TruthBook Religious News Blog

MANY Welsh people who believe in God say they are too busy to go to church or chapel, a survey has revealed.

Other believers say they stay away from services because religion is a private and personal matter for them.

Of the people who do attend services, nearly half say they go out of a sense of tradition and only a quarter go for purely spiritual reasons.

The survey, commissioned by S4C to mark the great Welsh revival of 1904-05, also found that fewer men than women believe in God, and younger people are less likely to believe than older people.

The S4C survey found that more than 50% of Welsh people believe in God. The figure rose to 60% among women but dipped to 47% among men.

Only one in three in the 16-24 age group professed a belief, compared with 77% in the 65-plus group. Attendance at church or chapel was even lower in the 25-34 age group than in the 16-24 - falling from 22% to 9%.

Of the people in all age groups who professed a belief, just 21% attended regular worship and almost 60% said they rarely or never attended.

"Lifestyle" was the main reason given for non-attendance among believers, with many saying that life is too busy.

A significant percentage said they regarded their religion as a strictly private experience.

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Sunday, September 26, 2004

Spiritual guide teaches importance of 'mindfulness'

The religion professor's foot was propped on a chair, his crutches on the floor. A few days earlier, he'd broken his foot.

A spiritual lesson, he said.

"I'm in this condition due to a failure in mindfulness," said Ruben Habito, the spiritual guide at the Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas. "But now, each movement can become something I cherish because I cannot take anything for granted.

"I'm finding my way and learning how to walk again on three legs."

Habito, 56, is a former Jesuit priest who practices Catholicism and Zen. He teaches world religions and spirituality at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.

A native of the Philippines, he holds a doctorate in Buddhism from Tokyo University. His most recent book is "Living Zen, Loving God" (Wisdom Publications, $14.95).

He spoke recently about mindfulness. Here are excerpts:

Q: So what is mindfulness?

A: Being aware of the dynamic reality of the present moment.

Q: How do you cultivate mindfulness?

A: It involves different formats, depending on an individual's disposition -- maybe counting one's breath or just sitting without any specific agenda.

That sounds easy enough. You just sit. But there's really a lot more involved in just sitting than just sitting. It's a way to keep the mind focused on the present rather than letting it wander, thinking about the past or the future or issues in our lives. The invitation is to try and see how it goes.

Q: What makes mindfulness meditation different from other forms?

A: It's not a practice of thinking about something. It's an exercise in being fully present with each breath. Just being still and being aware in the moment opens up a treasure house of spirituality and resources.

In our ordinary consciousness, we are hardly in the present moment. We are always chasing after our lives ahead of us and never really living our life while it's happening.

Q:Why is mindfulness popular in the mainstream?

A: People are trying to fill their inner spiritual hunger. They are finding that material things are not really satisfying. So maybe this is the next thing they can try. Hopefully, they will find something substantial.

Q: What are the most common misconceptions?

A: Some people take it to be self-consciousness. That's the exact opposite of mindfulness. It doesn't mean that I must be conscious of doing this and doing that, but simply aware.

Q: What's the difference?

A: There's a way of washing the dishes where you're aware of just being there washing the dishes. You're aware of the knives and the fluffy bubbles and lukewarm water. Being self-conscious is more like, "Hmm. Am I doing it right?" It's almost like you're critiquing yourself.

Q: A lot of people learn about mindfulness from books and tapes rather than a teacher or meditation center. Does it make a difference?

A: You can get a cookbook, follow a recipe and learn to cook. But it's much easier to learn if you have a culinary expert to help you.

Q: Are Christian meditation and Zen meditation compatible?

A: In Christian meditation, we seek God's presence in each and every thing, each and every moment, each and every act. It's not different from what Buddhists call mindfulness, though it comes with a lot of theological underpinnings.

Q: Why is the living in present moment important?

A: Be there and you'll see.

BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH
Dallas Morning News

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Wanted: spirited leadership

The new presence of spirituality in the office shows an attempt to repair the cracks growing in our institutions, and restore our faith in them.

Healthy spirituality is not only at large in the public imagination, it's in fashion, even in the corporate world. Spirituality has reached senior management. Consultants and conferences abound, all hell-bent on helping companies get in touch with their souls, and spiritual leadership facilitators are billing the Blue Chip names for some serious meditation time.

And what exactly do the consultants do? In the least ecstatic and fuzzy examples, this trend is packaged as teachings in corporate social responsibility, a well-intentioned booster to help large organizations nurture the health and well-being of employees. Tending the spirit is only one facet of the holistic approach, the theory being a good soul does good work.

Leslie Malin of Management by Design in New York State offers her own brand of workshop, one in which she coaches employees and managers in discovering their divinity in the workplace. In a recent interview, she explained the trend of spirit work as an inevitable reaction to the self-centredness of the last decade.

"I remember being vitally interested in the interconnectedness of work and spirit 10 years ago when one could barely find a book or article on the topic. That was the early '90s and people were intoxicated with me-ism and unlimited financial boom times. Obviously, we have moved on from there. ... Many baby boomers were shocked into realizing that financial security is an illusion and that real security is achieved in deepening the self and becoming richer inside as those are qualities that cannot be recklessly gambled or invested away."

Malin points to the disillusionment wrought by the Enrons, Morgan Stanleys, even of Martha Stewart as contributing factors to a desire for a new ethic.

"I think a new breed of managers, employees and entrepreneurs want to create wealth on material, intellectual and spiritual levels."

Some new tests are afoot to measure more than profitability. Long ago, for instance, we primarily valued a worker's IQ, their Intelligence Quotient; in the '90s we began to include a measure for EI, or Emotional Intelligence.

