Theologies Attended the Oscars

The Oscars this year entailed a great variety of movies and celebrities, but what most people did not realize was that theologies were included in this event. There was a specific movie that was nominated for many awards at the Oscars that was based on a fictional theology, but was hidden behind the main plot.

This movie was nominated for a wave of awards and won a total of six awards, this was more than any other movie at the Oscars. Mad Max: Fury Road won Oscars for best sound mixing, best sound editing, best production design, best makeup and hairstyling, best film editing, and best costume design. This movie was not based on a specific theology but had a resemblance to most. Mad Max is about life after the collapse of civilization, where the tyrannical “Immortan Joe” enslaves apocalypse survivors inside the desert fortress the Citadel. The main plot to the movie is when warrior “Imperator Furiosa” takes the despot’s five wives and helps them escape; in which she forges an alliance with “Max Rockatansky”, a loner and former captive. In trying to escape, they are armored in a huge truck called the “War Rig” trying to outrun the merciless warlord and his “War Boys” in a deadly high-speed chase through the “Wasteland.”

The theology comes in with the background story of the movie, the rise of Immortan Joe. The War Boys are raised from birth to become soldiers for Immortan Joe, who in this case is considered their “divine father figure.” These War Boys are taught that if they die while in service for Immortan Joe they can enter “Valhalla” and “feast with the fallen heroes of old. Valhalla compared to Christianity would be considered heaven. Also these War Boys speak of only having “half-lives” and being able to reach “full-lives” once on Valhalla.

These War Boys also perform many rituals before and during war. Before going to war, the War Boys approach a shrine that is composed purely of steering wheels, picking a wheel and praying to the “V8” for victory in the war. The “V8” is considered the

Immortan Joe and some War Boys

almighty in this case, and becoming one with the machine (V8) is what they try to live by. During war, the War Boys, whom think they are about to die, spray paint their mouths in chrome. This ritual is done because it gives the War Boys a high and feel of fearlessness. Also it immerses their humanity further as they hope to become more chromed as a “machine” which is done for Immortan Joe’s will.

Mad Max: Fury Road hides this theme of theology within the movie. If you have ever seen this movie and payed attention to the story of the War Boys, you can see many aspects that create this theology. Looking behind the main plot, the War Boys are loyal followers of Immortan Joe, who is consider to be a kind of an immortal god figure. Valhalla being the place to go once a War Boy has died, but only being able to enter if they died in war for Immortan Joe. They also follow many rituals just like one would for any other religion or theology. The fact that the movie Mad Max: Fury Road hid this fictional theology behind the main plot is incredible.

-Toni Lozano

Sources:

• http://art-eater.com/2015/05/spoilers-we-are-not-objects-the-themes-and-imagery-of-mad-max-fury-road-spoilers/
• http://oscar.go.com/nominees/costume-design/mad-max-fury-road

New Atheism Needs… the Dali Lama?

This week H is Holiness the 14th Dali Lama visited Madison, WI, a city that time again joyfully receives him. Hundreds gathered to watch him disembark his flight at MSN airport, and tens of thousands applied to a lottery to see the Lama speak at the University of Wisconsin. Although the Lama speaks of his struggle for Tibetan freedom, he also speaks about compassion, love, and peace – that is, morality.

Madison is famously liberal, racially white (meaning non-Tibetan), and widely atheistic (it is, after all, the seat of The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a humorous religion intended to lampoon Christianity.)

Why does the Dali Lama hold such a dear place in the hearts of such a “non-religious” community?  A Madison blogger wrote on the topic: “Affluent folks who no longer have to worry about meeting life’s basic needs start to wonder what it’s all about. Their spiritual journey starts with the luxury of time and education to help them to think about it, and their inquiry tends to be less about community building and more about personal fulfillment and their own ‘journey.'” Although such people may have rejected Christianity, they still want morality and spirituality from a different source. For them, in the words of Nietzsche, although God is dead, the shadow of Buddha shall be cast upon the wall for centuries hence.

