October 2023 Interfaith News Roundup

by Paul Chaffee

The Interfaith News Roundup is a monthly publication of The Interfaith Observer. Paragraph by paragraph the Roundup summarizes major religion/interfaith stories that are underreported. Each paragraph is linked to the full story it introduces.

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Religion Around the World

“Impressions & Indications of Religious Engagement in Development” by Kathrine Marshall, published in The Review of Faith & International Affairs, is a book-length article on a critical but largely unexamined area of interfaith relations. It may not be a suitable resource for novices. But serious students of religion, government policy, and international relations will well put it at the top of ‘must-read’ resources. Government policy, international development, and religion are not on the agenda of most interfaith ventures, and this document, at long last, is a splendid to way to turn that reality around.

Pew Research reports that while only ten percent of Chinese identify with a religion, much higher percentages come into play when considering religious practices. For instance, 26 percent burn incense to worship deities. Pew attributes this seeming contradiction to the fact that “linguistic and conceptual differences between religion in East Asia and other regions” and because of the Chinese government’s tight control of information.

For instance, recently new rules for religious groups and venues require that they “support the leadership of the CCP, support the socialist system, and thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Xi Jinping is clearly intent on ruling with an iron fist when it comes to religion and spirituality.

In India there is a growing movement to change India’s name to “Bharat,” an ancient Sanskrit name taken from Hindu texts that means India. The word Bharat means India but doesn’t have an association with British colonizers from the West, who adopted India as the country’s name. Proponents say that “India” is a Western word and argue for the ancient name. Invitations to the leaders of the world arriving for the G20 talks this past summer were sent from the President of Bharat, not the President of India.

Pope Pius XII apparently knew about Nazi atrocities by 1942, when he received a letter from a Jesuit priest in the anti-Nazi resistance. The priest told the pope that five or six thousand Jews were being executed daily in Nazi-occupied Poland. The letter settles the long debate over whether Pius XII knew about the Nazi nightmare. The letter was found by a Vatican archivist. In a decision favoring truth over reputation, Pope Francis approved its recent publication.

Spiritual Practice

Spirituality is often approached as a solitary exercise, experienced by yourself. Prayer, contemplation, singing, ritual – it all works with groups, of course, but spirituality is also private and individual. At one Baptist church in Georgia the public and private aspects of spirituality have joined in a deeper experience of inclusivity. Washington Post’s story, titled “A small-town Georgia preacher fills pews by leaving no one out,” tells how Pastor Glenn Myerholtz grew up in the church. But he kept being disillusioned by the failure to live into the values Jesus exemplifies. Starting a church three years ago, barely a dozen showed up at first. But people heard – heard that all are welcome here, tried it out, and on most Sundays now about 100 attend.

Sociologist Helen Berger unpacks the considerable growth in paganism in recent years, its changing understanding of nature – a central component of traditional paganism, and the commercialization of its new popularity, which has spawned a multibillion-dollar industry.

More than half of all Americans, 53% according to Pew Research, attest to being visited or communicating with a dead relative. Theologically that means …?

Spirituality & Practice enjoys the world’s largest online collection of spirituality resources, a treasure chest of books, videos, reviews, and online classes. Its newest project – the Spiritual Literacy Certificate – is a year-long program that enters its second year on January 27, 2024. The goal of the program is to “learn to apply spiritual practices to all areas of life, enjoy a supportive spiritual community, and be equipped to serve and lead others in discovering the sacred in everyday life.”

Interfaith Relations

This past year has witnessed dozens of offences against Ahmadis, a small sect of Islam considered blasphemous by most non-Ahmadi Muslims. In one town, dozens of mosques and homes have been desecrated, graveyards mutilated, and people physically attacked. At a Turkish Bulgarian border point, Turkish militia violently removed 103 Ahmadis from buses who were on their way to religious freedom in Europe. For more than a week the religious refugees were subjected to tortuous conditions. Most of the confined Ahmadis, who came from six countries and the Palestinian territories, have been returned to their homes. For more details see Aljazeera’s story.

In September the Hindu American Foundation and the American Jewish Committee met in San Francisco for a joint celebration of Hindu and Jewish American holidays – Hinduism’s Janmashtami (Krishna’s birthday) and Judaism’s Rosh Hashanah (the world’s birthday). The goal is to improve relations among the peoples of India, Israel, and the United States. Rabbi A Brill noted that both Hinduism and Judaism “have had to grapple with how to apply ancient wisdom throughout modernization and reforms and against the backdrop of Western Christianity.”

**Vivek Ramaswamy — Photo:** **Gage Skidmore, CC 2.0 BA SY**

Vivek Ramaswamy, an Indian American from New Hampshire, is competing for the 2024 Republican nomination to be president of the United States in 2024. He is equally passionate about being an American citizen and a Hindu, making the point that he exemplifies what freedom of religion means in the US. The young billionaire entrepreneur says “I am not qualified to be your pastor. But I'm not running for pastor in chief, I'm running for commander in chief.” Kendall Ross at ABC News does us all a favor in a religious profile of Ramaswamy and what his Hinduism means.

The lead in a Washington Post story last month begins with the following: “Georgetown University and the Jesuits have given $27 million to benefit a foundation helping descendants of enslaved people who were sold to pay off a 19th century debt.” It is the first step of a consolidated effort to raise $1 billion for Decedents Truth and Reconciliation Foundation. Reparations have received considerable discussion recently, but to see a major educational institution step forward with $27 million is breathtaking.

Header Photo: Pexels