Религия в обществе (Religion in Society)

Task 6. Restore the omitted parts of the text.

Judaism

This is the religion of the Jews, the most ancient of the world's surviving monotheistic religions and as such deeply (1)*** on Christianity and Islam. It sees the world as the creation of a living god and the Jews are his chosen people. Central is the idea of the covenant made between God and Abraham, (2)*** of the Jews. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Pentateuch (also the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), constituted the Torah, or law, which is the (3)*** of this religion. It contains a history of the Jews until the death of Moses, the Ten (4)*** and a corpus of ritual and ethical precepts. The Torah is supplemented by a body of oral traditions and interpretations and instructions, the Talmud. An important weekly (5)*** is Sabbath. Others are Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Hanuka. Jewish food must be (6) *** which means that it is to satisfy the requirements of the Jewish law.

Task 7. Restore the omitted parts of the text.

Islam

The monotheistic religion founded by the (1)*** Muhammad in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th c. AD, which incorporates elements of Judaic and Christian belief, is now the professed faith of nearly one thousand million people (2)***. The Muslim performs the prescribed acts of worship and strives to fulfil good works within the group. The 'Pillars of Islam' include profession of the faith in a prescribed form, (3)*** of ritual prayer (five obligatory prayer sequences each day as well as non-obligatory prayers), giving alms to the poor, (4)*** during (the ninth month of the Muslim year) Ramadan, and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca. These ritual observances, as well as a code governing social behaviour, were given to Muhammad as a series of revelations, (5)*** in the Koran and supplemented by the deeds and discourse of the Prophet. Muhammad is seen as the Seal of the Prophets, building upon and perfecting the examples and (6)*** of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Modern Muslims are divided into orthodox Sunnites, the majority of followers of Islam, and Shi'ites who concentrate mainly in Iran and Iraq.

Self-assessment test

THE MAJOR RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

Restore the omitted parts of the text. The number of asterisks corresponds to the number of missing letters.

Confucianism is a philosophical system based on the teachings of (1)*** and practiced throughout China for nearly 2,000 years. Confucianism teaches a moral and social philosophy and code of (2)*** based on peace, order, humanity, wisdom, courage and fidelity. Confucius refused to consider the idea of God but his followers hold there is a state of heavenly (3)*** which man can attain by cultivating virtues, especially knowledge, patience, sincerity, obedience and the fulfillment of obligations between children and parents, subjects and (4)***. Confucianism encourages the acceptance of the status quo.

Hinduism is one of the world's major religions. It embraces diverse beliefs and practices with toleration, regarding none as essential. Even other (5)*** are accepted, though not their exclusiveness. Having no dogma, it is hardly definable. Hindus have great respect of all life, many being vegetarian and revering and protecting the (6)***. The upper-class caste of Brahmins is respected as sacrosanct. The doctrine of transmigration of souls in an endless cycle, (7)*** the law of karma, is universally believed. The three paths of escape from the cycle are duty, knowledge (sought by meditation and yoga) and devotion to God. True Hinduism began in the 2nd с. ВСЕ.

Krishna is the major (8)*** in later Hinduism, depicted as a blue-skinned, sportive youth generally playing the flute. He is worshipped as an incarnation of Vishnu, one of the major gods of modern Hinduism, and advocates selfless (9)***.

Buddhism is a widespread Asian (10)*** and philosophy developed from Hinduism in the 6th с. ВСЕ by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. His monastic disciples shaved their heads, dressed in rags and devoted (11)*** to the philosophy of Enlightenment. The Pali canon is the scriptural basis of Buddhism. Buddhist teaching advocates a middle course between mortification ((12)*** one's body and soul into subjection by self-denial or discipline) and the pursuit of ambition. The basic teachings of Buddhism are contained in the 'four noble truths':

(l) all existence is suffering;

(2) the cause of suffering is desire;

(3) freedom from suffering is nirvana (the final (13)*** of harmony and satisfaction);

(4) and the means of attaining nirvana is prescribed in the 'eightfold path' that combines ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom.

The religion numbers 300-500 million (14)***, including those in Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia.

Zen is a sect of Japanese Buddhism which developed in China from c. 500 CE and spread to Japan c. 1200. The word means 'meditation'. Zen (15)*** greatly from traditional Buddhism, rejecting images and ritual, scriptures and metaphysics.

