Freedom of religion applies to all Americans of all religions. I have often heard Christians thank God for the freedom to worship in the United States. Like freedom of speech, freedom of religion doesn’t apply only to popular, inoffensive ideas. In parts of the US, evangelical Christianity is viewed as offensive and dangerous. Should those regions be allowed to ban new church buildings?

Few Muslim countries allow freedom of religion. We should shame them by our example. Yes, it is indeed unfair that Muslims are allowed to build mosques in the US, while Christians are not allowed to build churches in Saudi Arabia, even though more than one million Catholic Filipinos live and work in Saudi Arabia. In fact, the laws of Saudi Arabia (and many other Muslim nations) directly contradict the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which is binding on Saudi Arabia as a UN member^[*]. What would we gain by lowering ourselves to the hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia?

The Gospel spreads through relationships and truth, not government enforcement. In Rodney Stark’s book Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome, the Baylor historian and sociologist demonstrates that the early church grew from 150 Jesus followers to more than 30 million through ordinary relationships: family members, coworkers, neighbors. Elsewhere, Stark has suggested that gaining its status as the state religion of the Roman Empire actually slowed the growth of Christianity. If we want to share the love of Christ with Muslims, we can do so only by building relationships with them, not by isolating them from our community.

Muslims already live in Northern Kentucky. This mosque would not be built if there were not already a community of Muslims in Northern Kentucky. By opposing the mosque, I’m not sure what we gain other than antagonizing our neighbors. Opponents of the mosque cite fears of terrorism. But is there a faster way to turn a Muslim youth against the US than by making him feel hated and unwanted?

What should we do then?

• Welcome our Muslim neighbors as fellow Americans and support their freedoms under the US Constitution.
• Build friendships with our Muslim neighbors so that they can witness Christian love and hospitality firsthand.
• Share the gospel with them in word and deed, in the hope that they will accept the good news of Jesus Christ.

Today, a major problem in Muslim countries is the perception that Christians are uncaring, immoral, and hypocritical. We may not be able to do much to shape the views of Muslims overseas, but shouldn’t we ensure that American Muslims see a better side of Christianity?

I mentioned in class that the number of Americans reporting “no religion” has increased over the last 10 to 20 years. Here’s a good post that summarizes a couple of the findings about these “nones.”

It was great teaching this series, and I hope we can offer it again sometime.

Handout

Here is my Atheism Fact Sheet.  The presentation is below the jump.

Presentation

I also mentioned this video, an internal Scientology training video featuring Tom Cruise. Cruise uses quite a bit of Scientology jargon in the video, so you’ll want to read the “More” section under the video for some translations, as well as my fact sheet below, in order to understand what he’s talking about. (For example, he refers to “KSW,” which is a document written by L. Ron Hubbard called “Keep Scientology Working.”)

Handout

Click here to download my Scientology Fact Sheet (PDF, 44KB). The presentation from class is below the jump.

Presentation

The day begins at the small, red-brick Kingdom Hall on Glendale’s Myrtle Avenue, where about 40 Witnesses gather in couples and families. Some thank Jehovah for the blessed day, others thank him for the coffee that got them here by 9 a.m. A few quick hellos in the Hall — a trapezoidal room with churchlike rows of chairs, a churchlike stage but no churchlike iconography — and the Witnesses head downstairs to arm themselves.

I found the article to offer great insight into the JW organization.

Handout

Click here to download my Jehovah’s Witnesses Fact Sheet (PDF, 55KB). As usual, my presentation is below the jump.

Presentation

One of the best sources for information about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormonism) is from the church itself. The LDS church has an extensive Answers to Questions section, as well as an online library of Mormon scriptures. For comparisons between LDS and mainstream Christianity, two groups called Mormonism Research Ministry and  Utah Lighthouse Ministry have extensive libraries of articles.

Handouts

Click here to download my fact sheet about Mormonism (PDF, 55KB). My presentation can viewed below the jump.

Presentation

The handout for Buddhism is below, and my presentation can be seen after the jump. Meanwhile, a couple of links you might be interested in:

• The world’s most famous Buddhist teacher is on Twitter: click here to see the official Twitter account for the 14th Dalai Lama.
• After class, I realized that I made a major omission from my list of famous Buddhists – namely, the most famous athlete in the world, Tiger Woods.
  • CBS News did a story about Woods’ Buddhist upbringing and how it is guiding his response to his personal failings
  • GetReligion, meanwhile, has written several posts which look at media coverage of Woods’ religious beliefs. For example, here’s one post which takes a look at the bracelet that Woods has begun wearing, and connects Woods with the Dalai Lama.

Handout

Buddhist Handout (PDF, 61KB)

Presentation

One of the more "colorful" Hindu traditions is the spring festival of Holi. As part of the celebration, people spray each other with brightly colored pigments.

Last night, we had a great class covering Hinduism. I realized after class that it might have been helpful to summarize the “good news” according to Hinduism, since the concepts are so foreign to Western Christians.  Here’s my attempt:

• According to Hinduism, we are trapped in a cycle of reincarnation (samsara). Each time we die, we are reborn into a new life – but this isn’t a good thing, because life is filled with suffering and illusion.
• Our next life is determined by the karma we accumulate in our current life. Good karma means we can be reborn into a better life (traditionally understood as a higher caste).
• How do we accumulate good karma? There are many ways, including:
  • By fulfilling our dharma, including our caste, social and ritual obligations (Vedic Hinduism).
  • Through philosophy and meditation (Vedanta).
  • Through mental and physical discipline (Yoga).
  • By devoting ourselves to a specific god or avatar (Bhakti).
• By accumulating enough karma, we can eventually achieve moksha – release from the cycle of reincarnation and connection with Brahman (the divine reality behind all existence).

