Much has been said about the National Prayer Breakfast that
takes place in Washington, D.C. each May, critical that it is intended to
foster a “Christian nation,” which the United States decidedly is not.
For the past 16 years my own local interfaith group, Marin
Interfaith Council, has produced an Interfaith Prayer Breakfast. I’ve described some past breakfasts here: 2007,
2009,
2010,
and 2014. Generally speaking, these local breakfasts
have been diverse, tolerant, and minimally Abrahamic-centric
Featuring three religious leaders, each presenting on the
same theme, these annual events have taught me much, particularly in the way of
the nuances of particular denominations.
We’ve had several kinds of Buddhist speakers, many, many iterations of
Christian religious thought, representatives of at least three if not four
kinds of Judaism, a couple of Muslims, Bahai, Latter Day Saints, and, in 2011,
Gardnerian Witch Don
Frew was one of the three speakers.
With the exception of the year Don spoke, it wasn’t until
last year that I was ever able to be more than the sole Pagan presence. I humorously refer to myself as the “token
Pagan.” Last year we were three: Don
Frew, Kemetic Matt Whealton, and myself (a Witch at Large).
* * * * *
As near as I could tell, the theme for this year’s speakers to
address were oppression and suffering, prayer and meditation.
Zahra Billoo,[1]
J.D., Executive Director of the SF Bay Area
Council on American-Islamic Relations[2] who is also a civil rights attorney, spoke
first. She explained that prayer in
Islam in personal and ritualistic, and can be done alone or in a congregation.
She spoke of two kinds of prayer, one being petitionary the
other being an act of worship. She
stated that the sole purpose of Islam is to worship. Muslims pray five times each day. She also explained that prayer requires
cleanliness of clothes and person, which is why one can observe worshippers
washing before entering the mosque and beginning their prayer. God is the center, and all other things must
fit in.
* * * * *
Dr. Johnathan D.
Logan, Sr., Pastor of Cornerstone
Community Church of God in Christ (Pentecostal) in Sausalito, California,
advised us to “Look through the eyes of another” so that you can “fine-tune who
you are.” He said that “prayer is
essential” and that we should[3]
develop a “prayerful lifestyle”
He described the expression of prayer in his congregation as
involving tingling and dancing feet, and being accompanied by a Hammond organ. As a Pagan from two ecstatic traditions, I
can really get behind this form of spiritual expression. I like dancing and sweating our worship. This lack of decorum and reliance on a much
freer form of expression appeals to my heretic heart.
Dr. Logan also said that praying is two-way communication --
something happens and we get “God’s feedback.”
I can appreciate this perspective, except for the monotheistic
assumption. In my own experience,
sometimes I learn from Brigit, and others times I learn from Kali Ma. Or if not “learn,” at least sense their
presence and feel their blessings.
Using the acronym made from the name of the book of ACTS in
the New Testament, the speaker explained prayer thus: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and
Supplication (intercession).
He explained that prayers in Pentecostal Protestant practice
are used for (a) asking favor, (2) adoration, (3) recitation of sins, (4) asking
forgiveness, and (5) interceding on behalf of others. Prayer can bring one a sense of calm and a
sense of peace.
Again, speaking from my Pagan perspective, I don’t hold much
with the concept of sin and redemption when it comes to an other-than-human
agent. For me, forgiveness, redressing
wrongs committed against another, and restoration of healthy relationships are
the responsibilities of those who transgressed to those they offended. I hold forgiveness in high regard, although I
find that in reality it’s often a difficult state to achieve. I feel that forgiveness must be followed by
atonement, not in the Christian theological sense, but rather in the sense of reparation
for a wrong or injury.
He claimed that (his) God is immutable, in total contrast
with my view that “She changes everything She touches, and everything She
touches changes.”
* * * * *
Last to speak was Rabbi
Susan Leider, Senior Rabbi of Congregation
Kol Shofar (Conservative) in Tiburon, California, the host community for
this breakfast. She stated that prayer focuses
on joy and gratitude, not on suffering and persecution. A rather refreshing attitude, I must
say. She said that only personal prayers
are petitionary, and that community prayers are not.
The “Amidah,” The
Standing Prayer, is said aloud three times a day in Jewish tradition.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Shield of
Avraham.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Who causes
the dead to live.
Blessed are You, Adonai, The Holy
One.
Blessed are You, Adonai Who sets Shabbat apart.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Who causes
His presence to return to Zion.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Whose name
is good, Who is fit to praise.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Who
blesses His People Israel with peace.
* * * * *
I want to explain how this report on my interfaith activity
differs from past reports.
In interfaith environments, it’s common to encounter what I
will call Yahweh-centrism, which of course is an assumption of monotheism, a
single creator god. Welcoming prayers
and benedictions at the conclusion of interfaith events generally refer to “the
one” in some way. I remain silent and
respectful, but I have to say I don’t really relate to those blessings. I accept their sanguine intent. I try to overlook the monotheistic assumption
with which they are offered.
But I have to say it does get to me after a while. After one event a few years ago when this
attitude was especially prevalent, I asked one of my Zen colleagues how she, as
a non-deist, dealt with it. Being a
mellow Buddhist, she seemed able to just let those assumptions roll off her
back. She suggested I speak to the
executive director of the Council.
I just didn’t feel I wanted to pursue it, at least not at
that time, because I suspect that I, as a single, solitary Pagan member, with
no “community” (church, synagogue, congregation of some kind) behind me, would
more likely than not be viewed as a malcontent.
Which is not to say that my participation in many Council activities
hasn’t been both solicited and appreciated; it has. I do believe my MIC colleagues are generally
fond of me as a person. I believe that
are glad I’m involved and that they consider me a peer.
So instead I backed off a bit from my involvement. I withdrew from a committee on which I’d
served for a few years, the Justice Advocacy Team. I attended fewer events, and I only
contributed my time, energy, and expertise to those events if and when invited
to do so. I didn’t volunteer.
I nearly blew off this most recent Interfaith Prayer
Breakfast, mainly because I could see from the list of announced speakers that
the program was entirely Abrahamic. Then
it turned out only the week before the event that both of my other Pagan
friends who’d attended last year, Don and Matt, were planning to come again
this year. Well, after about 15 years of
being the only Pagan in the room, I found this likelihood encouraging. It fortified my resolve to remain
engaged. Three Pagans in the same
gathering where heretofore I’d been the sole presence!
However, at this point as a representative of Paganisms in
the interfaith arena I do feel the need to go beyond simply recounting what was
presented, and to express my disagreement with some of the presenters’
assumptions. In past reports I have
mentioned things where I feel a resonance, but not where I dissent. That makes this report different from
previous reports.
I don’t seek to dispute anything that’s said in sincerity by
practitioners of other religions. I
don’t seek to offer any kind of case that my worldview and practice are
superior to or “more right” than theirs.
What I do hope for, though, is some understanding on the part of my
Abrahamic colleagues that their assumption of monotheism excludes many of us
other religious folks.
[1] The same evening I saw the last minute of an
interview with Ms. Billoo on All In with
Chris Hayes.
[2] Some years ago I sat on an interfaith panel
at Napa Valley College with another colleague from CAIR.
[3] I have a lot of trouble with statements that
include the word “should.” They reflect
an attitude that religious professionals somehow have more authority over each
person’s choices than we individuals do.
I disagree. This is one reason I
dislike notions like a pastor (shepherd) and his flock.
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