December, 2000 (Vol. 16, No. 2)

The conflict between Hindus and Christians over evangelism is present not only in India but also among the large Indian diaspora in the Caribbean, reports Hinduism Today (November/December, January/February, 2001 issues).

Much of the interreligious violence and clamp down on religious freedom in India has stemmed from the Hindu claim that Christians are destroying local culture by proselytizing Hindus, particularly the rural population. The same kind of dynamics are taking shape in Trinidad and Guyana. Evangelical churches are “sprouting up across” both countries, often inspired by the influence and support of American evangelists, such as Benny Hinn.

“The competition touches on the delicate balance between Trinidad’s East Indian and African communities, each comprising almost half of the population of 1.3 million.  East Indians were once overwhelmingly Hindu, [but] Christian churches have made steady headway in recent decades and now can claim perhaps one-third of East Indians.”

Recent census figures show that Hindus now account for only one-quarter of the Trinidadian population. In Guyana at the beginnng of the 20th century, about one percent of the population were Christian; today it is 15 percent. As in India, the evangelicals–particularly Pentecostals–are having the most success with the rural poor. There is a similar Hindu backlash against Christians. Sat Maharaj, head of the Hindu organization, Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha in Trinidad, says “I told our people to throw these people [evangelical missionaries] out of the villages.”

Another Hindu calls the conflict a  “religious war,” and notes that programs of “reconversion” are being started by Hindus to counter the Christian expansion in their community.

(Hinduism Today, 107 Kaholalele Rd., Kapaa, HI 96746-9309)

Southeast Asia — spanning from the Philippines to Indonesia and even Malaysia — is experiencing a Muslim revival that is challenging religious pluralism and long-standing secular laws and governments.

The Washington Post (Nov. 5) reports that “In a trend that is causing increasing worry about regional stability, Islamic fundamentalists are mounting aggressive campaigns for separate states and strict adherence to religious laws.” The Islamic growth is most advanced in Indonesia, where hard-line religious leaders are seeking to impose Islamic law, with some leading Muslims calling for a battle against Christians and moderate Islamic groups, such as Wahid.

In the Philippines, a low-grade Muslim separatist battle going on for decades is now mushrooming into all-o war, reports Rajiv Chandrasekaran. The trigger for the recent conflict took place when President Joseph Estrada ordered an offensive against the Muslim guerrillas, “who turned out to be better armed and more resolute than the government expected.”

In largely secular Malaysia, Islamists are pushing their agenda through the political process, “which they have done with remarkable success.”

TV programs with religious, often Bible-based,  themes are scoring high ratings, reports Charisma News Service (Nov. 13).

NBC began broadcasting “In the Beginning,” advertised as “From Creation to the Commandments” in November to garner big ratings for the November sweeps. The other major networks are using the same strategy. Next year, CBS will be airing “Adam & Eve” and NBC is developing a miniseries based on an account of  Mary Magdalene.

In December, the cable station A&E will show a four-hour documentary titled “Christianity: The Second Millennium,” which is a follow-up to its investigation of Christianity’s first 1,000 years, which drew more than 10 million viewers, according to a report first appearing in the Los Angeles Times.

Though some were not critically acclaimed, recent religious-themed programs have attracted large viewerships. “The Life of Jesus Christ” on CBS (21.6 million viewers) and “Noah’s Ark” (30.9 million viewers on average) on NBC got the highest ratings among  TV movies of the last two years. Steve White of NBC says that “Everyone watches these stories.

Maybe not all the people in every demographic but definitely some in each. That’s the definition of broad appeal or broadcasting” — a factor that draws advertising dollars. Garth Ancier, NBC’s president of entertainment, said the ratings may reflect a need for continuing validation of Judeo-Christian beliefs. Like medical or legal dramas, he says, the programming presents heroes with a strong moral beliefs.

(Charisma News Service, charisma@strang.com)

Urban Christian ministries are stressing intercessory prayer meetings while using the creative arts to reach out to city-dwellers, reports the evangelical digest Current Thoughts & Trends (November).

Even before new ministries are being launched, churches involved in urban outreach are holding regular prayer meetings on behalf of problems in their neighborhoods. Brian Bakke of the Uptown Baptist Church in Chicago writes that another characteristic of effective urban ministries is endurance. These ministries have to be willing to “negotiate time, but not the vision,” sometimes waiting years before change and success is detected.

Urban ministries hoping to make an impact upon their neighborhoods are using art to communicate the Christian message without being offensive, Bakke writes. This approach sees the importance of “nuance, subtleties, and excellence in presentation.” But Bakke adds that “Yet so many pastors, in an effort to present the gospel through artistic performance, compromise on quality and thereby insult their audience.” He writes that these trends are in evidence in the Christian Community Development Association, a national umbrella organization for urban ministries.

(Current Thoughts & Trends, P.O. Box 35004, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3504)

Orthodox Judaism is facing new movements of dissent on the issue of homosexuality, according to the Jewish Week (Nov. 3).

