dance.</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#susolstice\">Summer Solstice</a> (June 22<sup>nd</sup>) – Height of the year, celebration of the middle of the year and the hill downward toward Autumn and Samhain</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#lughnassad\">Lughnassad</a> (August 1<sup>st</sup>) - Beginning of the harvest, is associated with the god Laugh, and the continuing marriage of the God and Goddess</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.threecranes.org/hhd.html#auequinox\">Autumnal Equinox</a> (around September 22<sup>nd</sup>) – The beginning of the dark half of the year, the approach and the beauty of Fall, and preparations for the chill that is coming.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6203\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A maypole during Beltaine\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/maypole_flickr_intangiblearts.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6203\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/maypole_flickr_intangiblearts-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nShining Lakes Grove is about to celebrate Beltaine in a few weeks. “We just celebrated Spring Equinox a couple of weeks ago, so my friends and I remark that we were confused when grocery stores still had egg dying kits around. ‘Why are these still here? We already celebrated! Oh, that’s right, Easter!’”\r\n\r\n“Is Beltaine the one with the Maypole?” I asked. Rob said, “Yes!” He told me the Norse had a mythical concept of a World Tree, which in modern times is represented by a wooden pole, called a bilé, used in all Druid rituals including the Maypole celebrations. According to Norse traditions the bilé was made out of an Ash tree, but the members of the Shining Lakes Grove didn’t want to kill a tree to create one. Instead, they used a Quaking Aspen, which has multiple trunks, so they were able to create a bilé while leaving the tree remain intact and alive.\r\n\r\nRob isn’t sure whether or not his community will have a maypole dance as the owner of their sacred grove passed away and they have to relocate, “which is a shame, because I really liked the owner and we had developed good relationships with the land spirits there.”\r\n<h2>Misconceptions</h2>\r\nHe talked about how people were kind towards him when they find out he is a pagan, but he thinks that might be part of living in Ann Arbor, a rather spiritually open city. I mentioned that the influx of college students from the nearby university probably helped, but he said, “Actually, we don’t get that many college-aged students. It seems like college-aged people want more <em>energy-</em>based types of spirituality, with stuff like Chi and combining personal energy and focusing it on something.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6208\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Druids out for a dance during Beltaine\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druids-dance_flickr_Shadowgate.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6208 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druids-dance_flickr_Shadowgate-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEnergy combining was the only concept of paganism that I really had, so I asked Rob how the energy-based types differed from Druidism. He said “We are building a modern religion based on Indo-European cultures by incorporating elements from their languages, beliefs and practices because none of them really left us a robust enough system to have a standalone religion. Druidism is based on of the concept of giving and receiving and building relationships.” Giving and receiving is exhibited through giving offerings and forms of worship (which include song, dance, group and individual praise) so the Kindreds will help the Druids in their lives. The building of relationships takes place with the Kindreds and with each other as a community.\r\n\r\nThere are several misconceptions about the Neopagan Druid community, one of which is that all Druids are men. “There is evidence in ancient texts that there were female Druids. We believe in the equality of women. They are welcome to participate equally and be clergy,” which almost half of the Shining Lakes Grove Clergy are. Druids have no prejudice as far as race, gender, or sexual orientation. “All are welcome to be a part of our community,” he told me.\r\n\r\nThe other misconception is that people think when Druids use the words “offerings” or “sacrifices” that they mean blood offerings. “The ADF specifically bans blood offerings. Any kind of blood offering: animal, human, and even cutting yourself for rituals is prohibited. One of the ADF’s main goals is to be a religion for the 21<span style=\"font-size: 11px\">st </span>century.” ADF Druids use grains, incense, oils, and even art as offerings.\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nOn <a href=\"http://adf.livejournal.com/151342.html\">ADF’s Livejournal</a>, a member by the username <em>filiavallis</em> <a href=\"http://adf.livejournal.com/151342.html\">said</a>:\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6205\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Druid at the Stonehenge Summer Solstice (2009)\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druid_flickr_vintagedepot.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6205 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/druid_flickr_vintagedepot-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“And the last time a couple of representatives of one of our local churches came around […] we stood and talked about Druidism for about forty-five minutes. They’d never met or talked to anyone on a Druid path before. So now, for good or ill, whatever preconceptions they had of ‘Pagan’ are at least partially superseded by the picture of a slightly grubby, cheerfully talkative, and generally rather ordinary suburban housewife-and-mom with some unusual but rational &amp; understandable ideas &amp; beliefs.”\r\n\r\nThis is what I found in Rob Henderson. While I was completely unfamiliar with the Druid path before speaking to him, I found Rob to be a very thoughtful, kind, and intelligent person. His beliefs, while very different from the traditions I grew up in, were rooted in the understanding and study of ancient cultures that allow him to appreciate nature, seasons, history and the way the world works together.\r\n\r\nRight before we parted ways, Rob added that Shining Lakes Groves is open and welcomes visitors even if they are unfamiliar with pagan practices. “You don’t have to know how to do rituals or know how to meditate to be a part of our community. We want people to know that we welcome them and that you don’t have to be an experienced Druid to join.”\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Rob Henderson for being willing to meet with me, and for talking to be about the Druid path, ADF, and his own community, Shining Lakes Grove, ADF. I look forward to future interactions and conversations with him and his fellow Druids.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Up next are two Christians, a pastor and author from Troy, and a teacher and elder from Waterford, Michigan.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Mannanan Shrine, Rev. Rob Henderson, SLG Banner (used with permission courtesy of Shining Lakes Grove, ADF), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/tasitch/24606530/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Tasitch</a> (Trilliums), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/intangible/2467735011/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">IntangibleArts</a> (Maypole), <em> <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowgate/3512844987/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Shadowgate</a> (Beltaine dancing),</em> <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/vintagedept/3645742207/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">vintagedepot</a> (Stonehenge Druid)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Neopagan Druidism','','inherit','open','open','','6187-revision-19','','','2012-04-28 20:28:20','2012-04-29 03:28:20','',6187,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6187-revision-19/',0,'revision','',0),(6380,38,'2012-04-24 18:46:01','2012-04-25 01:46:01','<div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6231\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A lotus flower, a common symbol in Buddhism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lotus_flickr_george-lu.