Religion again (Was: Acronyms, Christianty, etc.)

[gwendolyngrace]

No: HPFGUIDX 34264

Hey, folks.

Gee, go away for the weekend and what happens? One of my favourite
topics comes up: Religion in HP!

JudySerenity said in response to Tabouli:
> I don't know to what extent belief in personal choice, etc. is
> Protestant. (Didn't a lot of Protestants believe in predestination, as
> opposed to free will?)

And Eileen (I think?) commented on the gulf between the Catholicism of
the Middle Ages and post-Reformation branches of Protestantism (and
incidentally modern Catholicism vs. modern Protestantism as well).

I'm going to vastly oversimplify and say that in short, it's nearly
impossible to lump all the branches of modern Christianity into one
basket. I do think, given the post-Reformation date of the
International Wizarding Code of Secrecy, that the "official" religious
perspective of Hogwarts was probably assumed to be Anglican, the state
religion. However, given that the 1600's were also the period of the
English Civil War, it's unclear whether Hogwarts ever went through a
time when only one religion was represented.

There have probably always been a mix of faiths and dogmas among the
wizards in Britain or elsewhere, but historically speaking, the
religion that is in "power," that is, the religion of those
individuals wielding power, tends to be the one to which institutions
pay lip service. It's not fair, it's not equitable, but that's the way
it is. Over time, I believe, the need to appear compliant with the
official religion of the state and the need to provide people's
children with rudimentary religious instruction became less important
than other aspects of their mission/curriculum. This is true for many
Muggle boarding schools; why do so many people seem to have trouble
accepting such a development among wizarding cultures?

At Beauxbatons, the story may be different (higher proportion of
practicing Catholics). Similarly it will be more diverse for
Durmstrang, which seems to capture all of Eastern Europe. And it's
probably much different in American schools of wizardry, where
separation of church and state has always been more important (and
even then, private schools retain the right to incorporate as much or
as little religious instruction as they wish). But in Britain, the
religion of the state was Church of England; therefore, its vacation
structure presumes a CofE mindset.


Judy went on:
> There's a lot of pressure to conform to the dominant culture, and
> obviously some people give in.  But, I stand by my statement that *my*
> religious beliefs prohibit celebrating Christmas. I also want to point
> out that Judaism is often defined by descent. In other words, there
> are plenty of people who are Jews in the sense that their parents were
> Jews, but who are not religious.  The term "assimilated Jew" is
> sometimes used to refer to someone of Jewish descent who doesn't
> practice the religion.  Maybe your friend is in that category?

Two things here. First of all, I believe that your particular brand of
Judaism may be more orthodox than many. So whether you personally
believe it's against your faith to have anything to do with any aspect
of Christmas, that's actually immaterial. Please understand I don't
mean there's anything wrong with that--you have as much right to
conscientiously object to Christmas as the next Jew has to sing
"Silent Night." I do find it interesting, though, because one of the
only other places I've experienced such a rigid resistance to any form
of participation is, oddly, among Catholics, who sometimes do not
allow non-baptised or unconfirmed people to receive a blessing at
Communion (and in some cases, won't even allow baptised Christians who
are not official members of the parish to receive Communion). More on
that later, even though it's veering toward OT. Back to the central
question: how pious are we talking about here?

For the purposes of comparison, it would not be useful or fair to
compare a highly orthodox Jew with a "Christmas & Easter" Christian.
It's not so much "assimilated" as simply less pious. To my way of
thinking, the C&E Christian is much more comparable to the Jew who may
light candles at Hannukah, who may hold a Seder (or even both Seders)
at Passover, and who attends High Holy Services on Rosh Hashonnah and
Yom Kippur, but who observes very little else about the religion. This
is someone who does not go to temple on Shabbas, who does not wear a
yamike all the time (if male), and who may or may not even really
vigorously observe the dietary laws. Nor is it someone who is simply
genetically Jewish, but not religious at all. It's between. That's the
kind of "cultural" observance we're talking about.

And for what it's worth, most Conservative and Reformed rabbis, at
least around where I live, don't consider it a violation to celebrate
(in the sense of having fun as part of) another faith's holidays. How
else do you explain ecumenical services representing many Churches and
Synagogues? How else do you explain cross-religious services
(especially weddings) officiated by both a priest and a rabbi? If a
non-Christian accepts an invitation to a "Christmas Open House" from a
friend or coworker, congratulations, that person has "celebrated" the
holiday. They have not violated their own faith, they have not said or
done anything in contradiction to their own beliefs--that is, assuming
they behave ethically and have no moral dilemma by being in a house
with a Christmas tree on display--but they have joined in a jocular
festivity in commemoration of someone else's holiday. The only precept
I'm aware of that applies here is the first commandment. As long as
one does not bow down before the tree, so to speak, there is no harm
in acknowledging or respecting traditions that do not conflict
directly. (Out of curiosity, if a friend who is Christian dies, can
you go to her funeral? The reception, if not the service?--Don't
respond on the list.) I guess I'm thinking of a line from "A Majority
of One," fabulous play if you don't know it: "God's house is God's
house." What you do in it is up to you.

And since I have to bring this back to topic, I'll go on and answer
Bonnie by saying that I think some aspects of magical education may
touch on Kabbalah, such as Arithmancy. And furthermore, if any
ultra-Orthodox Jewish kids were ever informed that they are, in fact,
untrained wizards and witches, well, one can hope that as an
alternative to Hogwarts, they could be sent to the top-secret magical
Yeshiva. That way they can harness their abilities while in an
environment that will inundate them with the "right" kind of mysticism.


[Seriously OT, but related to all that preceeds it: In case you're
wondering, I'm the product of three religions in one household. My
father was Jewish, my mother converted to Judaism from being a lapsed
Presbyterian so that I could be raised Jewish, but that didn't really
work too well. (Hebrew School conflicted with something much more
important: ballet class. I'm serious.) A monotheistic, restrictive
mideset has never made sense to me. I subscribed to Paganism very
early despite everything else at play in the house, and that includes
my grandmother who came to live with us when I was 8, and who joined a
Lutheran church soon after that. I continue Pagan--not Wiccan, btw,
though I've no problem with it--but my mother is now the President of
the church council at the same Lutheran church her mother joined. My
father's observance waxes and wanes, generally when it's inconvenient
for others--not his beliefs, just his adherence to things like kosher
and stuff. He has never regularly attended temple for more than a few
weeks running. I married and subsequently divorced a 7th generation
Presbyterian Pastor's son--and oddly, Christianity wasn't the problem.
But I still go to family seders every year, I have been known to
struggle through and mostly remember services when I attend for Bar
Mitzvahs and the like, and thanks to my education at a Presbyterian
school and my work for church choirs, and as a church soloist, I can
get through almost any Christian service you throw at me. I may get
uncomfortable now and then, but I still respect that I'm the outsider
in those situations, and keep quiet.]

One last word from me on this topic and then I'll shut up. Isn't
Buddhism actually the religion with the largest number of followers
worldwide? And isn't that followed by Islam? So, may I ask exactly why
it's such a big deal that this Western-centric work of fiction assumes
the culturally expected religion--and does it as only a background for
the rest? If it were a Darcy-esque, religiously infused type of magic,
it could be significant. Or if the books were set in the Punjab, and
the assumed religious backdrop were Christian, then it would be
notable.  As it is? Of course. And...?

Gwen