#intrafaith

[smstrouse]

Three Rules of Interfaith Encounter

[monstrousproductions]

Shots fired! Last week's annotated script pulled no punches in the field of intrafaith cooking - not very Quakerly of me 😅

If you'd like to read this and all the other annotated scripts released so far, head over to our Ko-Fi page and sign up at the £5 a month tier or higher!

[dowsingfordivinity]

Everything you think you know about Wicca is wrong

This blogpost was inspired by this conversation on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vogelbeere/status/1355500656916901890?s=21 The snark quotient of this post may be dangerously high — you’re strongly advised to put your snark goggles on, because I have a snark hammer and I am not afraid to use it. Continue reading

[holy-muffins]

Also get a prenup even if you expect the relationship to last forever. Even if your faith asks or expects a life-long bond without intrafaith options of dissolution. When I worked for a lawyer their argument for doing a prenup is that if you can't imagine a life where the relationship ends then you should absolutely have something in writing BEFORE the marriage keeping you safe. You get a prenup because you'll be totally on the backfoot if that relationship ends, because it will literally have been unthinkable to you for that relationship to ever end.

Best case - no-fault divorce survives the next few years, and you will be able to more easily extricate yourself from your ex.

Worst case - you'll have some kind of basis for a DIY pseudo-divorce of living separately if no-fault divorce gets axed.

im going crazy you have GOT to decouple romance/amatonormativity and marriage in your mind. you have GOT to understand that marriage is a legal document that protects you from exploitation especially if you are a woman or a stay-at-home anything. it is not some evil unique to heterosexual people. it is a legal document that says 'this is who i want in my hospital room when i die, this is who i want to have my stuff when i die, THIS PERSON OWES ME RECOMPENSE IF THEY KICK ME OUT OF THE HOUSE I LIVE IN"

You are not immune to being taken advantage of by your partner if you are queer. do not wind up homeless because your garbage live-ins name is on the lease and they decided to drop you like hot coals.

[flagellant]

Hey PLEASE check the added correction on that house of angels art installation post because reblogging the original is spreading misinfo on the islamic phrase used. since you have a sizeable following please give a read to the correction by another user in the notes and reblog for others. thank you

Are you talking about that http def bear person? Because I'm not gonna lie, I find it kind of weird that it's being called misinfo--and in one case heavily implied it's somehow Islamophobic?--considering the artists are, themselves, two Muslims. Because of that I think I'm actually gonna hold out for some secondary opinions since at most this seems like it's gonna be a "two jews three opinions" type situation, and while I'm incredibly down for correcting misinformation, due to the context of the situation as a whole I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[greenandhazy]

I’m in the fifth season of Downton Abbey and I’m just going to say it: I’m annoyed at how many fictional versions there are of “grumpy, unreasonable Jews are mad that their child is marrying a non-Jew who won’t consider conversion.”

like I’m not going to pretend that some Jews are antagonistic towards interfaith couples (both individually and systemically), or that that’s not a major, ongoing problem. but I don’t appreciate the way the fictional versions gloss over legitimate reasons for people to want intrafaith marriages for either themselves or their children, and I don’t like the way the it’s written and performed for a non-Jewish audience.

I also don’t like the fact that the only example I can think of where the gentile partner actually does convert to Judaism is Astrid from The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, whose every moment onscreen is devoted to the fact that her being a convert is hilarious.

[crime-bot]

intrafaith boundaries = boundaries within religions

(Sunni and Shiite or Protestant and Lutheran Catholicism are two examples)

[musicalhell]

Also are we limiting it to Christians killing non-Christians, or are we including intrafaith conflicts as well? Cause it's a long list either way but the Reformation Era alone will probably double it

[riverdamien]

The Intra FAith

The INTRAfaith Conversation: "How Do Christians Talk Among Ourselves About INTERfaith Matters? By Susan Strouse Strouse presents a discussion of conversation between various faith traditions, centered in the Bay Area. Growing up in the South the only conversation, and conflicts we had were between various denominations--I was saved several times in the Baptist faith because I was interested in a Baptist girl. In my years of ministry in the Midwest it was the same, largely disagreements over doctrinal issues between the liberal United Methodists and the Baptists and other conservative traditions.Pluralism was seen as a "sin" and you were a heretic. There was only one faith--belief in Christ. And for the most part it remains the same various swaths of our country. We are so divided around religious views, which leads us to political division. Strouse describes various techniques in working with various groups of people, and pastoral approaches. The one point that needs to be heard is that she talks about is that God has many faces. For example the Christian theological point of view is communicated through Jewish eyes, and interpretations of Scripture is through the eyes of writers who are seeking to communicate to one part of the world, as are all other religious points of view. Where we have missed out is that every major religion communicates on central teaching: Loving God and loving neighbor. God comes to various groups of people in different ways and forms. Strouse is the author a great book, and she has difficulty in the Bay Area, which should tell us how difficult it is elsewhere. All we need is to stand back and see the God of many faces and in doing so to see all of us as one family. Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www. temenos.org 415-305-2124

