What happened, NY Times?

So I woke up bright and early this morning and grabbed the NY Times like I normally do. I thought I would read through it a bit and find an article about religion to blog about today, but to my surprise there wasn't anything! At first I found that rather strange, but then I realized that the only time I read about religious news is when it has to do with political unrest (most often in the Middle East, but not always).

In one of my earlier posts I talk about a NY Times article I read--it dealt with the dwindling Christian community in the Middle East and the rise of radical Islam. Looking back at that article (as well as countless others), I see that depressing and negative religious news dominates. That's no surprise, of course, because bad news sells, but that doesn't make it any less awful. Why can't religion be viewed in a positive light?

Scanning through the Times again, I see that anything religious-related is mixed in with politics. Most prominently, the article about Obama's new Supreme court justice pick-Sonia Sotomayor. The issue is that she is pro-choice and many conservatives (especially religious ones), are protesting her nomination. But that's about it for religion...

Now, it might seem strange to expect an article about religion. I mean, besides holy wars and religious oppression, what else is there to talk about? But look at any religious group and there's always something new going on. Unfortunately, we never get to see it (or at least in the nation's most popular newspaper). Now, I know I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill, and normally I would just blow this off as nothing more than a newspaper trying to get the 'best' story out there...so I guess I shouldn't expect the Times to always have an article about religion, and if it does, I shouldn't be surprised if it is nothing short of scandalous.

I guess I shouldn't complain, though. I can always look online and search for articles about religion, and I know there's plenty of smaller papers that carry important stories about religious topics. I don't know, I just expected more from the paper that claims it has "All the News that's Fit to Print."

Founding a New Religion

What does it take for a movement to evolve into a full-blown religion? For the Bahais, it was a combination of old religious beliefs added to a new message with a charismatic leader. Let's examine this below:

The first thing to know about the Bahi faith is that it isn't entirely original. Although it breaks away from traditional Islam, it still contains many of the religious elements of that faith. In a sense, it's a tweaking of the Islamic faith to fit a new order. And what is this new order? Well, starting off with Baba and moving onto Baha'u'llah himself, the new order was the announcement that Baha'u'llah was the chosen one.


Which brings me to the second part of founding a new religion: Change. Once the basics of a new movement/religion are set in place, the next step is to start changing things and creating a new message that people want to believe in. But in order for this message to be heard, you have to have a leader that can draw people in. Which brings me to the third element of any successful religion: a charismatic leader. Choose any religion you like, and you'll find some type of leader leading the way...Jesus, Marcus Garvey, Baha'u'llah, etc. Whether they are the founder of a religion or one of its advocates, the importance of a leader cannot be overlooked...for they are the voice that speaks to the people. Remember what happened when Baha'u'llah went away for 10 years and wasn't leading the people? The number of his followers dwindled drastically and his faith was almost extinct!


So mix it all together and what do you have? A new religion that needs but one more element: time. In the case of the Bahi faith, it took a long time for it to blossom and get a large following. This is partially because Baha'u'llah took his time and didn't force a movement on his followers right away, and also because of political walls blocking his path. Like any strong religion, however, it prevailed and today we can see it flourishing.

My Mennonite Experience

So yesterday in class I talked a little bit about the Mennonite population near my hometown of Iowa City. Growing up surrounded by Amish and Mennonite communities, I've been exposed to a very different type of religion and world that I always took for granted. Therefore, I thought I'd share a little of what I know about Mennonites and their lifestyles from what I've personally experienced.

First of all, here's some information (provided by the ever-helpful wikipedia) about Mennonites:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonites Mennonites are described as Christian Anabaptists, and their religion (along with Amish and Hutterites) evolved in the 16th century during the Radical Reformation--a response to the belief that the Roman Catholic church was corrupt.