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6231\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lotus_flickr_george-lu-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe house was filling with white light from the humid, but serene Sunday afternoon. I was sitting at kitchen table listening to three women and a gentleman from the Detroit Lotus Sangha, a Zen Buddhism group, talk through the remainder of their lesson together. They talked about practicing a Mindfulness Day as I munched on the deliciously tangy split pea and tomato soup that Gwen, the host, offered me.\r\n\r\n</div>\r\nNancy, one of the women at the table who is a recently retired special education teacher from Troy, Michigan, told me that she first came to the Sangha (a Buddhist word for “community”) about a year ago. After going on a retreat she came home and discovered the group. “I was sort of hooked,” she said. “Jaye, the owner of the studio where the Sangha meets, the members … They seemed to have integrity. And I felt comfortable there. Being there with them was gratifying and inspiring.”\r\n\r\nThe Detroit Lotus Sangha was founded by a Vietnamese gentleman named Si Mo about four and a half years ago. They meet every Sunday at a martial arts studio in Ferndale, Michigan. They have about one dozen regulars week-to-week and 40 members altogether.\r\n\r\nThe Detroit Lotus Sangha follows the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, the most well-known Buddhist in the West next to the Dalai Lama. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen Buddhist teacher who has written over one-hundred books, many of which are in English. He was nominated by Martin Luther King for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards non-violence during the Vietnam War.\r\n\r\nZen Buddhism is a section of the Mahayana school of Buddhism whose goal is to alleviate the suffering of all beings and social engagement from a non-violent perspective. “I’ve read a lot of Eastern Buddhist philosophy, which can be kind of obscure and difficult to understand. What Thich Nhat Hanh has done is he has written books with the Western perspective in mind. It makes it practical and extremely accessible for people like you and me to practice,” said Jaye.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6233\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Thich Nhat Hanh at the Huong Son Temple\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tnh_flickr_d-nelson.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6233\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tnh_flickr_d-nelson-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThich Nhat Hanh is one of the first real leaders for what Gwen referred to as <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engaged_Buddhism\">Engaged Buddhism</a>. “We aren’t a group of people just sitting on our cushions contemplating things.” Nancy, who is sitting on the other side of the table, stood up to show me the text on her Detroit Lotus Sangha chocolate-brown shirt: “Compassion is a verb.”\r\n\r\n“Well, it’s actually a noun,” Nancy said, “but that’s what it’s all about. It’s becoming aware of suffering around us, finding ways to alleviate for other beings and ourselves, and it’s about the call to nonviolence and social justice.”\r\n\r\nOne of the ways that the Sangha engages in social justice is by working with local charities. One of the local charities they will be working with soon is a farmer in Detroit. They will help prepare fields, plant organic crops, and distribute food. They also work with FernCare, a set of clinics for people without health insurance, and at the year’s end they donate to a fund that Thich Nhat Hanh established for post-Vietnam war children.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6238\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"174\" caption=\"A statue of the Buddha in the snow\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddha_flickr_edward-dalmulder_v2.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-6238 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddha_flickr_edward-dalmulder_v2-290x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"174\" height=\"180\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nGwen has been regularly meditating since late 2000. She found Thich Nhat Hanh’s books in 2004 and then found the Sangha just a few short years later. “His books made Buddhism so much more doable. It provides meditation techniques and everyday practices to help with negative emotions.”\r\n\r\n“It’s not just about sitting until your legs go numb. It’s about becoming more peaceful and involved in social movement in my life,” said Jaye. She said that for her the Sangha is an important part of her practice for building relationships with other people and hearing their struggles, thoughts and ideas to better themselves with.\r\n<h2>About Buddhism</h2>\r\nBuddhism is a nontheistic religion, with roughly 350 million followers across the globe, making it the fourth largest religion in the world. Zen Buddhism is a part of the Mahayana school of Buddhism.  The main goals of Mahayana Buddhism are: <strong>to do no evil, to do good, and save all beings.</strong>\r\n\r\nThere are three main sections of beliefs for Buddhists: the <strong>Four Noble Truths</strong>, the <strong>Eightfold Path</strong>, and the <strong>Ten Grand Precepts</strong>.\r\n<h2>The Four Noble Truths</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6241\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"90\" caption=\"The Dharma Wheel, a symbol of Buddhism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dharma-wheel_wikimedia-commons.png\"><img class=\" wp-image-6241 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dharma-wheel_wikimedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"90\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBuddhists believe in a set of four principles called the Four Noble Truths that explain the universe and all that is in it. Barbara O’Brien, a practicing Zen Buddhist (but not one of the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition) and writer for About.com says <a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/thefournobletruths/a/fournobletruths.htm\">this</a>: “The Buddha\'s teachings on the Four Noble Truths are sometimes compared to a physician diagnosing an illness and prescribing a treatment. The first truth tells us what the illness is, and the second truth tells us what causes the illness. The Third Noble Truth holds out hope for a cure.”\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>T<strong>he truth of suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha\">Dukkha</a>) – </strong>Most of the time, the first truth is translated as “Life is suffering.” But <em>dukkha</em>, the word used for “suffering” in this case refers to anything that is temporary, conditional, or passing. So, another way of looking at this is “Life is temporary.”</li>\r\n	<li><strong>The truth of the cause of suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudaya\">Samudaya</a>) – </strong>This truth means that suffering comes from a craving or thirst. We go through life trying to desperately find something to quench those cravings to fill the holes in our souls. We try to do this through things like relationships, food, clothing, power, etc. However, as much as we try, we are never satisfied. Humans have a tendency to latch onto things, whether they be material or ideas about the world. When these things come up empty and don’t satisfy our thirst, we only thirst more.</li>\r\n	<li><strong>The truth of the end of suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirodha\">Nirodha</a>) – </strong>Barbara O’Brien put it succinctly: “The Buddha taught that through diligent practice, we can put an end to craving. Ending the hamster-wheel chase after satisfaction is enlightenment.”