[smstrouse]

Pluralism 101

[interloveproject]

MELODY & CHRISTOPHER | SUDBURY, ON

Melody grew up on Manitoulin Island in an ecumenical household, attending both the Anglican church where her mother was active, the United Church where her father and large extended family were members, as well as going to an after school program and bible study classes at the local evangelical church. Her mother told her from a young age that, as a Christian, she could attend any church in town - and she did!  She felt a calling to serve in the ministry from a young age and was attracted to the openness, hospitality, commitment to justice and personal support she experienced in the United Church. After obtaining her Master’s of Divinity at Queen’s University she is now an ordained Minister with the United Church of Canada and has served at many rural churches in Ontario. She acts as the Manitou Conference Minister for Mission and Stewardship Animation, a regional ministry supporting United Church congregations in Northeastern Ontario. Her ministry takes her from congregations in Hornepayne, Hearst and Kapuskasing, Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay as well as to her beloved Manitoulin Island. She preaches, teaches, coordinates programs, and gets to support regional youth work.

Christopher grew up in Peterborough, Ontario. His father had taken his minor perpetual vows with the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales but, in 1968, like many seminarians of his generation, he left the order to marry.  As the son of an ‘almost’ priest and the great grandson of an Irish labour activist, the old adage, don’t talk religion or politics was routinely ignored in the their household.  During an extended break between his second and third year of University, Christopher seriously considered a vocation in the priesthood. He eventually came to the conclusion that, as his Carmelite spiritual director had reminded him, “the Church needs priests in the world, as much as it needs priests in the church”. Christopher continued his academic studies at Queen’s Theological College in Kingston and completed his PhD in Systematic and Historical Theology. Today he identifies as an active lay Roman Catholic who happens to be a theologian.

THEIR STORY:

Melody and Christopher met during their first day of orientation at Queen's Theological College. Melody was beginning her Master’s of Divinity and Christopher was starting his Master’s of Theological Studies. Christopher clearly remembers the moment he first laid eyes on Melody.

“I saw her climbing the stairs and was immediately struck by the contrast between her long hair, floral dress and kick-ass combat boots.”

In the small class of about fifteen students, they spent quite a bit of time both in school and at social events

Their attraction to each other blossomed over a shared birthday dinner (their birthdays are only three days apart). In less than a week, they were committed to each other, and were fearlessness about their relationship. Melody fell for Christopher’s wild curly hair his big, bright brown eyes, his divergent thinking and his quick sense of humour, and Christopher loved Melody’s compassion, sensibility and “combat boots”.

“We kept our relationship secret at first. The college is small, and we wanted to give the relationship a chance without the scrutiny of our classmates.”

It wasn’t until after the February reading break that they decided to go public with their relationship.

Melody remembers her first introduction to Christopher’s devout yet loud, boisterous and energetic Irish Catholic family. Christopher’s mom spent some time trying to convince Melody that she could fit into the Roman Catholic tradition and all the grandmothers were very concerned about the faith life of their hoped-for children. Melody’s mom was much more pragmatic: “I’d be more worried about your bank account than what church your kids go to!”

As an interchurch family, they face a number of challenges.

“The main challenge we face is finding a way to participate in the worshipping life of each other's communities.”

From the Catholic side Christopher explains how the sacraments are proving to be a challenge. The unity that the sacrament of matrimony represents, in Christopher’s experience, is in stark contrast with the other sacrament of unity, the Eucharist which, under current Church canons, he cannot share with Melody.

As their children, Lachlan, Padraig and Sophia begin their own sacramental journeys,  the spiritual pain of Melody’s exclusion from the Eucharist is becoming more or an issue. Christopher plans to use the Jubilee of Mercy to explore the pastoral and ecumenical need to extend the mercy of Eucharist to interchurch families who are in similar circumstances.

