19AR24-18

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AR 24:18 - Mormonism, the Kabbalah, and "Buffet Buddhism"

In this issue:

BUDDHISM - resolving the mental-health problems of "so many Americans"?

MORMONISM - growth trends in contrast to other groups

OCCULTISM - an introduction to the Kabbalah

Apologia Report 24:18 (1,426)

May 1, 2019

BUDDHISM

"The ancient Eastern religion is helping Westerners with very modern mental-health problems" -- that's the subhead for "Why So Many Americans Are Turning to Buddhism" by Olga Khazan, a staff writer for The Atlantic (Mar 7 '19), who explains that "at a Kadampa Buddhism class I attended this week near my house, in Northern Virginia.... The people I spoke with were young and old, but few were Buddhist by birth. Perhaps some have just run out of options: Mental-health disorders are up in Western societies, and the answer doesn't seem to be church attendance, which is down. There's always therapy, but it's so expensive. My meditation class was $12. ...

"A 40-something dad in Los Angeles [says] 'As a Catholic, I struggle with some of the religious concepts, but it doesn't prevent me from adopting the Buddhist techniques and philosophies.' ...

"Though precise numbers on its popularity are hard to come by, Buddhism does seem to be emerging in the Western, type-A universe. ... Four in 10 American adults now say they meditate at least weekly. ...

"For decades, people have been attempting self-improvement through classes and seminars, many of which incorporated elements of Eastern religions." Khazan names examples like: "The Human Potential Movement of the 1960s [and, in] the 1970s, the organization Erhard Seminars Training, or EST, offered courses on how to 'take responsibility for your life' and 'get it.'

"What's different - and perhaps reassuring - about Buddhism is that it's an existing religion practiced by half a billion people. Because relatively few Caucasian Americans grew up Buddhist, they generally don't associate any familial baggage with it like some do with, say, the Christianity or Judaism of their childhoods. While liberating, this also means that the practice of secular Buddhism often differs dramatically from the religion itself. All of the secular practitioners I spoke with for this piece are reading different books, listening to different podcasts, and following different teachers and traditions. Their interpretations of Buddhist teachings aren't necessarily consistent with one another or with traditional texts. ...

"Buddhism carries with it a set of values and morals that white Americans don't always live by. Much like 'cafeteria Catholics' ignore parts of the religion that don't resonate with them, some Westerners focus on only certain elements of Buddhist philosophy and don't endorse, say, Buddhism's view of reincarnation or worship of the Buddha. Call them 'buffet Buddhists.'"

Similarly, "secular Buddhism, says Autry Johnson, a Colorado bartender and tourism worker who meditates regularly, 'is a little more accessible to people that wouldn't primarily identify as Buddhists, or already identify with another religion or philosophy, but want to adopt aspects of Buddhist practice to supplement their current worldview.'" <www.bit.ly/2ZHc8tW>

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MORMONISM

"Most churches are losing members fast - but not the Mormons. Here's why," by Daniel Cox, research fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute <www.bit.ly/2IKwPjj> (Vox, Mar 6 '19) -- "Today, white evangelical Protestants account for 15 percent of the adult population, down from nearly one-quarter a decade earlier. By contrast, Mormons have held steady at roughly 2 percent of the US population for the past several years. And perhaps as importantly, Mormons are far younger than members of white Christian traditions.

"At one time, sociologists and religion scholars argued that theologically conservative churches, which demanded more of their members, were successful because they ultimately provided more rewarding religious and spiritual experiences. This theory has since fallen out of favor as the tide of disaffiliation appears to be washing over conservative and liberal denominations alike. The Southern Baptist Convention, the heart of conservative Protestantism, has sustained 12 straight years of membership losses. Since 2007, the denomination has shed 1.2 million members.

"But more than the rules, rituals, and rigorous theology, the success of the Mormon Church may have to do with [its] unrelenting focus on the family." Cox develops this further.

"A recent poll by College Pulse of students currently attending four-year colleges and universities found that the most common response among students about the ideal age to be married was 28. However, the response among Mormon students was 24. ...