This appeal is what started the 14th Dali Lama’s ascent to stardom in the past few decades. Even for the more secular groups in which the Dali Lama’s fame first grew on the west coast, the mystery of eastern religion and perceived wisdom of a millennia-old tradition were important in reinforcing their already-held belief in such virtues as altruism; that the Dali Lama’s moral teachings are basically no different from the Christian moral substrate of his New Atheist American followers is partially the reason for his penetration in that cultural group’s authority void.

This trend can also be seen in the in-class viewing of Little Buddha, in which westerners, including an allegorically secular engineer, are introduced to the seemingly strange and mysterious Buddhism, only to learn it is not so different from their own culture, and then to embrace its teachings to some degree. In all times and religions (including non-religions) a token of similarity is the swiftest path to religious understanding, conversion, and syncretism.

http://isthmus.com/opinion/citizen-dave/the-dalai-lama-and-the-flying-spaghetti-monster/#sthash.mp67FOjJ.dpuf

Women and the Catholic Mass

Recently, a series of essays were published in the “semiofficial” Vatican newspaper. According to Religion News Service, these essays are urging the Catholic Church to allow women to preach at Catholic Mass, a role that for nearly 800 years has been set aside for males.

Pope Francis – Photo courtesy of RNS

 

Enzo Bianchi, leader of an ecumenical religious community in Italy and popular Catholic commentator, wrote in his article in L’Osservatore Romano, that he believes this issue is urgent and the church should address it. Bianchi also points out that a move like this one is a widespread plea to the Catholic Church and to Pope Francis to find ways to give women a better role in the church.

 

Two nuns contributed to these essays as well. In their piece, “Women-Church-World,” a French Dominican nun, Sister Catherine Aubin noted that “Jesus encouraged women to preach His message of Salvation,” and also claims that there have been many extraordinary women evangelists throughout church history. Aubin argued that even today, women lead retreats and effectively preach in other ways, so “why can’t women also preach in front of everyone during the celebration of Mass?” Sister Madeleine Fredell of Sweden, wrote that preaching “is my vocation as a Dominican, and although I can do it almost anywhere… I believe that listening to the voice of women at the time of the homily would enrich our Catholic worship.”

In the early 13^th century, Pope Gregory IX banded laypeople (members of a church that are not clergy), men and women alike, from preaching on theological matters as part of the movement toward “consolidating church power in the papacy and the clergy.” While there were occasional exceptions, it wasn’t until the early 1970s that there were even hints of reconsidering the ban, but the 1978 election of St. John Paul II, a doctrinally conservative pope, propelled a period of even firmer bans on women preaching in the church, stating that the homily “is reserved to a priest or deacon” and should be done by “an ordained male acting in the role of Christ.” In 1997, a Vatican document pursued further reinforcement of the ban and warned bishops that there would be no exceptions, but at the same time, women were playing more visible roles at Mass as lectors and Eucharistic ministers.

This argument for the church to allow women to preach is not aiming to modernize the church, it’s intent is to return to the tradition of the first thousand years of Christianity when, according to this collection of essays, women were regularly given permission to preach, often in front of priests, bishops, and even the pope.

So the question is: what will Pope Francis do? This is a huge change that is bound to be extremely controversial in the Catholic Church if it were to actually happen. Just think, a little over 50 years ago before Vatican II, Mass was spoke in Latin, the priest faced away from the congregation, and there was hardly any interaction or music and singing.

-Alondra Acevedo

Article and the essays:

Vatican newspaper essays say women should preach at Mass

 

 

 

 

Muslim and American

If you are skeptical that stereotypes about Islam are a major point of contention in our nation, then just read the comments people write on the internet. Nearly every article that deals with the topic of Islam has, immediately following, a string of comments that vary from misinformed, to radical, to contentious. So, what exactly can be done about our society’s stereotyping of the Islamic community?

