Rapture?

by Stella

You may have heard about the theory about "the end of the world" set to take place today, May 21, at 6 pm, but what is it really? Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired engineer and Christian radio evangelist who falsely predicted Rapture in 1994, claims that meticulous calculations point to today as the date of Rapture. Rapture is when true believers will rise into Heaven and be saved from suffering a massive earthquake that sweeps around the world, God's way of dealing with non-believers.

One question people have been asking is what time zone the 6 pm prediction is for. Well, the mighty earthquake will start in the Pacific Ocean at their 6pm and follow the time zones around the world.

Many Christians have been preparing for the rapture by saying goodbye to friends and family, and holding signs to inform people of Christ's return to earth. Have you seen this one by Harold Camping's Family Radio?

Anyone who accepts Christ as the messiah will be raptured, and Camping estimates these people to be around 200 million. Camping also claims that gay-rights movements are a sign given by God of the rapture, signifying that our world will be destroyed as Sodom was.

Atheists are not letting the rapture slide by unnoticed. Many are throwing after-rapture parties, and some have even started businesses to take care of believers' pets after they are raptured.

Which ever position you take, we will find out the truth at 6 pm today.

Works Cited

Betz, Dean. "The End-of-the-world FAQ Sheet : Hot Topics." SFGate. Web. 21 May 2011. .

Boyett, Jason. "Is Judgement Day May 21?" Beliefnet. 11 May 2011. Web. 21 May 2011. .

McGreal, Chris. "The Rapture: Judgment Day Imminent … If US Engineer Has Calculated Right."Guardian.co.uk. 20 May 2011. Web. 21 May 2011. .

Happy Easter

By Stella

As many of you probably know, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after he was crucified on Good Friday. This is the ending of Holy Week, which includes Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. This is also the last week of Lent. Some traditions are less obvious, such as Easter eggs and the Easter bunny.

Easter eggs represent life and resurrection in the Christian community and painting them has to do with Jesus’s blood as he was crucified. Now, Easter eggs are mass produced and made of various sweets such as chocolate and marshmallows, but in many countries, especially in Europe, eggs are still intricately designed with scenes of life and beautiful patterns. The Easter bunny is another symbol of life. First recorded in Germany, the Easter bunny brings Easter eggs to children during Easter. Children make (or more modernly buy) brightly colored baskets for the Easter bunny to put eggs in. Peeps are a very modern tradition, starting to be mass produced in the 1950’s. Along with bunnies and eggs, chicks also represent life and being born.

This is an Easter basket consisting of Easter grass, chocolate eggs, peeps, colored eggs, a stuffed bunny, and a chocolate bunny.

Religion & Prejudice

By Gabbie

How does religion affect prejudice? Are religious people as a whole more, or less, prone to being prejudiced? Or is this only true of specific religious groups?

I’m not going to try to directly answer any of these questions; instead I’m going to let the statistics speak for themselves. This survey was taken of high-school students aged 14-17. The survey was not large enough for this to be considered conclusive evidence, but these are still hard percentages that send a very interesting message.

In the first section, the questions were general-knowledge questions such as “the HIV virus can be spread by coughing or sneezing,” to which the respondents were asked to answer TRUE or FALSE. Answering incorrectly is defined as answering one or mor

e of the five questions incorrectly, while answering correctly is defined as answered none of the five questions incorrectly. I consider this section to be significant because ignorance feeds prejudice; someone who does not understand HIV is much more likely to fear or discriminate against people with HIV, as will become apparent from examining all four tables in

conjunction. This section includes the first two tables, below.

The next section includes the other two tables, and involved statements such as “Nations should be allowed to deny entry to immigrants with HIV,” “Governments should be able to publicize names of HIV+ citizens,” “If I found out that someone I knew had HIV, I would be angry, or place blame on him/her,” and “If I found out that someone I knew had HIV, I would avoid that person or stop spending time with him/her.” Respondents were asked to answer AGREE or DISAGREE, and agreeing was defined as answering AGREE to at least one statement of the nine that were given, while disagreeing meant answering DISAGREE to all of them. In the first of these two tables, the discrepancies between different demographics, though present, are much less marked than in any of the four tables; I think that the more important thing to note is that for every group, a huge percentage agreed with the statements.

If you looked at all four tables together, as I suggested, then you noticed that the group of which the highest percentage answered incorrectly to general-knowledge questions also had the highest percentage of members who agreed with discriminatory statements, and the group where the highest percentage answered correctly had the lowest percentage of members agreeing with those statements. Therefore I hope that, besides conveying a message about religion and prejudice, this data also speaks of something else: that ignorance is the foundation of prejudice and discrimination.

