Re: A Scout is Reverent
Rodger Morris (rodger@FISHNET.NET)
Wed, 11 Dec 1996 19:50:50 -0800
At 03:43 PM 12/11/96 EST, Cindy King wrote:
>Listening to the posts regarding a "multi-cultural" Christmas (which I've
>now decided can't be done), I have winced several times when remembering
>events & activities that have happened in my son's pack & troop that must
>have offended/confused Scouts of different faiths and/or cultures.
>
I must be sure to tell my sister and her children that you have decided a
multi-cultural Christmas cannot be done. They light the Hanukkah lights
and sing the song that goes with the ceremony. On Sunday last, they also
put up the Christmas decorations and we got the Christmas tree erected.
Based upon the experience my family has had over the past few generations,
I must respectfully disagree with you. Weaving differing religious
traditions into a harmonious whole is difficult, but it _can_ be done.
My sisters and I are 1/8th of Irish Jewish ancestry. My paternal great
grandfather George Washington Morris, who married my Irish Jewish great
granny Ida Fennell, was a devout Roman Catholic of Scots-Irish ancestry.
Their firstborn son, my grandfather, married a woman who was half Cherokee.
The witnesses who signed the marriage document of my paternal grandparents
were both of my paternal great grandmothers, the Jew and the Cherokee.
Because of gross intolerance from professed Christians in bed sheets who
burned a cross in front of their home and threatened to kill them, George
and Ida moved from Tennessee to Georgia, ostensibly becoming Southern
Baptists in the process as protective coloration. (Yes, our family oral
history says that the Ku Klux Klan came to help celebrate the nuptials,
_after_ both families disowned them for marrying outside their respective
religious faiths. It wasn't only Americans of African ancestry who were
targets of the bigoted pinheads of the KKK.)
Ida kept a kosher kitchen all her life and the family observed Seder and
Hanukkah and the other Jewish holy days in the house when outsiders were
not around. George told his rosary daily all his life in the privacy of
their home and the family observed Christian holy days in the privacy of
the home. Neither George nor Ida gave up their religious beliefs, but they
were able to transcend their religious differences. Their children grew up
as Southern Baptists who believed in religious tolerance.
My dad always referred to Ida as, "My kosher Southern Baptist grandma",
and we celebrate Hanukkah and then _start_ celebrating the twelve days of
Christmas on December 25th and end on January 5th on Three Kings Day. To us,
it seems very right that both the Christian and Jewish celebrations of a
victory of light and love over darkness and evil more or less coincide every
year, since all early Christians were Jewish first.
;-)
As an historical footnote, let us not forget that for about the first three
centuries of the existence of the Most Holy and Catholic Church, in order to
become a Christian, one was required to first convert to Judaism, then to
subsequently convert to Christianity. This policy was officially rescinded at
the council of Nicea about 325 A.D. We, as Christians, are Jewish in origin.
Thus, if we as Christians condemn people for being Jewish, we thereby condemn
ourselves.
In our family, we have pretty much decided that both the Jews and the
Christians have the same Commander-in-Chief, and that it doesn't matter
whether we're in the Army or the Navy, so to speak. As always, "Your mileage
may vary."
As for those who do not share my religious beliefs, be they of whatever
religious persuasion, I am content to let God worry about them.
Give it some thought. While it is difficult to transcend religious dogma,
my family has found it to be possible of accomplishment and well worth the
effort required.
I wish you all the very best of the Hanukkah that is and the Christmas
that shall come shortly.
Yours in Scouting,
Rodger
Rodger Morris <rodger@fishnet.net>
Scoutmaster, Troop 852 Wood Badge 416-18
Ventura County Council at Philmont, 1973
Camarillo, California, USA "I used to be a Beaver..."
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
