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.

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.

Agnosticism & Atheism

by Gabbie

Despite considering myself nonreligious, I’ve never fully understood the difference between atheism and agnosticism. But now, with the popularity of non-religion on the rise (Phan), I thought that the knowledge might become useful, and I wanted to share my findings with anyone else who’s also confused by this subject.

For an issue so personal and possibly arbitrary, I chose to go straight to the source. I found an atheist psychology student who maintains a blog called The Atheist Mind, where he recently posted an article entitled “Atheism vs. Agnosticism.” This post could not be more relevant, and can be found here: http://www.atheistmind.com/atheism-vs-agnosticism. The author gives a simplified, easy-to-understand comparison, where he describes agnosticism as claiming that “there is, nor ever will be, anyway to prove beyond a responsible doubt that a God does or does not exist,” while atheism is “complete disbelief in any form of deity.”

To back up what I read on The Atheist Mind, I explored the Skeptic’s Dictionary, an offbeat website describing itself as “a collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions.” There I found definitions of atheism and agnosticism. Though at first the Dictionary appears questionably reliable (its alphabetical definitions list is titled “From Abracadabra to Zombies), it is actually well-cited and offers a wealth of suggestions for further reading. Its definition of atheism stipulates “active rejection of belief in the existence of God” and goes on to describe distinct categories of atheism, which include apatheism and polyatheism. Its article on agnosticism is short and to the point, defining it as “the position of believing that knowledge of the existence or non-existence of god is impossible.”

After reading articles with a decidedly non-theist bias, I decided to look for a different perspective, and happened upon the website of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. With resignation, I anticipated righteous, holier-than-thou arguments – perhaps unfairly, and was surprised at what I found instead. The author of “What is atheism?” lent an intelligent, reasonable tone to a helpful and well-written article. He defined atheism as “the lack of belief in a god, and/or the belief that there is no god” and listed some basic tenets of atheism, as well as exploring the varying degrees of atheism, ranging from weak to militant. He also included a paragraph on agnosticism, saying that members of this group “have concluded that there is no God” but “are open to further evidence for God’s existence”.

I enjoyed the chance to find some interesting information from some unlikely sources, and hopefully this article can help clear up your confusion. If you consider yourself atheist or agnostic, we’d love to have your take on the differences and similarities.

Works Cited
"Atheism vs. Agnosticism." Web log post. Atheist Mind. Blogger, 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://www.atheistmind.com/atheism-vs-agnosticism

Phan, Katherine T. "Survey: Non-Religious Americans on the Rise in Every State Christianpost.com." ChristianPost.com - Today's Christian News Online. 9 Mar. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090309/survey-non-religious-americans-on-the-rise-in-every-state/

Popa, Cristian. "Agnosticism - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com." The Skeptic's Dictionary. Robert T. Carroll, 9 Dec. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://www.skepdic.com/agnosticism.html

Slick, Matt. "What Is Atheism? Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry." CARM - Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. Web. 11 Dec. 2010. http://carm.org/what-is-atheism

Which country is the most religious?

by Gabbie

It’s hard to find any definitive data on this subject, since sources choose different ways to gather their information; i.e., the questions that are asked of the people surveyed. For example, the Gallup poll here: http://www.gallup.com/poll/114211/Alabamians-Iranians-Common.aspx asked people whether they considered religion to be an important part of their daily lives. Their results showed Egypt as the most religious country, with 100% responding with “yes,” and Estonia as the least – only 14% gave yes as their answer. The median was a substantial 82%, and the U.S. fell below, at 65%.

A different question was asked by the polltakers here, http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_chu_att-religion-church-attendance. The percentages of this poll reflect the amount of people who claim to attend church at least once a week. As their question is different, so are their results: Nigeria is listed as the most religious at 89%, and Russia as the least religious at only 2%. Rather than a median, Nationmaster used a weighted average, which was 26.2%.

These polls bring up some interesting issues; mainly, what are the possible reasons for these discrepancies? For countries that showed up lower on the second list, does this mean that residents consider religion important, but do not think that church-going is an essential part of religion? Or, for countries that showed up lower on the first list, does it mean that citizens attend church but it is not meaningful to them? If the answers to these questions are yes, then what does that say about these countries?

