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As you travel, pause and take a look at airport chapels

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wendy-cadge-343734">Wendy Cadge</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/brandeis-university-1308">Brandeis University</a> Flying home? It is very likely there is a chapel or meditation room tucked away somewhere in one of the airports you’ll pass through. <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/06/most-of-the-busiest-u-s-airports-have-dedicated-chapels/">Sixteen of the country’s 20 largest airports</a> have chapels, as do many more around the world. I am a <a href="http://www.wendycadge.com/">sociologist</a> of contemporary American religion and have written <a href="http://www.wendycadge.com/publications/airport-chapels-and-chaplains/">two recent articles</a> about airport chaplains and chapels. My interest in airport chapels started as simple curiosity – why do airports have chapels and who uses them? After visiting a few – including the chapel at Logan, my home airport here in Boston – I have concluded that they reflect broader changing norms around American religion. <h2>How airports came to have chapels</h2> The country’s first airport chapels were intended for staff rather than passengers and were established by Catholic leaders in the 1950s and 1960s to make sure their parishioners could attend mass. The first one in the U.S., Our Lady of the Airways, was built by Boston Archbishop Richard J. Cushing at Logan airport in 1951 and it was explicitly meant for people working at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srx025">airport</a>. A neon light pointed to the chapel and souvenir cards handed out at the dedication read, “We fly to thy patronage, O Holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us away from all dangers, O glorious and blessed virgin.” Our Lady of the Airways inspired the building of the country’s second airport chapel, Our Lady of the Skies at what was then Idlewild – and is today John F. Kennedy airport in New York City. Protestant chapels came later. The first was in New York – again at JFK. It was designed in the shape of a Latin cross and was joined by a Jewish synagogue in the 1960s. These chapels were located at a distance from the terminals: Passengers wishing to visit them had to go outside. They were <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Exploring_Interfaith_Space.html?id=on5YNwAACAA">later razed</a> and rebuilt in different area of JFK. In the 1970s and 1980s, Protestant chapels opened in Atlanta, and in several terminals of the Dallas airport in Texas. <h2>Becoming more inclusive</h2> By the 1990s and 2000s, single faith chapels had become a <a href="http://www.tciarchive.org/4534.article">“dying breed.”</a> Most started to welcome people from all religions. And many were transformed into spaces for reflection, or meditation for weary travelers. The chapel at San Francisco International Airport, for example, known as the <a href="https://www.flysfo.com/content/berman-reflection-room-0">Berman Reflection Room</a> for Jewish philanthropist Henry Berman who was a former president of the San Francisco Airport Commission, looks like a quiet waiting room filled with plants and lines of connected chairs. A small enclosed space without any religious symbols or obvious connections to things religious or spiritual is available for services. The scene at the <a href="http://www.atlchapel.org/">Atlanta</a> airport chapel is similar, with only a few chairs and clear glass entrances, to provide space for quiet reflection. Some airports, such as JFK, continue with their “Our Lady” names, indicating their faith-based origins. Others include religious symbols and objects from a range of religious traditions. The chapel in <a href="https://cltairportchapel.org/">Charlotte</a>, North Carolina, for example, has multiple religious texts alongside prayer rugs, rosary beads and artistically rendered quotes from the world’s major religions. Pamphlets on topics ranging from grief to forgiveness are available for visitors to take with them at the Charlotte airport. <h2>Different airports, different rules</h2> As these examples show, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srx025">no two airports</a> have negotiated chapel space in the same way. What is permissible in one city is often not in another. Often, it is local, historical and demographic factors, including the religious composition of the region, that influence decisions. These could even be based on who started the chapel, or how much interreligious cooperation there is in a city. Certain airports such as Chicago’s <a href="http://www.airportchapels.org/">O'Hare</a> have strict rules regarding impromptu religious gatherings whether inside the chapel or out. Some use their public address systems to announce religious services. Others prohibit such announcements and do not even allow airport chaplains to put out any signs that could indicate a religious space. If they are included in airport maps, chapels tend to be designated by the symbol of a person bent in prayer. But even then, they can be difficult to spot. About half of the existing chapels are on the pre-security side of the airport and the other half accessible only after passengers pass through security. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srx025">Only four large American airports</a> – Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York’s LaGuardia – do not have chapel spaces, although opening such a space is under consideration. In the interim, at LaGuardia, a Catholic chaplain holds mass in a conference room. <h2>What’s the future?</h2> The reasons for these spaces and their variations are idiosyncratic and intensely local. These chapels reveal a range of approaches to contemporary American religion and spirituality. So on your travels, keep an eye out for these chapels. Note their similarities and differences and recognize how important local histories are to how church-state issues are resolved – at airports and beyond.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87578/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wendy-cadge-343734">Wendy Cadge</a>, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/brandeis-university-1308">Brandeis University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-you-travel-pause-and-take-a-look-at-airport-chapels-87578">original article</a>.