The Origin of Music

By Stella

You might laugh at church music and Christian rock, but the truth is that most forms of music have their roots in religion. Western music, originating in Europe, developed from hymns and chants that eventually acquired melodies and became polyphonic (containing multiple notes). Early composers, such as Hildegard of Bingen (1098), set lyrics to hymns. Later, composers such as Tomas Tallis and William Byrd would branch away from religious seculars, and music would become a part of ceremonies and other royal events. Many kings and queens had their own composers. As music progressed, it moved beyond vocals and began to include many different musical instruments. During the Baroque Era, beginning in the 1600s,symphonies were written. This was the time of composers such as Antonio Vivaldi and J.S. Bach. Many pieces were still religious, such as masses and choral hymns, and most churches had organs for composers and musicians to use. Over the years, music evolved to include more instruments, composers writing massive symphonies and operas.

In Africa, music also originated from religion. In traditional African religion, music was used for ceremonies and for communication. This music used various percussion instruments, vocals, and wind instruments, and was usually accompanied by dancing. In the 1800s, when slavery was still prevalent, slaves who had been brought from Africa learned to play western music. This fusion of western music with traditional African music led to the birth of ragtime, Dixieland, and eventually jazz. Jazz evolved into rock and roll, and eventually pop.

Even today, music is a large part of religion, and vice versa. Many people still put passages from the Bible into song, or write songs with religious meanings. In most churches, hymns and songs are a very large part of ceremony and tradition. Whether you listen to pop or rock, jazz or classical, know that religion was the origin of the song you’re listening to.

St. Jude- Tom Belleque interview

by Nate

Out of all the work about Abrahamic religions I wrote on, I never got any opinions of the religions from anyone who has turned the religion into a profession. To gain another perspective, I went to St. Jude to interview my grandmother’s priest Tom Belleque. The questions I asked Tom were mainly about the Abrahamic religions as whole and his personal experiences with Christianity.

Islamophobia?

by Gloria

You’ve probably heard about the mosque being built at Ground Zero, but you might not know the details surrounding it. The plan was originally to build a 13-story building, complete with a swimming pool, as a cultural center for Muslims. The idea was Feisal Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan’s idea, they are both American Muslims. The plan was approved by the city council, but now due to protests and tension they may overturn their previous decision.

Many of the people opposing the mosque seriously think it will offend the families of those 3000 people that died in the 9/11 attacks, but some are just plain against Islam. They assume that their Muslim neighbors or co-workers are just like the terrorists involved in 9/11, or just like the independent terrorist bombers. This is an unfair and judgmental. Generalizing or stereotyping people is never okay, just like you don’t say “oh just because you’re black you’re a criminal”, you don’t say “oh you’re muslim, you must be a terrorist!”.

On the other hand, some protesters say that building a mosque at Ground Zero is like building a Japanese memorial on Pearl Harbor. It probably is offensive to people who’s loved ones died in the attacks. They say “build it anywhere, just not here”. But recently there have been protests against five different mosques being built, all around the country. This isn’t just about offending families of victims, it’s about people generalizing against Muslims and Islam. Islamophobia. Franklin Graham says Islam is “a religion of hatred. It’s a religion of war.” Protesters hold up signs that say things like “NO MEMORIAL TO TERRORISTS”. Others take passages of the Koran out of context and use them as proof this is true. They argue that Islam is not really a religion, so it should not be granted rights. Everybody’s read about neighbors suddenly becoming suspicious of their Muslim neighbors. All people should be able to express their opinion, just don’t harm others when you do.

Works Cited
Ghosh, Bobby. "Islamophobia." TIME 30 Aug. 2010: 20-26. Print.

Peyser, Andrea. "Mosque Madness at Ground Zero - NYPOST.com." New York News Gossip Sports Entertainment Photos - New York Post. 13 May 2010. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/mosque_madness_at_ground_zero_OQ34EB0MWS0lXuAnQau5uL/0

Bahá'í Faith

by Stella

Have you ever heard of Bahá’í Faith? Chances are you know somebody who has. With over 5 million adherents in all parts of the world, people from all different religions are becoming Bahá’í.

The Bahá’í Faith started in the second half of the 1800s, with the birth of Baha’u’llah in what is now Iran. He realized he was a Messenger of God when he was thrown in a dungeon for giving up a royal life and following Bábism, the predecessor to Bahá’í Faith. He was exiled to Iraq, where he announced that he was the Messenger predicted by the Báb, the founder of Bábism. He was then exiled a second time from Iraq to Istanbul, and in the following years authored many scriptures describing his teachings. In 1892 Baha’u’llah died, leaving the religion to his son Abdu’l-Baha. Between then and now, Bahá’í Faith has gained many followers and created a local, national, and global democratic governing system.

The main theme of the Bahá’í Faith is unity. This includes unity between different races, classes, nations and any other traditional barrier. Other principles are that Baha’is must take part in daily prayer, refrain from partisan politics, have a profession or craft, and participate in a period of fasting. The Bahá’í faith considers males and females equal, and also prohibits non-medical drugs, gambling, and backbiting. A Baha’i’s lifetime is to be spent striving for all of these principles. Any form of community service or education is considered worship, and many Baha’is tutor, mentor or perform other types of service.