Now, according to Whiteley, some organizations are implementing a third index, a test for SI, or Spiritual Intelligence.

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Spirituality Important for Families of Children with Disabilities

Many families whose children have disabilities find in faith and spiritual practices a way to endow the disability with meaning, according to University of Kansas social scientists.

Lawrence, Kansas - But these families' experiences with organized religion are mixed, say Denise Poston, research associate for the Beach Center on Disability, and Ann Turnbull, co-director of the center.

In interviews with 137 people who have disabilities and with their family members, Poston said, she was struck by the intensity of comments about the importance of spiritual and religious practices.

"People might say that having a job is important to the family¹s well-being, but in a matter-of-fact way," Poston said. "But there is an intensity in their voices when they say, 'My life wouldn¹t be anything without faith.' "

Poston and Turnbull's study appears in the June issue of the journal Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities.

Those surveyed were asked what thoughts came to mind when they heard the words "family quality of life," what helped things to go well in the family when everything ran smoothly and what things created tough times.

Those who mentioned spirituality or religion as crucial to their quality of life commented on two aspects of it -- having beliefs and taking part in religious communities.

Those surveyed "spoke very passionately" about the effect of belief on quality of life, Poston said. They emphasized having faith in something greater than themselves and in using prayer. Poston said that even more important to their peace of mind was finding, through spiritual involvement, the ability to give meaning to the disability.

"About half of the families who shared perspectives on their spiritual life spoke about how they used their faith as a way to make some sense of having a child with a disability," Poston says.

In their paper, Poston and Turnbull list resources that families and organizations can use to guide them in making religious and spiritual activities more accessible to children with disabilities. Poston recommends the Religion and Spirituality Division of the American Association on Mental Retardation at www.aamr.org/Groups/div/RG/index.php .

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Wednesday, September 22, 2004

World Values Study Explores Why Religion Endures

Attendance at religious services and the subjective importance attached to religion is declining in virtually every advanced industrial society. But in the world as a whole, a larger number of people hold strong religious beliefs than ever before.

These are just some of the findings in "Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide" by ISR research scientist Ronald Inglehart, who directs the World Values Surveys, and Harvard political scientist Pippa Norris. The book will be published in October by Cambridge University Press.

In the book, Inglehart and Norris explore the reasons behind the enduring vitality of religion in the modern world. They look at the continued popularity of church-going in the United States and the emergence of New Age spirituality in Western Europe. They study the surge of fundamentalist Islam in the Muslim world, the evangelical revival sweeping through Latin America, and the intractability of widespread ethno-religious conflicts around the world.

Inglehart and Norris show that members of virtually all advanced industrial societies have been moving toward more secular orientations during the past 50 years, people with traditional religious views constitute a growing proportion of the world's population.

Secularization is occurring in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada as well as in Western Europe, new data from the World Values Surveys shows.

"Even in the U.S., there has been some movement in this direction, although this trend has been partly masked by massive immigration of people with relatively traditional worldviews, and high fertility rates, from Hispanic countries," Inglehart said.

Within most advanced industrial societies, attendance at religious services has fallen over the past several decades, Inglehart noted. Religious authorities have largely lost their authority to dictate to the public on birth control, divorce, abortion, sexual orientation and the necessity of marriage before childbirth. But this process of secularization is linked with a sharp decline in human fertility rates: women in advanced industrial societies, on average, have as few as 1.2 children during their lifetime---while women in low-income countries, which tend to be much more religious, have as many as five or six children. As a result, the proportion of the world's population with traditional religious values is growing, not shrinking.

But even in advanced industrial societies, Inglehart emphasized, evidence from the World Values Surveys indicates that a growing percentage of the public spends time thinking about the meaning and purpose of life. "Organized religion is losing its grip on the public, but spiritual concerns, broadly defined, are taking on growing importance."

The book also presents intriguing, counterintuitive findings about the relationship between specific religions and political and social worldviews. For example, 64 percent of the Buddhists in the worldwide sample say they lean to the right politically. By comparison, just under half (48 percent) of Hindus and Protestants say their political views lean to the right, followed by 47 percent of Catholics, 46 percent of Muslims, 41 percent of Jews, 38 percent of Orthodox Christians and 36 percent of those with no religious affiliation.

The findings also show that Moslems are much more likely than Protestants to subscribe to the values associated with the Protestant work ethic. "Protestants today display the weakest work ethic of any of the major religious denominations," Inglehart said. "An important reason is that Protestants are likely to live in rich nations, where people place the greatest importance on leisure, relaxation and self-fulfillment outside of work. In poorer developing nations, where Moslems are likely to live, work is essential for life and people place a high emphasis on its value."

Tables and charts are available at: http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2004/Sep04/charts

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From bookshelves to boardroom, 'mindfulness' is hot spiritual trend

Psychologist Henry Grayson says his book, "Mindful Loving," might not have been a bestseller if his publisher had stuck to a title he'd suggested: "The New Physics of Love."

Three months ago, Body & Soul magazine added the phrase, "The Natural Guide to Mindful Living" to its cover. Mindfulness - living consciously in the moment - has become "just that significant" in American culture, said editor-in-chief Seth Bauer.

Mindfulness books and tapes are frequent bestsellers. Mindfulness training is a staple at seminars, retreats and spas. Hospitals and psychologists are teaching mindfulness as a means to handle everything from chronic illness and addiction to stress and depression.

"There's a sense that what is missing in our lives is a real connection to what we do, what we think, how we relate to people and how we take care of ourselves," said Bauer. "Mindfulness brings all of those things together."

Even corporate America is on board. Some businesses now offer mindfulness workshops to improve concentration, employee relations and ethics. Last year, Spirituality & Health magazine featured an article titled, "Lessons from Mindful Corporations."