Travel Tips

Who wrote the Bible?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/philip-c-almond-176214">Philip C. Almond</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> The Bible tells an overall story about the history of the world: creation, fall, redemption and God’s Last Judgement of the living and the dead. The Old Testament (which dates to 300 BCE) begins with the creation of the world and of Adam and Eve, their disobedience to God and their expulsion from the garden of Eden. The New Testament recounts the redemption of humanity brought about by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It finishes in the book of Revelation, with the end of history and God’s Last Judgement. During the first 400 years of Christianity, the church took its time deciding on the New Testament. Finally, in 367 CE, authorities confirmed the 27 books that make it up. But who wrote the Bible? Broadly, there are four different theories. <h2>1. God wrote the Bible</h2> All Christians agree the Bible is authoritative. Many see it as the divinely revealed word of God. But there are significant disagreements about what this means. At its most extreme, this is taken to mean the words themselves are divinely inspired – God dictated the Bible to its writers, who were merely God’s musicians playing a divine composition. As early as the second century, the <a href="https://archive.org/details/fathersofchurch0000unse/page/382/mode/2up">Christian philosopher Justin Martyr saw it</a> as only necessary for holy men "to submit their purified persons to the direction of the Holy Spirit, so that this divine plectrum from Heaven, as it were, by using them as a harp or lyre, might reveal to us divine and celestial truths." In other words, God dictated the words to the Biblical secretaries, who wrote everything down exactly. This view continued with the medieval Catholic church. Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas put it simply in the 13th century: “the author of Holy Writ is God”. He <a href="https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.FP_Q1_A10.html">qualified this</a> by saying each word in Holy Writ could have several senses – in other words, it could be variously interpreted. The religious reform movement known as Protestantism swept through Europe in the 1500s. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Reformation">A new group of churches formed</a> alongside the existing Catholic and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eastern-Orthodoxy">Eastern Orthodox</a> traditions of Christianity. Protestants emphasised the authority of “scripture alone” (“sola scriptura”), meaning the text of the Bible was the supreme authority over the church. This gave greater emphasis to the scriptures and the idea of “divine dictation” got more support. So, for example, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924029273996&seq=254">Protestant reformer John Calvin declared</a>: "[we] are fully convinced that the prophets did not speak at their own suggestion, but that, being organs of the Holy Spirit, they only uttered what they had been commissioned from heaven to declare." <figure class="align-left zoomable"><figcaption></figcaption></figure> “Divine dictation” was linked to the idea that the Bible was without error (inerrant) – because the words were dictated by God. Generally, over the first 1,700 years of Christian history, this was assumed, if not argued for. But from the 18th century on, both history and science began to cast doubts on the truth of the Bible. And what had once been taken as fact came to be treated as myth and legend. The impossibility of any sort of error in the scriptures became a doctrine at the forefront of the 20th-century movement known as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-fundamentalism">fundamentalism</a>. The <a href="https://www.apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/the-chicago-statement-on-biblical-inerrancy/">Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in 1978</a> declared: "Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives." <h2>2. God inspired the writers: conservative</h2> An alternative to the theory of divine dictation is the divine inspiration of the writers. Here, both God and humans collaborated in the writing of the Bible. So, not the words, but the authors were inspired by God. There are two versions of this theory, dating from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Reformation">Reformation</a>. The conservative version, favoured by Protestantism, was: though the Bible was written by humans, God was a dominant force in the partnership. Protestants believed the sovereignty of God overruled human freedom. But even the Reformers, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther">Martin Luther</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Calvin">John Calvin</a>, recognised variation within the Biblical stories could be put down to human agency. Catholics were more inclined to recognise human freedom above divine sovereignty. Some flirted with the idea human authorship was at play, with God only intervening to prevent mistakes. For example, in 1625, <a href="https://archive.org/details/catholictheories0000burt/page/46/mode/2up">Jacques Bonfrère said</a> the Holy Spirit acts: “not by dictating or inbreathing, but as one keeps an eye on another while he is writing, to keep him from slipping into errors”. In the early 1620s, the Archbishop of Split, Marcantonio de Dominis, went a little further. He distinguished between those parts of the Bible revealed to the writers by God and those that weren’t. In the latter, he believed, errors could occur. His view was supported some 200 years later by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-Henry-Newman">John Henry Newman</a>, who led the Oxford movement in the Church of England and later became a cardinal (and then a saint) in the Roman Catholic Church. Newman argued the divinely inspired books of the Bible were interspersed with human additions. In other words, the Bible was inspired in matters of faith and morals – but not, say, in matters of science and history. It was hard, at times, to distinguish this conservative view from “divine dictation”. <h2>3. God inspired the writers: liberal</h2> During the 19th century, in both Protestant and Catholic circles, the conservative theory was being overtaken by a more liberal view. The writers of the Bible were inspired by God, but <a href="https://archive.org/details/catholictheories0000burt/page/186/mode/2up">they were “children of their time”</a>, their writings determined by the cultural contexts in which they wrote. This view, while recognising the special status of the Bible for Christians, allowed for errors. For example, in 1860 <a href="https://archive.org/details/a578549600unknuoft/page/n359/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=inspir">the Anglican theologian Benjamin Jowett declared</a>: “any true doctrine of inspiration must conform to all well-ascertained facts of history or of science”. For Jowett, to hold to the truth of the Bible against the discoveries of science or history was to do a disservice to religion. At times, though, it’s difficult to tell the difference between a liberal view of inspiration and there being no meaning to “inspiration” at all. In 1868, a conservative Catholic church pushed back against the more liberal view, declaring God’s direct authorship of the Bible. The Council of the Church known as Vatican 1 <a href="https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum20.htm.">declared</a> both the Old and New Testaments were: “written under the inspiration of the holy Spirit, they have God as their author.” <h2>4. People wrote it, with no divine help</h2> Within the most liberal Christian circles, by the end of the 19th century, the notion of the Bible as “divinely inspired” had lost any meaning. Liberal Christians could join their secular colleagues in ignoring questions of the Bible’s historical or scientific accuracy or infallibility. The idea of the Bible as a human production was now accepted. And the question of who wrote it was now comparable to questions about the authorship of any other ancient text. The simple answer to “who wrote the Bible?” became: the authors named in the Bible (for example, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – the authors of the four Gospels). But the idea of the Bible’s authorship is complex and problematic. (So are historical studies of ancient texts more generally.) This is partly because it’s hard to identify particular authors. The content of the 39 books of the Old Testament is the same as the 24 books of the Jewish <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hebrew-Bible">Hebrew Bible</a>. Within modern Old Testament studies, it’s now generally accepted that the books were not the production of a single author, but the result of long and changing histories of the stories’ transmission. The question of authorship, then, is not about an individual writer, but multiple authors, editors, scribes and redactors – along with multiple different versions of the texts. It’s much the same with the New Testament. While 13 Letters are attributed to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Paul-the-Apostle">Saint Paul</a>, there are doubts about his authorship of seven of them (Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews). There are also disputes over the traditional authorship of a number of the remaining Letters. The book of Revelation was traditionally ascribed to Jesus’s disciple John. But it is now generally agreed he was not its author. Traditionally, the authors of the four <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gospel-New-Testament">Gospels</a> were thought to be the apostles Matthew and John, Mark (the companion of Jesus’s disciple Peter), and Luke (the companion of Paul, who spread Christianity to the Greco-Roman world in the first century). But the anonymously written Gospels weren’t attributed to these figures until the second and third centuries. The dates of the Gospels’ creation also suggests they were not written by eyewitnesses to Jesus’s life. The earliest Gospel, Mark (65-70 CE) was written some 30 years after the death of Jesus (from 29-34 CE). The last Gospel, John (90-100 CE) was written some 60-90 years after the death of Jesus. It’s clear the author of the Gospel of Mark drew on traditions circulating in the early church about the life and teaching of Jesus and brought them together in the form of ancient biography. In turn, the Gospel of Mark served as the principal source for the authors of Matthew and Luke. Each of these authors had access to a common source (known as “Q”) of the sayings of Jesus, along with material unique to each of them. In short, there were many (unknown) authors of the Gospels. Interestingly, another group of texts, known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/apocrypha">Apocrypha</a>, were written during the time between the Old and New Testaments (400 BCE to the first century CE). The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions consider them part of the Bible, but Protestant churches don’t consider them authoritative. <h2>Divine or human: why does it matter?</h2> The question of who wrote the Bible matters because the Christian quarter of the world’s population believe the Bible is a not merely a human production. Divinely inspired, it has a transcendent significance. As such, it provides for Christians an ultimate understanding of how the world is, what history means and how human life should be lived. It matters because the Biblical worldview is the hidden (and often not-so-hidden) cause of economic, social and personal practices. It remains, as it has always been, a major source of both peace and conflict. It matters, too, because the Bible remains the most important collection of books in Western civilisation. Regardless of our religious beliefs, it has formed, informed and shaped all of us – whether consciously or unconsciously, for good or ill.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214849/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/philip-c-almond-176214">Philip C. Almond</a>, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-wrote-the-bible-214849">original article</a>.

Books

Sinead O'Connor was once seen as a sacrilegious rebel, but her music and life were deeply infused with spiritual seeking

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brenna-moore-1457909">Brenna Moore</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/fordham-university-1299">Fordham University</a> When news broke July 26, 2023, that the gifted Irish singer <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66318626">Sinead O’Connor had died</a>, stories of her most famous performance circulated amid the grief and shock. Thirty-one years ago, after a haunting rendition of Bob Marley’s song “War,” O’Connor ripped up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on live television. “Fight the real enemy,” she said – a reference to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">clerical sex abuse</a>. For months afterward, she was banned, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sinead-o-connor-booed-pope-bob-dylan-concert-1176338/">booed and mocked</a>, dismissed as a crazy rebel beyond the pale. Commemorations following her death, however, cast the protest in a very different light. Her “Saturday Night Live” performance is now seen as “invigorating,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-snl-pope.html">the New York Times’ pop critic wrote</a>, and “a call to arms for the dispossessed.” Attitudes toward Catholicism, sex and power are far different today than in 1992, whether in New York or O’Connor’s native Dublin. In many people’s eyes, the moral credibility of the Catholic Church around the world <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/245858/catholics-faith-clergy-shaken.aspx">has crumbled</a>, and trust in faith institutions of any sort is <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx">at an all-time low</a>. Sexual abuse, once discussed only in whispers, is now beginning to be talked about openly. I join the chorus of voices today who say O’Connor was decades ahead of her time. But leaving it just at that, we miss something profound about the complexity and depth of her religious imagination. Sinead O’Connor was arguably one of the most spiritually sensitive artists of our time. I am <a href="https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/theology/faculty/brenna-moore/">a scholar of Catholicism in the modern era</a> and have long been interested in those figures – the poets, artists, seekers – who wander <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo90478851.html">the margins of their religious tradition</a>. These men and women are dissatisfied with the mainstream centers of religious power but nonetheless compelled by something indelibly religious that feeds the wellsprings of their artistic imagination. Throughout her life, O’Connor defied religious labels, exploring multiple faiths. The exquisite freedom in her music cannot be disentangled from <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/09/16/sinead-oconnor-rememberings-memoir-moore-241369">that something transcendent</a> that she was always after. <h2>‘Rescuing God from religion’</h2> Religion is often thought about as discreet traditions: institutions that someone is either inside or outside. But on the ground, it is rarely that simple. The Catholic Church had a strong hold on Irish society as O’Connor was growing up – a “theocracy,” she called it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/10/sinead-oconnor-pope-visit">in interviews</a> and <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/126006/sinead-oconnor">her memoir, “Rememberings</a>” – and for many years she <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oconnor/singer-sinead-oconnor-demands-pope-steps-down-idUSTRE5BA39Y20091211">called for more accountability</a> for the clerical abuse crisis. But she was also open in her love of other aspects of the faith, albeit often in unorthodox ways. She had a tattoo of Jesus on her chest and continued to critique the church while appearing on television with a priest’s collar. Ten years after her SNL performance, O'Connor took courses at a seminary in Dublin with a Catholic Dominican priest, Rev. Wilfred Harrington. Together, they read the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and the Psalms: sacred scriptures in which God’s voice comes through in darker, moodier, more human forms. Inspired by her teacher, she made the gorgeous album “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xncY5WP12BQ">Theology</a>,” dedicated to him. The album is a mix of some of her own songs inspired by the Hebrew Bible – like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/wat,h?v=Kf24-rgyOeI">If You Had a Vineyard</a>,” inspired by the Book of Isaiah; and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh7s5BKphw8">Watcher of Men</a>,” which draws from the biblical story of Job – and other tracks that essentially are sung versions of her favorite Psalms. In <a href="https://wfuv.org/content/sinead-oconnor-words-and-music-2007">a 2007 interview</a> with Fordham University’s WFUV radio station, O'Connor said that she was hoping the album could show God to people when religion itself had blocked their access to God. It was a kind of “rescuing God from religion,” to “lift God out of religion.” Rather than preaching or writing, “music is the little way that I do that,” she said, adding, “I say that as someone who has a lot of love for religion.” <h2>Reading the prophets</h2> In doing so, she stood in the long line of the prophetic tradition itself. The great Jewish thinker <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abraham-joshua-heschel-a-prophets-prophet/">Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s</a> book “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-prophets-abraham-j-heschel?variant=40970012721186">The Prophets</a>” begins with this sentence: “This book is about some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived.” Over and over, the Bible shows the prophets – the prophets who inspired “Theology” – mounting bracing assaults on hypocrisies and insincerities in their own religious communities, and not politely or calmly. To many horrified Catholics, O’Connor’s SNL appearance and her many other criticisms of the church were blasphemous – or, at best, just throwing stones from outside the church for attention. Other fans, however, saw it as prophetic condemnation. It was not just a critique of child abuse but of church officials’ professed compassion for children – sanctimonious pieties <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/26/catholic-church-ireland-child-abuse">as they covered up the abuse</a>. In calling this out and so much more, O’Connor was often seen as disturbing: not just the photo-of-the-pope incident, but her androgyny, her shaved head, her openness around her own struggles with mental illness. But for many admirers, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VLy1A4En4U">the documentary “Nothing Compares</a>” makes clear, all this showed that she was free, and like the prophets of old, unashamed and unafraid to provoke. <h2>Rasta to Islam</h2> At the same time, O’Connor’s religious imagination was so much more than a complex relationship with Catholicism. Religion around O’Connor was eclectic and intense. She was deeply influenced by <a href="https://theconversation.com/reggaes-sacred-roots-and-call-to-protest-injustice-99069">Rastafarian traditions</a> of Jamaica, <a href="https://wfuv.org/content/sinead-oconnor-words-and-music-2007">which she described</a> as “an anti-religious but massively pro-God spiritual movement.” She considered Sam Cooke’s early album with the Soul Stirrers the best gospel album ever made. She counted among her spiritual heroes Muhammad Ali – and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45987127">converted to Islam in 2018</a>, changing her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat. Yet O’Connor’s vision was not fragmented, as if she were constantly chasing after bits and pieces. The miracle of Sinead O’Connor is that it all coheres, somehow, in the words of an artist who refuses to lie, to hide or not say what she thinks. When asked about spirituality, O’Connor once said that she preferred to sing about it, not talk about it – as she does in so many songs, from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkP-0rnr_Gw">her luminous singing of the antiphon</a>, a Marian hymn sung at Easter services, to her Rasta-inspired album, “<a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5945-throw-down-your-arms/">Throw Down Your Arms</a>.” In “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haYbyQIEgQk">Something Beautiful</a>,” a track from the “Theology” album, O’Connor speaks both to God and the listener: “I wanna make/ Something beautiful/ For you and from you/ To show you/ I adore you.” Indeed she did. To be moved by her art is to sense a transcendence, a peek into radiance.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210540/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brenna-moore-1457909">Brenna Moore</a>, Professor of Theology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/fordham-university-1299">Fordham University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sinead-oconnor-was-once-seen-as-a-sacrilegious-rebel-but-her-music-and-life-were-deeply-infused-with-spiritual-seeking-210540">original article</a>.