There are a lot of false stereotypes being swirled around on the web. In one comment that I read, a lady claimed that 70% of all mosques are part of a jihad network. That is just plain false. Here are some facts. The Pew Research Center published a study that shows how in eleven countries with significant Muslim populations, that each country views ISIS unfavorably as a majority. There are over 5,000 members of the United States military that identify themselves as Muslim. The Middle East is home to only 20% of the world’s Muslims, and since 1988 eight countries have had Muslim women as their heads of state. To stand up against stereotypes we must be informed.

Once you are informed, don’t be afraid to raise your voice. Azzah Sultan is a great example of this principle. She came to America from Malaysia in 2013, and is currently studying fine arts. As a Muslim, she has been exposed to American society’s largely negative view of Islam. In her art she does her best to shatter stereotypes and cause her audience to reevaluate how they view Muslims. The image on the left is made of hijabs from Muslim American women, and the paintings at the right use styles borrowed from modern Western artists to show that Muslims can be modern without adopting Western ideals.

In following with the example of Azzah Sultan, we should not shy away from raising our voices. Tweeting and sharing articles about Islam from reliable sources, or making it a point to have a conversation with a practicing Muslim are two ways that we can be part of the solution. According to the Anti-Defamation League website there have been at least seventy-five anti-Muslim incidents in the United States since the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks. How many of those could have been prevented?

-Tyson Woodford

http://www.adl.org/education-outreach/curriculum-resources/c/myths-and-facts-about-muslim.html#.Vt3bQfkrJhG

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/azzah-sultan-muslim-artist_us_56d73cc9e4b03260bf78fcfa?utm_hp_ref=religion

NASA Bans Use of Jesus in Employee Newsletter

Recently, in the NASA employee newsletter, the Johnson Space Center Praise and Worship Club posted an announcement about their next meeting with a theme of “Jesus is Our Life”.  Soon after the club was approached by attorneys informing them that they needed to remove the word Jesus from the newsletter saying that as a term it made the club seem “sectarian” and “denominational”.

After being approached by NASA’s legal team (who came to them as a government entity), the club offered to write a disclaimer that separated their views from the views of NASA.  This, however, was insufficient, as NASA dubbed it, and the mention needed to be completely removed.

The need to remove Jesus from their announcement came as a big surprise for many member of the club.  One club member, a NASA engineer named Sophia Smith was quoted as saying, “It was shocking to all of us and very frustrating.  NASA has a long history of respecting religious speech. Why wouldn’t they allow us to put the name Jesus in the announcement about our club?”

NASA issued a statement shortly after this came out saying that they do not prohibit any specific religious names in employee newsletters and that NASA allows many different types of organizations (including religious ones) to meet on NASA property in the employees own time.  They said that they are simply trying to balance employees rights to freely exercise religious belief while still upholding their obligation of no government entity endorsing religion.

This is a very fine line that many government agencies probably toe very often.  Where is the cut off that says the government is endorsing any particular religion or religion in general?  And who gets to decide where that line should be drawn?  When it comes to individual rights it is clear that people are allowed to practice religion freely but when they are doing that on government property or in their government workplaces that is where some confusion comes in.

Some see this as another feud between religion and science.  I am not so sure that is what it is.  Sure, science and religion have typically not mixed well together, but it does seem that in this case that NASA is trying to keep the workplace environment open to everyone and not make anyone feel left out.  It is hard to say if using the word Jesus for the theme of a religious club meeting would make people feel uncomfortable or left out.  Since they are allowed to form religious clubs, then anyone who has different beliefs can start their own club with their own beliefs.

As for if the workers of NASA should be able to form religious clubs in the workplace at all is probably a discussion for another time.  It does seem that at NASA, a government entity, it is slightly paradoxical that religious clubs should be able to form and meet on government property.  Separation of Church and State is part of the Constitution of the US, just an interesting thought to leave you with.

