Look Who’s Trying to Convert You Now

The doorbell brigade is expanding. 

The missionary army has gotten another cohort.  Not only are Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses likely to knock on your doors, Reform Jews are looking for converts, too.  They are inviting Christians to classes.  The approach is less intrusive, but the intent is the same.

For almost 2,000 years, Jews have resisted the in-your-face approach to religion, leaving the front door confrontation to Christians.  Jews used to proselytize, but that was before they grew paranoid about Christianity. 

Convinced that the world was about to end, and that only people who believed in Jesus would be welcomed into heaven, early Christians fanned out across the Roman Empire late in the first century.  They traveled from synagogue to synagogue with their message.  There were plenty of places to go.  Historians estimate that about 10 percent of the Roman Empire was Jewish or supported Jewish ideals.

Charlotte

Jewish leaders, however, were leery of this new message and, eventually, to reduce efforts to convert members, simply banned proselytizing.  By tradition, a rabbi had to deny a potential convert three times before beginning instruction. 

Television apparently changed that tradition.  In the show "Sex and the City," Charlotte (right) converted to Judaism.  That highlighted the growing effort in the more liberal Reform Movement to attract non-Jews to the ancient faith.

Rabbi Mackler

Rabbi Shana Mackler, who leads conversion classes at The Temple, Congregation Ohabai Sholom in Belle Meade, Tenn., said in a published story that 100 non-Jews annually attend a class in his temple to learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity.  Then, they are invited to join conversion classes.

An estimated 12 people a year convert, she said. That’s a small number, to be sure, but reflects a massive change from previous centuries when droves of Jews perennially left the persecuted faith while no outsider joined.  

The courses have been a revelation to participants.  For example, Jason Wesley attended a class in Tennessee only to find his father, a Methodist minister, was also enrolled.   

"Over the years, I tried to go back to church here and there. I'd get into theological debates, and that would be about it," Jason said. "I spent 30 years trying to invent Judaism, and it was here all along."

Not all Jews agree with the Reform approach.  The Orthodox sects reject active conversion efforts, preferring to focus on their own communities.

Rabbi Isaacs

"We wouldn't even offer the class to begin with," Rabbi Judah Isaacs said in the published story by Heidi Hall in the Tennessean newspaper. "Most Orthodox conversion takes place in private study with a rabbi."

In reality, the Orthodox portion of Judaism really has no need.  It’s the fastest growing portion of the religion as people follow the biblical dictates of “be fruitful and multiple.”  In addition, its ironclad tenets have provided a rigid set of rules to people who have become overwhelmed by the cascading changes in our technologically overrun world.

In fact, orthodox groups in all religions have shown growth in recent years as the battered residents of our freewheeling modern society seek shelter in strictures and scriptures.

On the other hand, Reform Judaism has been losing members.  An estimated 70 percent of Reform Jews intermarry.  Many of them do not raise their children as Jews.  Reform Jews also tend to be better educated, another tried and true birth control method.  Educated people on average have fewer children.

Reform Judaism opened the door to more women participants.

The situation was so dire a few years ago that Reform Jews actually voted to become more conservative in their approach to Judaism.  I can recall a rabbi giving a sermon on the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur, in which he said there’s no God, but we should pretend there is for several reasons he then explained.  That thesis probably would not pass muster these days.

Instead, you might check your mail or an invitation to learn some religious history.  Can well-dressed, clean-looking Jewish missionaries pushing your doorbell be far behind?

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.com.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

Religion Takes It on the Chin

Recently, the Huffington Post reported that hundreds of clubs for young atheists have opened up in schools around the country. “Some clubs exist in states that have large numbers of people who claim no religious affiliation, such as New York, Washington and California. Others are located in more religion-centered states,” including North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, the site reported.

The trend is reminiscent of the 1960s when the God is Dead movement appeared.  That was in response to the Vietnam War.  This loss of faith these days seems to be a reaction to the news radiating from the religious sector of society.

In addition to the on-going abuse of children covered up for years by the Roman Catholic Church and in other faiths, there are plenty of other shenanigans to raise questions about any beliefs:

For example:  A pastor in Winfield, Alabama used religious reasoning to explain why he created a conference called his “Annual Pastors Conference All White Christians Invited." The title didn't sit well with everyone.  "Business people are upset. The city is upset. The city of Winfield does not condone this," Mayor Wayne Silas said.

