No more Swiss minarets

I was browsing the New York Times Web site today, and found an article called “Swiss Ban Building of Minarets on Mosques” buried in the World Section. THis article about a new referendum that passed Sunday in Switzerland appalled me somewhat.

According to the article, Switzerland has a reputation for religious tolerance, yet the referendum, which bans the building on minarets on mosques in the county, passed by an overwhelming 57.5 percent majority, despite being opposed by the government.

Since I’ve not overly familiar with the Islamic faith, I did some research on what exactly a minaret is and why it is significant to the Islamic faith. According to an Encyclopedia Britannica online article about minarets, it is a tower from which the faithful are called to prayer by the muezzin, or crier. They are attached to the mosque, and have either a balcony or open gallery.

Several online sources say that they are rarely used for this purpose anymore, and are just symbolic. The call to prayer can be made from elsewhere in the mosque, and is sometimes done from a loudspeaker.

The referendum passed by the Swiss this weekend had little to do with the religious aspect of the minarets and more to do with political motives. The referendum was proposed by the rightist Swiss People’s Party.

According to the article, the referendum is thought to have passed because of popular fear of fundamentalist Islamic activities. However, it sends a message against the community as a whole.

What do you think about the referendum? According to the NYT article, there are currently only 4 mosques that have minarets, and only 2 more are planned to be built. The Swiss People’s Party says the minarets are a political symbol, which goes against the constitution of the country, according to a CNN article. Both the NYT and CNN articles say that the party has been responsible for a lot of anti-Islamic propaganda.

There  has been considerable backlash against the referendum. According to a Yahoo! news article, Amnesty International has the vote violated freedom of religion. They think it will likely be overturned by the Swiss supreme court or the European Court of Human Rights.

What do you think will happen to the referendum? Will it stand? Or will it get overturned? How do you feel about the obvious anti-Islamic action in a country known for religious tolerance? Will it be well received around the world? Do you think others will copy it?

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Holy Goldfish

I’ve been to many different churches and faith communities in my day, 21 years to be precise. Now I realize that this may not be the longest time span in the history of the church as a whole – there are those that have attended the same service at the same church and sit in the same pew for many more decades than I have been alive – but I have observed many similarities between congregations over my short observation period.

The tradition of communion is fairly universal across the different denominations of Christianity. Some congregations choose to offer communion every day while others only offer it once a month. No matter the frequency it still exists and in many different forms. Some churches use wafers, loaves of bread or crackers while others have more unconventional methods.

During my recent trek west I took a detour across northern Missouri to visit my family. As is normal on a Sunday I went to church, which shall remain nameless at this time, with my extended family. The came the time for the trays containing the bread and wine for communion to be passed around and I expected the normal fare of small crackers and cups of grape juice. Instead there were cheese flavored Goldfish next to the grape juice.

I ended up feeling like I was 4 again and in Sunday school eating my snack in between gluing cotton balls onto a lamb and listening to a bible story. It was rather difficult to remain in a spiritual mood after fish shaped crackers appeared in the communion plate. My father said the combination of the cheese cracker and grape juice left an interesting taste in his mouth, I wouldn’t know since I can’t drink most grape juices due to a food allergy. I suppose plain flavored Goldfish may have worked better with grape juice in the long run but I understand that it is economical to use what is on hand during a time when some budgets are tight.

In retrospect I can see that there is some symbolism in having a fish shaped cracker for communion but I didn’t see that at the time since I was so taken aback by the Goldfish. In my opinion it would have been much easier to focus with neutrally shaped crackers but what do I know? Maybe there was higher reason for the fish to make their way onto the communion platter.

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Local charity is still strong after 18 months

Love INC in Columbia is still going strong after being open for 18 months.

Love INC, or Love in the Name of Christ, started in Holland, Mich., in 1977.  Since then more than 140 affiliates of Love INC have open across the country, according to loveinc.org. The Columbia office is an affiliate of this organization.

It coordinates volunteers from different churches in order to better serve many different needs within the community. Using a “clearinghouse” method to screen incoming calls for aid, Love INC determines the underlying cause of need and or if the person calling needs help at all.

Love INC in Columbia is currently affiliated with 50 local churches. If the charity is unable to help people that come to Love INC through their own programs, they can be directed to different ministries at churches across the city. Love INC will even provide transportation for those who need it to get to meetings at various locations.

“Living Life for Real” is one of the programs that Love INC offers in Columbia. The program includes classes on job searching and budget management.