Music

“Please go away”: Grieving mother slams “god-bothering” vandal

A heart-broken mother has slammed a “god-botherer” who superglued a cross to her son’s memorial. Sydney parents Edwina and Anthony Symonds lost their son Sebastian, lovingly known as Seb, when he was just 10-months-old in 2018. After Seb’s death, the grieving parents organised for a memorial plaque to be fixed to a sitting rock located at a popular walk in the city's northern beaches – a place they frequented with Seb before his passing. Edwina told <a href="https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/sydney-baby-memorial-plaque-cross-super-glue-parents-message/348ed1ef-3155-4d56-977e-df84db43715b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9Honey </a>that she is used to finding well-wishing trinkets people have left behind on Seb’s memorial. "Previously we've had little bibles left there, or small rocks that have been painted by children, or feathers," Edwina said, adding that the family usually takes the items with them as they go along. However, Edwina said one passerby has taken it too far, by supergluing a religious cross to the plaque. "It's obnoxious," Edwina says. She was informed of the unwanted addition to her son's plaque by a friend, and shared a post on a local Facebook page to explain her distress. "To be fair, I'm Catholic and I used to go to church every week when I was younger. I don't have a problem with religion," she said. "I think I captured it well with what I wrote. But don't super glue your religion to me or my son." Her Facebook post read, "To the God-botherer that vandalised our son's plaque by supergluing a cross to it!!! I imagine somewhere in whatever religion you choose to follow, there is some sort of rule that says, 'Don't be a low-life by wrecking other people's property.' If not, there should be.” "Religion is a nice ideal. You are entitled to your beliefs and no-one should take issue with that. I certainly don't.” "I am sure you had some lovely thoughts when you were sitting with Seb like, 'God took this baby to a 'better' place, or that he 'had a plan' for this child, or even the classic 'everything happens for a reason.'” "Cool story, but please go away. Seb doesn't need you to 'save' him. He died already. He can't be saved.” Anthony also commented on the post, not holding back with his frustration over the vandal’s actions. "To the god botherer, Seb is looking down having a laugh at your kooky effort and giving you his swear finger. At 10 months old, his heart was as pure as it gets, though he has subsequently learnt the words f--k you.” "A narrow minded fool, keep away from Seb's little playground. Keep your ideas out of other people's lives unless invited in, the end.” While many of the comments expressed distress at news of her son's death at such a young age, Edwina was quick to explain they are managing to live with their grief, and that Seb's death isn't the issue at hand. "I'm sure they had good intentions, but their execution is s***house," Edwina told 9Honey. "I haven't been down there yet, you have to walk one kilometre along the walkway to see it. I'll have to go to Bunnings to get some bond remover or something. But I have two young kids, so it's just another thing on my to-do list." Image credits: Facebook