</li>\r\n	<li><strong>The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magga\">Magga</a>)</strong></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n<h2>The Eightfold Path</h2>\r\nThe last of the Four Noble Truths refers to a path called the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is a set of principles that lay out the way to enlightenment. Since Buddhism is more of a orthopraxy religion than orthodoxy, they focus on <em>right action</em> instead of <em>right belief</em>. Thus, the Eightfold Path serves as an impetus and a way to equip you with a focused heart and mind (click any of the following items to learn more about them):\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/rightview.htm\">Right View</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/right-intention.htm\">Right Intention</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/rightspeech.htm\">Right Speech</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/right-action.htm\">Right Action</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/rightlivelihood.htm\">Right Livelihood</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/Right-Effort.htm\">Right Effort</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/right-mindfulness.htm\">Right Mindfulness</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/Right-Concentration.htm\">Right Concentration</a></strong></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n<h2>The Five Mindfulness Trainings</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6244\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"His Holiness the Dalai Lama\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dalai-lama_flickr_abhikram.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6244\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dalai-lama_flickr_abhikram-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nGwen told me, “I think one of the misconceptions that people have about Buddhism is they think anything goes, like we have no moral compass. We aren’t here to condemn anyone, however we do have a set of principles regarding things like sexuality remaining within the bounds of a committed, loving, long-term relationship that has been made known to friends and family, being careful of the kinds of movies that we watch, being mindful of what we eat, etc.”\r\n\r\n“Basically we try to avoid junk food of any kind, whether that be ideas, food, how we spend our time online, entertainment—that sort of thing,” Nancy added. The set of principles that she and Gwen were referring to is contained in the Five Mindfulness Trainings (other sects of Buddhism may have more or less depending on the group).\r\n\r\nThe Five Mindfulness Trainings are expressions of the principles of The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path:\r\n<ol start=\"1\">\r\n	<li><strong>Reverence for Life </strong>– Any form of killing to any living being is causing suffering to others, therefore causing more strife, emptiness, and harm to others, which is strictly against Buddhist goals and principles</li>\r\n	<li><strong>True Happiness </strong>– Somewhat related to the Reverence for Life, true happiness comes from helping eliminate and reduce the suffering of others</li>\r\n	<li><strong>True Love</strong> – The recognition that sexual desires and healthy, true love are very different things, one must strive to find the latter that can fill and express the former</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Loving Speech and Deep Listening</strong> – Words can damage or heal, and so the goal is to have loving, kind, and compassionate speech. Along with giving healing and warm words, one should also receive words from others in the same manner</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Nourishment and Healing – </strong>This is the principle that Nancy was speaking of when she said they try to avoid consuming junk. Toxins of all sorts are all around us, and the way to the clearest mind and spirit are to diligently fill our bodies and lives with things that promote health and clarity, not bog us down and make us sick.<strong></strong></li>\r\n</ol>\r\nI asked Gwen and Nancy if the “not killing” principle lead to vegetarianism for Buddhists. Nancy said, “It does a lot of the time. Whatever people are—vegetarian, vegan—they end up eating with more awareness.” Gwen added, “However, Buddhists leaders recognize that the principles can’t be followed 100%. Even as vegetarians by boiling vegetables we’re killing hundreds of micro-organisms.”\r\n<h2>How Buddhism Principles Are Practical for Everyone</h2>\r\nGwen said, “It might be useful for your readers to know that you don’t have to be a Buddhist to meditate. Dharma, which means ‘doctrine, teacher,’ or ‘the way to enlightenment,’ can be used to harmonize. In fact, Thich Nhat Hanh said if your beliefs don’t lead you to Buddhism, then ‘Be a better ____.’ Be a better Christian, be a better Muslim. He wasn’t trying to convert anyone.”\r\n\r\nIn Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Interbeing-Fourteen-Guidelines-Engaged-Buddhism/dp/0938077597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1334980566&amp;sr=8-1\">Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism</a>” he says the following:\r\n<blockquote>Aware of the suffering created by fanaticism and intolerance, we are determined not to be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist teachings are guiding mean to help us learn to look deeply and to develop our understanding and compassion. They are not doctrines to fight, kill, or die for.</blockquote>\r\nThis quote was significant to Nancy because it means they value Peace, <em>even elevating it above the survival of their own religion</em>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6246\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Buddhist Temple in Sikkim\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddhist-temple_flickr_devadath.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6246\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddhist-temple_flickr_devadath-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Detroit Lotus Sangha is currently working through another one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s book called “Anger”.  Jaye said, “It’s not about how to suppress anger, but how to not cause ourselves and others suffering from it. It’s not just ‘Don’t be angry, so cut it out,’ but finding out <em>why</em> we’re angry, learning to process those emotions, and trying to not let it run rampant.”\r\n\r\n“Today [at the Sangha] we used the word ‘pause’,” Nancy said.\r\n\r\n“The idea is: just stop. Stop the talking. Stop the thinking. Stop and be present. Breath,” Jaye said.\r\n\r\n“Otherwise,” Nancy added, “we have a tendency to give into Habit Energy.” (Habit Energy is any kind of emotional pattern we fall into, such as the Habit Energy to be anxious.)\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nJaye had to leave before the interview had concluded, but I asked Gwen and Nancy how practicing Buddhism has affected them as a person.\r\n\r\nGwen said, “I am much calmer now. I used to be very high-strung, compulsively working all the time. Now, I try to express things in a much more loving, compassionate way.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6248\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Ven. Thich Thong Hai rings the peace bell\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/peace-bell_flickr_ferdy001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6248\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/peace-bell_flickr_ferdy001-300x175.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNancy struggled to come up with the words, but then she said something really beautiful: “I can’t say I’ve arrived, but I think I’m more aware of my challenges. I’m not perfect, but I’m better than I used to be. Does that count for something?”\r\n\r\nWhen I first walked into Gwen’s house I was immediately struck by the group’s kindness. They offered me food, allowed me to sit at the table with them while they finished their lesson from earlier in the day, and there was great sense of serenity in the house as we talked.\r\n\r\nOne thing that made my heart warm was the fact that all three women at the table were quick to admit their own flaws. They didn’t pretend to have it all together, didn’t try to convince me they had all the answers, and didn’t try to ignore real life. Gwen, Nancy, and Jaye emphasized throughout the entire conversation that they were trying to be better.\r\n\r\nWhen Jaye left, the three women exchanged tips on how to set aside time for meditation. They spoke sweetly to each other and were completely honest about their lives and schedules. This kind of conversation spoke to me because it’s the kind of honest, constructive, and supportive conversation I want in my own life.