Spiritual trend watchers say mindfulness has become to the 2000s what angels were to the 1990s. Maybe bigger, though there may never be a TV show called "Touched by a Mindful Person."

"Most of the time, we're just going, going, going - operating on autopilot," said Gary Stuard of Dallas, a former Buddhist monk who teaches mindfulness meditation at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.

"Mindfulness is about paying attention so you don't go about life absentmindedly."

Experts say mindfulness is cultivated. The most common way is by sitting in quiet meditation and observing one's breath. Some people count breaths as they inhale and exhale. Others follow the rising and falling of the breath, or some other variation.

"The point of mindfulness meditation is not to zone out but to tune in," Stuard said.

The challenge comes when the mind drifts. Each time that happens, people are told to take notice, then return to their breath without judging their thoughts and emotions as good or bad.

"Your breath draws you into the here and now," said Dr. Grayson, the Mindful Loving author. "People are realizing that they spend so much of their lives worrying about the past or thinking about the future that they miss out on the present."

The point is to bring awareness to all aspects of life.

Whether practiced for spiritual, health or other reasons, mindfulness is all about conscious living. (If you've ever mindlessly stuffed yourself while watching TV, you know something about unconscious living.)

Bonnie Arkus, executive director of the Women's Heart Foundation in West Trenton, N.J., said she dropped 10 pounds in a month by combining the South Beach diet with "mindfulness eating."

"You're not just watching what goes into your mouth," she said. "You actually taste the food because you stop to enjoy it. You're not just inhaling it on the run, so you tend to eat less."

Mindfulness is integral to Buddhism, an ancient religion that has enjoyed waves of popularity in America.

Many say the seeds for the current mindfulness craze were largely planted by the 1975 book, "The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.

"Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves," wrote the monk, who lives in France.

Some Buddhists are troubled that mindfulness in the American mainstream is being commercialized in ways that have nothing to do with spirituality.

"It's not just mental training or a self-improvement technique," said Sharon Salzberg, a well-known Buddhist teacher, author of spiritual books and co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass.

For Buddhists, mindfulness is embedded in ethics and compassion.

"It's not just for ourselves, but for making the world a better place," Salzberg said.

Michael Sauvante shares that philosophy, though he isn't a Buddhist. He's the chief executive of Rolltronics, a Menlo Park, Calif., company identified as "mindful" by Spirituality & Health.

"A mindful corporation cares about how its business impacts humanity," he said. "But in the business world, there's almost this notion that being a good humanitarian will cut into your financial success."

In spiritual circles, mindfulness is a path to inner awakening. In the medical community, it's seen as a path to better health.

More than 200 U.S. hospitals and clinics use mindfulness training to promote mental and physical health.

Austin family physician Paul Keinarth, on the verge of burnout, turned to mindfulness meditation four years ago. Racing thoughts, worries and stress plagued him. He had difficulty sleeping. He was emotionally distant from his family.

"The change has been dramatic," said Keinarth, who now teaches mindfulness courses. "I'm living my own life as it unfolds now instead of living a lot of stories about what happened to me or to other people. My relationships to my family and to my patients have vastly improved."

Dr. James Ruiz, a radiologist from Baton Rouge, La., said his interest in mindfulness began when his 6-year-old son was an infant. When the baby would cry in the middle of the night, he would hold him while doing a walking mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness has changed the way he parents, he said.

"Being up in the middle of the night with a child in distress is not what drives you to madness," he said. "What drives you crazy is that you want to be back in bed. Mindfulness is letting go of that, accepting the reality and attending to what's in front of you."

The Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School uses many techniques to teach mindfulness. One exercise involves taking 20 minutes to eat two raisins. Participants notice how the raisins look and smell. They feel the texture. And finally, they taste.

Mindfulness isn't alternative medicine, but complements traditional medicine, said Saki Santorelli, the center's director.

"This approach which used mindfulness was pretty radical when the program started," he said. "But we showed the medical community that it wasn't taking advantage of its greatest ally - the patients themselves.

Scholars say concepts similar to mindfulness are found in other religions - the daily cycle of prayers said by Christian monks, Orthodox Jews and MusliThese observances are ways of paying attention to the presence of God in all things.

The Rev. Frederick Schmidt of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University said there's a vast difference between those who embrace mindfulness for spiritual reasons and those who don't.

"Meeting God is an entirely different proposition than managing my stress," he said.

Stuard, the former Buddhist monk, says mindfulness mediation goes hand in hand with his Christian faith.

"In Christian language, we see it as valuing every moment as sacrament," he said. "For Buddhists, mindfulness is the miracle of the present moment."

BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH
The Dallas Morning News
© 2004, The Dallas Morning News.

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Sunday, September 19, 2004

Wave of religion books brings women's stories to the forefront

With the success of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, publishers have incentive to launch religion books that bring women's stories from the margins to the center.

This writing, says Jana Riess, religion book review editor for Publishers' Weekly, "has the potential to be life-changing."

Feminist spirituality has been a distinct publishing category for about 15 years, she says, but she has seen a surge in new titles since the spring 2003 publication of The Da Vinci Code.

And after sales of The Red Tent took off in 2001, says Riess, many publishers sought to draw comparisons between the surprise best seller and their new feminist spirituality books.

"Many women read that novel and said to themselves, 'I thought I knew what really happened in that story (of Dinah in The Red Tent), but wow! Here's something that takes the same facts and interprets them in a totally different way. Maybe everything in the Bible that I have assumed should be questioned,'" says Riess, who lives in Winchester.