Family & Pets

Catholic conflicts on marriage continue, even decades after Vatican II

The past 60 years have been a period of change and reflection for many in the Catholic Church, initiated by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and continued by the current synod on synodality. In the autumn of 2021, Pope Francis <a href="https://www.usccb.org/synod" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced a new synod</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-synod-of-bishops-a-catholic-priest-and-theologian-explains-168937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an official meeting of Roman Catholic bishops</a> to determine future directions for the church globally. The <a href="https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/common/phases/continental-stage/dcs/Documento-Tappa-Continentale-EN.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first working document</a> issued by the synod was published on Oct. 27, 2022. This document was made public <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2022/documents/20221011-omelia-60concilio.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">soon after the 60th anniversary</a> of Pope John XXIII’s 1962 convocation of the Second Vatican Council. During the three years that followed, Catholic bishops from across the globe met in several sessions, assisted by expert theologians. Many guests were also <a href="https://vaticaniiat50.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/63-non-catholic-observers-attending-second-session/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invited as observers</a>, which included prominent Catholic laity and representatives from other Christian churches. The council called for fresh ways to address 20th-century social and cultural issues and initiated official dialogue groups for Catholic theologians with others from different faith traditions. <div data-id="17"> </div> However, Catholics have become increasingly divided over this openness to contemporary cultural changes. As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">specialist in Roman Catholic liturgy and worship</a>, I find that one important flashpoint where these deeper disagreements become more painfully visible is in Catholic worship, particularly in the celebration of its seven major rituals, called the sacraments. This is especially true in the celebration of matrimony. <h2>Vatican II</h2> In the mid-20th century, the church was still shaken by the repercussions of World War II and struggling to contribute to a world connected by the reality of global communication and the threat of nuclear war. Vatican II was called to “update” and “renew” the church – a process Pope John XXIII called “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aggiornamento</a>.” One important theme connecting all of the council’s documents was <a href="http://individual.utoronto.ca/hayes/xty_canada/vatican_ii.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inculturation</a>, a more open dialogue with the variety of global human cultures. With the document <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sacrosanctum Concilium</a>, the bishops addressed the need to revisit the centuries-old worship traditions of Catholicism, reforming the structures of the various rituals and encouraging the use of vernacular languages during prayer, rather than exclusive use of the ancient Latin texts. In the intervening decades, however, sharp contradictions and disagreements have arisen, especially over clashes between flexible cultural adaptation and rigorous moral and doctrinal standards. These have become much more visible during the past two pontificates: the more conservative Pope Benedict XVI – pope from 2005 to 2013 – and the more progressive Pope Francis. <h2>The synod on synodality</h2> For the present synod, Pope Francis began with a process of consultation with <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-is-increasingly-diverse-and-so-are-its-controversies-189038" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local church communities all over the world</a>, stressing the inclusion of many different groups within the church, especially of <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/voices-of-excluded-in-synod-document-for-continental-phase.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">those who are often marginalized</a>, including the poor, migrants, LGBTQ people and women. However, there <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/is-the-synod-building-a-big-tent-or-a-house-on-sand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has also been criticism</a>. Some feel that the church should more swiftly adapt its teaching and practice to the needs of a variety of contemporary cultural shifts, while others insist it should hold on to its own traditions even more tightly. <h2>Gay marriage</h2> In North America and Europe, a major <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/02/how-catholics-around-the-world-see-same-sex-marriage-homosexuality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cultural shift</a> has taken place over recent decades concerning gays and lesbians, from marginalized rejection to acceptance and support. Over the years Pope Francis has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-endorse-same-sex-civil-unions-eb3509b30ebac35e91aa7cbda2013de2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">come under fire</a> for his comments about homosexuality. He has publicly stated that gay Catholics are not to be discriminated against, that they have a right to enter secular civil unions and that they are to be welcomed by the Catholic community. On the other hand, he has also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/setback-gay-catholics-vatican-says-church-cannot-bless-same-sex-unions-2021-03-15/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused bishops permission</a> to offer gay couples a blessing. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/gay-blessings-germany-vatican/2021/05/10/e452cea2-af6a-11eb-82c1-896aca955bb9_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Progressive bishops in Germany</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/flemish-catholic-bishops-defying-vatican-approve-blessing-same-sex-unions-2022-09-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Belgium</a>, who had been <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250313/synodal-way-meeting-ends-with-call-for-same-sex-blessings-change-to-catechism-on-homosexuality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proponents</a> of this practice, organized an open protest by setting aside a day just for the bestowal of these blessings. In contemporary Catholicism, discrimination or injustice against gay or lesbian individuals is <a href="https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/568/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemned</a>, because each human being is <a href="https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/life-and-dignity-of-the-human-person" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considered to be a child of God</a>. However, homosexual orientation is still considered “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P85.HTM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">intrinsically disordered</a>” and homosexual activity seriously sinful. The Vatican <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has warned</a> progressives of the danger that these blessings might be considered, in the eyes of the faithful, the equivalent of a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20210222_articolo-responsum-dubium-unioni_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sacramental marriage</a>. Some might assume that homosexual activity is no longer considered sinful, a fundamental change that conservative Catholics would find completely unacceptable. This doctrinal perspective has led to other liturgical restrictions. For example, the baptism of children adopted by gay parents is considered a “<a href="https://www.usccb.org/committees/doctrine/pastoral-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serious pastoral concern</a>.” In order for a child to receive the sacrament of Catholic baptism – the blessing with water that makes the child a Catholic Christian – there must be some hope that the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann834-878_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">child will be raised in the Catholic Church</a>, yet the church teaches that homosexual activity is objectively wrong. Despite the current openness <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vatican-synod-gays/gays-and-their-children-should-not-suffer-church-bias-vatican-idUSKBN0F11HV20140626" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to gay Catholics</a>, this conflict could lead to the child’s being denied baptism. Following a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20051104_istruzione_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document issued in 2005</a> under Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis in 2018 stated that candidates for the sacrament of ordination – the ritual that makes a man a priest – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-homosexuality/pope-tells-bishops-not-to-accept-gay-seminarians-report-idUSKCN1IP36J" target="_blank" rel="noopener">must be rejected</a> if they demonstrate “homosexual tendencies” or a serious interest in “gay culture.” He also advised gay men who are already ordained to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-homosexuals-book/be-celibate-or-leave-the-priesthood-pope-tells-gay-priests-idUSKBN1O10K7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maintain strict celibacy or leave the priesthood</a>. <h2>Polygamy and colonialism</h2> This recent cultural shift in Western nations has raised difficult questions for Catholics, both clergy and laity. In some non-Western countries, however, it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-is-increasingly-diverse-and-so-are-its-controversies-189038" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an older custom</a> that has become an important issue. The culture of many African countries is supportive of polygamy – more specifically, the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/many-african-catholics-have-more-than-one-wife-what-should-the-church-do/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">practice of allowing men to take more than one wife</a>. While the civil law in some countries might not allow for polygamy, the “<a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/she/v39n1/14.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">customary law</a>” rooted in traditional practice may still remain in force. In some countries, like Kenya in 2014, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/cns/2018/05/11/some-kenyan-christians-support-polygamy-but-catholic-church-says-no" target="_blank" rel="noopener">civil law has been changed</a> to include an <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/01/07/pushed-politicians-polygamy-abounds-among-christians-kenya?destination=/faith/2019/01/07/pushed-politicians-polygamy-abounds-among-christians-kenya" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official recognition of polygamous marriage</a>. Some have argued that monogamy is not an organic cultural shift but a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8827617/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">colonial imposition</a> on African cultural traditions. In some areas, Catholic men continue the practice, even those who act on behalf of the church in teaching others about the faith – called catechists. At least one African bishop <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/17354/synod-for-africa-ponders-how-to-tackle-polygamy-meddling-by-foreign-interests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has made an interesting suggestion</a>. The openness to alternative cultural approaches has already resulted in one change. Divorced and remarried Catholics were once forbidden from taking Communion – the bread and wine consecrated at the celebration of the Catholic ritual of the Mass – because the church did not recognize secular divorce. Today, they may <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/vatican-cardinal-amoris-laetitia-allows-some-remarried-take-communion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">receive communion</a> under certain conditions. This flexibility might apply as well to Catholics in non-recognized polygamous unions, who are also <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/african-bishop-polygamy-homosexuality-divorce-oh-my" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not permitted to receive Communion</a> at present. As Pope Francis wrote in his 2016 document on marriage, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amoris Laetitia</a>, some matters should be left to local churches to decide based on their own culture and traditions. However, despite the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_1988_fede-inculturazione_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">need for increased awareness of and openness to diverse human cultures</a> stressed during Vatican II and the current synod, this traditional custom is still considered a violation of Catholic teaching. Based on the words of Jesus in the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A6&version=NRSVACE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gospel of Matthew</a>, Catholic teaching continues to emphasize that marriage can take place only between <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/catechism/index.cfm?recnum=6219" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one man and one woman as a lifelong commitment</a>. How the current synod on synodality, in its effort to extend the insights of the Second Vatican Council, will deal with questions like these is still unclear. It is now set to run for an additional year, concluding in 2024 instead of 2023. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/catholic-conflicts-on-marriage-continue-even-decades-after-vatican-ii-192808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Relationships

Iran: protesters call for move to a non-religious state. What changes would that bring?