\r\n\r\nI do plan on reading some of Thich Nhat Hanh’s books because I want to emulate many of the principles  in my own life. I am so grateful for Gwen’s hospitality and the warmth and openness that she, Nancy and Jaye showed me.  I look forward to learning even more the example that they lead in their lives.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Gwen, Nancy, Jaye, Dave, Sean, and the Detroit Lotus Sangha for being so generous and for talking with me.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/28096801@N05/3251271485/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DieselDemon</a> (Buddha), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/gzlu/377947069/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">George Lu</a> (Lotus), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/rezdog/450398263/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">d nelson</a> (Thich Nhat Hanh), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/edwarddalmulder/4195135224/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Edward Dalmulder</a> (snowy Buddha), <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dharma_Wheel.svg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Dharma Wheel), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/36668473@N05/4133002232/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">abhikrama</a> (His Holiness the Dalai Lama), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/devadath/238333921/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">devadath</a> (Buddhist temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/26524277@N04/6698468445/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ferdy001</a> (Ringing the peace bell)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Zen Buddhism','','inherit','open','open','','6226-revision-17','','','2012-04-24 18:46:01','2012-04-25 01:46:01','',6226,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/24/6226-revision-17/',0,'revision','',0),(6381,38,'2012-04-28 20:50:35','2012-04-29 03:50:35','<div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6231\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A lotus flower, a common symbol in Buddhism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lotus_flickr_george-lu.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6231\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lotus_flickr_george-lu-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe house was filling with white light from the humid, but serene Sunday afternoon. I was sitting at kitchen table listening to three women and a gentleman from the Detroit Lotus Sangha, a Zen Buddhism group, talk through the remainder of their lesson together. They talked about practicing a Mindfulness Day as I munched on the deliciously tangy split pea and tomato soup that Gwen, the host, offered me.\r\n\r\n</div>\r\nNancy, one of the women at the table who is a recently retired special education teacher from Troy, Michigan, told me that she first came to the Sangha (a Buddhist word for “community”) about a year ago. After going on a retreat she came home and discovered the group. “I was sort of hooked,” she said. “Jaye, the owner of the studio where the Sangha meets, the members … They seemed to have integrity. And I felt comfortable there. Being there with them was gratifying and inspiring.”\r\n\r\nThe Detroit Lotus Sangha was founded by a Vietnamese gentleman named Si Mo about four and a half years ago. They meet every Sunday at a martial arts studio in Ferndale, Michigan. They have about one dozen regulars week-to-week and 40 members altogether.\r\n\r\nThe Detroit Lotus Sangha follows the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, the most well-known Buddhist in the West next to the Dalai Lama. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen Buddhist teacher who has written over one-hundred books, many of which are in English. He was nominated by Martin Luther King for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards non-violence during the Vietnam War.\r\n\r\nZen Buddhism is a section of the Mahayana school of Buddhism whose goal is to alleviate the suffering of all beings and social engagement from a non-violent perspective. “I’ve read a lot of Eastern Buddhist philosophy, which can be kind of obscure and difficult to understand. What Thich Nhat Hanh has done is he has written books with the Western perspective in mind. It makes it practical and extremely accessible for people like you and me to practice,” said Jaye.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6233\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Thich Nhat Hanh at the Huong Son Temple\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tnh_flickr_d-nelson.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6233\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tnh_flickr_d-nelson-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThich Nhat Hanh is one of the first real leaders for what Gwen referred to as <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engaged_Buddhism\">Engaged Buddhism</a>. “We aren’t a group of people just sitting on our cushions contemplating things.” Nancy, who is sitting on the other side of the table, stood up to show me the text on her Detroit Lotus Sangha chocolate-brown shirt: “Compassion is a verb.”\r\n\r\n“Well, it’s actually a noun,” Nancy said, “but that’s what it’s all about. It’s becoming aware of suffering around us, finding ways to alleviate for other beings and ourselves, and it’s about the call to nonviolence and social justice.”\r\n\r\nOne of the ways that the Sangha engages in social justice is by working with local charities. One of the local charities they will be working with soon is a farmer in Detroit. They will help prepare fields, plant organic crops, and distribute food. They also work with FernCare, a set of clinics for people without health insurance, and at the year’s end they donate to a fund that Thich Nhat Hanh established for post-Vietnam war children.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6238\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"174\" caption=\"A statue of the Buddha in the snow\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddha_flickr_edward-dalmulder_v2.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-6238 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddha_flickr_edward-dalmulder_v2-290x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"174\" height=\"180\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nGwen has been regularly meditating since late 2000. She found Thich Nhat Hanh’s books in 2004 and then found the Sangha just a few short years later. “His books made Buddhism so much more doable. It provides meditation techniques and everyday practices to help with negative emotions.”\r\n\r\n“It’s not just about sitting until your legs go numb. It’s about becoming more peaceful and involved in social movement in my life,” said Jaye. She said that for her the Sangha is an important part of her practice for building relationships with other people and hearing their struggles, thoughts and ideas to better themselves with.\r\n<h2>About Buddhism</h2>\r\nBuddhism is a nontheistic religion, with roughly 350 million followers across the globe, making it the fourth largest religion in the world. Zen Buddhism is a part of the Mahayana school of Buddhism.  The main goals of Mahayana Buddhism are: <strong>to do no evil, to do good, and save all beings.</strong>\r\n\r\nThere are three main sections of beliefs for Buddhists: the <strong>Four Noble Truths</strong>, the <strong>Eightfold Path</strong>, and the <strong>Ten Grand Precepts</strong>.\r\n<h2>The Four Noble Truths</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6241\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"90\" caption=\"The Dharma Wheel, a symbol of Buddhism\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dharma-wheel_wikimedia-commons.png\"><img class=\" wp-image-6241 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dharma-wheel_wikimedia-commons-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"90\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBuddhists believe in a set of four principles called the Four Noble Truths that explain the universe and all that is in it. Barbara O’Brien, a practicing Zen Buddhist (but not one of the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition) and writer for About.com says <a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/thefournobletruths/a/fournobletruths.htm\">this</a>: “The Buddha\'s teachings on the Four Noble Truths are sometimes compared to a physician diagnosing an illness and prescribing a treatment. The first truth tells us what the illness is, and the second truth tells us what causes the illness. The Third Noble Truth holds out hope for a cure.”