Pastor William Collier

Pastor William J. Collier’s explanation was that "we don't have the facilities to accommodate other people. We haven't got any invitations to black, Muslim events. Of course we are not invited to Jewish events and stuff."  Maybe that’s because his conference featured symbols of the Ku Klux Klan, Confederate flags and white supremacy slogans.

"We are not breaking any laws, we are not violating any ordinances, we are bringing the word of God to people who want it ... who are part of the chosen race," he told the news outlet. 

No question: religion, the exclusive society.  By the way, Collier is not saying anything new.  The Bible was an important buttress for slavery in the pre-Civil War days.

Michael; Salman

Then there’s a Phoenix man who wanted to hold Bible study classes in his home and didn’t care about zoning laws.  "Any time you are holding a gathering of people continuously, as he does – we have concerns about people being able to exit the facility properly in case there is a fire," Phoenix's chief assistant city prosecutor Vicki Hill told Fox News Radio. "It came down to zoning and proper permitting."

Michael Salman (left) naturally saw this as religious persecution.  “They're cracking down on religious activities and religious use," Salman told Fox News Radio. "They're attacking what I as a Christian do in the privacy of my home."

Abdus Salam

That's right: religion is above the law.

Then, in Pakistan, officials there have removed the name of Abdus Salam, Pakistan's only Nobel laureate, from textbooks.  Why?  His research into how fundamental forces govern the overall dynamics of the universe.  The recent discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle" is helping scientists understand the early evolution of the universe.

Unfortunately and inconveniently, his work also undermines Islamic teaching.  

So, Pakistani officials made a choice: the heck with facts.  Let’s make sure the kids remain dumb and faithful.

Where does lack of education lead to?  To Georgia – the country near Russia – which was forced to issue a statement that the country’s new electronic identity cards do not bear Satan’s mark. Residents thought ID cards were encrypted with the 666, “the mark of the beast” in the biblical book of Revelation.  The reality that the number 666 in that "holy" text actually refers to Emperor Nero, who died about 1,940 years ago, didn’t occur to the well-educated Orthodox believers.

To cap off this unholy run, the Roman Catholic Church reported losing 14.9 million euros, the fourth annual loss in the last five years.  Not to worry: donations were up.  Those pesky payments to people abused as children have cut into the bottom line, along with a downturn in the financial markets.

Fortunately, the Church, as all religions, can count on the faithful to chip in and make up the difference.  Everyone, that is, except for the growing number of young people joining atheist clubs.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.com.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

The Republicans Have Lost Their Way

Former Pennsylvania senator and failed GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum (left) has called for teaching creation-based theories in classrooms.

Great idea.  How else will American schoolchildren be dumb enough in the future to vote Republican?

By the way, that’s the same party that has pushed the No Child Left Behind educational policy that has guaranteed all children are left behind. The same party that continually tries to restrict voting.  The same party that is now so conservative that the few members in the middle need a telescope to see the bulk of their companions to their right.

What a sad comedown for Republicans, who, not that long ago, gave this country some of its most brilliant leaders.

The Republican Party was born in the 1850s from the remnants of the Whigs and other political groups that had become so fragmented that they no longer had a base.  Founders met in Illinois and had a single-issue platform: end slavery.

This was no fractured tea party or Ross Perot’s Reform Party.  The GOP had a real cause and a nationally recognized presidential nominee, famed explorer John Fremont.  He did not win in 1856, losing out to James Buchanan (right), who would go on to rival George W.  Bush as the worst president in American history.

The Democrat Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, had deteriorated to the level that sqabbling leaders were nominating nonentities like Buchanan to serve as their standard bearers.  They hadn’t had a significant leader since General Andrew Jackson 30 years earlier, a man of large appetites and strong beliefs who happily upset the political equilibrium.


In 1860, the Republicans chose as their presidential candidate a little-known former congressman who had never run for national office and had lost the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign.  However, Abraham Lincoln (left) was a gifted speaker whose homespun eloquence struck a chord with voters.  Lincoln also was totally opposed to slavery and had captivated listeners during his series of open-air debates with Stephan A. Douglas, the man who beat Lincoln in the Illinois senatorial election.

Lincoln barely won the 1960 presidential election over Douglas, but his victory precipitated the Civil War.  Southerners believed that the new president would ban slavery and destroy their style of life, and didn’t wait for his inauguration to secede.