My friend was in Tehran during protests after <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/events-iran-since-mahsa-aminis-arrest-death-custody-2022-10-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the death</a> of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police (Gasht-e Ershad). My friend went into a grocery shop intending to buy milk. The seller refused to sell anything to her. “Why are you refusing?” she asked. “I can see that you have milk.” “Because you are wearing a hijab,” the seller responded. This is part of a backlash by those who see themselves as oppressed by the Islamic Republic’s discriminatory hijab law, which prosecutes women for not “covering up”. The term hijab is an Arabic word meaning cover. It’s used to refer to different types of covering, from a long-sleeved coat, pants and scarf to the Islamic government’s preferred form of dress, chador, which is a loose-fitting black cloth worn over the entire body. After Mahsa Amini’s killing in September, mass protests broke out over this law and its enforcement. Wearing hijab became obligatory for all Iranian women from April 1983, after the 1979 revolution. Since then, all women have been forced by law to wear hijab (a covering of hair and or body) in public, even non-Muslims and foreigners visiting Iran. If they don’t they face prosecution. The government of Iran, the Islamic Republic, argues that God commands women to wear hijab. This is a government which has leaders who are members of the clergy and merged religious beliefs into state law. But even some Islamic scholars argue that the Qur'an does not suggest that hijab should be <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300257311/women-and-gender-in-islam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compulsory</a>. Mahsa Amini’s case is polarising Iran: those who rigorously advocate the hijab and religious law are set against those who prefer a <a href="https://time.com/6216024/iran-protests-islamic-republic-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secular state</a>, not run by religious values. This has led the nation to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/26/iran-at-least-15-killed-after-gunmen-attack-shrine-in-shiraz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the current upheaval</a>, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/08/are-hijab-protests-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-irans-regime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vast</a> protests across the country, and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63410577" target="_blank" rel="noopener">people being killed</a>. At many protests the Iranian resistance chant is <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/iran-protests-women-life-freedom-mahsa-amini-killing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zan, Zendegi, Azadi</a> (#WomenLifeFreedom) is heard. The protesters call for life and liberty to be applicable to everyone (religious and non-religious). A big part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-majority-of-people-reject-compulsory-hijab-and-an-islamic-regime-surveys-find-191448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the motivation</a> behind these protests is to challenge how the current religious law takes away the right of women to choose what to wear. <h2>What is secularism?</h2> Secularism is the idea that states should be <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/1881/chapter-abstract/141631825?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">neutral about religion</a>. The state should not <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/16/what-mean-secular-state-neutral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">back</a> a specific religion over others. A secular state <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2011.01117.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provides</a> equal opportunity for religious and non-religious citizens to pursue their lives. The state must respect everyone’s values (including minorities), not just some people’s values. Secularism seems reasonable <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/28394" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to many</a> because it is unusual for an entire nation to believe in a religion as one source of law. Some <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263206.2019.1643330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scholars of Islam</a> disagree with the established interpretation of the Islamic Republic about whether God has commanded a mandatory hijab. As a result, they claim that hijab is not about covering hair but about “modesty”. Some others challenge <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/12/iran-hijab-law-protest-ali-larijani" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the way</a> the morality police treat women in the street. While some people might be railing against women being forced to wear the hijab, others continue to feel strongly about its continued use. <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-qom-women-hijab/31929986.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reports</a> say that Iranian authorities have closed some coffee shops because of the “improper” hijab of some female customers. And more <a href="https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/iran-detains-woman-eating-breakfast-without-hijab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently</a>, a woman was arrested for eating breakfast in a café with no hijab. <h2>Iranian history of secularism</h2> Modern debates about secularism in Iran can be traced back to the <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/irans-constitutional-revolution-9780755649235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Constitutional Revolution</a> in 1906. It advocated <a href="https://iranicaonline.org/articles/constitutional-revolution-i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">liberalism and secularism</a> and began conversations about a society without religious rules for all. Iranians experienced enforced secularisation shortly after Reza Shah Pahlavi was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reza-Shah-Pahlavi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crowned</a> in 1925. In 1936 he issued a decree <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/iran-and-the-headscarf-protests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kashf-e hijab</a> that any public expression of religious faith, including wearing hijab, was illegal. Again, this was a leader was telling women what to wear. However, his attempt to militantly secularise and westernise Iran faced <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203060636-22/banning-veil-consequences-dr-stephanie-cronin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resistance</a> from society. The overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979 led to the establishment of a militant Islamic government based on <a href="https://www.icit-digital.org/books/islam-and-revolution-writings-and-declarations-of-imam-khomeini-1941-1980" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shia Muslim teachings</a>. After the hijab became <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/irans-headscarf-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandatory</a>, it became a symbol of compulsory faith. It has also played a significant role in pushing some parts of the Iranian population towards a more secular state. In 2022 Iran is experiencing some dramatic shifts, including what appears to be a shift towards secularism. Some argue that secularism is an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/25/archives/khomeini-terms-secular-critics-enemies-of-islam-dictatorship-of-the.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enemy</a> of religion or a product of <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814795644/democracy-in-modern-iran/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">western colonisation</a>. Despite the majority of Iranians considering themselves <a href="https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GAMAAN-Iran-Religion-Survey-2020-English.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">religious</a>, some evidence shows that Iranians are <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-majority-of-people-reject-compulsory-hijab-and-an-islamic-regime-surveys-find-191448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less religious</a> than before. Since the Islamic revolution there’s been a lot of research about how Iran could work as a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Secularization-of-Islam-in-Post-Revolutionary-Iran/Pargoo/p/book/9780367654672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secular</a> society and about religious <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/9789047400714/B9789047400714_s006.xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tolerance</a>. The current protest movement, led mainly by <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/irans-rising-generation-z-forefront-protests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gen Z in Iran</a>, is growing partly because of its use of the internet and social media to communicate and share information. People can also learn from other nations’ experiences of secularism through social media. This is why the regime is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2022/oct/06/why-is-the-government-in-iran-shutting-down-the-internet-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shutting down</a> the internet and censoring YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. <a href="https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GAMAAN-Political-Systems-Survey-2022-English-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One poll</a> suggests that more than 60% of Iranians now want a non-religious state, the question is whether those in power are willing to give it to them. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protesters-call-for-move-to-a-non-religious-state-what-changes-would-that-bring-193198" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Sky News

Legal

Religious group members charged over eight-year-old’s death

Members of a religious group in southern Queensland have been charged over the death of an eight-year-old girl earlier this year. Elizabeth Struhs died on January 7 at her home in Rangeville, Toowoomba, after she was allegedly denied insulin for the treatment of her type 1 diabetes for about six days, per the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-05/religious-group-arrests-over-8yo-elizabeth-struhs-death/101208762" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a>. Five men and six women have been charged as a result, with one 60-year-old man being charged with one count of murder and failing to supply the necessities of life, while the remaining eleven - aged between 19 and 65 years old - have been charged with one count of murder. Elizabeth’s parents, Jason and Kerrie Struhs, have previously been charged with murder, torture, and failing to provide the necessities of life. Police allege the dozen involved were aware of Elizabeth’s condition and didn’t seek medical assistance, adding that emergency services weren’t contacted until about 5.30pm on January 8. It is alleged the parents and other members of the religious group prayed for Elizabeth’s recovery instead. The charges laid against them come after six months of investigation by the Toowoomba Child Protection and Investigation Unit, the Child Trauma Unit, and the Homicide Investigation Unit. More than 30 officers conducted a search at a residence in Harristown, where the 12 residents were arrested. Detective Acting Superintendent Gary Watts said the investigation was unlike anything he had ever seen. “In my 40 years of policing, I’ve never faced a matter like this,” he said. “And I’m not aware of a similar event in Queensland, let alone Australia.” According to sources that spoke to the ABC, the religious group is small, tight-knit, and has no ties to any established church in Toowoomba. In a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-brothers-and-sister-of-elizabeth-struhs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fundraiser</a> set up to support Elizabeth’s siblings, her older sister Jayde Struhs said her estranged parents were part of a “fear-driven and controlling” cult that took religion to its extremes. She said her younger sister’s death had left their extended family “completely shattered and heartbroken”. “We have faced the brutal reality that the people who should have protected her did not, and we may never know the full extent of what took place,” she said. The people charged in relation to Elizabeth’s death are expected to appear in court on Wednesday, while her parents will return to court later in July. Image: Supplied

Travel Trouble

Abdallah family overwhelmed by incredible invitation

Two years following the tragic loss of their three children to a drunk and drugged driver, the Abdallah family say they have been “humbled” and invited to share their story with the Pope. Danny and Leila Abdallah’s daughters Sienna and Angelina and son Antony were killed alongside their cousin in February 2020. The grief stricken parents largely credit their faith in being able to move forward following the tragedy, starting the foundation ‘i4give’. On Saturday, Leila announced via Instagram that she and Danny had been invited to share their story on a global scale. “Danny and I feel humbled and honoured that our Bishop Antoine Charbel Taraby invited us to attend the WMOF 2022 (World meeting of families 2022) all glory to God always. “Our mission is to serve the Lord and our children for the rest of our lives.” “Please pray that we can have i4give on a global platform starting at the Vatican.” “We thank all our fellow Australians for their love and ongoing support, you have showed Danny and I the true meaning of the Aussie spirit and we are grateful.” The family have welcomed a baby daughter in March, naming her Selina. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CeFH6e_hkEF/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CeFH6e_hkEF/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Leila Geagea Abdallah (@leila._abdallah)</a> </div> </blockquote> The World Meeting of Families takes place in Rome at the end of June. Image: Instagram

Family & Pets

Priest resigns after botching thousands of baptisms with single phrase

An Arizona priest has voluntarily resigned from his church after it was ruled that he botched thousands of baptisms over the past 25 years - all by using one incorrect phrase.Father Andres Arango left the St Gregory Catholic Church in Phoenix this month <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10511635/Phoenix-Catholic-priest-forced-resign-incorrectly-performed-THOUSANDS-baptisms.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">after</a> revealing he used an “incorrect formula” that made the baptisms invalid.Rather than invoking the power of God by saying “I baptise you”, as required by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Father Arango said “we baptise you”, referring to the community.As a result of his phrasing, every baptism he has performed since he was ordained in 1995 until June 2021 has been invalid.This could also mean that subsequent confirmations and First Communions for those baptised by Arango could also be invalidated.The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix said even some marriages could possibly be affected, though they did not expand on how.Father Arango will now work full-time offering spiritual guidance to Catholics whose baptisms have been deemed invalid so he can baptise them again.In 2020, the Vatican issued a doctoral note clarifying that baptisms performed with the phrase “We baptise you in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit” were invalid, prompting church leaders to investigate faith leaders including Father Arango.His invalidated baptisms also came from his time working in churches in Brazil and San Diego.In a letter announcing his resignation, Father Arango apologised to those affected and asked the community for “prayers, forgiveness, and understanding”.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/father-arango-letter.png" alt="" width="322" height="826" />Father Arango announced he would leave the church after the Vatican ruled that baptisms he performed over the past 25 years have been invalid. Images: St Gregory Catholic Church Bulletin“It saddens me to learn that I have performed invalid baptisms throughout my ministry as a priest by regularly using an incorrect formula,” Father Arango wrote.“I deeply regret my error and how this affected numerous people in your parish and elsewhere.“With the help of the Holy Spirit and in communion with the Diocese of Phoenix I will dedicate my energy and full time ministry to help remedy this and heal those affected.”The Diocese has said Father Arango remains a priest in good standing and that he has not been disqualified from his vocation or ministry as a result of his mistake.Diocese of Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said he didn’t believe Father Arango intentionally harmed or deceived parishioners through his error.“On behalf of our local Church, I am too sincerely sorry that this error has resulted in disruption to the sacramental lives of a number of the faithful,” Olmsted said in a <a href="https://www.stgregoryphx.com/note-on-baptism-validity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.“This is why I pledge to take every step necessary to remedy the situation for everyone impacted.”Image: Padre Andres Arango Phoenix AZ (Facebook)