Shinto ('way of the gods') is the indigenous religion of Japan (16)*** on the belief that the royal family was descended from the sun-goddess Amaterasu Omikami. It later absorbed much Buddhist thought and practice. Shinto shrines are plain wooden (17)*** in which priest and people perform simple rites. Worship of the Emperor and the Zen influence on martial arts resulted in a close (18)*** between Shinto and Japanese militarism.

Part III

Major Religious Holidays Celebrated Worldwide

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

24th and 25th December

At Christmas we remember the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. There are very many traditions connected with Christmas. This is not surprising when a festival has been celebrated for almost two thousand years and in so many countries. Every nation, even every family, celebrates the feast in a particular way. Some of the most widespread customs are mentioned here, but there are countless other Christmas traditions which you may come across.

On Christmas Eve children in Britain hang a sock or stocking at the end of their bed, in the belief that "Father Christmas" or "Santa Сlaus" will fill it with toys and good things during the night. When they wake up (very early) on Christmas Day, they are rarely disappointed.

Christmas dinner is usually a family gathering at which the main dish is chicken or turkey with many trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding. An added treat for children is the pulling of crackers at this meal.

The Christmas Tree

For small children one of the most exciting preparations is helping to decorate a fir tree with glittering tinsel, artificial snow, shining bells, balls and lights. The tree will stand in a corner of the home for about two weeks. Prince Albert first made the custom fashionable in Britain when he and his wife, Queen Victoria, were bringing up their own young family; it was a tradition in Germany.

A recent custom is the erecting of a Norwegian Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, London. Every year since 1946 the people of Norway have sent a huge fir tree to the citizens of London as a way of saying "Thank you" for the kindness they showed to Norwegian troops during World War II. The tree stands in the centre of Trafalgar Square, lit up by six hundred light bulbs.

The Crib

Perhaps you make a crib as part of your home or school preparations for Christmas. On a layer of straw or cardboard you can place crib figures made of folded card, papier mache, polystyrene, balsa wood, pipe cleaners, plasticine, or almost any imaginable material.

Making a model of the scene in the stable at Bethlehem was the idea of St. Francis of Assisi, who made one for the country people in a forest grotto near Assisi, in Italy, at Christmas A.D. 1223. From Italy the idea spread through the world. Children in Peru place llamas in the stable and Eskimo children place the baby Jesus on a sledge pulled by huskies. French children in Provence make a whole Bethlehem village with farmhouses, a windmill, the mayor, policemen, garlic seller and other unlikely people. In Milan's Cathedral Square in Italy, you can see a huge crib scene in which the figures move by clockwork. In Rome there is now an Exhibition of Cribs every Christmas, which shows handmade cribs from over fifty countries.

Christmas cards

The custom of sending cards at Christmas, like that of decorating fir trees, was introduced in Queen Victoria's reign. The idea may have come from the schoolroom, where children prepared careful messages in copperplate writing, wishing their dear Mama and Papa the compliments of the season.

Carols

Carols are now connected only with Christmas, but originally there were "caroles", songs with accompanying dances, for all the festivals of the year. At Christmas carol singers still go from house to house hoping to be given money, just as the wassailers used to. In some places these singers were known as "Waits".

A very popular carol is this poem by Christina Rossetti, set to music by Gustav Hoist; it begins with what we think is a typical Christmas scene.

`ln the bleak midwinter

Frosty winds made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone,

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter

Long ago'.

When we sing this it is hard to realize that Australians are preparing beach picnics and barbecues for their Christmas dinner.

The most famous carol of all, Silent Night (Stille Nacht in the original) was written at Christmas, 1818, for the village children of Oberndorf in Austria by the priest, Josef Mohr, and the organist, Franz Gruber. Mice had nibbled through part of the organ bellows in the village church, so the congregation was probably quite unprepared for the sweet sound of the children's voices singing the new carol to a guitar. Now it is sung all over the world on Christmas night.

Evergreens

Before Christmas trees became popular in Britain the traditional form of house decoration was the "mistletoe bough" or "kissing bough". Two metal hoops from barrels were covered with greenery, intertwined ribbons, shining baubles and red apples. A large piece of mistletoe hung in the centre.

Evergreens were already symbols of eternal life in pagan times, and mistletoe was sacred. It was the plant of peace under which enemies would make up their quarrels, so kissing under the mistletoe is a very old custom. Because the plant seems to grow by magic, without roots in soil as other plants do, it was thought to have magical qualities and was sometimes called "heal-all", because of its use in many country remedies, like mistletoe tea.