After the war, Republicans were led by Ulysses S. Grant, the winning northern general.  His election was a foregone conclusion, like that of Dwight Eisenhower in 1952: successful generals resonate with the American public.  However, Grant was not particularly politically skilled and was overwhelmed by corruption in his administration.  The Republicans then resorted to stealing the election in 1876, giving the party ample training for a similar exercise in 2000 in the Bush-Gore election.  The Democrats had already copied the concept in the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy election.

Finally, in 1896, the Republicans hit on William McKinley, a genial Ohioan who seemed well equipped to lead. He made the U.S. a world power by annexing Hawaii and taking over the Philippines and Cuba following the Spanish-American War.

When he was assassinated, he was followed into office by Republican Theodore Roosevelt (right), one of the greatest American political leaders whose efforts including destroying business monopolies that were strangling the economy, establishing minimum wages, creating the Panama Canal and setting up national parks.  Also, laws regarding child labor and food cleanliness were signed under his watch.

Socialists had vainly advocated for them, but Republicans got them enacted.

In contrast, Democrats were saddled with William Jennings Bryan, who ran for president three times and was so rigid in his beliefs that he makes members of today’s religious right seem liberal.

The shift in party positions began slowly. As the dominant party, Republicans grew more conservative. They led the fight against the League of Nations, rejecting the need for global influence and helping guarantee a second world war.  They pushed for controls on immigration.  The first such law appeared in 1924 under Republican Calvin Coolidge.  Republican economic policies, dominated by a laissez faire attitude, helped plunge this country into a depression, a term coined by vilified Republican President Herbert Hoover.

Under Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, the country recovered and grew into a powerhouse that won World War II and then helped rebuild the shattered Axis nations.  Democrats were still dominated by racists, but that changed with the election of John Kennedy in 1960.  His policies, guided into law by his successor Lyndon Johnson, included the Voting Rights Act and guaranteed equal rights for women.

Pushed by the Civil Rights Movement, Democrats became the all-inclusive party of equal rights, a position it still holds.

In contrast, Republicans calcified.  Led by such stalwarts as Richard Nixon (left) and Ronald Reagan, they pushed for less control on business, leading to the financial excesses of the 1980s.  “Big” government was a target.  However, in the last 60 years, only Kennedy-Johnson, with their War on Poverty, increased the number of Federal employees more than Reagan did.  All other presidents, led by Democrat Bill Clinton, reduced the size of government.

Today, the Republicans are defined not by their willingness to lead, but by their determination to oppose virtually any policy that might have a positive effect, such as health care and economic reform.  The party of inclusion has become one of exclusion – denouncing individuals who might express any originality or even a willingness to compromise.

For example, look at former Speaker of the House and another failed presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s recent proposal that would allow long-time, self-supporting, illegal immigrants to become legal residents.  "I do not believe that the people of the United States are going to take people who have been here a quarter century, who have children and grandchildren, who are members of the community, who may have done something 25 years ago, separate them from their families, and expel them," Gingrich noted in a rare note of humanity.

Naturally, he was immediately attacked by his Republican presidential candidate counterparts.

Santorum’s insistence is representative of that kind of thinking.  It doesn’t matter than attempting to teach religious doctrine as “fact” was declared unconstitutional.  He doesn’t care what Americans think or what is logical, plausible or supported by research.  He wants his beliefs taught to schoolchildren.  

That’s the Republican way these days.  Instead of Lincoln, McKinley and Roosevelt, the party is headed by a former governor who took credit for a popular health car proposal in Massachusetts and now denounces it on the national stage.

How sad.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.com.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

Is Anything Really Evil?

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has weighed in on the religious discussions of late.  Scientology, he twitted, is “evil,” while the Mormon faith is “a mystery” but not “evil.”

Murdoch

That’s nice to know, but makes little sense.  How does Murdoch define evil?  How does anyone define such a nebulous term?

People have tried, of course, even assigning names like Satan or devil to an embodiment of evil.  Unfortunately, evil apparently falls into the Supreme Court’s view of pornography: undefined but recognizable.

Actually, pornography is easier to recognize.  Evil?  Pick anything and anyone.

Women?  Sure they are.  Just ask St. Jerome: "Woman is the root of all evil."