Love INC recently opened up a permanent location for their furniture bank and hopes to expand into transitional housing and helping refugees that have settled in the Columbia area.

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Theses on Worship

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod adopted theses on worship in late September. This document was created after two years of discussion regarding the issue of different worship styles.

This document has spurred quite a bit of discussion on the Facebook group for the church. Some see the document as a justification to bring back more traditional forms of worship; others see it as a justification for more contemporary worship styles.

Dave Benson, senior pastor of Campus Lutheran Church, sees the theses as a justification for the blended worship styles his church offers.

It will be interesting to see how this document will affect churches across Missouri, if at all.

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Coming up at Missouri United Methodist

If you’re looking for something to do this Sunday (Nov. 29), Missouri United Methodist Church is offering various events for people of all ages. The church is located at 204 South Ninth Street.

BLOOD DRIVE: from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the CLC first floor hall

ADVENT CRAFT FESTIVAL: Children aged pre-school to 5th grade are invited to participate in the craft festival from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Whittler Hall.

HANGING OF THE GREENS: The Hanging of the Greens service will be at 6:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.

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The Fort Hood shooter: Just how big a deal WAS his faith?

Much has been made over the role of Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan’s deep Muslim faith in the mass shooting at Fort Hood earlier this month, in which he opened fire at the massive Texas installation and killed 13 people. The day after the shooting, the Washington Post ran quite a long profile of Hasan, paying a great deal of attention to his faith and how it shaped his life and military service. More recently, NPR aired a story this week on a damning evaluation Hasan received from the Army in 2007, which made mention of his habit of proselytizing to patients — a habit that makes sense in light of a comment in the WaPo story that “his faith was the only outgoing thing about him” — among a laundry list of reasons why the evaluator felt he lacked professionalism and a work ethic. Several news outlets have wondered whether Hasan’s faith was the primary motive for his rampage; their claims are reinforced by eyewitness accounts that told of Hasan shouting, “Allahu akbar!” (“To God be the glory!”) as he opened fire with his personal handguns.

But, as with any situation, there is another side to consider. Shortly after the shooting, the Missourian‘s Jeremy Essig wrote an analysis of news coverage of Fort Hood up to that point, questioning the validity of featuring Hasan’s faith so prominently in the news and adding, “Jason Rodriguez killed one person and injured five others in a mass shooting on Friday in Orlando, Fla. Who knows Rodriguez’s religion?” And the religion section of the La Canada (Calif.) Valley Sun assembled a panel of local clergy to debate whether too much had been made of the issue of Hasan’s faith.

But all of those are just others’ opinions. What do you think, dear reader? Should the media be focusing on and analyzing Hasan’s faith? Are they doing too much of it?

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An early Thanksgiving at Paquin Tower

Last night, Thanksgiving came a week early for the residents at Paquin Tower, and the festive smorgasbord did not disappoint. Neither did the entertainment and good company. Yes, I said entertainment.

A trio of men from Karis Community Church, whose members provided the meal, played a lovely mix of songs on various stringed instruments. I was pleasantly surprised to hear a cover of Ryan Adams, my all-time favorite musician, mixed in with some Christmas songs and bluegrass medleys.

I had never been to Paquin and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know some new people. Since moving to Columbia this summer, I have been attending Karis and was happy to know this was the second year for the church to provide the holiday meal at Paquin. From what I was told, the City of Columbia used to provide the meal but withdrew its support due to budgetary constraints. Last year, Karis adopted the program.

What impressed me the most about the event was how everyone took the time to get to know each other. I spent most of the evening talking to a man who said he had lived in Paquin for about two years. I mentioned to him that I was from Memphis, and he said he had been there to see doctors at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He has sickle cell anemia and currently is without a job.  I was thankful to make a genuine connection with a complete stranger and learn more about his life, interests, struggles and joys.

I also met a man who has lived in Paquin for 20 years and said he is currently the longest-running resident. Later, I practiced a little of my Spanish with a resident who was originally from Colombia.

There was also handful of willing helpers from the Evangelical Free Church of Columbia, and I appreciated talking to a few of them. Needless to say, I left feeling thankful. Thankful for human connections. Thankful for the hands that prepared the wonderful meal. Thankful for a night of good music and new friends.