This final state is a good thing, but it’s not the same idea as heaven. For one thing, many forms of Hinduism believe that our personal existence comes to an end. Further, Brahman is a not a personal god – Brahman is more like “the Force” from Star Wars, a spiritual energy that fills everything.

Photo: An Indian man celebrating the Hindu spring festival of Holi. Photo by wanderinghome

Next week, Buddhism!

Hinduism Links

You can read more about Arjuna and Krishna here.

Here is the link to the local Hindu Temple. If you are interested in learning more about Hindu gods, be sure to see the Temple’s deities page. There are some great photos of their shrines, as well as a brief description of each god or goddess. Some of the ones we mentioned last night:

• Ganesh
• Krishna
• Shiva (who is represented in an abstract form called a lingam)

Materials from class can be downloaded after the jump.

Materials from Class

Here is the handout that I distributed last night. Below is the presentation.

Photo: Judaica, by Gila Brand via Wikipedia.

Helpful Links

Local links: Cincinnati has a rich Jewish heritage, particularly in Reform Judaism.

• Hebrew Union College is the oldest Jewish seminary in the U.S.
• Mayerson Jewish Community Center: In Cincinnati and many other cities, Jewish Community Centers serve as “common ground” where Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative Jews, who may disagree with each other about religious issues, can come together for social, cultural, and service events.
• Jewish Federation: The “United Way” for Cincinnati’s Jewish charities.
• David’s Voice: “The Voice of Jewish Cincinnati”

In 2008, several Jewish organizations in Cincinnati collaborated to create the Cincinnati Jewish Community Study. If you’re interested in the Jewish community in Greater Cincinnati, this is a great resource.

Star of David: Some class members were asking about the origins of the Star of David.  The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an interesting article on the Star’s history and meaning, including several ancient artifacts that use the Star.

Jewish Bloggers: A couple of Jewish bloggers to note:

• Brad Greenberg is a Jewish-Christian writer, formerly a journalist but now in law school, who writes the God Blog for the Los Angeles-based Jewish Journal. Brad can be a helpful bridge between Jewish and Christian worlds.
• Rabbi Shmuley Boteach might be the closest thing we have to a “Jewish Billy Graham.”  He writes a blog on Beliefnet.com.

Bonus link for sports fans: did you know that the early days of professional basketball was dominated by Jewish players? Players like Dolph Schayes, legendary coaches like Red Auerbach, owners like Abe Saperstein (the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters) – Brad Greenberg wrote a great story about the Jewish roots of basketball for the Jewish Journal. (Today, there are only two Jewish NBA players – LA Laker point guard Jordan Farmar, and Omri Casspi, an Israeli forward who plays for the Sacramento Kings).

Materials from class are available after clicking “Read More.”

Materials from Class

You download the handout from class as a PDF by clicking here. The presentation is below.

The flag of Pakistan, showing the Muslim star and crescent, as well as the color green (which has special significance in Islam)

Below are my presentation and handout from the Islam sections of my World Religions class.  Last night, we finished our coverage of Islam and began looking at Judaism.

Reminder: there will be no class next week (March 24) because I’ll be out of town.  We’ll resume class on March 31 by looking at contemporary issues in Judaism and beginning our look at Hinduism.

Helpful Links

Handbook on Islam: Don Tingle, who many at Lakeside know, has written a handbook on Islam for US military personnel. You can download the entire handbook from his website. You can also read an article about Don’s work from the Christian Standard.

Muslim Followers of Jesus? Although their presence isn’t widely acknowledged in the mainstream press, there are millions of people worldwide who claim to be Muslim followers of Jesus (who is called Isa in Arabic).  Christianity Today recently looked at this phenomenon, and also devoted an article to it in 2007.

Using the Koran to Preach the Gospel? The CAMEL Method uses the Koran to introduce Muslims to Jesus.  Last week, the New York Times examined critics and supporters of this method.

Download the handout and view the presentation by clicking “Read More.”

Handout

Download my 2-page Fact Sheet on Islam (PDF, 63 KB).

Presentation

Below is my Keynote presentation from the class.  It doesn’t include any notes or commentary, but it might help trigger your memory. If nothing else, it will show you some beautiful photos of Islam around the world.

Each week, I’ll post some additional resources online, as well as the notes and slides from the class. For Christianity, here are a few good resources:

• GetReligion.org follows media coverage of all religions. It’s a great place to see critical assessments of how well the media covers various religions, as well as to learn a lot more about different religions.
• Christianity Today’s news page collects Christianity-related news from across the Internet. CT also has a Christian History page that collects articles about Christian history, as well as important events. By utter coincidence, today is the day when Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Restoration Movement, died in 1866.
• The official website of the Orthodox Church in America is a great place to learn more about the 2nd largest Christian communion in the world.

Are there any other resources you are looking for? Resources from last night’s class can be found by clicking “Read more.”

Resources from Class

Last night’s handout can be downloaded as a PDF.

The history of religion film from Maps of War is below. As I mentioned in class, this is a great film, with a couple of disclaimers:

• It only shows the “Big Five” religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism) while ignoring many other historically important religions.
• Don’t imagine that the gray areas didn’t have religion. Religion has always been an integral part of human culture.
• It probably can’t be helped, but it would be nice to have some greater detail. For example, Christianity and Buddhism both look very, very different in different parts of the world, and major minority religions can’t be shown in this format.

Last night’s presentation:

Next week, we’ll be looking at Islam. It should be great!