by Denise Aitken
Modood and Calhoun (2015) state the scope of religious literacy must be understood,
‘in a context of wider social divisions and group power relations, especially racism, ethno-religious exclusions and inclusions, and the struggle for multicultural equality’.
Put this way, religion is as much about faith as divisions of power. People have an equal right to practise their faiths, but not use these practices to dominate others and establish hierarchies.
Modood and Calhoun (2015) express,
‘Christianity has slowly but progressively come to say that it is really about beliefs and good work, and you don’t need to dress in a particular way (or eat in a particular way, or that you can’t eat certain kinds of food) in order to be a Christian’.
Put this way, with the word progressively, Christian religion is about beliefs, not customs. Are the writers (ibid) suggesting Christians more ‘progressive’ than other belief systems because they don’t identify with or value customs that denote religious identity, instead somehow are more conceptual and esoteric as they don’t express their Christianity in the materiality of garb and diet?
Modood and Calhoun (2015) continue with,
‘for some, the practices and the identity they express can be more concrete than personal faith‘
This made me think, religious customs can be stronger than religious beliefs, taking a huge role in identification. At any rate, it makes me wonder, if a group of people believe in what their customs represent, these are their beliefs.
What a pleasant surprise to hear Reith (2015) explain,
‘abstract beliefs mean very little if you lack a direct relationship to traditions of practice, conventions of interpretation and communities of worship’.
Holliday (ND) was able to retain valuable practices of her developed spirituality post the bursting of her spiritual bubble. She split out the bad experiences from her Buddist community concerning the racism, sexism and inequality that she witnessed, from the practices and behaviours that she cultivated in her time there. Holliday’s described negative realities take place within so many settings – some people are more likely to experience the brunt of them than others. Holliday is fortunate that she began to recognise and repel these abuses and detach herself from this particular poisonous culture; yet, moving forward, she still retains the valuable practices of her developed spirituality.
Some students will experience similar attitudes and behaviours towards them that Holliday described. In our settings and practice, we must respect our students’
‘traditions of practice, conventions of interpretation and communities of worship’ (Reith, 2016),
to create and maintain an inclusive culture.
References
Holliday, M. (ND) I WAS A BUDDIST FOR SEVEN YEARS. In Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief. Pp 56-57. Available at: https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/journals/higher-power-religion-faith-spirituality-belief/ [accessed 19/05/23]
Modood, T. and Calhoun, C. (2015) Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education. In Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
Reith, K. (2016) Creed – Mistaken Identities. The Reith Lectures. BBC Radio4. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds [accessed 23/05/23]
I really took something from the Reith lecture on Creed by Appiah, something that helped me find parity with our creative community at UAL. This is particularly important as I have no religious background nor belief where I felt I could have real empathy/understanding with those of faith. As you mention there is much in the ritual, behaviour and community based acts of belief that unite a belief system and the people within it. I link the way we act as creatives in our craft and practice as the same kind of unifying ‘thing’ that brings us together. I also enjoyed Appiahs’ tone and rhetoric in the lecture… he is great at explaining in layman’s terms and clearly is well versed but he was also so human in conveying his findings and opinions such that he knew that he was not able to give all the answers to the big questions around faith.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds
Hi Ellen, I found Appiahs’ tone and expression easy on the ear and because of this, I was able to successfully engage with the audio. I tell myself that I always prefer to read a text rather than listen to it, but his delivery made me appreciate another medium of exchange. I really heard his message around how sharing a practice with others gives a group of people commonality, bringing them together. I think the recent of isolation of Covid and its impact on people’s angst has made this message even clearer. As a study skills tutor I continue to be surprised at how many of the students I support have histories and experiences of anxiety and depression. I always hope that their university experience brings positive interactions and skills that can strengthen how they feel about themselves and their environments.
I wrote about the same feeling of unease with the use of the word ‘progressively’. Sounds like a biased view on what Christianity, I took from the text that Christianity is more modern than other religions which I suppose again differs from person to person on how they enact their beliefs whether visible or not.
I agree with your last statement, we must indeed respect student, colleagues, peers… everyone. As we spoke about today in the seminar love and respect go a long long way. We need to accept the multi faceted aspects to religion as Appiah explained well. there are three dimensions to religion Practice, fellowship and belief. Once we start to grasp our multicultural and diverse surrounding it becomes very easy to love and respect one another.
Hi Peju, I agree that grasping the muliti-cultural and diverse people around us is important in order to facilitate respect. I believe estrangment from different cultures can be eased through people building a little knowledge of their surrounding cultures, lessening feelings of threat, lessening perspectives of ‘othering’. But we need to be conscious of what lens (western?) we use to construct this new knoweldge of people around us. Yet, Spivak (1990, p.4) (attributed to coining the concept of othering) in discussing how we think about things, unexplains we have to start somewhere, even if it’s a shaky start. We need to at least try to understand people around us.
References
Theory in the Margin: Coetzee’s Foe Reading Defoe’s “Crusoe/Roxana”
Author(s): Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Source: English in Africa , Oct., 1990, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Oct., 1990), pp. 1-23
Published by: Rhodes University. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/46130506/Gayatri-Spivak-Theory-in-the-Margin-Coetzee-s-Foe-Reading-DeFoe-s-Roxana [accessed June 8th 2023]
Thanks Denise great reference. “explains we have to start somewhere, even if it’s a shaky start. We need to at least try to understand people around us.” I really agree with your statement, its a simple as being open to new information.
‘for some, the practices and the identity they express can be more concrete than personal faith‘ I like the way you think through the aspects of faith, identity and belief. It’s made me think if the practices and identity being expressed more than personal faith which is always in flux is also a result of being first generation in the UK. The Sikh turban (which I use as an example as I grew up in the Sikh faith) is worn by culturally Sikh men as well as actively practicing Sikhs. As such it’s as much of a marker of their identity. Reading your reflection on Holliday’s journey and your final reflection has made me think more on how as lecturers we continue to share an openness and respect for students working through what religion, belief and identity means during their UAL journey.