Anyway, I could write all day about my many experiences with Mennonites and Amish people and go into great detail, but for now I'll just hit on some of the more interesting tidbits. One thing to know is that there are varying degrees of Mennonite followers...just like the Rastas living in the mountains vs. Bob Marley, some Mennonites are much more orthodox than others. One of my brothers best friends growing up was Mennnonite, but he dressed and did all things that a non-Mennonite kid would do (the only major difference was that his family didn't have a tv in their house). A few miles from my house though, in a small town called Kalona, is where the really orthodox Mennonites live. They live just like the Amish (be aware that I am putting some cross over between the orthodox Mennonite and the Old Order Amish communities in Kalona...it's hard to tell the difference between the two)...they travel by horse and buggy, farm their fields with horse-drawn plows, and don't use electricity. As I talked about in class, some of them do interact with the 21st century world more than others...I've seen 'old-fashioned' looking Mennonites shopping in Wal-Mart and taking the bus.

One totally awesome thing about the Mennonites is this store in Kalona called Stringtown Grocery. Every Wednesday and Saturday they open up the store at 8am to all people, and it's like a madhouse! The Mennonites get damaged and/or outdated merchandise from surrounding stores in Iowa City and then they sell them a discounted price. A very discounted price. I remember going when I was a kid and having to get to the store at 6am to wait in line with about 40 other people--2 hours before it opened! Nowadays, it gotten to the point where they've set up a system where you get a ticket number so you can leave and come back in a couple of hours instead of having to wait outside for a long time. Then they call out your number to let you in the store...otherwise people storm in and crash carts. It's really competive! But that's because the prices are so cheap...where else can you get a jar of peanut butter for 50 cents or a box of Frosted Flakes for a dollar? And it's first come first serve, so once it's off the shelf, it's gone.

Alright, I'm done with my tangent now. The point of my telling about Stringtown Grocery is that it's similar to what the Rastas in the video from my last post do...even though they follow a strict way of life and try to separate themselves from the outside world, they still have to support themselves by selling hand-made brooms to the towns below. The Mennonites do the same thing with their store, and the general public is more than happy to help them.

So if you ever find your way to Iowa, stop on down to Kalona and check out their awesome store. Or right down the road is the Cheese Factory...which has just as good of cheese as Wisconsin. But make sure to bring lots of cash, because they don't take credit or debit :)

Rastafari in Jamaica

Above is the video about the most "spiritually committed Rastafarians" in the mountains of Jamaica. Not surprisingly, many of the symbols and practices we read and talked about in class can be found in these people. One of the most obvious of these symbols are the colors that the people dress themselves in and paint their houses with. Reds, yellows, greens, and blacks play important roles in their lives because those are the colors of the Ethiopian flag (which the Rastafarians adopted as their own symbol). Almost all the houses on the hillside are painted in these colors, and the Rastas wear clothing and turbans of these colors as well (most noticeably the color red...that appears to be the most popular color to wear, especially for turbans).

Other symbols include the rebellious hairstyle of the dreadlocks and wearing turbans as crowns, the 'ital' way of living (little or no electricity, with the only water source coming from a small stream), and the music of the people (heard throughout the video).

I think this version of Rasta life--though at the extreme end of the spectrum--is similar to what Bob Marley and his music represents. There's something that seems to transcend all of the followers of Rastafari, and even though Marley himself isn't living on a mountain to be closer to heaven, he still dresses, speaks, and evokes the powerful feelings of the Rasta way of life through his music and presence. So even though Marley is separate from the more orthodox Rastas, his music and message are true to the Rastafarian religion.

I think it's interesting that this rather unorganized religion has the most united group of followers. Walking down a random street, I could easily point out anyone who was a Rastafarian based on the way they dressed or spoke. I think that's why it I'm not surprised by the more religious Jamaicans in the video...I expected to see something like this because that's how Marley portrayed it.