Romans used evergreens to decorate their houses for the week-long festival of Saturnalia at the end of the year, and in Britain holly and ivy have become the two favourite shrubs for decorating the house at Christmas.

Holy Week

Maundy Thursday

The last three days before Easter Day remind us of events in the last few days of Christ's life on earth. The church service on Maundy Thursday recalls the Last Supper of Jesus with his twelve apostles. In the early centuries after Christ's death, monks used to wash the feet of poor people on this day, in imitation of Jesus, who washed the feet of his friends before they sat down for their last meal together. Later bishops, princes, popes and kings took part in the foot-washing ceremony on Maundy Thursday.

Edward II, king of England from 1307 to 1327, washed poor people's feet on this day. Edward III gave gifts of food and clothes to the needy. When Queen Elizabeth I was thirty-nine in 1572, she gave to thirty-nine poor women "certain yardes of broad clothe to make a gown and a pair of sleeves". Then she gave them each fish, bread and claret wine, and washed "one foot of every one of the thirty-nine women, in so many silver basins, containing warm water and sweet-scented flowers".

Gradually, the foot-washing ceremony petered out, but mon-archs continued giving gifts to the poor every Maundy Thursday. It became the custom for the king or queen to present money, 'Maundy Money', at Westminster Abbey or at some other cathedral, and Queen Elizabeth II continues the tradition. Accompanied by the bishop of the cathedral she walks between two ranks of Yeoman of the Guard, and carries a sweet-smelling nosegay of flowers and herbs -- a traditional protection against fever and plague.

The Maundy coins are specially minted each year. They are not ordinary coins; they are made of silver and are copied from the coins of the time of Charles II. This of course means that they are very valuable. In 1979, when Queen Elizabeth II was fifty-three, they were presented to fifty-three poor people in Win chester Cathedral. The names of the people are suggested by local churches and other bodies, and the ceremony is usually shown on television.

Although the Queen no longer washes poor people's feet on Maundy Thursday, as some of her ancestors did, the ceremony still continues in many Christian churches. Twelve men representing the twelve apostles have their feet symbolically washed by someone representing Jesus. As this is done, a verse from St. John's gospel is sung or read: "I have a new commandment to give you, says the Lord: that you are to love one another as I have loved you." At one time this verse was read in Latin and the Latin word for "commandment" is mandatum, which became mandein Old French. When the Normans came to England after 1066, they gradually began to pronounce the word "maundy", as we still do.

Good Friday

This is "God's Friday", on which Christians remember the death of Jesus on a cross outside Jerusalem. In many churches there is a service at or before three o'clock, when it is thought he died. In some countries believing Christians spend the rest of the day quietly. But Seville, a city in the south of Spain, is crowded on Good Friday by thousands of people, all hoping to see the spectacular processions which wind through the streets when darkness falls. By the light of hundreds of flickering candles, richly dressed statues which portray scenes from the last days of Jesus's life are carried aloft.

In Britain, most people, whether Christian or not, like to eat hot cross buns: spicy buns decorated with an egg paste cross, which is a reminder of the cross of Jesus. But the custom of making cakes with crosses is even older. Two were found, still with their crosses on them, in the remains of the Roman town of Herculaneum, which was buried under mud when the volcano Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79.

There are other long-held beliefs about Good Friday. Gardeners, for instance, like to set their main crop of potatoes on this day, partly because it is the right time of year, but also because the Devil has no power over the soil on Good Friday, and therefore there will be a healthy crop.

Easter Sunday

Easter Day is the greatest feast of the Christian year. The preparations of Lent and the sadness of Good Friday are over. In the Bible you can read how, after Jesus died, he was buried in a cave tomb, a sepulchre, and the entrance was blocked by a heavy rock. But when his mother and friends went to the tomb early on the first Easter morning, they found that the huge stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. Christians believe that he had risen from the dead and this is called the "Resurrection".

Church services on Easter Day are full of rejoicing: bells ring out, there are colourful flower decorations everywhere, the priest or clergyman wears white vestments to show that it is a glorious feast-day. Congregations used to wear their best clothes (possibly a reminder of times when one's Lenten clothes had to be renewed after being sprinkled with ashes).

In some churches the model of an "Easter garden" is set up. Below a green hill with three crosses, a garden is planted with moss and real flowers. In the side of the hill is a cave, from which a stone has been rolled away to show a tomb, empty but for the linen shroud which wrapped the body.