Family & Pets

Christian school expells 8-year-old for crush on another girl

A girl has been expelled from school after admitting to a fellow student she had a crush on her, according to her mum. 8-year-old Chloe Shelton was expelled from Rejoice Christian School in the US state of Oklahoma, after four years due to the school's beliefs on same sex relationships. Speaking to CNN, Delanie Shelton, Chloe's mum, said the vice-principal told her daughter: “the Bible says that women can only have children with a man”. Ms Shelton said the vice-principal asked her about homosexuality to which she replied saying she has "no issues with it". Chloe was sent home and was told not to return on Friday. The superintendent then contacted the family to let them know they were "ending their partnership" due to differing beliefs, and also expelled Chloe's five-year-old brother. "I was so blindsided. I was angry, hurt, betrayed, sad... so many different emotions. I just couldn't believe it," she told CNN. Superintendent Joel Pepin refused to comment on the issue due to privacy reasons. The school's handbook does state that students should not engage in public displays of affection, and any form of "sexual immorality" such as "professing to be homosexual/bisexual" goes against its beliefs. To compromise on this means students forfeit their enrolment.

Legal

Pope Francis shows support for same-sex marriage for the first time

Pope Francis has defended the right of gay couples to enter into a legally recognised civil union in a documentary that premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday. In the film, Fransesco by Evgeny Afineevsky, the religious leader says that gay people have the right to be in a family. “These are children of God, they have the right to a family,” Francis says in the film, speaking in Spanish. “What we have to create is a law of civil union, they have the right to be legally protected. I have defended that.” According to biographer Austen Ivereigh, the future pope backed civil unions for gay couples while he was still the archbishop of Buenos Aires and known as Jorge Bergoglio. But Francis has been vocal about his stance of gay marriage in the past, saying that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. “‘Marriage’ is a historic word,” he told French sociologist Dominique Wolton in a 2017 book of interviews. “Always among human beings, and not only in the Church, it has been between a man and a woman. You can’t just change that like that.” “Since the beginning of the pontificate the Pope has spoken of respect for homosexuals and has been against their discrimination,” Vatican expert Vania de Luca told RaiNews. “The novelty today is that he defends as pope a law for civil unions.” After becoming pope in 2013, Francis welcomed homosexuals with his now famous phrase, “Who am I to judge?” and has invited gay couples to the Vatican on multiple occasions. The two-hour documentary looks back at the last seven years pf his pontificate and travels. One of the most heartfelt moments in the film os when the Pope called a gay couple, parents of three young children, after they sent him a letter saying they felt ashamed to bring their children to the parish. Francis invited them over regardless, saying to not be concerned of other people’s judgements. In the past, he has regularly said gay people should be accepted in their parishes and urged parents not to reject their gay children. Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, an activist against sexual abuse within the Church, accompanied the director to the film screening on Wednesday. “When I met Pope Francis he told me he was very sorry about what happened. Juan, it is God who made you gay and he loves you anyway. God loves you and the Pope loves you too,” says Cruz in the film.

Relationships

Why are people religious?

The quick and easy answer to why people are religious is that God – in whichever form you believe he/she/they take(s) – is real and people believe because they communicate with it and perceive evidence of its involvement in the world. Only <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/05/christians-remain-worlds-largest-religious-group-but-they-are-declining-in-europe/">16 per cent of people worldwide</a> are not religious, but this still equates to approximately 1.2 billion individuals who find it difficult to reconcile the ideas of religion with what they know about the world. Why people believe is a question that has plagued great thinkers for many centuries. Karl Marx, for example, called religion the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/26/religion-philosophy">opium of the people</a>”. Sigmund Freud felt that god was an illusion and worshippers were reverting to the childhood needs of security and forgiveness. A more recent psychological explanation is the idea that our evolution has created a “<a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23631561-000-effortless-thinking-the-godshaped-hole-in-your-brain/">god-shaped hole</a>” or has given us a metaphorical “<a href="https://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_god_engine">god engine</a>” which can drive us to believe in a deity. Essentially this hypothesis is that religion is a by-product of a number of cognitive and social adaptations which have been extremely important in human development. Adapted for faith We are social creatures who interact and communicate with each other in a co-operative and supportive way. In doing so we inevitably have stronger attachments to some individuals more than others. British psychologist John Bowlby demonstrated <a href="https://www.learning-theories.com/attachment-theory-bowlby.html">this influence of attachments</a> on children’s emotional and social development, and showed how these can suffer when they are threatened through separation or abuse. We continue to rely on these attachments in later life, when falling in love and making friends, and can even form strong attachments to non-human animals and inanimate objects. It is easy to see that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508619.2012.679556">these strong attachments could transfer</a> to religious deities and their messengers. Our relationships depend on being able to predict how others will behave across situations and time. But the things that we form attachments to don’t necessarily need to be in front of us to predict their actions. We can imagine what they would do or say. This ability – known as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=R5c4AAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=decoupled+cognition+development&ots=EguvU5WaPt&sig=vFzsPLOgvR-DVKo45otxPToTL-s#v=onepage&q=decoupled%20cognition%20development&f=false">cognitive decoupling</a> – originates in childhood through pretend play. It is a small leap from being able to imagine the mind of someone we know to imagining an <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/271772">omnipotent, omniscient, human-like mind</a> – especially if we have religious texts which tell of their past actions. Another key adaptation that may help religious belief derives from our ability to to anthropomorphise objects. Have you ever seen the outline of a person only to realise that it is actually a coat hung on the door? This capacity to attribute human forms and behaviours to non-human things shows we also readily endow non-human entities, such as gods, with the same qualities that we possess and, as such, make it easier to connect with them. Behavioural benefits In addition to these psychological aspects, the ritual behaviour seen in collective worship makes us enjoy and want to repeat the experience. Dancing, singing and achieving trance-like states were prominent in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4958132/">many ancestral societies</a> and are still exhibited by some today – including the <a href="https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/sentinelese">Sentinelese people</a>, and <a href="https://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/aboriginal-ceremonial-dancing/">Australian aborigines</a>. As well as being acts of social unity, even more formal rituals also <a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/01/04/this_is_your_brain_on_religion_uncovering_the_science_of_belief/">alter brain chemistry</a>. They increase levels of serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin in the brain – chemicals that make us feel good, want to do things again and provide a closeness to others. These cognitive adaptations are facilitated by educational and household norms which don’t tend to dispute religious ideas. While we are encouraged to challenge other ideas presented to us early in childhood that may not have a strong evidence base – such as Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy – this is not the case with religion. These challenges are often discouraged in religious teachings and <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-its-sin-in-the-eyes-of-god-to-criticize-your-pastor.html">sometimes regarded as sinful</a>. Regardless of your point of view, the impact of religion and religious thinking on human functioning and evolution is a captivating intellectual debate that shows no sign of ending. Of course, one might argue that god creates everything outlined above but then this leads us onto another, bigger question: what is the evidence for god?<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108647/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Nick Perham, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Cardiff Metropolitan University. Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-people-religious-a-cognitive-perspective-108647" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.