One interesting fact about the Bahá’í Faith is they have their own calendar. It starts on the 21st of March and each of the 19 months has 19 days, with 4 intercalary days (February 26th-March 1st) to make it line up with the solar calendar. On the first of each month there is a feast, and in the last month, (March 2nd –March 20th) all Baha’is aged 15-70 take part in a fast.

I really think this is an interesting religion. Its themes of unity and fairness are a breath of fresh air amidst all of the wars and murders that surround many other religions and their conflicts.

Works Cited
Baha'i Faith United States Official Website. Web. 03 Jan. 2011. http://www.bahai.us/

The Baha'i Faith- The International Website of the Baha'is of the World. Web. 03 Jan. 2011. http://www.bahai.org/

Inside the Sant Nirankari Mission

by Gabbie

Our current research is focused on finding different perspectives inside and outside of our community. We started this off by interviewing a fellow student who is a member of the Sant Nirankari Mission, which seeks to unify people of all backgrounds and beliefs in the knowledge of God. I found the insight that she offered both informative and interesting, and am excited to share it with you.

First I asked her to explain some of the fundamentals of the Sant Nirankari Mission, and found out that she also had something to say about religious conflict:

“A paper is a piece of paper. You can call it papel, or cameo, or paper, or anything else in any different language. It's still paper. Similarly, everyone in the world worships the same God, just in different ways, in different forms, and under different names. Allah is the same as God is the same as Nirankar, etc. So why in the world are we fighting about it? This is the base ideal to the SNM. The SNM is trying to unify people under this belief. God is goodness, and love, and happiness, etc. God is not man or woman.

“Our satguru (kind of like our pope) is Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji (say Baba Ji or Nirankari Baba Ji). He travels endlessly, not sleeping for days in order to help people come together and share their thoughts. He is a very good man. Satguru means someone who gives you the knowledge of truth, truth meaning the divine knowledge, or knowing where God is.

“One last thing: SNM isn't a religion. It's not a cult either. It's a mission to unite people from different cultures. The main theme is knowing God – know thyself and be one with God. Knowing God means you know that you are part of a higher spiritual presence. When you know God, you feel like you are part of the same God everyone else is part of.”

I also asked her a few more specific questions:

Q: Do you identify with a specific belief system?
”Being Nirankari doesn't mean you have to give up another religion. In fact, most Nirankaris identify with a specific religion. My mom is still a Hindu, and my dad is Secular Jewish. The SNM is still fairly new, so people from other religions are mainly the ones who join, as well as a new generation being born into the SNM. However, lots of Nirankari parents raise their kids into different religions, too. My sister and I can be classified as people who do not identify with specific religions. We do, however enjoy learning from many different practices.”

Q: Has religion affected other aspects of your life?
“Being a Nirankari is like waking from a dream – I know it sounds cliché, but it's really how I feel. At the satsungs (gatherings) we don't really talk about specific things that happened long in the past, like how in churches they might talk about the story of Moses. It's mainly stuff like morality, such as Miracles, Tolerance, The Effects of Our Actions, etc. Every time I see people uniting like that to just be humans, and not Hindus or Christians or Muslims or Jews, etc, I am able to picture the world as I know and love it. Being a Nirankari helps me to work towards the peace that I know can happen someday, and see the world as a beautiful miracle – that needs some tweaking, but then, what are we here for?”

Q: How do you feel about freedom of religion/religious equality here or anywhere else you have lived? Have you ever been treated differently because of religion or witnessed people you know being treated differently because of religion?
“The Midwest is a very nice place, but at least in South-Eastern Wisconsin, people are either Italian or German, Catholic or Lutheran, etc. People are all pretty much the same, and my family stuck out like a sore thumb. It was so amazing when I came here, with so many different types of people, of all races and religions. I really couldn't believe how varied society is here compared to over there, and consequently, I feel I fit in much better here – in Wisconsin, I was kind of shunned by a lot of people. My next-door neighbors were the kind of people who would send their kids to a Lutheran school an hour away from home, instead of the Blue Ribbon -- Lighthouse School that was literally 30 seconds away. Their kids, once discovering that we weren't Christians, tried to scare us into converting, and for a while, I was so scared that I believed them. They were so closed-minded, and they didn't even know what we did religiously! They weren't bad people, but in their minds, good=Christianity x 100. It really was pretty hard to play with them after that, especially when they started to turn our play dates into Sunday school.”

Works Cited
"About Us." Sant Nirankari Mission. Sant Nirankari Mandal, 2009. Web. 17 Dec. 2011. http://www.nirankari.com/

"The Sant Nirankari Mission." E-mail interview. 17 Dec. 2010.