\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>T<strong>he truth of suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha\">Dukkha</a>) – </strong>Most of the time, the first truth is translated as “Life is suffering.” But <em>dukkha</em>, the word used for “suffering” in this case refers to anything that is temporary, conditional, or passing. So, another way of looking at this is “Life is temporary.”</li>\r\n	<li><strong>The truth of the cause of suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudaya\">Samudaya</a>) – </strong>This truth means that suffering comes from a craving or thirst. We go through life trying to desperately find something to quench those cravings to fill the holes in our souls. We try to do this through things like relationships, food, clothing, power, etc. However, as much as we try, we are never satisfied. Humans have a tendency to latch onto things, whether they be material or ideas about the world. When these things come up empty and don’t satisfy our thirst, we only thirst more.</li>\r\n	<li><strong>The truth of the end of suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirodha\">Nirodha</a>) – </strong>Barbara O’Brien put it succinctly: “The Buddha taught that through diligent practice, we can put an end to craving. Ending the hamster-wheel chase after satisfaction is enlightenment.”</li>\r\n	<li><strong>The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magga\">Magga</a>)</strong></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n<h2>The Eightfold Path</h2>\r\nThe last of the Four Noble Truths refers to a path called the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is a set of principles that lay out the way to enlightenment. Since Buddhism is more of a orthopraxy religion than orthodoxy, they focus on <em>right action</em> instead of <em>right belief</em>. Thus, the Eightfold Path serves as an impetus and a way to equip you with a focused heart and mind (click any of the following items to learn more about them):\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/rightview.htm\">Right View</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/right-intention.htm\">Right Intention</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/rightspeech.htm\">Right Speech</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/right-action.htm\">Right Action</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/rightlivelihood.htm\">Right Livelihood</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/Right-Effort.htm\">Right Effort</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/right-mindfulness.htm\">Right Mindfulness</a> </strong></li>\r\n	<li><strong><a href=\"http://buddhism.about.com/od/theeightfoldpath/a/Right-Concentration.htm\">Right Concentration</a></strong></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n<h2>The Five Mindfulness Trainings</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6244\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"His Holiness the Dalai Lama\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dalai-lama_flickr_abhikram.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6244\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dalai-lama_flickr_abhikram-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nGwen told me, “I think one of the misconceptions that people have about Buddhism is they think anything goes, like we have no moral compass. We aren’t here to condemn anyone, however we do have a set of principles regarding things like sexuality remaining within the bounds of a committed, loving, long-term relationship that has been made known to friends and family, being careful of the kinds of movies that we watch, being mindful of what we eat, etc.”\r\n\r\n“Basically we try to avoid junk food of any kind, whether that be ideas, food, how we spend our time online, entertainment—that sort of thing,” Nancy added. The set of principles that she and Gwen were referring to is contained in the Five Mindfulness Trainings (other sects of Buddhism may have more or less depending on the group).\r\n\r\nThe Five Mindfulness Trainings are expressions of the principles of The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path:\r\n<ol start=\"1\">\r\n	<li><strong>Reverence for Life </strong>– Any form of killing to any living being is causing suffering to others, therefore causing more strife, emptiness, and harm to others, which is strictly against Buddhist goals and principles</li>\r\n	<li><strong>True Happiness </strong>– Somewhat related to the Reverence for Life, true happiness comes from helping eliminate and reduce the suffering of others</li>\r\n	<li><strong>True Love</strong> – The recognition that sexual desires and healthy, true love are very different things, one must strive to find the latter that can fill and express the former</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Loving Speech and Deep Listening</strong> – Words can damage or heal, and so the goal is to have loving, kind, and compassionate speech. Along with giving healing and warm words, one should also receive words from others in the same manner</li>\r\n	<li><strong>Nourishment and Healing – </strong>This is the principle that Nancy was speaking of when she said they try to avoid consuming junk. Toxins of all sorts are all around us, and the way to the clearest mind and spirit are to diligently fill our bodies and lives with things that promote health and clarity, not bog us down and make us sick.<strong></strong></li>\r\n</ol>\r\nI asked Gwen and Nancy if the “not killing” principle lead to vegetarianism for Buddhists. Nancy said, “It does a lot of the time. Whatever people are—vegetarian, vegan—they end up eating with more awareness.” Gwen added, “However, Buddhists leaders recognize that the principles can’t be followed 100%. Even as vegetarians by boiling vegetables we’re killing hundreds of micro-organisms.”\r\n<h2>How Buddhism Principles Are Practical for Everyone</h2>\r\nGwen said, “It might be useful for your readers to know that you don’t have to be a Buddhist to meditate. Dharma, which means ‘doctrine, teacher,’ or ‘the way to enlightenment,’ can be used to harmonize. In fact, Thich Nhat Hanh said if your beliefs don’t lead you to Buddhism, then ‘Be a better ____.’ Be a better Christian, be a better Muslim. He wasn’t trying to convert anyone.”\r\n\r\nIn Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Interbeing-Fourteen-Guidelines-Engaged-Buddhism/dp/0938077597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1334980566&amp;sr=8-1\">Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism</a>” he says the following:\r\n<blockquote>Aware of the suffering created by fanaticism and intolerance, we are determined not to be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist teachings are guiding mean to help us learn to look deeply and to develop our understanding and compassion. They are not doctrines to fight, kill, or die for.</blockquote>\r\nThis quote was significant to Nancy because it means they value Peace, <em>even elevating it above the survival of their own religion</em>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6246\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"A Buddhist Temple in Sikkim\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddhist-temple_flickr_devadath.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6246\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/buddhist-temple_flickr_devadath-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Detroit Lotus Sangha is currently working through another one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s book called “Anger”.  Jaye said, “It’s not about how to suppress anger, but how to not cause ourselves and others suffering from it. It’s not just ‘Don’t be angry, so cut it out,’ but finding out <em>why</em> we’re angry, learning to process those emotions, and trying to not let it run rampant.”\r\n\r\n“Today [at the Sangha] we used the word ‘pause’,” Nancy said.\r\n\r\n“The idea is: just stop. Stop the talking. Stop the thinking. Stop and be present. Breath,” Jaye said.\r\n\r\n“Otherwise,” Nancy added, “we have a tendency to give into Habit Energy.” (Habit Energy is any kind of emotional pattern we fall into, such as the Habit Energy to be anxious.)