A cloth called the "Turin Shroud" has recently roused much interest. It is a long cloth with the imprint of a man's body on it. It is claimed to be the very shroud in which the body of Jesus was wrapped after his death nearly two thousand years ago.

Christians think of Jesus as "the Lamb of God"; Christian paintings often show a lamb with a banner and some old inns are still called "The Lamb and Flag". On Easter Saturday Polish children take little baskets of eggs (a pagan symbol) and pieces of sugar-coated lamb (a Christian symbol) to church to be blessed.

Our word "Easter" is said to have come from the name of the Saxon goddess of spring, Eastre. The animal sacred to her was the hare, and perhaps this accounts for the "Easter bunny" often associated with Easter. Somehow he was believed to lay Easter eggs, or at least to hide them in the garden, where children once used to search for them on Easter morning. German children do still hunt out eggs hidden by the "Osterhase" or Easter hare.

Eggs have always been regarded as symbols of new life and rebirth: they seem cold and dead but contain new life, as Jesus came from the tomb at the Resurrection. In ancient times farmers rolled eggs across their fields to encourage a plentiful harvest, and until very recently children always rolled (or "trolled" in Yorkshire) their "pace eggs" or "paste eggs" on Easter Sunday or Monday. ("Pace" and "paste" come from "Paschalis", which is Latin for "Easter".) They would go to a nearby park or hillside and roll or troll their hard-boiled paste eggs downhill. Near Preston in Lancashire children still carry on this custom, and on the lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S.A., children and adults in the President's household and many visitors roll their decorated eggs to see which goes the furthest without cracking.

In Poland, Ukraine and Russia, hard-boiled eggs are beautifully painted with intricate patterns of brilliant colours. Clusters of these jewel-like eggs are arranged in little baskets to decorate the table at Easter.

In Germany the insides of eggs are often blown out, and the empty shells are then carefully painted with colourful designs and hung on threads from leafy branches standing in a pot or vase. These "egg-trees" decorate many homes at Easter, just as fir trees do at Christmas.

The British tradition of colouring eggs is an old one. In the household accounts of King Edward I in 1290 there is an entry of one shilling and sixpence paid out for "four-hundred and a half of eggs" to be covered with gold leaf or coloured to be given away at Easter.

St. George's Day and Shakespeare's Birthday

23rd April

George is said to have been a Christian who became a soldier in the Roman army. The Emperor Diocletian hated Christians, and they went in fear of their lives. Secretly they nicknamed him "Bythios Drakon", which means "Dragon of the Deep", because of his cruelty. When George spoke out against the Emperor's wicked treatment of Christians, Diocletian had him put to death on 23rd April, A.D. 303.

Hundreds of years later Christian soldiers went to the Holy Land to fight in wars called "Crusades", and there they heard stories of George. Some told how he killed a dragon and rescued a princess. These were almost certainly not true (although he had resisted Diocletian, the "Dragon of the Deep"), but people liked to think that George was such a brave soldier that he could kill real dragons if necessary.

It was decided to make him patron saint of England, and his battle banner, a red cross on a white background, became the English flag. English soldiers often wore it as a tunic over the breastplates of their armour, so as to be easily identified in battle. Today it is flown in many places on 23rd April, and it still forms part of the Union Flag. After St. George had been declared patron saint of England, his feast day was made a public holiday in 1222, but it is not a holiday nowadays.

In 1348 King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter, which commemorates St. George. It is the highest honour that can be given to a knight, and the oldest in Europe. Every St. George's Day these Knights of the Garter meet in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, wearing their colourful robes, with a medal of St. George and the dragon hanging from a chain round their necks. In 1501 Henry VII and his court celebrated St. George's Day with a knightly joust on the green at the Tower of London.

George was also depicted, killing a fearsome dragon, on the reverse of those old British coins known as "crowns"; and, of course, on the George Cross, a medal given "For Gallantry". You may know a pub called "The George and Dragon".

There are many pictures of St. George -- often with a dragon and a beautiful princess -- by famous artists, including Bellini, Mantegna, Tintoretto and Durer. There is also a fine statue of him in Florence in Italy, by a sculptor called Donatello.

Shakespeare's Birthday

By an odd chance, England's greatest writer, William Shakespeare, was born on St. George's Day, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, and also died on the saint's day in 1616. Every 23rd April is now a day of special pageantry in Stratford, as the bells of Holy Trinity Church ring out. Flags from many nations are unfurled, and the Mayor leads a distinguished procession to lay flowers on Shakespeare's grave at Holy Trinity Church.

