Religions of Wisconsin

This week, I have so far seen:

-Four Buddhist monks (bhikkhu) in kasaya standing around the jewelry counter in Sears, looking at diamond necklaces. I think, judging by the color of the robes, they were Tibetan. I don't know if that makes this any more or less unlikely, but I thought you'd like all the details I could offer.

-Two different bhikkhu, three days later, chatting in a McDonald's. McDonald's, in case you were wondering, is not known for offering vegetarian options, especially in the US, (though I do talk about their surprisingly helpful nutrition labeling here); granted this is not necessarily a requirement of all bhikkhu, but there was a certain juxtaposition in the image.

-A woman who, upon me holding the door of the aforementioned McDonald's open for her and the small child she was carrying, told her child to say "thank you" because that's what you say when somebody performs a mitzvah. (I'm all for teaching cultural literacy early, but if your kid can't say "hello" yet there's a good chance "mitzvah" is beyond them. I admire your dedication, though, Polite McDonald's Stranger.)

-A group of Mennonites at the zoo, which while not odd in and of itself, is somewhat odder considering that Owl and I have seen at least one group of Mennonties every time we've been to said zoo. Which is a lot of times. It is, in fact, more times than we have seen the zoo's tiger, who spends much of his time sleeping, with no concern for my burning desire to be best friends with it.

-A Hasidic boy and his father buying Sprite from a mall vending machine. The boy had a kippah with the Acme Road Runner embroidered on the back. I saw them later, sitting on the ground outside the mall waiting as a minivan driven by a woman in a tichel picked them up. 

Briefly, a disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert in anything at all, especially religion, and especially at least two of the three religions mentioned above. This is why I give you links. Sometimes the links are to Wikipedia. They may or may not have been written by experts. Sometime the links are to forums. Probably not experts, but they know more than me. Sometimes they are to actual academic discussions or legitimate articles. Those are probably by experts. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, even if you read it here!

Religious diversity is a wonderful thing. So is cultural literacy, which, when it pertains to religion, is a) super important and b) so often woefully lacking. As an example, in the area I grew up, it was entirely reasonable to, if you were the class's Token Jew like me, expect a) to be asked if Jews believe in God, b) to be told Jews don't believe in God, c) to be told Jews killed Jesus, d) to be told that I, personally, was responsible, as a Jew, for killing Jesis, e) to ask me if I "spoke Jewish" and f) to face outrage if I asked, in turn, if they "spoke Christian". Not to generalize, but most of the people asking me these questions were Christian, because most of the people I grew up around were Christian. Religious diversity: important, but hard. And I, myself, have some glaring blind spots when it comes to other religions, and sometimes even my own. Furthermore, as an atheist, or if you prefer, Secular Jew, I have found that it's not always enough to respect religion. If you don't practice it yourself, some people just won't recognize your opinions. And sometimes other atheists will scorn you for trying to be respectful. Sometimes, it turns out, people aren't very nice, and that comes out, more often than ever, when you challenge their core beliefs.

But religion, or lack thereof, is just another fascinating aspect of all of our collective and individual identities. We are these amazing, complex, deeply intuitive creatures, with a capacity for introspection and awe that should be cherished. The fact that we have developed so many vastly intricate and immensely captivating religions and denominations and sects is a thing of beauty. The assumption that not having a religion makes you devoid of a moral code, compromises your humanity, or makes you arrogant is absurd, but so too is the assumption that having a religion makes you complacent or unintelligent. Non-religion does not make you blind to beauty, and religion does not make you blind to reason. If we accept that, if we learn to see the humor in a kippah with the Road Runner on it without judging the wearer for being too pious, or not pious enough, or not pious in the right way, we will all be much better for it. 

P.S. Since this was a very link-heavy post, because I like letting others explain things for me, and because we rely on outside links a lot in this blog, I set up a poll, where you can tell me what you think about clicking on a dozen links when you read our pretty, pretty words. You can find it here------->*

*(may be slightly lower or higher on the page but I trust you to find it yourself from here. I believe in you!)