\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\nJaye had to leave before the interview had concluded, but I asked Gwen and Nancy how practicing Buddhism has affected them as a person.\r\n\r\nGwen said, “I am much calmer now. I used to be very high-strung, compulsively working all the time. Now, I try to express things in a much more loving, compassionate way.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6248\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Ven. Thich Thong Hai rings the peace bell\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/peace-bell_flickr_ferdy001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-6248\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/peace-bell_flickr_ferdy001-300x175.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nNancy struggled to come up with the words, but then she said something really beautiful: “I can’t say I’ve arrived, but I think I’m more aware of my challenges. I’m not perfect, but I’m better than I used to be. Does that count for something?”\r\n\r\nWhen I first walked into Gwen’s house I was immediately struck by the group’s kindness. They offered me food, allowed me to sit at the table with them while they finished their lesson from earlier in the day, and there was great sense of serenity in the house as we talked.\r\n\r\nOne thing that made my heart warm was the fact that all three women at the table were quick to admit their own flaws. They didn’t pretend to have it all together, didn’t try to convince me they had all the answers, and didn’t try to ignore real life. Gwen, Nancy, and Jaye emphasized throughout the entire conversation that they were trying to be better.\r\n\r\nWhen Jaye left, the three women exchanged tips on how to set aside time for meditation. They spoke sweetly to each other and were completely honest about their lives and schedules. This kind of conversation spoke to me because it’s the kind of honest, constructive, and supportive conversation I want in my own life.\r\n\r\nI do plan on reading some of Thich Nhat Hanh’s books because I want to emulate many of the principles  in my own life. I am so grateful for Gwen’s hospitality and the warmth and openness that she, Nancy and Jaye showed me.  I look forward to learning even more the example that they lead in their lives.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Gwen, Nancy, Jaye, Dave, Sean, and the Detroit Lotus Sangha for being so generous and for talking with me.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Next, hear from an interfaith leader in Detroit, Michigan and find out how you can take this knowledge and put it into action in our final article coming up next.</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/28096801@N05/3251271485/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">DieselDemon</a> (Buddha), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/gzlu/377947069/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">George Lu</a> (Lotus), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/rezdog/450398263/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">d nelson</a> (Thich Nhat Hanh), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/edwarddalmulder/4195135224/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Edward Dalmulder</a> (snowy Buddha), <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dharma_Wheel.svg\" target=\"_blank\">Wikimedia Commons</a> (Dharma Wheel), Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/36668473@N05/4133002232/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">abhikrama</a> (His Holiness the Dalai Lama), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/devadath/238333921/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">devadath</a> (Buddhist temple), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/26524277@N04/6698468445/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">ferdy001</a> (Ringing the peace bell)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Zen Buddhism','','inherit','open','open','','6226-revision-18','','','2012-04-28 20:50:35','2012-04-29 03:50:35','',6226,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/6226-revision-18/',0,'revision','',0),(6382,38,'2012-04-28 20:13:45','2012-04-29 03:13:45','<h2>Why It All Matters</h2>\r\nOver the next couple of weeks I am going to be posting a series of interviews with religious leaders and congregants of different religions from the metro Detroit area.\r\n\r\nWhy? Well, that’s a complicated answer.\r\n\r\nI’ve been trying to pin down when I first became interested in interfaith relations. I can look back to a couple of years ago picking up a book of poetry by the Sufi poet Rumi. The way he spoke of God was so beautiful and different from what I had heard before.\r\n<blockquote>This lion of God\r\nwatches over me,\r\nI sing as he roars.</blockquote>\r\n(From “I’ve Got You Now” from <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Dont-Say-Anything-God/dp/0875730841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1332704201&amp;sr=8-1\"><em>Hush, Don’t Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems by Rumi</em></a>.)\r\n<h2>Missing the Guts</h2>\r\nI took a World Religion class a few semesters ago. I inhaled it. However, it was missing the <em>guts</em>. What I mean is that I got all the textbook facts and explanations of the different world religions, but it was missing what it\'s like to be a Buddhist in the world today. It was missing how it feels to be a young Muslim in Detroit. It was missing how it feels to be a Sikh living in the Midwest. I loved the textbook stuff, but I wanted to hear the stories for myself.\r\n\r\nI grew up completely in the dark about other religions. They were this kind of scary blob out there somewhere in the distance. I didn\'t know anyone of other religons, let alone other sects, but I was told very early on that they were dangerous. So, when I grew up and moved out of my beginnings, I started to meet new people around me. They weren\'t Christian, but spoke of faith and god the same way I did. It still meant a lot to them, they still went to worship, and they still had things they could or couldn\'t do because of their convictions.\r\n\r\nThey were just like me.\r\n<h2>Why It Matters to Me</h2>\r\nI grew up in was very isolated from and very ignorant to other religions. At the end of high school I had my own journey with disillusionment/migration from one church to another and I started to see how hurtful my previous views of other religions had been. I know how important, devastating, crucial, life-changing and transformational religion had been in my life, and people of other faiths feel that way about theirs, so how could I be so callous to brush theirs off?\r\n\r\nThe things that I have learned about other religions do not weaken my faith but they <em>enhance it</em>. The more I know about other religions, the more it gives me new perspectives about belief, discipline, love, peace, and faith. How would my faith be stronger if I prayed five times a day? If I committed to not harming other beings? If I stuck to a strong stance of non-violence? These are all principles that are in other religions, but they could be used as tools to understand my own faith better if applied to my own God and faith.\r\n\r\nWe are living in a crucial point in history. Whether we like it or not, we have to share the space on this planet with others. If we cannot learn to live together, we will rip this planet to shreds.\r\n<h2>You Shall Be Free, Indeed</h2>\r\nWhat I found from doing these interviews is that it liberated me. Why?\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I can offer dignity to the people I had taken it away from.</strong>\r\n\r\nI have said hateful things to people of other religions in my former life. I am not proud of them and I wish I could take them back because I know how misinformed I was. I know now how hurtful I was. So now, I get the chance to show the people around me where I was wrong, and how we can all move forward in a more compassionate, loving way.\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I can be the bearer of truth.</strong>\r\n\r\nNope, not everyone wearing something on their head is a terrorist. Catholics do not worship Mary. No, they don\'t have mushy beliefs. Nope, they don\'t advocate murder. No, they don\'t do blood offerings.