He was probably proud to celebrate his birthday on the feast of great St. George. In one of his plays he shows how ordinary English people were stirred by their brave patron saint. Just before his soldiers go into battle, their king, Henry V, tells them to shout: "God for Harry, England and Saint George!"

St. David's Day

1st March

Dewi ("David" in English), was the son of a Welsh chieftain. He was brought up as a Christian and went abroad to learn more about the life of a monk. Then he returned to Wales and founded many monasteries which became centres of religion and learning in the Welsh countryside. The monks lived a simple life of prayer, growing their own herbs and vegetables and offering generous hospitality to anyone in need. Because of David's holiness and his inspiring teaching, he was made a bishop. The centre of his bishopric was in the settlement we now know as St. David's on the western tip of the county of Dyfed.

David is thought to have died on 1st March, A.D. 589, and his shrine at St. David's was a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. Later, when the people of North and South Wales became one nation, he was chosen as the patron saint of Wales.

A legend tells how David suggested that his people should wear a leek in their bonnets during battles so that they could be easily recognized; Welsh Guards are still distinguished by a green and white plume in their black bearskins. At Windsor, on the Sunday nearest St. David's Day, it is now a tradition that every member of the Brigade of Welsh Guards is given a leek by a member of the Royal Family. However, as St. David's Day is celebrated at the beginning of Spring when daffodils (Lent lilies), are blooming, this flower has become a second, more graceful emblem of Wales. David's own emblem is a dove.

It is said that David had a sweet singing voice. He encouraged his monks to sing as well as possible for the glory of God, and perhaps this was the beginning of the Welsh tradition of fine male-voice choirs.

Many churches are dedicated to David in south-west Wales, and if you are travelling there, you might visit the cathedral at St. David's. Other places too are called after the saint, and you may visit Llandewi or Capel Dewi or Ffynon Dewi. ("Llan" is the Welsh word for "church", "capel" is a "chapel", "ffynon" is a well or spring.)

St. Patrick's Day

17th March

Although Patrick, or "Paddy", is the most Irish of names, the first Patrick was not Irish by birth. He was born about A.D. 390, probably in west Scotland or Wales, and his family were Christians. At the age of sixteen he was captured by pirates who took him to Ireland and sold him as a slave. He was made to look after pigs and cattle on Mount Slemish in County Antrim in the northeast of Ireland. His solitary life gave him plenty of time to think and pray, and he also learnt to speak the Irish language. After six years he managed to escape and reach the coast. There he found a ship and the kindly captain helped him to return home across the Irish sea to his parents.

Although Patrick was now at home again, he missed the people of Ireland and their country, which he had grown to love, and he wanted to return to tell them about Jesus Christ and his teaching. He went to France, and after studying for some years he was made a priest. He stayed in France until he was nearly forty, and in the year A.D. 432 he returned to Ireland with a few monks.

The pagan king of Ireland, Laoire, generously allowed him to teach and preach throughout the land. Many people became Christians and turned away from the teachings of the Druids, the pagan priests. Patrick built churches and founded monasteries where many people had their first chance of learning to read and write. He was made Bishop of Armagh and grew to be greatly loved by the people of Ireland.

Legends grew up about him. It is said that while he was praying on Croagh Patrick, a mountain in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, he drove all the snakes into the sea. It is true that Ireland is one of the few places in the world where no snakes live. Another well-known story tells how Patrick picked a three-leaved weed growing at his feet, a shamrock, as a way of explaining to the people about the Trinity of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and this is why the shamrock is always connected with St. Patrick and Ireland. The chorus of a well-known Irish song refers to St. Patrick's love of the plant:

'It shines through the bog, through the brake, through the mireland,

And he called it the dear little Shamrock of Ireland'.

Patrick died on 17th March, A.D. 461, and Irish people all over the world still celebrate St. Patrick's Day. In England it is a tradition that a member of the Royal Family presents the Irish Guards with bunches of shamrock, the little weed which is now the emblem of Ireland. The Irish airline Aer Lingus flies out hundreds of thousands of sprigs of shamrock all over the world as 17th March approaches. In Ireland the day may be celebrated by parades through the streets to lively Irish "tin whistle" music, or by a "ceilidh" or "ceidhle" (pronounced "kaylee"), a boisterous get-together for gossip, jokes, music and dancing. Everyone will be "a-wearing of the green": wearing a bunch of shamrock in their buttonholes in memory of the slave boy who became Ireland's greatest saint.