Mind

How to have productive disagreements about politics and religion

In the current polarized climate, it’s easy to find yourself in the midst of a political disagreement that morphs into a religious argument. People’s religious affiliation <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/22/american-religious-groups-vary-widely-in-their-views-of-abortion/">predicts their stances on abortion</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01449.x">immigration</a> and other controversial topics, and disagreements about these issues can seem intractable. The seeming futility in arguing about politics and religion may arise partly because people misunderstand the nature of these beliefs. Many people approach an ideological disagreement the same way they would a disagreement about facts. If you disagree with someone about when water freezes, facts are convincing. It’s easy to think that if you disagree with someone about immigration, facts will be similarly persuasive. This might work if people’s ideological beliefs worked the same way as their factual beliefs – but they don’t. As psychologists who focus on religious and moral cognition, <a href="https://columbiasamclab.weebly.com">my colleagues and I</a> are investigating how people understand that these are two separate classes of belief. Our work suggests that an effective strategy for disagreement involves approaching ideological beliefs as a combination of fact and opinion. Identifying a difference To investigate whether people distinguish between facts and religious beliefs, my colleagues and I <a href="https://columbiasamclab.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/0/6/59061709/heiphetz_landers_vanleeuwen_in_press_prs.pdf">examined</a> a <a href="https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/">database containing more than 520 million words</a> from speeches, novels, newspapers and other sources. Religious statements were typically preceded by the phrase “believe that” rather than “think that.” Phrases like “I believe that Jesus turned water into wine” were relatively common, whereas phrases like “I think that Jesus turned water into wine” were nearly nonexistent. In four subsequent experiments, we asked adults to complete sentences like “Zane __ that Jesus turned water into wine.” Participants were more likely to use “believes” for religious and political claims and “thinks” for factual claims. <iframe id="Qgbts" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Qgbts/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe> Taken together, these results suggest that people distinguish between factual beliefs, on the one hand, and religious and political claims, on the other. Rather than equating ideologies and facts, people appear to view ideologies as a combination of fact and opinion. In two earlier studies, 5- to 10-year-old children and adults learned about pairs of characters who <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.09.005">disagreed about religious, factual and opinion-based statements</a>. For example, we told participants that one person thought that God could hear prayers while the other didn’t, or that two other people disagreed about whether or not blue is the prettiest color. Participants said that only one person could be right nearly every time they heard a factual disagreement, but they gave this answer less often when they heard a religious disagreement and less often still when they heard an opinion-based disagreement. This result may occur because children and adults think that different types of beliefs provide different information. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2013.12.002">Participants told us</a> that factual claims reveal information about the world, whereas opinions reveal information about the speaker. They also reported that religious claims reveal a moderate amount of information about both the world and the speaker. People who say that God exists are ostensibly making a claim about what kinds of beings exist in the world – but not everyone would agree with that claim, so they are also revealing information about themselves. Recognizing the difference in everyday life So how can you use our results when a contentious topic arises outside the lab? When you find yourself in the midst of an ideological disagreement, it can be tempting to correct the other person’s facts. “Actually, scientific evidence shows that the earth is <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-science-figured-out-the-age-of-the-earth/">more than 4 billion years old</a> and that <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/humans/humankind/index.html">humans did indeed evolve</a> from <a href="http://humanorigins.si.edu">other primates</a>.” “Actually, recent data show that immigrants <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-immigration-bad-for-the-economy-4-essential-reads-99001">contribute to the economy</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/19/two-charts-demolish-the-notion-that-immigrants-here-illegally-commit-more-crime/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bbdd23b1132b">commit fewer crimes</a> than native-born Americans.” Yet this type of information alone is often insufficient to resolve disagreements. It’s addressing the part of ideological beliefs that is like a fact, the part where someone is trying to communicate information about the world. But it’s missing the part where ideological beliefs are also like an opinion. Without this part, saying, “Actually, evidence shows that X” sounds a lot like saying, “Actually, evidence proves that blue is not the prettiest color.” To be convincing, you need tools that address both the fact part and the opinion part of an ideology. People rarely change their opinions because someone out-argued them. Rather, opinion-based change can come from exposure. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0025848">People like</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2008.26.3.259">the familiar</a>, even when that familiarity comes from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00289">briefest of prior exposures</a>. The same could occur for viewpoints that they’ve heard before. What does exposure look like when talking about ideological disagreements? “Hmm. I actually think something different.” “I really appreciated the way my science tutor was patient with me when I didn’t understand evolution. The way she explained things made a lot of sense to me after a while.” “I’m going to donate money to groups helping asylum seekers. Do you want to join me?” Maybe you say just one of these sentences, but others pick up where you left off. By walking around in the world, someone might encounter numerous counterpoints to their opinions, perhaps leading to gradual change as other views become more familiar. It’s not anyone’s responsibility to say these sentences, least of all people who are being harmed by the disagreement. But for those in a position to change minds via repeated exposure, this strategy can be a helpful addition to the “managing disagreement” toolboxes everyone carries.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109495/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Larisa Heiphetz, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Columbia University. Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-have-productive-disagreements-about-politics-and-religion-109495" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.

Relationships

Why Serena Williams doesn’t celebrate her daughter’s birthday

It’s hard to believe a celebrity child not having a birthday bash that other everyday kids’ envy, but that’s exactly what Serena William’s has instilled as she raises her daughter Alexis Olympia. The tennis champion says she will not be celebrating her daughter’s birthday – not now, not ever. “Olympia doesn’t celebrate birthdays,” Williams revealed at a US Open press conference in August 2017. “We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, we don’t do that.” According to Serena’s faith, Jesus Christ never celebrated his own birthday, which means those practicing the religion should follow the same path. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BqcoJgDHE_Z/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BqcoJgDHE_Z/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams)</a> on Nov 21, 2018 at 7:24am PST </div> </blockquote> Serena, who was born and raised a Jehovah’s Witness, most likely grew up without celebrating her own birthday, so the entire stance isn’t too unusual for her. And birthdays aren’t the only thing that’s forbidden in the religion. Those who are Jehovah’s Witness reject blood transfusion, don’t take part in sex before marriage and don’t celebrate Easter and Christmas due to its ties to paganism. And due to their dedication to peace, they do not take part in politics or war, and don’t affiliate with people of different religious backgrounds – although they are told to respect all faiths. Despite being raised by her mother as a Jehovah’s Witness, Serena mentioned how she had trouble early on connecting with the beliefs. “Being a Jehovah’s Witness is important to me, but I’ve never really practiced it and have been wanting to get into it,” she said right before Olympia’s birth. The mother-of-one revealed it was her husband Alexis Ohanian who encouraged the star to become more involved. “Alexis didn’t grow up going to any church, but he’s really receptive and even takes the lead,” she said. “He puts my needs first.”

Family & Pets

Why Serena Williams won't be celebrating her daughter Olympia's 1st birthday

Superstar tennis player Serena Williams has caused a stir after saying how she won’t be celebrating her daughter’s first birthday due to religious reasons. Serena, who has been a follower of the Jehovah’s Witness since the early 1980s, says that due to religious beliefs, her daughter Olympia, who turns one on September 1, will not be taking part in a birthday celebration of any kind. “Olympia doesn’t celebrate birthdays,” she said. “We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, we don’t do that.” Those who practice the Jehovah’s Witness faith do not celebrate any holiday that is believed to have a pagan origin – such as Christmas, Easter and birthdays. Speaking to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.vogue.com/article/serena-williams-pregnancy-vogue-september-issue-2017" target="_blank">Vogue</a> in 2017, Serena revealed she just recently started practicing the religion, despite her mother converting years ago. “Being a Jehovah’s Witness is important to me, but I’ve never really practiced it and have been wanting to get into it,” she said. The tennis player, who is considered one of the best players in the world, credits her career success to the “Jehovah God.” “I am Jehovah’s Witness. I think if you don’t believe in God, it’s going to be tough to live life because pretty much that’s the basis of life, it comes from God,” she told <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=11699" target="_blank">ASAP Sports</a> back in 2002. “Being a Jehovah’s Witness, obviously we believe in God and the Bible. And without Him, I wouldn’t be here right now. I really thank Him for everything.” Serena shares her daughter with husband Alexis Ohanian. The two were wed back in November 2017 in New Orleans. “Alexis didn’t grow up going to any church, but he’s really receptive and even takes the lead. He puts my needs first,” she told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.vogue.com/article/serena-williams-pregnancy-vogue-september-issue-2017" target="_blank">Vogue</a>.