\r\n\r\nIf you know the truth about other people, about your global neighbors, about the people in your community, you will be able to communicate that to your friends and family. You can correct the conversation, right the injustice, and wipe away the discrimination. If you know the truth, you have the power to change the conversation and bring light back into the room.\r\n\r\nThis is about the golden rule. If someone said some blind accusation about you that was clearly false, wouldn\'t you want that cleared up? Wouldn\'t you wish they had taken an extra minute to learn <em>why</em> you do the things you do? Why then shouldn\'t we extend that to other people?\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I have learned to appreciate diversity.</strong>\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember who said this to me recent, but they said that people are like a garden. If we were all one flower of the same color, the garden would be pretty but wouldn\'t be significant. But if we are a garden of different flowers, of different shapes, colors, scents, and functions, the garden comes to life. We are beautiful because of our diversity.\r\n\r\n<strong>It liberated me because... I don\'t have to be afraid anymore.</strong>\r\n\r\nThis is the piece that has truely changed my life. If you find out that your coworker has a different faith and you get context to what they believe, you start to care about them. They stop being these scary people on the news. They stop being these people you have to clutch your purse closer when you walk by. They stop being unknown.\r\n\r\nThey come to life. They start becoming human.\r\n\r\nThey believe just like I do. They care about life, love, and their families just like I do. They aren\'t an Other. They are my neighbor and I care about them now because they aren\'t something in the distance. They have a face, a personality, a name, an accent and a story. Instead of being able to insult something in the darkness, I melt in the gaze of their eyes because I know them.\r\n\r\nYou may never get the chance or desire to meet a Druid from Plymouth, Michigan. But now that you can connect a face to a story, to a faith, to a religion, you hopefully will be slower to paint hateful things about them or any other member of faith with your words. I wanted to do this series to bring <em>you</em> the stories. I wanted <em>you</em> to hear it straight from the horse\'s mouth.\r\n<h2>Live Together, Die Alone</h2>\r\nWe don\'t have to agree and we don\'t have to convert. But we do need to inform ourselves so we don\'t spread lies about our neighbors and we need to learn how to share this space safely and kindly.\r\n\r\nIf you haven’t watched the TV series LOST, there\'s a point where after enough division, the main character, Jack, gives this beautiful speech and says \"We either live together, or die alone.\" It\'s not a perfect analogy, but if we start are able to start seeing each other as people seeking love as a humans first, there is a lot more we have in common. We’ll have a lot more to appreciate, a lot more to learn, and a lot more to express and explore with each other.\r\n\r\nIf we can learn about each other and hear each other’s stories we won’t have to be afraid anymore. We’ll be able to see each other as neighbors, as doctors, as teachers, as friends, as real estate agents, and not as terrorists, liars, or aliens. We’ll be able to see each other as God sees us: his beautiful creation.\r\n\r\nThe point of this series is to call out what is good in each of these faith perspectives because at the core of all of them is <em>love</em>. I want to find the expressions of their journeys that bring meaning to our journeys. This allows us to give more grace, redemption and honor to each other as humans without having to agree on logistics or trying to get everyone to believe in one faith.\r\n\r\nAfter all, everyone is created and born long before they have a religious affiliation. If we start to view each other as humans <em>first</em>, it takes the teeth of those heated, damaging religious conversations and redeems us all.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>First up, we\'ll hear from Carl Marshall, a Bahá’í gentleman from Detroit.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: Flickr / <a href=\"Why It All Matters\" target=\"_blank\">macisaguy</a></em>','Faith Interview Series: Introduction','','inherit','open','open','','5638-revision-8','','','2012-04-28 20:13:45','2012-04-29 03:13:45','',5638,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/28/5638-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(6395,177,'2012-04-29 19:52:18','2012-04-30 02:52:18','I\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.\r\n\r\nI hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1\r\n\r\nWell, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.\r\n\r\nSound familiar?\r\n\r\nWomen, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?\r\n\r\nThese books aren\'t a whole lot different.\r\n\r\nDr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2\r\n\r\nThat quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.\r\n\r\nThat\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.\r\n\r\nSo, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.\r\n\r\nMatthew 5:27-28 says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.\r\n\r\n\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we live and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7\r\n\r\nLet us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-3','','','2012-04-29 19:52:18','2012-04-30 02:52:18','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6396,177,'2012-04-29 19:52:55','2012-04-30 02:52:55','I\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.\r\n\r\nI hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1\r\n\r\nWell, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.\r\n\r\nSound familiar?\r\n\r\nWomen, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?\r\n\r\nThese books aren\'t a whole lot different.\r\n\r\nDr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2\r\n\r\nThat quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.\r\n\r\nThat\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.\r\n\r\nSo, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.\r\n\r\nMatthew 5:27-28 says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.\r\n\r\n\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we live and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7\r\n\r\nLet us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-4','','','2012-04-29 19:52:55','2012-04-30 02:52:55','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(6399,177,'2012-04-29 19:58:11','2012-04-30 02:58:11','&nbsp;\n\nI\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.\n\nI hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1\n\nWell, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.\n\nSound familiar?\n\nWomen, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?\n\nThese books aren\'t a whole lot different.\n\nDr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2\n\nThat quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.\n\nThat\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.\n\nSo, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.\n\nMatthew 5:27-28 says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"\n\nIt\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.\n\n\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we live and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7\n\nLet us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey\n\n[2] http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-6','','','2012-04-29 19:58:11','2012-04-30 02:58:11','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(6398,177,'2012-04-29 19:55:15','2012-04-30 02:55:15','I\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.\r\n\r\nI hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1\r\n\r\nWell, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.\r\n\r\nSound familiar?\r\n\r\nWomen, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?\r\n\r\nThese books aren\'t a whole lot different.\r\n\r\nDr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2\r\n\r\nThat quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.\r\n\r\nThat\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.\r\n\r\nSo, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.\r\n\r\nMatthew 5:27-28 says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.