There is a new openness on the part of Orthodox Jewish gays and lesbians as they find e-mail discussion groups and new support groups catering to their needs forming in the U.S. and Israel, as well as finding a measure of acceptance by some rabbis in their community. While these rabbis still see homosexual practice as sin, they are “more accepting of the sinner than they may have been in the past,” writes Debra Nussbaum Cohen.

Some of these computer discussion groups serve as dialogues between gay and straight Orthodox participants. The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a modern Orthodox (as opposed to ultra-Orthodox) group has hired a teacher publicly identifying himself as a gay man and Orthodox rabbi.

He is putting forward re-readings of the Torah text which permit homosexual partnerships (though not supporting anal sex, as in accordance with Jewish law) and marriage-like ceremonies. Nussbaum Cohen adds that “Perhaps most stunningly of all,” a Yeshiva College student running for student council last spring declared himself publicly as gay during a speech at the school, an undergraduate school for men at Yeshivah University, leading to turmoil at the institution.

The emergence of Democratic Party vice presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew and strong promoter of gay rights, has also encouraged Orthodox gays and lesbians. But Cohen notes that the new openness has generated reactions and new opposition. An organization known as JONAH: Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality was founded last year, teaching that gays and lesbians can become heterosexual through reparative therapy.

(Jewish Week, 1501 Broadway, Ste. 505, New York, NY 10036, http://www.thejewishweek.com)

Judaism appears to be attracting a growing number of gentile converts who are drawn to the faith for its teachings and practices rather than because of intermarriages.

There has been a longtime debate in Jewish circles about whether synagogues should seek converts (apart from seeking the conversion of partners of interfaith marriages), but it seems that the issue has become a reality as Jewish education programs are drawing many Christians interested in Judaism. Moment magazine (December) reports that when the Reform Jewish education program Taste of Judaism started in 1996, it was intended to bring  disaffiliated and Jews back into the fold. Today, half of all the students in the program nationwide (which has spread to 470 synagogues) are non-Jews. In areas of the country with smaller Jewish populations, “that figure rises to 80 even 90 percent,” writes Sue Fishkoff.

Figures from the Reform movement show that 13 percent of these non-Jews make a full conversion to Judaism. The rate of conversion is high enough that the Reform movement has had to create an Outreach Fellowship Program to train lay leaders to work with the influx of converts “swamping Reform rabbis.” While there is no typical convert, most cite a theological attraction, mentioning disagreements in their former faith. Former Catholics tend to mention the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus as tenets they can no longer believe, while those from a conservative Protestant background more likely find themselves drawn to the Old Testament rather than the New Testament and believe they are finding the “original” scriptures.

(Moment, 4710 41st St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20016)

In the face of perceived and real declines in the importance of denominations among American churchgoers, church bodies and congregations are attempting to reassert their identities, whether through public relations campaigns or reviving older traditions.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Nov. 4) reports that  two of the nation’s largest Protestant denominations, the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are engaging in multi-million dollar media campaigns to raise denominational awareness — both among their own members and among the general public. The Lutherans’ Project Identity began after a 1996 poll showed that only three percent of Americans could say anything about Lutheranism other than it was a religion.

The move toward stressing denominational identity is seen as a backlash to the megachurch, seeker service trend, where denominations and doctrine are de-emphasized in order to attract unchurched Americans who were unschooled on these fine points. Some congregations now find that many — in some cases a majority — had not grown up in their denominations. Some congregations throw out generic texts and hymns, while others start denominational training. Religious publishers are also feeling the “back to the roots” mood.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is developing its first Presbyterian-specific Sunday school curriculum in 30 years. At some seminaries, denominational training classes are starting up, with students being required to take required courses in the denomination of their choice.

Even if Muslims are gaining more recognition in American society, they are underrepresented when it comes to books about their faith.

Publisher’s Weekly (Nov. 13) reports that the bookstore shelves do not fully reflect U.S. religious diversity when it comes to Islam, but “signs of change are evident.” Most Muslim books continue to be published by the Chicago-based Kazi Publications, which is expanding into publishing religious education works for second and third generation Muslims. As with other religious minorities, American Muslims are also interested in their roots, which is fueling Kazi’s 100-volume series of Great Books of the Islamic World.

Most of the secular trade publishers have issued books on the Islamic world, but they are usually targeted to interested outsiders rather than to a Muslim readership. One unique title coming out in December by Continuum is the memoir “American Muslim: The New Generation,” by third-year NYU law student Asma Gull Hasan.

For the most part, Sufism, the mystical wing of Islam, continues to occupy most publishers’ attention. Since the early 1990s, the work of the Sufi poet Rumi has drawn an ever larger audience, catching some publishers who thought it was a fad by surprise. Other Sufi teachers, philosophers and poets are “coming through the door opened by Rumi,” writes Marcia Z. Nelson.