"Even with a concerted emphasis on family formation and religious education, there is evidence that an increasing number of Mormons are still leaving the church. [Jana Riess <janariess.com>] argues that younger Mormons are leading the way out the door, at least in part over the church's hardline stance on LGBTQ issues." Discussion follows, including "church leaders have adopted much more inclusive language when discussing LGBTQ members of the church. 'It shows the church is taking a step in the direction of understanding and empathy,' Monson says.

"This shift stands in stark contrast to what is unfolding in the United Methodist Church, which recently voted to toughen prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. The Catholic Church remains similarly steadfast in its opposition to same-sex marriage. ... The Southern Baptist Convention does not feature the issue of homosexuality or gay and lesbian people prominently. But the denomination's position on the issue is clear: 'Homosexuality is not a "valid alternative lifestyle."

"At the congregational level, members of conservative churches still receive negative messages about LGBTQ people with some regularity. A 2016 Pew Research Center study <www.pewrsr.ch/2vwDzZq> found that 46 percent of white evangelical Protestants said their clergy had brought up the issue of homosexuality in the past couple of months, and the overwhelming majority of those who reported hearing about the issue said their clergy spoke out against it."

The LDS church "appears much more willing to change its approach and rhetoric, if not theology, when it comes to LGBTQ members.

"Every religious congregation in the US will have to make the same bet about which traditions and practices are inviolable and which are not, where to bend, and where to hold firm. Time will be the ultimate arbiter as to whether the Mormon Church got it right. [Sociologist Vern] Bengtson's study provides a reason to think Mormons may be successful in their fight against religious decline. Among the 350 families he studied, no religious group was more effective in passing on their religious identity and beliefs to their children than Mormons." <www.bit.ly/2IIAw96>

And yet.... Religion News Service reports <www.bit.ly/2V4P35O> that "Mormon growth continues to slow," based on figures in the church's just-released 2018 statistical report.

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OCCULTISM

Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul, by Harry Freedman [1] -- as the publisher says, the Kabbalah "is popularly known as a fashionable system for personal and spiritual insight, a Jewish mystical tradition popularized by devoted celebrities like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, and Britney Spears. But behind the hype and simplicity of 'pop-Kabbalah' lies an ancient, complex and very profound system that can take a lifetime to master. ... The word itself means 'received.' For over half a millennium, individuals and movements with no attachment to Judaism have incorporated Kabbalah into their own spiritual traditions. Kabbalah flourished in the Renaissance and its method was adopted in varying measures by Hermeticists, Rosicrucians, Freemasons and tarot-card readers. Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibnitz, Carl Jung and Harold Bloom have all admitted to the influence of Kabbalah. But it all goes back to the Hebrew Bible where the prophet Ezekiel described in detail his vision of the heavenly throne, perceived as a chariot. Kabbalah became fashionable in the late 1960s in the wake of the hippy counter-culture and with the approach of the new age, and enjoyed its share of fame, scandal, and disrepute as the twenty first century approached."

Publishers Weekly informs us: "In this accessible, eminently readable survey, Aramaic scholar Freedman provides a balanced look at a religious tradition whose reach has extended far beyond its original Jewish roots. Freedman explains that kabbalah, what was once the province only of 'deeply mystical, otherworldly Jews, studying in closed, secretive groups in twelfth-century Provence,' has become part of the mainstream - with many celebrities now donning red-string bracelets intended to ward off the evil eye. [It is] 'a spiritual philosophy open to people of all creeds, yet one that does not detract from their faith.' Freedman begins with kabbalah's origins in the first centuries CE, as ancient Jews sought to learn more about the nature of heaven.... Freedman doesn't shy from troubling developments around the faith, such as the fraud and sex scandals that plagued the Kabbalah Centre <www.bit.ly/2Py6DJg> in Los Angeles over the past decade." [2]

For a look at Kabbalah (with its various spellings) in past issues of AR, see <www.bit.ly/2UGmI0w>

The variant spellings tied to the vernacular have some interesting etymology:

"cabal - n.

"1520s, 'mystical interpretation of the Old Testament,' later 'society, small group meeting privately'

"1660s, from French *cabal,* in both senses, from Medieval Latin *cabbala*.... Popularized in English 1673 as an acronym for five intriguing ministers of Charles II (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale), which gave the word its sinister connotations." <www.bit.ly/2IPeDVB>

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul, by Harry Freedman (Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019, hardcover, 304 pages) <www.amzn.to/2vrchUs>

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