\r\n\r\n\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we live and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7\r\n\r\nLet us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey\r\n\r\n[2] http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-5','','','2012-04-29 19:55:15','2012-04-30 02:55:15','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(6400,177,'2012-04-29 20:05:29','2012-04-30 03:05:29','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6391\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>\r\n\r\nI\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.\r\n\r\nI hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1\r\n\r\nWell, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.\r\n\r\nSound familiar?\r\n\r\nWomen, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?\r\n\r\nThese books aren\'t a whole lot different.\r\n\r\nDr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2\r\n\r\nThat quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.\r\n\r\nThat\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.\r\n\r\nSo, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.\r\n\r\nMatthew 5:27-28 says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.\r\n\r\n\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we live and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7\r\n\r\nLet us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey\r\n\r\n[2] http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-7','','','2012-04-29 20:05:29','2012-04-30 03:05:29','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(6401,177,'2012-04-29 20:05:40','2012-04-30 03:05:40','<p><a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6391\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a></p>\r\n<p>I\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.</p>\r\n<p>I hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1</p>\r\n<p>Well, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.</p>\r\n<p>Sound familiar?</p>\r\n<p>Women, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?</p>\r\n<p>These books aren\'t a whole lot different.</p>\r\n<p>Dr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2</p>\r\n<p>That quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.</p>\r\n<p>That\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.</p>\r\n<p>So, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.</p>\r\n<p>Matthew 5:27-28 says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"</p>\r\n<p>It\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.</p>\r\n<p>\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we live and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7</p>\r\n<p>Let us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.</p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p>[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey</p>\r\n<p>[2] http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php</p>\r\n','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-8','','','2012-04-29 20:05:40','2012-04-30 03:05:40','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(6402,177,'2012-04-29 20:09:59','2012-04-30 03:09:59','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6391\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>\r\n\r\nI\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.\r\n\r\nI hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1\r\n\r\nWell, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.\r\n\r\nSound familiar?\r\n\r\nWomen, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?\r\n\r\nThese books aren\'t a whole lot different.\r\n\r\nDr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2\r\n\r\nThat quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.\r\n\r\nThat\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.\r\n\r\nSo, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.\r\n\r\nMatthew 5:27-28 (NIV) says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.\r\n\r\n\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7 NIV\r\n\r\nLet us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[1] <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey\">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey</a>\r\n\r\n[2] <a href=\"http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php\">http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php</a>','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-9','','','2012-04-29 20:09:59','2012-04-30 03:09:59','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(6403,177,'2012-04-29 20:10:12','2012-04-30 03:10:12','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6391\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/FiftyShadesImage-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>\r\n\r\nI\'ve been hearing about a book making the rounds, <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> by E. L. James. Naturally, being a writer and voracious reader, I check out books that people are talking about.\r\n\r\nI hit up Google and typed in a search and up pops this description: <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> is a New York Times bestselling erotic fiction paperback and e-book by E. L. James. Set largely in Seattle, the trilogy traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steel and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of BDSM.1\r\n\r\nWell, that was definitely enough to make me decide NOT to read the book(s). Why not? Because I get the appeal that books with explicit sex scenes have. I went through a very long phase where all I read were romance novels. I am a firm believer that these types of books can be to women what pornography is to men. I was still reading these books early in my marriage. Whenever my husband and I got into a fight I would shut the door, pick up one of my books and stew about how my husband wasn\'t anything like the romantic male characters. I compared my husband constantly to what some writer was telling me was the ideal.\r\n\r\nSound familiar?\r\n\r\nWomen, what do you feel if you know your husband is looking at pornography? That you can\'t measure up to his idea of perfect? That you can\'t perform in bed to his satisfaction so he has to turn somewhere else?\r\n\r\nThese books aren\'t a whole lot different.\r\n\r\nDr. Oz recently did a show on \"Books Women Read\" and he mentioned <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>. He was quoted saying: \"What it is about is people having an honest conversation about what sex should be like, what makes it better, what are the timing issues, how do we make it an important issue in our life rather than an afterthought.\"2\r\n\r\nThat quote gets me. We <em>should</em> be honest about our sex lives with our partners. We <em>should</em> be able to express what we want, how it feels, how to make it an important part of our lives. We should already be doing that with our spouse. A healthy, fulfilling sex life is important in a marriage and to God! There is a shade of truth to his statement. But that shade of truth can put the thought in your head that this book will help you. It can draw you to pick up this book and read it.\r\n\r\nThat\'s how we stumble, isn\'t it? Listening to a shade of truth. And the enemy has more than fifty shades of the truth; he has countless numbers of them.\r\n\r\nSo, how do we avoid the trap of falling for a shade of the truth? Be in the Word. Read your Bible. Use it as your measuring stick.\r\n\r\nMatthew 5:27-28 (NIV) says, \"You have heard that it was said, \'Do not commit adultery.\' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\"\r\n\r\nIt\'s not the act of looking; it\'s the act of looking lustfully. It\'s the thought behind it. Whether the person is real or fictional, if what we are looking at <em>or reading</em> is causing us to think lustfully about anyone other than our spouse then we are sinning.\r\n\r\n\"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.\" 1 John 1:5-7 NIV\r\n\r\nLet us be people that strive to live in the full light of the truth, not in the shadowy grey shades of it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[1] <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey\">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey</a>\r\n\r\n[2] <a href=\"http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php\">http://www.chron.com/news/article/Men-are-fans-too-of-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-3511870.php</a>','Fifty Shades of Truth','','inherit','open','open','','6390-revision-10','','','2012-04-29 20:10:12','2012-04-30 03:10:12','',6390,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/29/6390-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),