-Kayla

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-02-09/nasa-accused-of-banning-the-word-jesus-in-space-center-newsletter

 

The Brink of Change

The 186 General Conference of the LDS Church, held in Salt Lake City, Utah

As 2016 continues to roll out, many events begin to come into fruition. If you are a Mormon, General Conference is one of the big events that comes only twice a year, once in April and once in October. This event is often used as a platform for high authorities of the church to deliver guidance to members as well as preach sermons. The first conference was held in 1830, since then many of the topics of discussion have gradually shifted to reflect the views of current members and communities of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

This semiannual event finds a huge gathering of Mormons in Salt Lake City, Utah. The conference held in April is referred to as the Annual General Conference and the one in October is the Semiannual Conference. The conference is about 2 hours long and is a regarded as a big ceremony. Many of the things mentioned in the 2 hour long session vary from preacher to guest speaker.

The conference itself has become so big that, even when the temple fills up to its capacity of more than 100,000, members of the church can watch local Salt Lake City broadcasts of the ceremony as well as view the online live stream. The use of technology is not the only change of the overall General Conference, topics discussed by leaders of the church and speakers have become subject to speculation leading up to the conference in April.

According to several religious news sources (religiousnews.com, mormonnewsroom.org, lds.org) by looking at past topics of discussion it is quite simple to predict possible subjects of discussion that could take place.

By looking at the table above (religiousnews.com) we can see that in recent conferences, Jesus Christ has become a common theme in contemporary conferences. If we look back to the 1920’s we see that Joseph Smith held a higher position than Jesus Christ in the LDS community at the time. Another thing we see, is that the importance of families has also become a trend in recent years. In an interview, Gary Shepard, co author of “A Kingdom Transformed: Early Mormonism and the Modern LDS Church,” Shepard states explains the rise of families in modern mormonism.

“The topic of parenthood and responsibilities did not emerge among the top themes until the third generation, according to our measure – 1890 to 1919. Prior to that, it wasn’t a topic discussed with any great degree of emphasis at all” (religiousnews.com).

It is interesting to see the changes in themes of the LDS Church, especially when laid out on a table. There is something to say about the LDS Church’s willingness to embrace change and wear it on their sleeves. Now a days, denominations make it their purpose to stick to traditions and refute ideas of change. This unwillingness to accept change has created several obstacles for denominations and their followers.

One example of this embracing of change can be heard in a speech from the Semiannual General Conference of 1979 given by a man by the name of Marvin J. Ashton.

Ashton was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Latter Day Saints. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and eventually became a general authority of the church. Ashton gave many speeches throughout his life but in one of his speeches in particular, he compares the necessity of change to a plant with “straggler roots.”

“When a choice plant became root bound and began to deteriorate, a young friend of ours decided to transplant it to a larger container. Carefully he lifted the greenery from its small pot and put it into its larger home, trying to disturb the roots and soil as little as possible. The novice gardener watched and waited. To his dismay, the plant still struggled. Our friend expressed his frustration to an experienced gardener who offered his services. When the plant was placed in the gardener’s hands, he turned the pot upside down, pulled out the plant, shook the soil from the roots, and clipped and pulled all the stragglers from the root system. Replacing the plant into the pot, he vigorously pushed the soil tightly around the plant. Soon the plant took on new life and grew” (lds.org).

Many denominations do not share this way of thinking. It is interesting to look at change from a distance, study it, predict it, and even learn from it. I think that there is something to gain from this idea of change for many denominations. Now more than ever, change has become a constant in contemporary life, we can’t run away from it and it is even more tough to ignore it. Right now I see several denominations sitting on the brink of change, teetering into modernity, it will be very interesting to see how they react to this change, whether that is to accept it or reject it. I think that is when religion is the most interesting, when it is in a state of potential transformation.

– Jesus A. Ibarra

A mosque for women, by women

In Copehnagen, Denmark, a new mosque has opened up that breaks traditonal Islamic cultural norms. The mosque, founded by Danish political commentator Sherin Khankan, is among a unique set of mosques around the world that are run by and for women. Though this practice is debated in Islamic culture, it is commonplace in some parts of the world. For example, women-led mosques have been found in China for hundreds of years. However, the first Arabic country to permit the teaching of women immams in 2006.

