CHAPTER 1

To Whom? For What?

A man pours pilk over a statue. A young woman sits solemnly behind a large book,swooshing over it occasionally with a yak-hair whisk. A man sits before a smallportrait, puts a dot of red powder between his eyes, then marks a U on hisforehead with yellow paste. These are our neighbors, each participating in aritual of his or her faith. Unless we take time to understand why our neighborsof other religions perform their devotional habits, unless we have some accuratesense of what or whom these acts are directed toward, our neighbors' rituals offaith can seem to us as odd or as trivial as the rituals of a professionalbaseball player as he prepares to take his turn at bat.

A young girl is watching her mother prepare dinner—perhaps you have heard thisstory. Mom rubs seasoning on the roast, slices off each end, puts it in a pan,and pops it in the oven. "I know why you rub the seasoning on the roast," thechild says, "but why do you slice off the ends?" "That's what my mother alwaysdid," comes the reply. "I don't know why she always did that, but her roastswere delicious, so I do it the way she did. Let's ask her." Grandma replies thatshe was just imitating Great-Grandma, who (it turns out) sliced off the ends sothe roast would fit in the only pan she had.

When it comes to rituals of faith, many devout persons in America'smultireligious neighborhood are trying to maintain the practices of those whocame before them, adapting them to the American context if necessary.Undoubtedly, some just imitate Great-Grandma and leave it at that. But manyothers have gone searching for the answer to the question, "Why do we do what wedo?" America's multireligious context itself has encouraged them to become veryclear about what their devotional habits mean, and how to do them well. Theseare the neighbors we will meet in this book. They know quite plainly to whom ortoward what their rituals of faith are directed. They have worked hard to learnhow to explain this to other Americans, and they would like you to understandthe object their devotion. This is why we are beginning our exploration of ourneighbors' rituals of faith with a theology lesson.

The Christian religion teaches that God is in essence absolutely One, absolutelyrelational, and definitely personal. That, in a nutshell, is what Christiansmean by saying that God is Triune (One-in-Three; Three-in-One) and that inChrist Jesus we have Emmanu-el: God With Us. But a nutshell is hardly adequatefor holding the mystery of the doctrines of Trinity and Incarnation. Forcenturies, Christians have explained the details to each other—sometimes inscholarly books, sometimes in poetry, sometimes in art. "God-talk" varies,sometimes sharply, from one branch of Christianity to another. It varies withinthe same branch or denomination for a host of reasons.

If God-talk is complex and varied among Christians themselves, then it shouldnot surprise us that adherents of other religions in the neighborhood will offercomplex and varied explanations of whatever is ultimate for them. We might alsoexpect that the ability of our neighbors to explain their religion's teachingswill vary according to such factors as depth of training, command of English,which branch of their religion they belong to, and the seriousness with whichthey hold to a specific position. Conversation about how the "Whom" or the"What" toward which our neighbors direct their prayers and other rituals offaith is tricky terrain, but it is worth traveling if we really want tounderstand how our neighbors demarcate sacred space and time with ritual andpractice.

As we begin, it is also important to remember that many definitions of"religion" presume that religion is inherently theistic —that is, that a notionof God (or Gods) has to be involved. However, the working definition of"religion" used here insists that a religion can be non-theistic: that areligion can be a religion even if it does not operate from a notion of "God,"at least as an ultimate creator. We must keep this in mind as we explorewhether, when, or how people worship, and as we think about how they describethe focus of their practice, or how they name and explain the object of theirdevotion.

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There is But One God ...

Having said all that, when it comes down to it, the vast majority of religionsdo operate from a presumption that there is an Ultimate—a single Source. Whilemost Americans, regardless of their religion, are happy to employ the Englishword "God" when referring to it, each theistic religion has its own theology—itsown way of describing God and God's relationship to the physical and spiritualrealms. God may have many names, and the spiritual realm may be quite complex.Yet God is God.

Judaism

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"As a Jew," a young rabbi offers, "I think about God as Transcendent Being—as aconnecting force for all humanity in the world. No matter what's going on, it'salways on a much smaller scale than God." For Jews, God is YHWH (or, YHVH). Thisholiest name is the transliteration of four Hebrew consonants: Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh.It is also shorthand for the Hebrew statement Ehyeh asher ehyeh—"I am that Iam"; "I will be what I will be." This is the answer Moses received when he askedfor the identity of the voice speaking to him from the burning bush. YHWH isoften called the Tetragrammaton (the four-letter name). "It symbolizes theessential infinity and eternity of the One Who Was, Is, and Will Be," oneinstructor explains. It is also unpronounceable. Jewish mystics say, "Go ahead.Try to pronounce it. You'll find that it is pure breath. God is Being Itself,and has in-breathed all of creation." Yes, you can insert vowels and pronounceit as Yahweh if you must, but most Jews think the divine name is too holy andintimate to be spoken. Instead, when they see YHWH in writing, they substituteAdonai (Lord) or Ha-Shem (the Name). For some Jews, it is too holy to write,except in certain circumstances; and, by extension, it is unseemly to write evenits English equivalent. So, they write "G–d" instead.

The range of Jewish notions of God is quite broad. "For me, God is Creator, Law-giver, Loving Father," says a Conservative political scientist. "There are Jewswho are non-theistic, however. They may even call themselves atheistic. Forthem, ritual is more about filial rather than divine obligation." The HumanisticJudaism movement, for example, offers a place for people who want to identifysomehow as Jews, who find meaning in the rhythm of the Jewish calendar and insome of Judaism's rituals, but not in "God-talk." The Reconstructionist movementalso makes room for atheists and agnostics as well as theists.

On the other hand, says Rabbi Jack Bemporad, "Reform Judaism holds the ratherclassical view that God creates the world and, perhaps, in some form or...