[AAACE-NLA] Spirituality is not Religion

[Charlene Lutes]

Spirituality is not religion, and if we keep to the premise that we all
have a spirit, but not a religion necessarily, it keeps the conversation
at a level where we can see we share something in common as fellow
beings.  We may choose consciously or unconsciously to "express" our
spirituality through a religion, but as adults it becomes our choice.
 
Dialogue like this can facilitate some interesting discussions and help
learners to examine their own beliefs (Did they just adopt what their
parents told them, or have they consciously chosen a way to express
their spirituality?  Why?)
 
Good facilitation skills are required for a discussion like this which
includes some housekeeping rules.  If someone strays, then bring them
back to the rules of discussion, etc.
 
 
 
 

Charlene A. Lutes, Ph.D.
Transition Coordinator---Bridge
Northwestern Michigan College
1701 E. Front Street
Traverse City, MI   49686
(231) 995-1971   FAX (231) 995-1972

 
"By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by
little, our honor becomes greater than our moods."  ---Stephen Covey
                                                                       
                           


>>> Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net> 11/6/2006 5:22 PM >>>
George--

The question is really, how does the teacher  put their religious 
beliefs to the side and respectfully allow other beliefs to be heard?
Is this even a good idea?  Is it unethical?  Illegal? Now that is  
where I need to get some information--  Does anyone have it?

What I am able to do in my home, hold a continuous conversation between

a Jew, a Moslem and a Buddhist, is i think only that--a conversation in

my home.


On Nov 5, 2006, at 6:02 PM, <gdemetrion at msn.com> wrote:

> "I do not understand your characterizing as "scandalous" the custom 
> though which people "process spirituality from specific religious 
> traditions," such as Christianity or Islam. If I understand you 
> correctly, the fact that the majority of people on earth derive 
> meaning and purpose of their spirituality from specific religions is

> 1) problematic, and 2) a pedagological obstacle that a literacy 
> teacher needs overcome if he is to help this majority achieve its 
> literacy goals. I will not address number 1, because this is not the

> forum for it. I will attempt to speak to number 2 though, because it

> is highly relevant to our purpose."
>  
> Kearney,
>  
> Here's the passage to which you refer, which requires me to deal with

> your #1
>  
> "One of the real scandals here, at least from a totally secular
> perspective is that many students are not merely interested in
> spirituality, but process spirituality from specific religious
> traditions."
>  
> I was playing off the relationship between the use of the term 
> "scandal" in the New Testament book 1 Corinthians 1:22:24:
> "For the Jews request a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but
we 
> preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block (scandalon in

> ancient Greek) and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are 
> called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom

> of God."
>  
> This core belief in God (a problematic concept in itself from many 
> perspectives) revealed most fully and completely in and through what

> theologians refer to as the radical particularity Christ is a basic 
> premise of millions of adult literacy learners grounded in
evangelical 
> and pentecostal  Protestant religious traditions.  This core belief 
> fundamentally contradicts any notion that all religions are more or 
> less equal pathways to what Rudolph Otto refers to as "The Holy." 
Yet 
> if one is to take meaning making seriously as a core educational
value 
> then a dialogical and respectful encounter between divergent world 
> views (which includes theologies) is essential.  In doing so,
however, 
> those who take the "scandal" seriously will stick to their guns. So 
> how does that get handled (if at all) in an adult literacy setting?)
I 
> won't address the issue of the Constitution here and the problematic

> issue of raising serious religious claims in publicly funded 
> institutions. That aside, what is at stake are core matters of 
> epistemology (how knowledge is constructed) and ontology (the nature

> of reality).
>  
> The challenge is getting beyond surface perceptions into a deeper, 
> probing, potentially transformative discourse that a serious
encounter 
> with diverse worldviews. Of course it takes two or more to tango and

> perhaps neither we nor our students are wiling to join the dance.
>  
> George Demetrion
> for my theological musings go here: 
> http://www.ctconfucc.org/resources/theology/ 
>
>  _______________________________________________
> AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org 
> http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla 
> LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
> http://literacytent.org ( http://literacytent.org/ )
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/aaace-nla/attachments/20061107/c9ebd5c9/attachment.html>