Works Cited
"Church Attendance Statistics - Countries Compared - NationMaster." NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons. Nationmaster.org. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_chu_att-religion-church-attendance

Crabtree, Steve, and Brett Pelham. "What Alabamians and Iranians Have in Common." Gallup.Com - Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management. Gallup, Inc., 9 Feb. 2009. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. http://www.gallup.com/poll/114211/Alabamians-Iranians-Common.aspx

Outsider?

by Gabbie

I’ve always felt like an outsider looking in on the world of religion and faith, catching occasional glimpses of something I would never understand. When I was old enough to wonder about religion, it took shape in my mind as a giant, nebulous mass full of mysterious ideas.
This is thanks mostly to my upbringing. To my knowledge, neither of my parents identifies themselves as part of any religion, and so there has never been any attempt to instill in me a faith in God, or in any deity or set of beliefs. The little knowledge I do have of religion has been gleaned passively, from idle conversation with friends or snippets of news articles that only left me more confused. Knowing so little, I had to wonder if there were any benefits to be had from knowing more. Was religion a missing piece of my life? Would it help me reach “true spiritual enlightenment,” or realize my path in life and find deep understanding of myself?
I didn’t have to mull these questions over long before I decided that the answer to all of them was no. Maybe there are people for whom the answer is different – for whom religion is a way of feeling more fulfilled, or connected, or comforted, or any number of things that I couldn’t imagine getting from religion myself. I realized that I could never reconcile any religious belief with everything that I’ve learned and hold to be true – everything that is scientific and logical; rational, even. My way of thinking always leads me to doubt and question, and this includes every religion I’ve ever come across.
Now that I’ve read about and researched religions and belief systems from Islam to Sikhism to Scientology to Pastafarianism, I can be even surer. Religions come with beliefs and practices, that I do not believe or have any reason to practice. Many religions laud themselves as not just a religion, but a way of life. But I would never want my way of life laid out for me; to me the best part of life is the freedom to choose, and to adhere to any religion would be to give up some of that freedom. This is true for anyone, unless that person truly believes in the religion.
I’ve questioned, also, whether there are really true believers, or whether they are a result of frequent or skillful brainwash. The question is innocent; not meant to deride religion – it stems from genuine curiosity, not cynicism. I still have many more such questions; for example, how were the first religions really formed, and why? I’ve read the histories of many faiths, but I still cannot make sense of exactly how they were created, and for what purpose. It’s clear that I still don’t understand religion, and as I’ve always thought, maybe I never fully will. But now, at least, I know that I don’t need to.

How Scientific is Scientology?

by Gabbie

Lately, I noticed that Scientology has been getting some very negative press. Not
knowing very much about this religion – is it, in fact, a religion? – I had to wonder why. I was interested enough to investigate further, and decide if there was truth in the rumors that are circulating.

The most alarming news came from an article in the Daily Telegraph, wherein a Northern Territory Health Minister condemned the Church of Scientology as “utterly irresponsible”. Volunteer Scientology representatives have apparently gone on a sort of a mission through Australia, targeting the indigenous Aboriginal people. During their travels these representatives distributed pamphlets describing formulas that L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, declares to be “the only successful drug and alcohol dependency treatment in the world”. Health professionals reviewing the formulas agreed that they could cause gastric ulcers or hypophosphataemia. If this is true, then shouldn’t we wonder – how scientific is Scientology? This article can be read in full here: http://www.news.com.au/national/scientologists-targeting-alcoholic-aborigines-with-killer-therapy/story-e6frfkvr-1225956836170#ixzz16pBE13xj

On a lighter note, St. Petersburg’s American Stage is soon to perform a production of A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant in Tampa Bay. Ironically, the headquarters of the Church of Scientology are located in the neighboring city of Clearwater. The pageant is a musical satire which includes as a character L. Ron Hubbard, as well as John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley – just a few among many celebrity Scientologists. It borrows dialogue directly from the writings of L. Ron Hubbard. The musical’s author, Kyle Jarrow, identifies himself as agnostic and freely admitted that his goal was to ridicule Scientology; he recalls that “At the time I wrote it, Scientology was sort of a punch line on South Park.” You can find out more about Jarrow’s Pageant here: http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/american-stage-in-st-petersburg-to-produce-musical-scientology-satire/1133579

To other opponents of Scientology, however, it seems to be more than just a punch line. There are entire websites, full of links and details, devoted to the hatred of Scientology and the fight against it. At one such website (which can be further explored here: http://www.xenu.net/cb-faq.html), the author Andreas Heidal-Lund gives advice to people who have been contacted by the Church of Scientology. He says very seriously, “They will not hurt you. You should however never underestimate their ability to slowly reel you in.” Under the heading of “What is Scientology?” the author begins, “The Church of Scientology is a vicious and dangerous cult that masquerades as a religion. Its purpose is to make money. It practices a variety of mind-control techniques on people lured into its midst to gain control over their money and their lives. Its aim is to take from them every penny that they have and can ever borrow and to also enslave them to further its wicked ends.” Could it be? A logical, well-researched and proven answer to my earlier question: Is it, in fact, a religion?