Though Denmark is neither Arabic nor Chinese, a need was still expressed for a women’s mosque. Much like the other Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Christianity, Islam is traditionally patriarchal, with women playing secondary roles. Khankan saw this as a reason to start the women’s mosque, and was quoted as saying “Many women and young people don’t even go into the mosques as you enter into a male dominated and patriarchal space in which a man has the floor, a man leads prayers, men are in focus and dominate. That is why we are now setting up a mosque on women’s term.”

Though hers is the first women’s mosque in Denmark, Khankan is not alone in her endeavor. In 2015, a women’s only mosque opened in L.A. with a hope of spreading more information about Islam to women, and encouraging women’s participation in other mosques.

Female leadership and participation in services in mosques are still hotly debated among much of the Islamic world, but some are becoming more open to the idea. An associate producer for a documentary on these emerging mosques, Marieme Addou, was quoted as saying “men and women are equal in our religion. There is no difference.” Thanks to more conservative factions of Islam, this idea is slow to spread through the religion, but women’s equality in Islamic worship is gaining ground through these women’s mosques that are slowly popping up across the globe.

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/denmark-womens-mosque_us_56c37dc2e4b0c3c55052de80?utm_hp_ref=religion

The Islamic State, Our Big Stick and Religion

Today I stumbled upon an article by Fox News entitled “US special operations troops capture ISIS operative in Iraq.” This got me thinking about the U.S.’s  involvement in relation to the ISIS situation. Scarcely a day goes by when we are not told of another atrocity committed by the Islamic State. Beheadings, mass executions, kidnappings and bombings are their primary means of waging war. To argue the morality of these atrocities goes far beyond the scope of this post, so, for the sake of brevity, I will take the liberty of assuming that they are wrong. I will also not address the issue of why they are waging this war but will simply put forward a quote reported by the BBC: “Islam was never a religion of peace. Islam is the religion of fighting. No-one should believe that the war that we are waging is the war of the Islamic State. It is the war of all Muslims, but the Islamic State is spearheading it. It is the war of Muslims against infidels.” Those words are pulled from a audio message released by the Islamic State and is purportedly their leader speaking. IS states that they are waging their war for religious reasons and I will not seek to dispute them. What I will seek to do is analyze what the role of the United States is as a world power, and how our own actions will always be religiously motivated.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

I have always been fond of Teddy Roosevelt’s famous words: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” I find it important to point out that the United States does indeed have a big stick, arguably the biggest of sticks ever wielded by man. The might of the U.S.’s military is indisputable and our capability to wage war has been seen time and time again. In recent years it has been far less effective than is should be due to ludicrous degrees of political correctness and absolutely asinine rules of engagement imposed upon the fighting men on the ground. Navy Seal Marcus Lutrell, author of the book Lone Survivor, who’s harrowing mission was portrayed in the movie of the same name, said in an interview with Fox News that:“With 300 Marines, you could probably take over Iraq if you wanted to and get rid of ISIS completely. Make no mistake about it, Marines are war fighters. I mean they are really good at what they do. The only time they are not good at what they do is when someone puts the shackles on them.” These words, said by a man who knows with far more intimacy the strengths and weaknesses of the United Sates military, clearly exemplify what the U.S. could do in regards to the Islamic State. However, what the U.S. could do, and what they should do, are two very different questions.

Navy Seal Marcus Lutrell

The question of what the United States should do is hotly debated. There are a thousand and one views and ardent supporters of each. The reality comes down to the fact that there are so many different religions and each of these has a myriad of sub-sects and individual interpretations as to confound ones mind. Particularly when you consider a potential definition of religion as “a creed by which one lives.” This opens up the definition to include anyone, be they an atheist, Buddhist or a Mormon. Each and every one of these religions dictates what people think. Historically the United States is known as a “Christian Nation” and Christians tend toward two views. One being that of disassociation, because war and killing are wrong and one being of involvement because, if we are able to help our neighbor, we should. However as the nation has changed, things seem far less simple and what action will be enacted toward IS is impossible to determine. It’s a question that is religious in nature regarding a religious war and must be answered with all seriousness. My personal beliefs are such that the strong are always to aid the week, we should seek to destroy injustice so that the entirety of the world may have freedom in which to live. How would it be for a strong man, skilled in violence and believing in good, to stand by and watch another kill a child without intervening? That is what the US is doing when we don’t intervene. We have a big stick, but are we willing to, and should we, use it? That is for the people to decide.