The Bible chimes in with:  “And a man will choose...any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman...Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die." (Ecclesiasticus, 25:18, 19 & 33. 1)

People like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Mao Tse Tung, all of whom were responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the 20^th century, would seem perfect images of evil, but don’t tell that to neo-Nazis, diehard Communists and many Chinese.  

Nixon

That unholy trio has plenty of company on the “evil” side of the ledger.  President Franklin Roosevelt was called evil.  Conservative commentator Glen Beck called him "one evil son of a bitch."  Former President Richard Nixon (right) was evil, too, as author Hunter S. Thompson wrote in Rolling Stone in 1994:  "Richard Nixon was an evil man -- evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency."

George Washington did not escape such abuse either. "If ever a nation was debauched by a man," newspaper editor Benjamin Franklin Bache wrote, "the American nation has been debauched by Washington.”

Few presidents have evaded similar attacks.  During a recent speech to a National Rifle Association conference in St. Louis, for example, conservative musician Ted Nugent called President Obama “vile” and evil.”  

Cheney

Why stop there? The late English Prime Minister Winston Churchill was called evil.  So was former Vice President Dick Cheney (left), among so many others, including Murdoch.  Political commentator Roger Simon wrote a 2011 column titled "The Evil of Rupert Murdoch." 

Religion does not escape unscathed, as Murdoch’s comment shows.  Noted atheist and scholar Richard Dawkins reportedly said, “I regard Islam as one of the great evils in the world.”  Call up “evil Islam “on Google, and 18 million sites will pop up (in .48 seconds.)

Jews, of course, are targeted, too.  Typing “Jews are evil” garnered 33.9 million sites. Famed composer Ikis Theodorakis called Jews "the root of evil."    Consider what the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote: "What shall we Christians do now with this depraved and damned people of the Jews? ... I will give my faithful advice: First, that one should set fire to their synagogues. . . . Then that one should also break down and destroy their houses. . . . That one should drive them out the country."

The Nazis obliged.

Erasmus

Not to be outdone, there are plenty of people that believe Christianity is evil, or Buddhism or Hinduism etc.  “Christians are evil” led to 22 million sites.  Eastern faiths apparently don’t evoke the same emotion: “Hindus are evil” elicited only 5.550 million responses; “Buddhists are evil” caused 2.510 million sites to appear.

How about the Earth?  “Nature, more of a stepmother than a mother in several ways, has sown a seed of evil in the hearts of mortals, especially in the more thoughtful men, which makes them dissatisfied with their own lot and envious of another,” Dutch humanist Erasmus wrote some 550 years ago.

Left-handed people?  Of course.  In the Middle Ages, the Devil was typically portrayed as left handed for that reason.    

Countries?  Sure.  Who can forget the “axis of evil,” in President George W. Bush’s words?  Bush (left)was referring to Iran, Iraq and North Korea.  Of course, there’s the Soviet Union, which President Ronald Reagan labeled “the evil empire.”

Companies?  Google has promoted the idea of “don’t be evil.”  Wal-Mart, on the other hand, has been labeled evil.  So have many major companies.  Procter & Gamble has been forced repeatedly to explain that its seemingly benign logo is not a symbol of evil.

Let’s not forget money.  "The love of money is the root of all evil,” according to 1Timothy 6:10.  Actually, there are lots of roots sprouting evil:  in lyricist’s Johnny Mercer’s words: “Congress is the the root of all evil" and so on. Don't forget "necessary evils."  In fact, you’d be hard pressed not to find anything that someone somewhere did not designate as evil.

Does that make anything truly evil?  Obvious not.  Evil is in the eye of the beholder, just like beauty.  That’s a problem, too.  As the prophet Isaiah said: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (5:20)

Boy, are we all in trouble.  Maybe it’s a foreshadowing of our future: “…But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come . . . Evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving (lying) and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:1, 13)

Either that or Murdoch’s comments reflect the usually calumny directed at anything that’s misunderstood.  Evil is an easy cop-out.  Point a finger and cite the devil. 

Which, when you think about it, is a pretty evil way to deal with anything.

Long-time religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious history.  He also speaks at various religious organizations throughout Florida.  You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.com.  He is the author of the famed Unauthorized Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel Writers Get Their Information; Noel: The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative Religion.  His books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.  He can also be followed on Twitter.

You can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1