The new books are written with a female-centered lens: Ochs' Sarah Laughed: Modern Lessons From the Wisdom and Stories of Biblical Women; Faith and Feminism: A Holy Alliance by Helen LaKelly Hunt; and The Women Who Danced by the Sea: Finding Ourselves in the Stories of Our Biblical Foremothers by Marsha Mirkin.

And in The Scimitar and the Veil: Extraordinary Women of Islam, author Jennifer Heath recounts the stories of more than 50 Muslim women from antiquity to the 19th century. Heath, who spent her teenage years in Afghanistan with her family in the 1960s, says she felt an urgent need to work against the one-dimensional portrayals of Muslim women in the media and popular discussion.

"We should know all this already by now," she says. "Muslim women are not shrouded ghosts. They really have a past and a future, not to say a present."

Her collection includes historical figures well-known to most Muslims and many who have received little scholarly attention: scholars, saints, warriors and artists. Their accomplishments, argues Heath, not only can expand our notions of what it means to be Muslim -- but also can offer new responses to pressing spiritual and political problems.

The ninth-century mystic Rabi'a al-Adawiyya of Basra (in what is now Iraq) is one example. "Rabi'a al-Adawiyya basically reinvented, or rediscovered, the idea of God as beloved," Heath says. "God is the lover. Now there's a concept, right?

"That everything belongs to God is an idea whose time has come. If you think of God as ... the creator of all this world, and we're destroying it, then we're destroying the beloved -- and that's a terrible thing."

The notion of giving voice to the voiceless runs like a current through the four books. For the authors, women across time and place have several things in common: They are women, their experience is different from men's, and their stories -- when not pushed to the margins or silenced altogether -- can show us something about the complexity of human experience.

The new books on women and religion are one facet of a remarkably diverse range of religion books, Riess says.

"Americans seem to be very interested in spirituality across the board, and naturally there are different segments to that audience," she says. "But the fact that the audiences are large enough to sustain markets on both ends of the spectrum is pretty significant."

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Ralston tells of epiphany: 'Amputation was the best idea,' climber says

Aron Ralston says his mother used to tell him he didn't have enough common sense. But it may be common sense — in the face of seemingly impossible odds — that saved his life 16 months ago.

Ralston experienced instant fame after his right arm became wedged between an 800-pound boulder and a rock wall while climbing in Utah's remote Bluejohn Canyon. After five days of trying everything he could think of, in desperation he cut off much of his arm. Then he rappelled down the canyon and walked seven miles before encountering other hikers and being spotted by a helicopter rescue unit.

Now Ralston has written a book about his ordeal — "Between a Rock and Hard Place."

"I am an introspective person," the 28-year-old engineer said during a telephone interview with the Deseret Morning News. "It's part of my nature.

"Since I was 5, my mom has told me I don't have a lot of common sense, so I try to learn from my experiences. It stems from the analytical side of my personality. It's what made me an engineer, and my high school training in speech and debate also helped me to learn to think on my feet."

Ralston readily admits talking to himself during his five days trapped in the slot canyon. It happened after he quickly drank a third of his water supply — then panicked.
"I said, 'Calm down! You will kill yourself with this behavior.' I didn't panic again until the end — just before I gained my freedom. It was the catalyst to help me realize I could break the bones in my arm. Afterward, I was euphoric."

Ralston demonstrated a rare talent during his predicament — that of coolly analyzing his situation and carefully considering various alternatives. He thinks of himself as a problem-solver, accustomed to "brainstorming, gathering information, prioritizing and executing a solution."

"By the time I executed the amputation, I had made three unsuccessful attempts. Each time I learned something. [...]

He just knew it was something he had to do. "Amputation was the best idea. It would help me get my life back. Ultimately, I liberated myself. I will never feel that kind of exhilaration again. I went through a kind of resurrection in that canyon."

[...]Ralston believes his "perspectives on spirituality" were confirmed by his release.

"The experience in Bluejohn Canyon was a spiritual experience. The hardship and suffering I went through — one of my friends said Bluejohn was my 'Calvary.' When I saw visions of my mom and my friends, I was comforted and sustained, knowing that there were people who loved me. I prayed while I was there — in direct, out-loud appeals and also quietly, looking for guidance. I believe the epiphany I felt that allowed me to break my bones was divine interaction."

[...] "I want people to understand that this was a miracle. A person without water usually lasts two to three days. You need a gallon of water a day in the desert. It's phenomenal that I survived six days. It's also miraculous that I didn't pass out while cutting off my arm. I probably wouldn't have gained consciousness. There are greater spiritual energies than us in the world — and there are times when we connect with them."

[...] As a person, Ralston said he has been changed in two fundamental ways.

First, he said, "I have to obey my passions. If I ignore them I get grumpy and unhappy. So I will continue my adventures in the outdoors. I've realized that my life and passions are more important than mortgages and paychecks.

"Second, I have a greater appreciation for my friends and family. Being around them is a more profound pleasure, because we all feel we almost lost each other."

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Meditation as a stress reduction tool

Dr. Steven Schoeberlein [...] demonstrated in a stress reduction workshop how stress can be reduced and how attention can be enhanced through a practice called “mindful meditation.”

He addressed a group of six people and discussed the benefits of mindful meditation and afterwards led the group in a brief meditation exercise.

In the discussion part of the workshop, Schoeberlein highlighted the importance of calming the mind.

“The idea is you’re going to learn how to slow your mind, be aware of your thoughts and be able to focus your attention somewhere,” he said.

Schoeberlein said that mindfulness was paying attention in a particular way.

“It’s about learning how the mind wanders,” he said.

The wandering of the mind should not be seen as a mistake or a failure, he pointed out. It is normal.

According to the Mindful Living Web site, mindfulness is the cultivation of non-judgmental, non-reactive, present-moment awareness.