Maybe not, but it’s still interesting to see the contrast between Heidal-Lund’s dire warnings and the explanation on the website of the Official Church of Scientology, where the same heading “What is Scientology?” is followed by this paragraph: “Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature and one’s relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being.”

For now, my question remains unanswered, and the controversy of Scientology seems unlikely to resolve itself soon. What do you know about Scientology, and whose description do you buy into?

Works Cited
Fleming, John. "American Stage in St. Petersburg to Produce Musical Scientology Satire - St. Petersburg Times." Tampa Newspapers: The Times, TBT & Tampabay.com. St. Petersburg Times, 11 Nov. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/american-stage-in-st-petersburg-to-produce-musical-scientology-satire/1133579

Heidal-Lund, Andreas. "Operation Clambake Presents: Frequently Asked Questions." Operation Clambake - The Inner Secrets Of Scientology. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. http://www.xenu.net/cb-faq.html

Official Church of Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics, What Is Scientology?, Books, Beliefs, David Miscavige. Church of Scientology International, 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. http://www.scientology.org/

Toohey, Paul. "Scientologists Targeting Alcoholic Aborigines with 'killer' Therapy." News.com.au News Online from Australia & the World. News Limited, 20 Nov. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. http://www.news.com.au/national/scientologists-targeting-alcoholic-aborigines-with-killer-therapy/story-e6frfkvr-1225956836170

"67 Celebrities Who Are Scientologists." Top Socialite. 25 Mar. 2008. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. http://www.topsocialite.com/67-celebrities-who-are-scientologists/

Religions of India

by Gabbie

Following up our articles on Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism, this chart provides another look at these religions. It’s interesting to compare these statistics to those of our own country. In India, Hinduism is the predominant faith and accounts for 83% of the population, while only 2% considers itself Christian; in the United States, Christianity is the most common religion, counting about 76% of the population as its own.

Works Cited
Varshney, Ashutosh. Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2002. Print.

Kelly, D. A., Ramkishen S. Rajan, and Gillian H. L. Goh. Managing Globalization: Lessons from China and India : Inaugural Conference of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific Pub., 2006. Print.

"Sociologist Debunks Myths on U.S. Christianity." ChristianPost.com - Today's Christian News Online. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100726/christianity/page2.html

Henry VIII & the Church of England

by Gabbie

Securing the executions of two of his seven wives was not the only thing that King Henry VIII accomplished during his 38 years as the monarch of England. He also brought about momentous religious reform, though this was not at all unrelated to his desire to replace his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

During their marriage, Catherine had borne several children but only one, Mary, had survived. Since Catherine had not given Henry a male child to carry on his line, she had failed him as a wife; also, he had once seemed to love and respect her, but sadly he had now grown tired of her and wanted to be rid of her so that he would be free to marry Anne Boleyn. King Henry cited the Bible as his grounds for a divorce; a passage of Leviticus states ominously, “If a man shall take his brother’s wife…they shall be childless.” Catherine was the widow of Henry’s older brother Arthur, though she maintained that their marriage was never consummated, because of Arthur’s declining health. It’s difficult to say whether King Henry, who seemed to be a devout Catholic, was truly haunted by Leviticus as he claimed to be or whether he found in it a convenient excuse.

Either way, King Henry decided to ask Pope Clement VII for an annulment, as per the suggestion of Cardinal Wolsey. Influenced by Charles V, the nephew of Catherine and the king of Spain, the pope denied King Henry’s request. King Henry soon realized that he need not subordinate himself to the decisions of the pope, and took advantage of the general anti-papacy sentiment to pass the Act of Supremacy, which named him as the head of the Church of England instead of the pope. His new power made him free to send Catherine away and make Anne his queen.

With King Henry as its head, the Church of England began to drift slightly. Probably in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, he incorporated several Protestant ideas and practices. But it soon became evident that he was uncomfortable with these changes, and he eventually reverted to the old, more conservatively Catholic doctrines, which fit better with the teachings of his childhood.

Under the control of King Henry VIII, the Church of England had become different, but was still very much the same.

Works Cited
Hobbs, Jeff. "The Religious Policy of King Henry VIII." Britannia History. Britannia.com. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. http://www.britannia.com/history/articles/relpolh8.html

"Leviticus and the "Great Matter" of Henry VIII." UMKC School of Law. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/more/leviticus.html

Pollard, A.F. "The Life of King Henry VIII." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tudorbio.htm

"Tudor Monarchs: King Henry VIII." English History. Web. 19 Nov. 2010. http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/henry8-main.html

Wilde, Robert. "Henry VIII of England." European History. Web. 19 Nov. 2010. http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/ukandireland/p/henryviii.htm