From the United Church’s side Melody has at times felt foreign in the Roman Catholic church - people don’t always know quite what to do as she is: a wife, a mother, a Christian, and someone who is ordained. She often feels it might be better to keep a low profile while worshiping, to try to blend in. Sometimes she slips up on the words of prayers, sings a bit too loudly and wants to challenge the priest’s homily or the Pope’s politics…

In her United Church community Melody finds herself a Roman Catholic apologist, sometimes defending the centuries old Christian tradition, when challenged by her more progressive colleagues. As their children receive communion in the Roman Catholic community, Melody is sad that she is excluded from this sacrament as she is able to share it with them in her own church.

“Spiritually, we overcome these difference through our understanding of our common baptism and our understanding of the family as a domestic church that models ecumenism.”

They are raising their three children in both the Catholic and United Church. They all attend the local Catholic elementary school and participate in both the local Catholic parish and in their local United Church. Because of Melody’s current ministry, she is often found on a Sunday morning attending worship in different United Churches, frequently accompanied by at least one of their children.  Although Melody considers all of the United Churches to be ‘home’, her family maintains a special relationship with two churches right across the street from each other, the United Church and Catholic Church in Garson.  

They belong to the Association of Interchurch Families, which has a fairly active discussion group. One thing they understand, from those who have more experience with raising interchurch families is that, as children grow and life circumstances change, so does the logistics of Sunday worship.

“I’ve come to recognize that as an ecumencial domestic church it is important that our family find ways to observe Sunday worship and feast days, together, as a family. Whether in the celebration of the Catholic Eucharist at the Catholic Church, or the Sunday Service at the United Church where Melody, our Holy Day of Obligation is to our family as well as to our faith communities.”

Christopher and Melody have been living in Sudbury for the past seven years. When asked where they would like to be photographed, after some thought, they suggested the Grotto. This Sudbury landmark, in addition to being a local Catholic shrine includes a multi-faith memorial, a labyrinth popular with the United Church community and one of the better views of the City of Sudbury. In some ways, Sudbury’s rocky, and moon-like landscape is an apt metaphor for how Christopher and Melody see their ‘interlove’. While they come from different Christian denominations, and worship with different Christian communities, they emphasize how their faith and their love is built on a rock-solid, shared foundation.

“and on this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18)

You can follow the INTERLOVE Project on Facebook, Twitter and apply to participate.

©  2015 Colin Boyd Shafer, All Rights Reserved.

[smstrouse]

You Might Be a Christian Atheist If . . .

You Might Be a Christian Atheist If . . .

  New Voices . . .

is a chapter in my book, The INTRAfaith Conversation, in which I describe some of the groups now included in the interfaith scene.

These groups include . . .

Atheists and Humanists

Since the book was published in 2015, there have been a lot of new developments. I was aware of the wide range of definitions for atheists and humanists when I wrote the book. Since then, I’ve been…

[breaktheclock]

Annoying intra-faith differences

I'm annoyed that the Hilal Committee of Metropolitan Toronto and Vicinity says today is the 29th of Sha'ban, which mean tomorrow may or may not be Ramadan. Meanwhile, ISNA Canada says today is the 30th of Sha'ban, so for them Ramadan is definitely tomorrow. I've only ever been to ISNA to pray, but my family follows the Hilal Committee. 

I realize their is a slight difference in the schools of thought for how the moon should be sighted but it's just annoying to have Eid, and start Ramadan on a different day then everyone else. 

And ofcourse there are those that make it a race issue rather than a simple difference in opinion. I often hear things like those Arabs follow Saudi, and those Pakis do it the wrong way.

Please God let the moon be Sighted by the Hilal Committee so we can all be on the same page. 

[smstrouse]

Explaining God in 9 Minutes

Explaining God in 9 Minutes

How would you explain your understanding of God, the Divine, Higher Power, or however you understand that which is bigger than ourselves? Are you apophatic (the so-called ‘negative’ approach, which means emptying the mind of words and ideas about God) or cataphatic (the so-called ‘positive’ approach, that uses words, images, symbols, ideas for the Divine)? Are you a theist (for whom God refers…

[smstrouse]

Spiritual Fluidity

I was very interested when I learned that the book club of my area’s interfaith organization was reading When One Religion Isn’t Enough: the Lives of Spiritually Fluid People by Duane R. Bidwell. I hadn’t heard of this book, even though it was published in 2018. But I was intrigued because in my book, The INTRAfaith Conversation, I have a chapter entitled “New Voices.” And one of those voices is…

[smstrouse]

Abiding in the Divine Milieu

Abiding in the Divine Milieu

A sermon for Pentecost 13, August 19, 2018

I used to have a love/hate relationship with the gospel of John. On the one hand, I’ve always loved his soaring, cosmic opening: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Even if I didn’t know exactly what that meant, I knew John was telling us that Jesus was something special.

Where I ran into difficulty with…