The Web site stated that practicing mindfulness includes meditation and present-moment awareness during daily activities.

Schoeberlein mentioned multi-tasking as not being in the present. He said it was likely in American culture for people to have several tasks going on at once.

Schoeberlein also said not to believe everything you think. It could lead to anxiety.

He demonstrated what he called the “raisin exercise.”

He told everyone to imagine that there was a raisin in his or her hand and to imagine what it looked like. He then told everyone to put it up to his or her nose and smell it. Afterward, he said to imagine what it would taste like.

Schoeberlein explained that he was teaching how to bring attention and awareness to what one is doing.

He said that mindful meditation is particularly useful for artists and schoolteachers. Teachers who practice the technique don’t feel as burned out.

He said that mindful meditation helps people to become more connected to one another.

“If you’re not in the moment and paying attention to people, you’re not going to pick up on how people express themselves,” he said.

According to shinzen.org, a Web site that gives information on meditation, mindful meditation can lead to more efficient studying for students, increased ability in problem solving and acquisition of skills such as language.

Schoeberlein said that anyone can meditate.

“Kindergartners can meditate,” he said, speaking from his experience working with them. “They do it pretty well.”

Schoeberlein said that with meditation, there is the common belief that one will have a lofty experience or a great zone of enlightenment.

The group engaged in a type of meditation derived from Buddhist training that he said comes from focusing on the breath.

The meditation started off with Schoeberlein telling everybody to sit quietly, close their eyes, and focus on the abdominal wall.

Mindful meditation requires one to sit in a comfortable position, with the back upright.

“In order to be in the present, you have to have an anchor to that present [moment],” he said.

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Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Poll: U.S. mixed on religious freedom

Respondents say they value tolerance, but half don't see need for separation with state

While most Americans highly value religious freedom and tolerance, nearly one in two doubt the need to maintain strict separation of church and state, according to a national survey released today by the Council for America's First Freedom, a Richmond-based organization dedicated to promoting and educating citizens about religious liberty.

The survey indicates a population that cherishes its right to worship but not enough to fight for it. The results also dismiss the notion of an official religion and find that people are uncertain about the source of their religious freedom. And while a majority of the respondents indicated that it's important to understand the faith of others, most had misperceptions about the predominance and beliefs of particular faiths.

The guarantee of religious freedom, the vision of Jefferson, George Mason and James Madison, was first established by law in Richmond in 1786. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was pushed through the Virginia legislature by Madison, who also led the development of the U.S. Constitution, where religious freedom tops the list of rights ensured by the First Amendment. The amendment also separates church from state.

D. Stephen Elliott, the council's executive director, calls the survey results both heartening and disquieting. "They show a public that holds religious liberty as among our most prized freedoms, yet in an apparent contradiction, is ambivalent about the Constitutional tenet that keeps church and state separate," he said.

Elliott said the survey information will help the center design educational programs. "We need to do a better job of helping people understand other religions," he said. "Once you understand, things are less scary. Understanding leads to mutual respect."

The survey found that 52 percent of the respondents value freedom of religion over freedom of the press (19 percent), the right to bear arms (16 percent) and freedom of assembly (10 percent).

Of those polled, 84 percent indicated that religious liberty is as important or more important today as it was in the late 1700s. Eighty-three percent said they would not support a national religion, and 59 percent believe it's important to understand the religious beliefs of others.

Only 49 percent think keeping religion and government separate is either unnecessary or should be less strictly interpreted. When asked if they lived in a country where they were denied the right to worship as they saw fit, 11 percent said they would fight existing laws, including taking up arms.

Most respondents were uncertain about what document guarantees their religious freedom. A total of 47 percent correctly identified the Constitution's First Amendment. But 32 percent thought it was the Declaration of Independence, 9 percent the Ten Commandments and 2 percent the Emancipation Proclamation.

A total of 43 percent think Christianity is the fastest-growing religion in the world, with 37 percent correctly identifying Islam. And 37 percent were aware that religious differences are the primary cause of armed conflict in the world.

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Monday, September 13, 2004

Faith freelancers changing spiritual landscape of West

The number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation, labeled "nones" by scholars, has doubled in the past decade to an estimated 29 million.

But "none" does not translate to "no belief." Nationally, the study found only 7 percent of unaffiliated people are atheists or agnostics.

The vast majority of nones believe in God. They tend to hold moderate to liberal political views and are more likely to seek community by volunteering and joining advocacy groups than at church, experts say.

In their diverse spiritual expressions - from yoga and walks in the woods to sacred dance and crystal balls - nones are changing the American faith landscape and forcing religious institutions to take notice.

"Increasingly, people are saying they are either nondenominational or 'none,"' said C. Kirk Hadaway, director of research in the congregational development office of the Episcopal Church USA.

"Traditionally, people who said they were nothing never went to church. Nothing meant nothing. Now it means, 'I don't have a specific religious connection.' It doesn't mean people don't have any religious feelings. It doesn't even mean they don't go to church."

While nones are increasing in number, weekly church attendance has remained steady at around 40 percent of the population.

Religious growth in America is largely concentrated in two areas, experts say: theologically conservative religions such as evangelical Christianity, Mormonism and Islam, all of which place demands on believers and offer clear answers about doctrine and faith; and the nones, most of whom come from a religious background but have moved in other directions.

Renee Hurley fits the latter category. A 50-year-old former guidance counselor, Hurley was raised Catholic but now gains spiritual nourishment through yoga, which she said connects mind, body and spirit.

"Wherever you find God, wherever you find harmony is where I think I find myself," said Hurley, who built a yoga room in her Cherry Hills Village home. "Different religious beliefs, I think they're all valid. They're basically saying the same thing: That we believe in something, a higher power, whether you find that within yourself or out in the universe somewhere."