NY Times Article

Yesterday I briefly mentioned in class an article I read in the NY Times about the decline in Christians living in the Middle East. Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/world/middleeast/13christians.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast

The title of the article basically says it all: Mideast's Christians Losing Numbers and Sway. The middle east used to have about a 20% Christian population and now it's down to about 5%. The article mentions several things that I personally find quite frightening. First, the lower Christian population makes the area less diverse and more prone to orthodox religions coming in and smothering the less-strict religions. Second, radical Muslim groups are taking up the slack of the leaving Christians, and these groups are part of "a region where tolerance is not an outstanding virtue." So basically, the 5% that's left are in an area where they aren't wanted and where they're outnumbered. No wonder so many are fleeing...what a scary place to live!

Another thing the article mentioned was the fear that Christian churches and places of religious significance would soon become museums and tourist attractions due to the declining numbers. Pope Benedict XVI obviously doesn't want that to happen, and encouraged Christians to return, saying, "In the Holy Land there is room for everyone!"

I don't know if that's exactly realistic. Sure there's room, but I'm certainly not volunteering to step into a religious hot-spot where political violence and radical Islam are rampant. Why do you think everyone is leaving? But it's sad, I think, that the Middle East is taking a step backward...part of the reason why the area was doing better than it otherwise would've (not to say that they're perfectly happy, of course), is because there was enough diversity to keep one religious group from trampling out the others. That's not the case anymore, though, and it's scary because the 'replacement' religion is not the tolerant sort.

Kebra Negast

Knowing hardly anything about Ethiopia or its history, I found the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba a real eye-opener. The story from the Kebra Negast divulges a rich religious history I never knew existed in Ethiopia, and I think this story provides special significance to the people of the country. There are several reasons why I think so, including the fact that the Queen of Sheba learns of God directly from Solomon and chooses to no longer worship the sun, and also because she had a child with Solomon. It would be a great source of strength and belief for Ethiopia to have the son of the Queen of Sheba also be the son of King Solomon...and having such a ruler with a significant religious background would be all the more justification to follow a new God (or continue following this religion later on).

Whether or not this story is true is another issue, but I think the Ethiopian twist on the story to have the Queen of Sheba play such a huge role adds a positive change to the way they would view their religious history. For Ethiopians, it's more then just a new religion making its way into their country...rather, their Queen made an impression on the great King Solomon and had a son (Bayna Lekhem) with him. And then she introduced the new God to her people. I know that this story changed my own perspective about Ethiopia simply by reading this account, so I'm sure such a narrative would affect the people who are more directly related to this story (aka, the Ethiopians).

Here's a link to some more information about Ethiopian Christianity and its history:http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/EthiopiaHomepage.html

Noah and the Ark--Metaphorically Speaking

So I just finished reading Conceptual Blending and Analogy by Gilles Fauconnier, and I first want to say that I found it rather fascinating. How strange it seems that I am constantly taking abstract ideas/sayings and blending them to make sense...but I suppose that's the point, isn't it? I automatically blend different ideas and circumstances to create a coherent world of understanding for myself. If I didn't blend two ideas together, how difficult it would be to get anything complex done! I think it's amazing that my brain does that without any help from me, it just adapts on its own.

Now to the question: How can conceptual blending be applied to the study of religion? In terms of metaphorical prose, I think it's quite easy to see how religion fits into this idea. Take the bible, for example...it is chock-full of metaphors that Christians blend with their own lives to make sense. Many stories in the bible do not relate directly to twenty-first century life, but through conceptual blending and the use of metaphors to apply to the world nowadays, they can apply the old stories to themselves. The story of Noah and the Ark, for example, is a tale that is hard to relate to in terms of the real world. But by reading it metaphorically and thinking about the message of the story, there's deeper meaning that wouldn't be found otherwise. I mean, it's weird to think of God telling you to build a huge ark and put a pair of every type of animal on a boat because a huge flood will be coming that will cover the land for 40 days and 40 nights. But it's not weird to think that the point of the story is to believe in God and follow his word, even if it seems crazy at the time, because in the end you will be saved. It's just taking one idea and blending it with another in order to apply it to life now. Nobody reading the story of Noah would think it their duty to build an ark (hopefully they wouldn't), but they would think it prudent to follow the word of God.