Culture and Religious Practices

While travelling in India, we have had the opportunity to see how the Christian church has developed in a complex multi-cultural/religious environment. This has manifested itself many times during our journey as we have seen the intersection of Hindu, Islamic and Christian practices. It is a jolt to observe either symbols or practices from another tradition that have become part of Christian practice not a part of our U.S. centric Christian approach.

We observed this at all junctures of our visit. One such observation was in Kerala (one of 21 Indian states on the west coast of India) where tradition holds that St Thomas first came from the Middle East spreading Christian teachings to the Indian subcontinent from the Middle East. Specifically, the flagpoles in front of the reformed Orthodox churches had the symbols that are seen in the Hindu temples with a cross replacing a bull on the top (Kodimaram). The explanation was that this was adopted by the Orthodox Church to better relate to people who were culturally Hindu and maybe attracting them to become part of the Orthodox community of faith (perhaps an early form of what today of what we call making our churches visitor friendly). Having done this over time it has become part of religious practice. This applies to the outdoor oil Lamps (similar to those seen at the Hindu temples) we also saw at many of the Orthodox Churches.

A second observation, a rather stark view at a Catholic church on St Thomas Mount in Chennai where tradition holds that Thomas was killed for his religious teaching. Beside the church is a nativity scene where there were there were the normal figures we associate with a nativity scene (Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, livestock, a deep blue painted wise man who is a representation of Hinduism, straw), but the twist was the addition of water buffalo, palm trees, tigers and most surprisingly, Santa Claus and. How do these creep into the narrative?

The third observation was at the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary (TTS) in Madurai (SW of Chennai in the state of Tamilnadu) where we were fortunate to be part of the harvest festival of Pongal. This four-day festival celebrates the successful harvest (generally in this region, rice and sugar cane). The first day is a day of preparation,( the clearing out of the old and getting ready for the celebration), the second is the actual celebration (similar to Thanksgiving and New Year celebrations combined), the third a celebration of the animals that support people throughout the year, and the last the visiting of family and friends. The preparations include decorating with flowers and full sugar cane stalks as well as the preparation of pongal, a rice boil with sugar that when the pot boils over (think fish boil over an open fire), it is a signal for celebration of the harvest and the new year. This festival is celebrated by all religious traditions but what is of interest is how this celebration weaves together the many aspects of daily life: the revering of the livestock as supportive of our lives (Hindu), the thanksgiving to God(s) for the harvest (et al.), and gathering of family for the celebration (et al.) At TTS we were part of a service at the stables (think dairy cows, chickens, new born calves with pigs in the background) where the Thanksgiving service for Mata Pongal was combination of our Christian tradition (prayer, scripture, and singing) and the ceremonial feeding of the animals (pongal rice, and bananas served on a banana leaf to a cow as a sign of thanking the animals for their support during the year (milk, eggs, help with the plowing, etc.)

This dovetails with writing of sociologist, Charles Horton Cooley who developed an extensive system of thought regarding rationality based on conscience emerging from human relationships. Cooley points out that a society as a whole holds together based on how individuals perceive themselves through the eyes of others. Therefore, individuals will accept or reject themselves and their beliefs though the social perceptions of others. In Cooley’s “Primary Group”, theory the space exists for this to transpire and to see how individual beliefs shape and form. However, as Hill points out, this outgrowth of Enlightment thought does not add the component of God or spirituality. From our observation, the enculturation of sacred objects into each faiths worship space is a way of adding the element of religion and God as a way for a multicultural society to recognize the divine in all. As Christians or people of other faiths, this recognition reminds us that God’s divine purpose for all of humanity is to reside in relationship with others.

How does this apply to our practice of faith in the U.S. culture? How does culture drive religious practice in our society? How does society drive our religious practices?

Kimberly Allen, Jim Person