Mobile consumer roots

The new explosion in nones can be traced to an increasingly mobile society; a consumer culture that gives people choices about everything; and changing attitudes about what spirituality means, said Robert Fuller, a religious studies professor at Bradley University and author of "Spiritual But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America."

"People are more comfortable describing themselves (as nones)," Fuller said. "The social stigma of calling yourself a seeker is gone."

In the West, the trend is more pronounced because institutions aren't as entrenched, independence is valued and many people are transplants, said Mark Shibley, a sociology professor at Southern Oregon University who studies the trend.

"People move into places that are more open and pluralistic, so the opportunity exists to make choices, to leave things behind," Shibley said.

A growing number of Westerners finds spirituality in nature. Shibley, who has studied that trend, said nature spirituality is to Generation X and Gen-Y what New Age was to baby boomers.

Steve Torbit, a senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation in Boulder, views his work to preserve wide-open spaces partly in spiritual terms.

"When you are away from that crush of humanity, you have to confront your fears and examine your beliefs in a very spiritual and personal way," he said.

"I find the whole experience really not only stress-relieving but also provocative. You question your own existence, the meaning of things."

Others find spirituality indoors, stacking books on their nightstands. In unchurched America, bookstores are considered the new synagogues.

"People don't need to go to a location once a week where other people can tell them to be spiritual," said Robert Blond, a ponytailed former lumber company manager who founded the enterprise in 1979. "They're finding it in themselves."

Not surprisingly, not everyone is happy about that. The spiritual-but-not-religious are knocked as being faddish, narcissistic and seeing no difference between personal growth and knowledge of God.

William Dean, a professor emeritus at Denver's Iliff School of Theology, said he understands how things like corporate and political scandals undermine institutions. But he also believes faith communities fill irreplaceable needs.

"I think people need other people to keep themselves religious or spiritually alive," Dean said. "They need connections with history, with great writings, like scriptures of various sorts, from Hebrew scriptures to Christian scriptures to the Koran. I think people's individual resources run pretty dry."

Indeed, finding ways to craft community is on the minds of many nones. Some make connections in classes and retreats with like-minded searchers. Others volunteer at soup kitchens or advocate for social causes, activities that have a spiritual meaning for them.

"People are looking for a more individualized path, but they don't want to be lonely seekers," said Elizabeth Lesser, author of "The Seeker's Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure."

"They want to be in a community, in an oasis of spirituality. I'm sure that's how the original churches developed. They didn't start out as these huge organizations, but as a bunch of confused human beings trying to search together."

By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer
Eric Gorski can be reached at 303-820-1698 or egorski@denverpost.com

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Does God exist: PBS special explores the eternal question

When you ponder the existence of God, perhaps you imagine an old man with a flowing beard or George Burns shuffling along in tennis shoes.

Or maybe you see a vast sea or a giant sequoia. Or, just maybe, you see nothing at all, because to you God does not exist.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy, more Americans have been questioning their spirituality. Some of the most popular programs on television in recent years have addressed the subject of religion and God. President George Bush has made no secret of the fact that he believes he is doing God's work in the White House.

For more than 30 years, Harvard professor Dr. Armand Nicholi has tickled the notion of God's existence in his course using the writings of C.S. Lewis ("Narnia'') and Sigmund Freud.

Starting this week on PBS, Nicholi anchors a show that mixes stories from the lives of Lewis and Freud with discussions by people of various faiths - and non-faiths. ``The Question of God'' debuts at 10 p.m. Wednesday on Channel 9 and concludes Sept. 22.

"It may be that Freud and Lewis represent conflicting parts of ourselves,'' Nicholi says. "Part of us yearns for a relationship with the source of all joy, hope and happiness, as described by Lewis. And yet there is another part that raises its fist in defiance and says with Freud, 'I will not surrender.'

"Whatever part we choose to express will determine our purpose, our identity and our whole philosophy of life.'' Catherine Tatge, director of "The Question of God'' says the four-hour series presents a unique dialogue between Freud the atheist and Lewis the believer.

"Through it we come to understand two very different ideas of human existence,'' Tatge says. "And where each of us falls as believers and unbelievers.''

As children, both Freud and Lewis embraced the religions of their respective families. But after the early death of his beloved mother and the horrors of World War I, Lewis turned to atheism.

It wasn't until middle age that he began entertaining the notion that God might, indeed, exist.

Raised in the Jewish faith, Freud welcomed the teachings of Darwin as a young university student and decided he had no use for the idea of a divine creator. As he began developing his own theories of psychoanalysis, he decided that believing in God was a human fantasy.

Both Freud and Lewis, who was raised a Christian, went through periods in their lives in which their beliefs wavered. Freud questioned his beliefs after the death of his daughter. Lewis experienced a spiritual crisis in his 50s after finding romance, only to have his happiness dashed with the untimely death of his wife.

Nicholi says everyone asks the same questions at some point in their lives:

* Does my life have meaning or purpose?
* Is there an intelligence beyond our knowable universe?
* Do we get our morality from God or the human experience?
* How do we justify the existence of a loving God with evil and suffering in the world?
* Is death extinction, or is it the beginning of a new existence?

"In my course and in our series, we try to make a distinction between religion, whatever that means, and all of the organizations that represent religions,'' Nicholi says. "You know, there are lots of people that have very strong spiritual convictions that are not involved in any kind of organization.''

These spiritual issues occupy our thoughts. We question our very existence at odd times, whether while sitting in Bay Area traffic or waking up from an anxiety-ridden sleep at 3 in the morning.

* Does my life have meaning?
* What is happiness?
* What is love?