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Bishops in Baltimore

Chicago Cardinal Francis George, far right, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addresses the group's fall meeting Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, Baltimore. (AP Photo/Rob Carr) (h/t to Whispers in the Loggia)

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops held their fall general meeting in Baltimore this week. Among the hottest topics during the public portion, which adjourned yesterday:

• The pastoral letter (or religious white paper) Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan (opens as PDF).
• The newest U.S. English translation of the Roman Missal, or universal Catholic worship text, which has been hotly debated for 20 years and more. It was approved Tuesday, and Vatican approval is expected by April.

In his remarks, Francis Cardinal George, USCCB president and Chicago archbishop, emphasized the role of the priest and his relationship to his bishop, a nod to the Year of Priests theme Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed for 2009. However, he also touched on strengthening ties to Catholic media, universities, and other organizations. Could this be interpreted as a renewed effort to standardize or homogenize the various Catholic messages of these groups?

News outlets tied directly to the Catholic Church and granted access to the meeting used new media heavily to cover the meeting — some techniques innovative, others rapidly becoming part of the status quo for live news coverage. The USCCB tweeted the meeting and provided live streaming coverage via Catholic TV network Telecare. Catholic News Service, the news arm of the USCCB, live-blogged the first day of the meeting (but claimed unforeseen difficulties when they could not similarly cover the second day). And leading Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo’s Whispers in the Loggia offered CoverItLive streams, analysis, and embedded Telecare streaming (from which you can access on-demand video of the meeting).

Might seem like just another conference, but here, as with any conference of a religious group’s governing body, is where decisions are made that trickle down to the way Americans worship each week and live out their personal faith. Here, too, as with any conference, is where news outlets can experiment with new and fresh ways of covering events live.

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Did the ‘prosperity gospel’ contribute to America’s current financial woes?

I recently read Hanna Rosin’s article in The Atlantic titled “Did Christianity Cause the Crash?” Needless to say, it got me thinking. Does the Bible really say that Christians will be blessed financially in this life? As a Christian, I believe that God will provide for my every need, but I’ve never taken that to mean He will provide me with a big house in a nice neighborhood and a fancy car. In contrast, I believe that I won’t experience the fullness of God’s blessing until heaven.

In what has been termed the ‘prosperity gospel,’ many churches across the nation preach that God’s people should expect great financial favor in their time on earth.

The article takes a closer look at Fernando Garay, the pastor of Casa del Padre in Charlottesville, Va., who drives a “dark-blue Mercedes Benz always freshly washed, the hubcaps polished enough to reflect his wingtips,” says Rosin.

Garay’s church is predominantly Latino and is made up of mostly first-generation immigrants. Rosin says that Garay often preaches about money. Rosin quotes Garay saying, “The blessings are looking for you! God will take care of you. God will not let you be without a house!”

The article cites a recent Pew survey, “Seventy-three percent of all religious Latinos in the United States agreed with the statement: ‘God will grant financial success to all believers who have enough faith.'”

What I found most interesting is the link that Rosin makes between churches that preach the ‘prosperity gospel’ and the collapse of the housing market:

“One other thing makes Garay’s church a compelling case study. From 2001 to 2007, while he was building his church, Garay was also a loan officer at two different mortgage companies. He was hired explicitly to reach out to the city’s growing Latino community, and Latinos, as it happened, were disproportionately likely to take out the sort of risky loans that later led to so many foreclosures. To many of his parishioners, Garay was not just a spiritual adviser, but a financial one as well.”

What responsibility do churches have in keeping their members financially satisfied? Have some churches, consciously or not, led their congregants into seeking a lifestyles that their incomes cannot support?

I am interested in what readers have to say about this topic.

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Are faith communities adequately supporting families with disabled children?

I’m working on a story right now about a Columbia woman’s journey to find a church home that loves and accepts her as a single mother of two children, one of whom has autism. Her journey has been long and full of heartache, but she has found a congregation that is willing to learn how best to support children and adults with special needs.

Through open communication with her pastors and a willingness to educate her church members about autism, she has found the supportive faith community that she had long been seeking.

• Are there any readers out there who have faced similar struggles in finding a faith community that supports their family’s special needs?

• Are there any parents with disabled children who have avoided visiting a church, temple or synagogue for fear they would be misunderstood or even turned away?

• Is it such an effort for some parents to get their disabled children up and ready in time for church that they have given up due to lack of energy? Or lack of adequate transportation?

If you have asked yourself any of these or similar questions (or know someone who has), I’d love to hear your (or their) story.

I would love to know what, if anything, is keeping families with disabled children from attending worship services and other events in their faith communities.

If you have a story to share, please email me at cesf3f@mail.missouri.edu.

—Courtney Shove

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