Millennials and Church

There are many stereotypes about the millennials, or adults born between the years 1980 and early 2000s, when talking about religion, that “millennials hate church”, because they are selfish and do not believe in organized religion or institutions.  It seems millennials just do not like the idea of religion.   But how much of this is actually true and not just a stereotype?

It has been shown in many studies, one done by Pew Research, that only about half of millennials say they believe in God and about four out of ten say religion is important to them.  With this information it seems that older generations tend to be more likely to believe in God or tend to be more religious.  On pretty much everything like attending religious services on a weekly basis or praying everyday the millennials fall below the older generations like the baby boomers for one.  Overall its proven that Millennials are very different to the older generations when talking about religion.

Millennials seem to not be as religious as older generations in some cases, however they are just as likely to think about something very deep like the universe once a week. The younger generations are shown to also think about the purpose of life weekly this is around 55% of the generation from Pew Research.  With the younger generations getting older, more jobs are opening up and will be filled with millennials.  To the older generations this might be seen as a bad thing however, not everyone in a certain generation are the same.  Some members of the millennials are very religious, there are many factors leading younger Americans to be more religious like their upbringing for example. Upbringing is not the only factor, there are many others, but it might be one that is thought about in many peoples minds.

Overall, it may seem that millennials are less religious in comparison to the older generations like the baby boomers for example, but that is not completely true.  All generations have different types of people in them and it is wrong to put them all in the same “box” if you will.

-Lyndsey Fisher

Sources:

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/23/millennials-are-less-religious-than-older-americans-but-just-as-spiritual/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-johnson/this-may-all-go-to-shit-an-open-letter-to-millennial-church-leaders_b_9308474.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/03/07/millennials-in-adulthood/

Kansas Pastor Proclaims Her Homosexuality

On June 26th of 2015 a bill was passed making it legal in every state in America to allow same-sex marriage. Since this happened, and time before, many Americans have come to terms with the fact that gay marriage is legal and more or less accepted. Pushing this to the next level, Rev. Cynthia Meyer of Edgerton United Methodist Church in Edgerton, Kansas has announced herself to be openly gay and determined to continue in her line of work.

In many Christian denominations it is looked down upon to be gay in the first place, much less to be a gay pastor of a Christian Methodist church. In the bible there is a strong verse about being gay in Leviticus 18:22 which reads,” Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is an abomination”. This verse explains that man should not have sexual relations with another man and woman should not have sexual relations with another woman.

Cynthia looks at this as a matter of interpretation. Cynthia believes that the God Christians believe in is all loving and accepting and that God made her to be like this. This brings up much controversy with other Christians given that they believe that one is not born gay but feeds the thought of sexual relations with their same sex and eventually that is all they seek.

The bible also says in Psalms 86:15, ” But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”. This verse suggests that the Christian’s God loves his children (being Christians) through any and everything, God’s love is never ending and never failing. The previous verse in Leviticus and this verse from Psalms opens a window for many interpretations of how God would see or deal with those who are gay.

In the United Methodist Church there is an acceptance of gay and/or lesbian members, however says the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” (Morrow). As of now Cynthia Meyer has not been suspended by the Board of Ordained Ministry, it is said that the Board is looking for a “just resolution” instead and creating an uprising.

Cynthia wrestles with the fact that there would not have been a problem if she had not come out of the closet. Cynthia describes her current relationship with the church as “an abusive relationship” where she is not accepted to be her true self. The church is also supposed to be loving and accepting of all which is why Cynthia is upset with the way she has been treated since announcing her sexuality.

With all this is mind, what will come of the contemporary American Christian church? Will standards change to accommodate for the changing times and personal preferences? Or will the church stand firm on its cornerstone and preach its original beliefs?

Kansas pastor steps out of the closet and into the crosshairs (VIDEO)

~ Rosalyn Johnson