Freud says it's all sublimated sexual feelings. Lewis says it's much more complicated than that.

In the series, we hear these men voicing their separate feelings on various issues. For example, they argue back and forth about loving our neighbor, as it says to do in various religous texts.

"Freud says, 'That doesn't make sense. It's nonsense,' '' Nicholi says. "My neighbor is often out to do me harm. Why should I love him like I love my family? That's nonsense.' ''

Lewis would counter "You understand (the concept) by how you love yourself. How do you love yourself? You love yourself by always willing the best for yourself and acting accordingly whether you feel like it or not. And that's the key to all successful relationships.''

It could be that recent world events have caused more of us to question whether God exists. Or it could be that we've always been curious, and it's just now that television has begun to explore the issue.

More than a decade ago, actress Roseanne Barr said in an interview that she intended to break the last taboo in television: talking about religion. It was the one thing television tended to ignore, even though it was the one thing most worth discussing.

That taboo has been slowly breaking down, with one of the last bastions being in the TV newsrooms. In a July interview, ABC anchor Peter Jennings talked about how difficult it was to get the first spiritual program, "The Search for Jesus,'' on the air in 1999.

"To be absolutely crass about it, after (the first program) did as well as it did, it was a good deal easier to get the second program on the air,'' Jennings says. "Ultimately, when we got the first Jesus on and then 'Jesus and Paul,' people saw that there was a hunger for it in the country.''

Michael Sullivan, executive producer of "A Question of God,'' says he has noticed a growing appetite for intelligent and provocative programming about religion and spirituality.

Programs such as "Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero'' and this season's episode of "Frontline,'' about the implications of President Bush's faith on national policy, have drawn strong audience numbers.

In "A Question of God,'' audiences can listen to debates both from Lewis and Freud and hear from a panel of people representing a variety of religions, about believing in a higher being.

Or not.

It's all about starting the discussion about God.

So why did Nicholi chose two such seemingly disparate people as Lewis and Freud to have this discourse?

When Nicholi was a medical student he says he came across real suffering for the first time.

"You see children dying of fatal diseases and I was so bothered by that I couldn't process it,'' Nicholi says. "I had great difficulty. How could anyone in heaven or on earth allow this to happen?''

He then read Lewis' "The Problem of Pain,'' which attempts to answer the question that if God is good and omnipotent, then why does pain and evil exist in the world. After reading Lewis and Freud, Nicholi says he was astounded by the parallelism between the two.

Freud raises an argument. Lewis attempts to answer it.

The reason for this, Nicholi says, is that when Lewis began his teaching career, Freud was a towering figure. ``Lewis was very influenced by Freud's writings,'' Nicholi says. ``Lewis was an atheist for the first half of his life, and he used Freud's arguments to defend his atheism.''

But after Lewis had his transforming experience where he began embracing a spiritual world view, he then began countering Freud's arguments in his own writings.

"The common ground (between believers and non-believers) is that they all share wanting to understand what the purpose and meaning of their life is,'' Nicholi says. ``Even the secularists are interested in whether or not there is something beyond this life. They come to different conclusions, but the basic questions are shared by both.''

By Susan Young - STAFF WRITER
You can reach Susan Young by calling (925) 416-4820, e-mail at syoung@angnewspapers.com, or fax at (925) 416-4874.

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Most Protestant ministers lack understanding of other faiths

Protestant ministers in the United States often have some familiarity with the core beliefs of Islam but little familiarity with faiths such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Scientology or Wicca, a recent study revealed.

Protestant clergy tend to be most familiar with Roman Catholicism and Judaism among non-Protestant faith groups, the study found.

Ellison Research, a marketing research firm in Phoenix, conducted the poll for LifeWay Christian Resources’ Facts & Trends magazine. Ellison reported large numbers of Protestant clergy have little familiarity with the core beliefs of numerous non-Protestant religious groups.

Protestant ministers were asked to rate how familiar they are with the core beliefs of 13 religious groups, using a scale of 1 for not at all familiar to 5 for extremely familiar. Not one of the 13 groups has a majority of Protestant ministers claiming to be extremely familiar with its core beliefs, Ellison found.

The groups most likely to be extremely familiar to Protestant ministers are Roman Catholicism at 41 percent, Judaism at 33 percent, Mormonism at 21 percent and Jehovah's Witnesses at 21 percent.

If the top two levels of familiarity on the survey scale—ratings of 5 and 4—are grouped together, 85 percent of all Protestant clergy claim to be relatively familiar with the core beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church, and 80 percent are familiar with the core doctrines of Judaism.

This decreases to 61 percent for Mormonism and 60 percent for Jehovah's Witnesses, Ellison said. These still are the only four faith groups with which a majority of Protestant ministers are relatively familiar.

Forty-seven percent are familiar with the core beliefs of Islam, 43 percent with New Age beliefs, 31 percent with Satanism, 28 percent with Buddhism, 27 percent with Hinduism, 15 percent with Scientology, 13 percent with Wicca, 13 percent with Baha'i and just 5 percent with Sikhism.

On the other end of the scale, if the two lowest responses—1 and 2—are combined, large numbers of Protestant clergy have little or no familiarity with the beliefs of Buddhism at 33 percent, Hinduism at 35 percent, Satanism at 45 percent, Scientology at 54 percent, Baha'i at 66 percent, Wicca at 67 percent or Sikhism at 85 percent.

Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, expressed surprise at the findings about Pentecostal and charismatic clergy.

“Evangelism and conversion are very strong influences in Pentecostal theology and practice, and Pentecostal clergy tend to have particularly strong beliefs that Christianity is the only path to salvation,” Sellers said.