It is not unusual for politicians and the media to speak of discrimination and intolerance toward Muslims, but there is little evidence of such prejudice, writes Daniel Pipes in Commentary magazine (November).

Using figures and information provided by Muslim organizations, Pipes writes that in education and the professions Muslims are near the top among ethnic and religious groups. A very high 52 percent have graduate degrees and their income appears to be higher than the national average (their median household income is reported to be $69,000. Pipes adds that Muslims are finding increasing recognition by the government, such as in displaying Muslim symbols along with Christian and Jewish symbols. The U.S. military accommodates Muslim holy days and practices, such as serving meals that do not violate Islamic laws.

The media has often been targeted by some Islamic leaders where Muslims are portrayed negatively. Yet Pipes finds that the “religion itself is portrayed only in positive terms . . . Ramadan inspires a blitz of coverage, with, for example, the Los Angeles Times running no fewer than seven major stories during the holiday season last year and virtually every other Los Angeles outlet following suit.”

Pipes adds that “Sympathetic news reports show Muslims as good neighbors, as classic exemplars of the American dream…” In looking at court cases involving Muslims on such issues as practicing their faith at work and school, wearing particular clothes (such as a veil) and observing holidays, the Muslims “invariably wins” accommodations in most instances.

As legal precedents have been established in these areas of concern, more corporations are changing their policies, such as allowing women to wear the hijab, or head scarf. Pipes finds that surveys show most Muslims agreeing that they have suffered little discrimination; for instance a survey by the American Muslim Council found 66 percent agreeing with the statement that “U.S. society currently shows a respect toward the Muslim faith.”

Pipes attributes the lack of major prejudice to the American willingness to accept other civilizations, as well as the “growth of the regulatory arm of government and especially its readiness to dictate workplace rules.”

(Commentary, 165 E. 56th St., New York, NY 10022)

Do the voting patterns from the U.S. presidential elections show a religious divide or new common ground in America?

Just as the final election results remained uncertain long after November 7th, the impact of the “religious factor” in voting is still under debate. This much is clear: White Protestants, who comprise 54 percent of the electorate, supported George W. Bush with 55 percent of their vote (43 percent for Al Gore).

As expected, evangelicals and fundamentalists went predominantly for Bush;. On the whole, Bush supporters go to church (on a weekly basis) more often than Gore voters (56-41 percent), reports ReligionToday news service (Nov. 10).

Citing exit poll data from the Voter News Service, it was found that Catholics chose Gore, by a narrow margin (50-46 percent). This reflects a gain for the GOP among a group that has traditionally voted Democratic. This may be due to the Bush Campaign’s concerted effort to target the “roughly 25 percent of Catholics who attend Mass regularly, [trying to] build a coalition of conservative churchgoing Protestants and Catholics.” [See July-August RW for more on this.]

The five percent of Americans who practice a religion other than Christianity or Judaism supported Gore — 54 percent to 33 percent for Bush. But that is not the case  for Muslims, who may be on the way to creating an Islamic voting bloc, according to the Washington Post (Nov. 27).

In a post-election survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (of 1,774 respondents), 72 percent reported voting for Bush. Of those, 85 percent said their decision was influenced by the endorsement of the Muslim group. The results are significant because this was the first time Muslim advocacy groups endorsed a U.S. presidential candidate, throwing their support behind Bush.

Many analysts used a colored map of a county-by county breakdown of the U.S. to demonstrate how divided the nation was between Republicans and Democrats. The map showed Gore’s votes were  predominantly on both coasts and in other big cities, with much of the West, Midwest and South solidly for Bush. The conservative Christian newsweekly World  (Nov. 25) cites one commentator as saying that the election proved “Democrats as a home for women, minorities, gays, immigrants and city dwellers; Republicans as the favorite for men, religious and rural Americans, gun owners and moralists.”

Writer Gene Edward Veith concludes that “In the end, the election came down to the conflict between cultural conservatives and cultural liberals. And the nation, with the government it elected, is cracked right down the middle.”

Commentator Andrew Sullivan looks at the same map and sees more commonalties than clashing differences. In the New York Times Magazine (Nov. 26), Sullivan writes that viewing the maps of votes by counties shows enclaves of Bush supporters and Gore supporters coexisting throughout the country. “In Bush’s highest margin of victory in any state, in Wyoming, Al Gore still got well over a quarter of the vote. In Gore’s biggest statewide blowout, Rhode Island, Bush still won about a third of the vote.”

Sullivan adds that the distinctions between the candidates were minor with both focusing on similar concerns: paying the national debt, offering tax cuts, and internationalism in foreign policy. “Fundamentalist Christians, blacks and Jews vote as blocks, but they are the exceptions. A third of Latinos voted for Bush; Catholics and Asian-Americans were roughly split. A full quarter of even the gay vote went to Bush — even more to the Republican Congressional candidates.”

(World, P.O. Box 20002, Asheville, NC 28802-8202)