Each year I ask my students to write papers that have a clear thesis statement, a further clarification of the thesis in terms of definitions, a set of arguments for the thesis based on recognizable authorities, and a recognition of and answer to counter arguments. And finally a conclusion that reiterates the thesis and expresses its practical implications. What could be easier? But while some students find it easy, others find it quite difficult. Because I am asking them to... Read more
Naomi Schaefer Riley sums up what she learned about getting post-college millenials back to the church, mosque, and synagogue in the final paragraph of her latest book: Got Religion. How Churches, Mosques, and Synagogues can Bring Young People Back. Little of what she offers strikes me as new. Peruse the various blogs on Patheos and you will find them all. (And I’ll list them at the end for those who read reviews and not books.) Yet gleaning wisdom from observing... Read more
Maybe it is time we just drop the word God from our vocabulary in inter-religious dialogue, or for that matter any discourse. I recently read a prescient comment in book pointing out that Europe and North America are going the way of Japan in possessing a robust spirituality without any reference to God. Being “spiritual without being religious” comes to mean finding ways to name and navigate the world of unseen forces (both those that define the self and those... Read more
How can there be a dialogue about sexuality with only men? How can there be a discussion of religious views of homosexuality with only straight men? Good questions. Questions asked at the end of our recent Faiths in Conversation Dialogue on sexuality, marriage, and homosexuality. These questions reveal the vast gulf between traditional religious views and those of contemporary persons, particularly in the West. The traditional view is that revelation is, as a product of God, gender neutral. It neither... Read more
We may call ourselves and others human, but that is a word that hides more about us than it reveals us to each other. In the recent dialogue over sexuality, marriage, and homosexuality there was one particular aspect of two presentations that members of the audience found offensive. In different ways the rabbi and the imam appeared to compare human sexual desire with a desire to eat pork. For many at the dialogue it was offensive and degrading to imagine... Read more
An inter-religious dialogue on sex, marriage, and homosexuality raised more questions that it answered. At a May 19th Faiths in Coversation Dialogue, held at Synagogue Beth Torah, we hear that all three religious leaders agree on this point: The God who created humanity has also established and revealed a normative social order. Thus each religion looks to its scripture, its record of revelation, to know just what that social order is. And in each religion it has been traditionally assumed... Read more
How long do those who believe in freedom of speech try to stay in a conversation with those religiously committed to restricting freedom of speech? A recent editorial by Frank Bruni tells of a Catholic Diocese now requiring teachers in its schools to sign a contract greatly restricting not only their sexual behavior, but their freedom to express their opinions about matters of sexuality. Indeed they must agree to forgo their freedom of speech and publicly adhere to current Catholic... Read more
At a recent party I was asked about my spirituality. I replied that I was an orthodox Christian. My conversation partner didn’t buy it. She replied, “yes, but what feeds your spirit.” Sensing the direction of her thinking I nodded toward my nearby sailboat. And she understood. We both did. What she meant by spirituality isn’t a structured reflection on religious beliefs. Still less is it engagement in ritual worship. It isn’t even heartfelt devotionalism. What she meant by spirituality... Read more
The Christian responsibility, when invited to pray in public, is not to pray “in the name of Christ,” but to create unity around the righteousness that God enjoins on all humanity. The US Constitution cannot make American society good. All it can do is restrain us from being as bad as we might otherwise be. It isn’t the framework of a decent, just society. It is at best a bulwark against begin a terrible society. This has been confirmed by... Read more
At recent dialogue event, Faiths in Coversation on April 28th here in Dallas, Doug Skinner, a Christian pastor, and Imam Zia, a Muslim leader, and Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger spoke about the relation between faith and works. It was an enlightening discussion, and again demonstrated how similar these three religions can sound while being quite different. The Christian presentation noted, conventionally, that faith and works go together. One cannot have faith in God without being obedient to God. This is rooted... Read more
Robert Hunt: Interfaith Encounters
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