  Spiritual
This week: The Gift of Religious Pluralism Edited by: SophyBells  
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Hi, I'm SophyBells ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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The Gift of Religious Pluralism
Rumi - “Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged.”
Opening question to ponder: How has your spiritual journey been enhanced by exploring a tradition outside of your own?
During May, many progressive congregations around the world observe “Pluralism Sunday,” which was inspired by Diana Eck’s “Pluralism Project” in 2006 at Harvard University. It echoes the 2nd point of the 8 Points of Progressive Christianity: “By calling ourselves progressive Christians we mean we are Christians who affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience the Sacredness and Oneness of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom in our spiritual journey.”
My faith community embraces this affirmation, drawing regularly from diverse sources of inspiration. We use biblical passages as part of our Sunday morning worship as well as sacred readings from the Quran, Upanishads, Buddha, Rumi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mary Oliver, Parker Palmer, Edward Abbey, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. We believe there is truth to be found in traditions that follow a path different than our own, and that the Sacred Mystery did not cease to be inspirational when the Judeo-Christian canon of Scripture was closed many centuries ago. We believe that spirit continues to speak and inspire, providing us with insight in many ways and forms.
Religious pluralism understands that far from being weakened by diverse spirituality, a faith community is made stronger by welcoming experiences from various traditions. Religious pluralism ultimately strengthens humanity. Diana Eck writes “Pluralism is not diversity alone, but the energetic engagement with diversity. Today, religious diversity is a given, but pluralism is not a given; it is an achievement. Mere diversity without real encounter and relationship will yield increasing tensions in our societies.”
The growing tendencies in our world toward tribalism and fragmentation beg for a movement of openness to help us understand and appreciate those who believe and pray differently than we do, and recognize them as members of the same human family. Religious pluralism celebrates the variety of religious and spiritual paths, and embraces the wisdom of other religions without feeling insecure about one's own identity. As we go about our sacred rituals, attempting to cultivate hope for the world in our own ways, it is likely that the very hope we seek can be found by exploring the ways of our brothers and sisters of other traditions.
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In response to the question I posed at the beginning, growing up I was taught by my church leaders that any little step that strayed off the straight and narrow path of Christianity risked making me vulnerable to the devil’s temptation. They told us if we dabbled in anything non-Christian we might be tempting fate, or the devil, to swoop in and lead us astray. So I was a little later than most to exploring spiritual practices outside of traditional Christianity. But when my sister began to practice a more pagan spiritual journey many years later, I was intrigued. I love that she refers to the Sacred as Goddess, or Mother Goddess, which in this day and age is particularly affirming for me. And I was interested in some of the spiritual rituals she participated in.
Several years ago I was in California to help clean out my mother's house a few months after she died. My visit happened to coincide with Samhain, which means “Summer’s End” - a festival of the dead observed as October turns to November. There are many earth-based connections and spiritual rituals related to Samhain, but that year we created an “ancestors alter” on Mom’s screen porch on the night of Samhain. It was a small table filled with photos of family who had passed on – our parents and grandparents and some we’d never met – our ancestors. It also held small votive candles. We invited my brother over, and we each took a turn lighting a candle and speaking their names out loud, thanking them for being part of our life and lineage. After each of us spoke we took time for quiet reflection – and then Betsy led us in a blessing. The ritual ended, but we stayed out there a few more hours, laughing and sharing stories, as well as expressing our grief for the loss of our parents. It was a sacred moment I am so glad all three of us experienced together. It brought us closer together during a time of loss, and was a blessing to my spiritual journey.
Please leave a comment if you'd like to share a response to my question - How has your spiritual journey been enhanced by exploring a tradition outside of your own? NOTE: These are the only types of responses I will share next month - if you choose to comment that your tradition is the only true religion, I will choose not share it.
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Below you'll find some offerings from other WDC members dealing with religious pluralism and/or a variety of spiritual practices and beliefs. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review. Please do NOT write reviews in disagreement with or disrespectful of their faith, regardless of how strongly you feel about your own path.
LOVE this In and Out:
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Here is a response to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (May 2, 2018)" "In Living Color:"
From Joy 
Sophy  , what you have inherited from your ancestors as little as I can see is great wisdom, which goes with your name.
Also, I don't think we have a right to judge people from the earlier centuries for what is acceptable in their time. I would, however, resist to look kindly upon slave holders who treated cruelly those wonderful people who performed the menial tasks so well. Some plantation owners were very good to people (mostly slaves) who worked for them.
Granted we may look upon making human beings into slaves negatively in our time, but how do we know everything or anything we do won't be considered taboo or inhuman? I can start with the minimal wage or the dirtying up the planet, but I don't think we have the time to go any deeper into this.
Excellent points, Joy, thank you!
     
From Legendary❤️Mask 
Hello Sophy, Great newsletter, I too have been dabbling into my ancestors and it is amazing what things you dig up. It's been awhile since I have done anything on it and should get back to it. Oh, I did find out about a half brother 🤔😊 I hope to meet him soon. He has now gained 3 sisters and 2 brothers. SHOCK!!!😱
How wonderful! Hope the meeting goes well.
From Quick-Quill 
When I did my family research there was no internet to speak of and no ancestry.com. Found my ancestor and his brother came from England to settle in Buffalo Grove, IL. My 5X grandfather helped plot Mr. Pulaski, IL. He was a doctor and when the population grew, he took his family and headed to Linn Co KS. I wrote a story about him finding land in KS. I read in a historical book. We can find a lot of great stories in family history. I wrote my novel from an incident I read from a memoir.
Wow that's awesome - thank you for sharing!
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming! Until next time! SophyBells |
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Spiritual: May 30, 2018 Issue [#8923]
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