Inter-faith religion

I learned from a newspaper article [1], that there is something called “Interfaith Families Project of Greater Washington.” It is co-headed by, as one can easily surmise form the name of the outfit, by a Christian preacher and a Jewish rabbi. I extrapolate this to assume that such projects exist elsewhere in the US and perhaps in other countries too.

By the time I had read the name of the project, which comes towards the end of the piece, I understood in clear terms what the project intends to deliver. Though there is a possibility that the children raised in a “’bilingual’” religious environment – ostensibly obtained in evolved inter-faith communities – could end up choosing secular humanism as their way of life, the undercurrent is that they will end up embracing Jewish region. The Jewish religion will be successful in subverting the inter-faith delivery mechanism to its own end. I will let the two leaders speak for themselves as to the why of the idea behind the conception of this unit:

Rev. Julia Jarvis says, “I think actually we’ve made Judaism very attractive, because we’re not trying to force these kids to stay Jewish — because it’s a choice.” Rabbi White agrees, adding that these interfaith communities “might even increase the numbers of Jews.”

The article starts out mentioning the concerns of the Jewish religious establishment that inter-religious marriage will “ultimately contribute to the demise of Judaism,” as there may evolve a breed that will call itself, “Jews for Jesus”. Irony, a foundational one at that.

The article ends asserting that inter-faith upbringing has the potential to ultimately benefit Judaism – “Dual-faith parenting is working … even for Judaism.” These bookends set out the parameters of the analysis carried out in the piece. I am going to separate the bookends further apart to include a look at other potential bilinguals, in the religious sense.

One potential dipole converted to monopole is TamBrahm vaishnavites and smarthas. You may not consider this a genuine inter-faith marriage, but having been in Kanchipuram, I have experienced the differences between the two communities and never once felt any kinship. Here is where I will take a sentence, possibly loosely constructed, from the NYT piece.

“Perhaps (my emphasis), having been given a love for Judaism and basic Hebrew literacy in childhood, they will (my emphasis) choose at some point in their lives to practice Judaism exclusively.” What is so loose in the above? “Perhaps” and “will” together. The author lets reality slip into her avowed neutral position. The children have not been given much and/or effective Christian literacy in their childhood. And, this should surprise you because the children are Jewish through their maternal grandfather only and pseudo-genetically speaking, only one fourth Jewish!

Now, back to the TamBrahm. Will the children be smarthas or vaishnavites? Mind you, if I had any say in the matter they will be secular humanists and nothing else. But, I am afraid, that will not be the way things generally unfold. Can the children born of inert-faith union be inter-faith religious? Does that question have any meaning beyond being irreligious? I cannot see any such unctuous long-term philosophy catching hold.

We can construct similar scenarios between any pair of religions and you will end up with an equally unrealistic, indeed futile conception of inter-faith religion! Passover has a distinct connotation for Jews and Good Friday, an entirely different one for Christians. What would it mean by celebrating Passover and Good Friday? Are you celebrating the victory of Jews or the founding of the alternate religion? It is almost like Peter v. Paul. Likewise, between Muslims and Christians (of any sect, on each side).

Take a slightly different tack. The way Deepavali is celebrated in North India (perhaps in the eastern and western regions of the country) and in South India, particularly Tamil Nadu.

In the north, the occasion is the coronation of Lord Ram and in Tamil Nadu it is the defeat of Narakasura, at the hands of Lord Krishna. In the north the function starts in the evening and in Tamil Nadu, it is early morning. In Gujarat, the day marks the start of the business calendar. Try to understand the confusions that would arise in the minds of an inter-faith child. True, one can gloss over the differences by saying, celebrate every which way, or to use the language of development, practice “holistic celebrations!” Well, the other option is, “Have fun, and worry not why you are having fun!” This, as I see it, is one version of secular humanism!

Inter-faith religion can only be a halfway house, a most uncomfortable one at that. When the child reaches into adulthood, it has to perforce choose one of two religions, of the mother or the father. But, the matter endures. This will subsequently give rise to similar options (climbing up the ladder of uncomfortableness) for the children of the people who “escaped” from the inter-religion halfway house! On down the line.

The only way to stop this chain reaction is to remove the fuel rods from the core – say no to religious indoctrination. No inter-faith marriage and its consequences because there is no faith. That is the Gordian knot to be cut through instead of untangling.   

Raghuram Ekambaram

References

1.    Being ‘Partly Jewish’, Susan Katz Miller, The New York Times, October 31, 2013 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/opinion/being-partly-jewish.html?_r=0)