“Trying to reach people who hold other beliefs is more likely if you understand what those beliefs are. Yet the study demonstrated that Pentecostal and charismatic clergy are often below average in their familiarity with the beliefs of non-Protestant faith groups. Given the importance these pastors often place on evangelism, one might expect just the opposite, so this is a surprise.”

More complete data from these questions, including denominational detail, is available at www.ellisonresearch.com/PastorStudy.htm

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Sunday, September 05, 2004

Teaching physicians to treat body and soul

An American movement to encourage physicians to integrate the spiritual or world view of their patients into treatment has grown rapidly over the past few years and now has its first home in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan department of psychiatry.

The George Washington University Institute for Spiritual Care was begun in 2001 by Dr. Christina Pulchaski based on the concept that "spirituality is a key dimension for achieving optimal health and coping with illness."

It was launched with a $2.4 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to develop training programs in spirituality for medical students, interns and residents.

So far, 122 U.S. medical schools have developed programs.

Pulchaski believes that health care practitioners have an "ethical obligation to treat the whole person and to respond to all their needs." They need to be willing to address the spiritual needs she defines as more than just religion. It includes formal religion but also encompasses the "moral standards or world view of the patient." Health care practitioners must provide "a patient centred environment where all issues can be raised including spirituality."

Physicians, when taking a history, should take a spiritual history based on the concepts embodied in the acronym FICA — Faith, Importance, Community and Address in Care.

Under ``faith,'' the doctor should ask if patients are spiritual or religious and if they have spiritual beliefs that help them to cope. If they answer no, they should be asked what gives their life meaning. Doctors sometimes get answers such as family, career or nature.

Secular patients and atheists also have "world views" and those must also be taken into consideration. The final question relates to how patients would like their health care provider to address these issues in their care.

While these programs are being introduced into more and more medical schools, it has not been without some resistance. This is usually caused by the misperception that the program is designed to promote one religion or to proselytize. Once it is made clear that this is not the case, the opposition melts away.

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Friday, September 03, 2004

Seventeen magazine, the girls' fashion bible, gets religion

Faiza worships five times a day, while Rhianna is as likely to believe in God as in the Easter Bunny. Kristin prays too, but to the God and the Goddess.

This teenage religion debate can be found on the pages of a magazine better known for explaining how to match lipstick to blush - not exploring the concept of a higher power.

But under editor-in-chief Atoosa Rubenstein, the venerable girls' publication Seventeen has added a faith section that includes inspirational messages, personal stories of spiritual struggle and testimonials on issues ranging from prayer to gay teens who attend church.

The content is serious. Verses from the New Testament are printed beside sayings from the Prophet Muhammad. The teachings of Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama are also featured.

Rubenstein said she started the section not to spread a religious message, but to provide a forum on an issue she believes is important to this generation of girls.

"I feel, and had sensed that my readers felt, that there was an entire magazine that wasn't speaking to a part of them," Rubenstein said. "I just noticed more and more our readers were talking about their faith."

Experts on religion and youth trends agree. They theorize that teens are rebelling against the broad, undefined spirituality of their baby-boomer parents, and are seeking out environments - like those in church - with clearer rules that help them cope with day-to-day problems.

In a recent study by Teenage Research Unlimited, a market research firm in Northbrook, Ill., 58 percent of teens ranked faith as among the most important parts of their life, said Michael Wood, the company's vice president. Still, he knew of no other teen fashion magazine with a religion section.

Rubenstein, who was the founding editor of CosmoGirl!, said she first proposed a faith section several years ago when she was just starting out in magazine publishing. The response from the other editors, she said, was that a fashion magazine was no place for God.

A year ago, she took over at Seventeen with a mandate to revamp the publication and she revived the religion idea. For guidance, she formed an interfaith advisory board that includes an evangelical Christian preacher, a priest from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, a Reform Jewish rabbi, a Buddhist teacher, an Episcopal youth minister and two Muslims.

A companion Web site, seventeen.com/reallife/bigquestion, lets teens post comments on whether they pray. More than 1,800 people have responded so far.

Wood said the broad approach fits with the direction of Seventeen. While other teen fashion magazines have a niche, Seventeen wants to appeal to all girls, he said. The August edition had articles on the presidential election, health and facing hardships, along with fashion advice.

"It's not necessarily taking a strong position but raising lots of questions that girls are probably wrestling with themselves and sharing different points of view," Wood said. "I think it plays well into this whole theme of diversity."

Laurie Whaley, of the division of Thomas Nelson publishers that created Revolve, a top-selling Bible for girls that looks like a fashion magazine, said she was impressed that Seventeen was addressing religion in any form. She predicted it would attract readers.

"The teen culture today, they're very, very much about faith," Whaley said. "I think it's appropriate to have a faith section regardless of what your periodical is about."

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Thursday, September 02, 2004

Apathy voted ‘eighth deadly sin’ in British poll

Apathy should become the eighth deadly sin of the modern age, taking its place alongside the traditional vices of greed, gluttony, envy, sloth, pride, lust and wrath, a British poll said on Wednesday.

Apathy, defined as a lack of interest or emotion towards people and events, topped a survey of BBC radio listeners, comfortably beating selfishness, hypocrisy and close cousin indifference.

“I thought apathy would score highly right from the start. Incidentally, there’s something paradoxical about all these people getting steamed up about apathy,” noted Joan Bakewell, presenter of the BBC show whose listeners compiled the chart.

“I think we’re secretly guilty of it ourselves. Who hasn’t said: ‘Oh, who cares?’ at some time?” she said. Religion itself narrowly missed out on a top 10 places, while less traditional sins also included ‘celebrity-ism’, the obsession with fame and the famous, poor diction, dropping litter and “grumpy old git-ism”. afp