I was looking on Facebook today and a friend of mine posted a link to this article. The article discusses a recent court ruling in Britain about what makes someone Jewish. Since some of the state run schools in Britain are religiously affiliated, and are allowed to give preference to the students of that religion, there are questions about how these schools define who is a member of their religion. The article was interesting. I also read a this blog about the way Muslim was used to describe the man who was responsible for the mass killing last week in Fort Hood. (She was referencing this Washington Post article).
Both of these articles are questioning what it means to be part of a religion. Is it just what you claim? Is it how you behave? Is it what you believe deep in your heart? How do we define that?
In the court case they ruled that being a Jew could be defined by certain religious duties - like going to Synagogue or charitable acts. The other article said that this man's actions could not define him as being a Muslim, because Islam stands against violence. What then, defines our faith? Is it our belief, regardless of our actions? Is it our actions, regardless of our belief? If so, what then is the point of belief?
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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This is so fascinating ... it is also a bit of a parable of our time - everything has to be sorted out in court these days and it takes for ever!
ReplyDeleteMy father always said he was not Jewish - though Hitler stamped a big J on his papers and added the middle name "Israel" to his other first names. My father - who grew up in a Jewish part of Berlin - said that it was only Nazism defined him as Jewish. My grandfather converted from atheistic secular Judaism to believing Christianity in order to marry my Grandmother - one of her parents had similarly converted in order to marry the other.
All of my life I have tried to reclaim to some extent at least part of my Jewish heritage it is both an important and a lost part of my identity. Becoming a minister is part of that.
Anyway thanks for posting this - just as well I don't have children going in to a faith school - which one would I choose? (Well I wouldn't because I have a very different philosophy of education but that's a different issue!)
Definitely faith. Have you ever seen The Prophet with Robert Duvall? Worth a watch!
ReplyDelete- Eileen
well, I think the combination of both would be the ultimate goal.. but as nowadays our faith counts so little for the majority of people, im not sure it should be taken into account for all our actions.
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