News

Reflecting on my spirituality throughout the years

Margaret Cunningham, 61, is ‘semi-retired’ from her role in digital communications. She is a hobby writer who particularly enjoys writing articles with a reflective viewpoint. A lifelong passion of health and fitness means she is known in her community as ‘that lady who runs.' The In Hindsight series, of which this story is part of, is a collection of stories and moments that have impacted my life. They are snippets of insights and experiences. In the end, these stories will tell the tale of the dash (-) between the dates of my first and last breath. I want these stories to mean something – to let all who read them know the person behind the tags of daughter, sister, mother, wife and grandmother. My mother led an eventful life. Her eulogy certainly revealed a woman with an adventurous spirit, but as my brother delighted us all with the telling of her story I was struck by the thought that her life was just a list of events. The story of her soul, I don’t know. How she felt about her list of events. Her fears, her disappointments and regrets. Of being frightened, of loving, of lessons learned. What made her feel alive? I don’t know. She took this with her to the grave as did my father with his life. And this is at the heart of the In Hindsight series. Me is not my soul – I am more than a list of events. In every Hindsight story lies a chapter of my soul. So to be true to the Hindsight philosophy, I need to talk about the moment when I realised that everything I perceived God to be was a lie. Even now as I write the words, I feel its impact on my soul. From the moment of conception our lives are shaped by others. Within the womb and out of the womb, our first experiences of life are provided by parents or caregivers. In those early years it is adult decisions, opinions, customs, actions, and perceptions that shape what we believe and how we feel. As children we unconsciously accept the beliefs of those around us as the truth. No questions asked. So my parent’s authoritarian Catholicism was my first introduction to God. As far as I was concerned God was religion and religion was God. It’s interesting the impact this had on me. On the one hand, the moment I left home I never stepped back into the Catholic Church, yet God… well I just couldn’t get rid of God. In her book, Watching the Tree, author, Adeline Yen Mah says, “… change is the only constant. To that I will add also the universal human yearning for truth and wisdom.” I never quite know whether to use the term ‘fortunately’ or ‘unfortunately’, but the yearning for truth and wisdom seems to be the road I have travelled. Fitting God, or not fitting God, into our own worldview is a good way to keep God under control. We are good at shaping God to our expectations. God is who we want God to be. And so it was for me. From childhood to adulthood I constructed my own set of values and spiritual beliefs based on past and present life experiences. Naturally these evolved over time because real experiences do change us. The worldview of my youth and for much of adulthood was what I chose to believe. And as is the arrogance of youth, I believed that whatever my worldview was at the time, was the ultimate source of the truth. I still cringe at some of the zealous moments of my spiritual life as I moved through the ‘born again’ scene. As well-intentioned as they might have been, they had more to do with my own ignorance and ego than any display of tolerance, peace or truth. Most of all I feel cross with myself because I did not question. Nothing is what it seems – and this is exactly why we should question everything we think. Wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”? Kids are such natural questioners. They start off asking endless ‘why’ and ‘what if’ questions, but somewhere along the way fewer and fewer questions are asked. Why is that? Is it because as adults we think the constant ‘why’ and ‘what if’ questions tedious? Do we say ‘… go away I’m busy’ or do we laugh at a question because we think it silly? The fear of being knocked back, ridiculed or laughed at was very real for me as a child and this accompanied me into adulthood. I didn’t ask questions because I just believed everyone else’s truth. We all have a ‘spirituality’ whether we want one or not, even if we believe/don’t believe in God, or whether we are religious or not. Mention God, spirituality or religion and it conjures up images of churchy, holy, pious, New Age or some other airy fairy mystical perception. This was, and is not me, and if I could write this in shouty CAPS I would. I have led a fairly eventful life exploring most of what life has on offer, the good and the bad. God was just always part of my spirituality and I would modify God to suit my views, values and worldviews at the time. On this particular day I was about to literally dump God for good. God was not behaving as I wanted and acting as I believed God should. Why did God not seem to be answering my prayers? Why did God not feed the starving? Injustice. Wars. Greed. Power. Rape, Poverty, Disease. Why were some babies born just to die? Six million Jews and minority groups massacred in the holocaust. Couldn’t you have stopped this God? Why? Why? Why? So many questions. It was then I became aware of another option. What if everything I believed and perceived God to be was a lie? And it was. So I let God go. For a while I felt utterly bereft. Bewildered and panicky at what was happening. It felt as though I had wasted 50 years of my life chasing God, of being conned by my mind. Letting God go left a huge void. But at the same time completely liberating. I read somewhere that if we continue to journey trying to make things fit into our own worldview then no one will benefit. I had designed God so I could control God. Throughout history, God has suffered a great injustice at the hands of those who claim to be the closest to God. No one person or religion has a monopoly on the truth. What did I replace God with? Oh, I didn’t replace God, no, I just let God go to be God. I have no intention of replacing God with another God. God just is, that’s all. What remains though is room. Plenty of room for God to be God. What I have noticed is how my attitudes towards others have changed. The people I meet and their life experiences have become incredibly precious. Love, peace and tolerance take on new dimensions when you let God go to be God. Nothing is what it seems. Maybe what you believe right now is the truth and you have the answers. If that’s the case, then don’t be afraid of to ask yourself the question. What if everything I perceive, or don’t perceive, God to be is a lie? It may well be that you end up right back where you are now. But it’s a wonderful, exhilarating, never-ending question of what, and who God is, or is not, to explore. Read more from Margaret’s In Hindsight series here: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2016/12/margaret-cunningham-on-fear/">Don’t let fear stop you from your goals</a> <a href="https://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2017/01/margaret-cunningham-on-time-to-do-nothing/%20">In praise of doing nothing</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/relationships/2016/11/margaret-cunningham-on-what-makes-a-marriage-last/">What really makes a marriage last</a>

Mind

Aussie’s full-size Noah’s Ark replica ready to set sail

Earlier this year we told you a Dutch contractor had <a href="/news/news/2016/04/noahs-ark-replica-set-to-hit-high-seas/">built a full size replica</a> of Noah’s Ark, the famous boat from the Bible’s Book of Genesis. Well, if this story is anything to go by it looks as though he’s not the only person on the lookout for two of every animal. Kent Ham, an Australian-born religious leader in the US has created another full-size replica of Noah’s Ark, intending to open it as an attraction to visitors. Ham left his job as a science teacher in Brisbane over three years ago, moving to the US and eventually going on to become the founder of Answers In Genesis organisation and one of the more polarising figures in America’s notorious Bible Belt. Ham’s controversial views have somewhat overshadowed the construction of the replica, which as you can see in the video above represents quite an architectural feat. Local atheist group Tri-State Freethinkers is reportedly planning a protest against Ham’s Ark Encounter experience as it’s set to open on Thursday. Freethinkers’ founder and president, Jim G Helton, told <a href="/news.com.au" target="_blank">News.com.au</a>, “We’re not saying he can’t build his park. But we don’t think it’s appropriate for a family fun day.” What’s your take on the story? Do you think it’s appropriate for Ham to open this part as a family holiday park? Share your thoughts in the comments. Video credit: YouTube / ABC News Related links: <a href="/travel/cruising/2016/06/just-how-much-does-each-day-on-a-cruise-cost/">Just how much does each day on a cruise cost</a> <a href="/travel/cruising/2016/07/5-secret-confessions-from-cruise-ship-employees/">5 secret confessions from cruise ship employees</a> <a href="/travel/cruising/2016/07/8-reasons-why-cruising-is-the-perfect-family-holiday/">8 reasons why cruising is the perfect family holiday</a>

Cruising

Mother Teresa had earned her sainthood

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the nun who selflessly dedicated her life to helping the poor, will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church at a ceremony on Sept. 4. Pope Francis made the announcement on Tuesday at a meeting of cardinals to give the final approval to several sainthood causes. This makes the humanitarians canonisation the second fastest in modern history after that of Saint John Paul II. The Albanian born nun died in 1997 at the age of 87, leaving behind a legacy. Her original community of about a dozen nuns helped the poor on the city's streets before spreading throughout the world, including to Ireland. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work with the poor, sick and dying. There has been some contention to her sainthood however, with many criticizing her opposition to birth control and accusing her of religious imperialism. Despite the nay-sayers, Mother Teresa was beautified in 2003, giving her the terms ‘blessed’. The church defines saints as those believed to have been holy enough during their lives to now be in heaven and capable of interceding with God to perform miracles. She has been credited in the church with two miracles, both involving the healing of sick people. Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/02/how-you-can-make-a-difference-by-volunteering/">How you can make a difference by volunteering</a> <a href="/travel/international-travel/2015/08/tibet-changed-my-life/">A trip to Tibet changed my life</a> <a href="/finance/retirement-income/2016/02/little-charitable-things-you-can-do/">6 little things to do to be more charitable</a>

Caring

10 beautiful churches you must see in person

From La Sagrada Familia to Le Mont-Saint-Michel, there’s no shortage of beautiful churches in the world to visit as a tourist. We’ve put together a selection of 10 of the most beautiful churches in the world. No matter what you believe, these architecturally ambitious, awe inspiring buildings are impressive. To view the churches on the list, scroll through the gallery above. 1. St Basil’s Cathedral, Russia Built from 1555-61 on orders from Ivan the Terrible, St Basil’s Cathedral sits in Moscow’s Red Square and for a time was the city’s tallest building. 2. St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City One of the most renowned examples of Renaissance architecture, St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is one of the largest churches in the world. 3. La Sagrada Familia, Spain Still incomplete, construction on La Sagrada Familia commenced in 1882 and combines Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. 4. Borgund Stave Church, Norway The best preserved of Norway’s 28 extant stave churches, Borgund Stave Church is now used as a fascinating museum. 5. Church of St George, Ethiopia Carved from a type of limestone, the Church of St George and has been referred to by many people as the Eighth Wonder of the World. 6. Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Italy This iconic structure is the main church of Florence and was completed in 1436. The exterior is faced with pink and green marble panels. 7. Le Mont-Saint-Michel, France Located at the mount of the Couesnon River off France’s north-western coast, Le Mont-Saint-Michel has been occupied since the 8th century. 8. Church of Saint Stephanos, Iran This Armenian monastery is situated in a deep canyon long the Arax river. Completed in the 9th century, it has since been rebuilt after earthquake damage. 9. Hagia Sophia, Turkey Famous for its massive dome, Hagia Sophia was completed in 1520 and is considered by many as the epitome of Byzantine architecture. 10. Notre Dame, France One of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, Notre Dame is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/01/odd-and-amazing-toilets-from-around-the-world/">12 odd (but amazing) toilets from around the world</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/01/10-most-amazing-man-made-structures/">10 most amazing man-made structures</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/01/how-i-drove-a-motorhome-around-the-world/">When I retired I drove a motorhome around the world</a>

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Why Serena Williams doesn’t celebrate her daughter’s birthday

Why Serena Williams won't be celebrating her daughter Olympia's 1st birthday

Reflecting on my spirituality throughout the years

Aussie’s full-size Noah’s Ark replica ready to set sail

Mother Teresa had earned her sainthood

10 beautiful churches you must see in person