St. Andrew's Day

30th November

Andrew was the first of the Galilean fishermen whom Jesus called to follow him. The full story is in the first chapters of the Gospels of Mark and John in the New Testament. After Jesus died Andrew travelled as a missionary as far as Russia and then Greece. There, in the city of Patras, he was taken prisoner and condemned to die for being a Christian. He is said to have chosen to be crucified on a cross "saltire" (which means a cross in the shape of the letter X) because he thought he was unworthy to die in the same way as Jesus. This was probably about A. D. 60-70.

His body was taken to Constantinople. Five hundred years later a group of missionary monks set out from there to tell the Scots about Christianity. They took Andrew's body with them as a protection, and an inspiration in their missionary work. When they landed on the east coast of Scotland they set up an altar and founded a settlement, at the place now called St. Andrews.

Because of his missionary work, his martyrdom and the final resting place of his body, Andrew was chosen as patron saint of Russia, Greece and Scotland. Cypriots, too, celebrate St. Andrew's Day, since he brought the news of Christianity to Cyprus. The Scottish flag is Andrew's diagonal cross in white on a blue background, representing the waters in which he worked as a fisherman. His flag is included in the Union Flag.

St. Andrew's Night celebrations are often held in Scotland, and among Scots living in other countries. These include "piping the haggis" into the dining room; the traditional meat dish of a sheep's heart, liver and oatmeal is carried steaming hot into the room to the music of the bagpipes.

The Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad

Muslims are followers of the religion called Islam. They believe in one God, Allah. Muhammad is their Prophet. On his birthday Muslims celebrate by feasting and rejoicing together and retelling the story of his life and beliefs. It is a very important day in the Muslim calendar.

Muhammad was born in A.D. 570 in Mecca, and he led an uneventful life until he was about forty. One day when he was praying alone in a cave, he had a vision of an angel who told him to go out and preach that there was only one God, Allah, and that he, Muhammad, was his prophet who was to reform the world. Muhammad believed that he heard the voice of the angel Gabriel speaking to him, and what he heard was written down and collected to make the 114 chapters of the Holy Book, the Qur'an (Koran). It was completed about twenty years after Muhammad's death.

The Koran taught beliefs which were different from those held by Muhammad's fellow-countrymen until that time. The most important difference was that there was only one God, and that he alone should be worshipped.

Some people kept to the older beliefs and continued to worship idols, and there were clashes between them and the followers of Muhammad, but Muhammad was finally victorious, and he declared Mecca the Holy City of the Muslims. This happened in the year 8 A.H. (A.D. 630). The Muslim calendar is counted from the "hijra" or "hejira", Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622.

Every devout Muslim prays five times daily, facing the Holy City. When possible he worships in a mosque, a Muslim church. A "muezzin" ("summoner") calls people to prayer from the top of a minaret -- a tall tower standing at some distance from the mosque. It is every Muslim's duty and hope to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, in the country we now call Saudi Arabia, at least once in his lifetime.

If you are able to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, you may visit the huge gallery full of Islamic art, beautifully decorated in cool blues, greens, golds and turquoise. It gives you some idea of the careful and intricate way in which Muslims decorate their mosques and minarets.

Ramadan and `Id-al-Fitr'

Ramadan is one of the most important Muslim festivals, the month in which the first revelations of the Koran were made known to Muhammad, the Holy Prophet. The Koran is the sacred book of the Islam religion.

Each time a new moon appears, a new month begins for Muslims. So their year is about ten days shorter than a Christian year, which is based on the movements not of the moon but of the sun. Eventually each Muslim month passes through all the seasons of the year. So Ramadan, although always the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is observed on slightly different dates each year.

The Muslim calendar is counted from the "hejira", Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina in the year Christians call A.D. 622. The European year 1980 was the Muslim year 1400 A.H.

Throughout the whole month of Ramadan faithful Muslims do not eat, drink or smoke from dawn, "when the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night", until sunset. So they may have breakfast very early in the morning, perhaps at four o'clock, then nothing more until dusk. During the month of Ramadan there are no visits to parties or cinemas, and Muslims try to avoid unkind or dishonest thoughts which might lead away from Allah. They read the Holy Book, the Koran, with particular devotion.

In the hot, dry countries of the Middle East and India, the month of Ramadan means great hardship, as no liquid may be drunk through the hottest part of the day. But each year adults and even children (although the young are not obliged to) faithfully do without food and drink all through the daytime hours for a month.

At the end of the month the preacher, the Imam, announces to the worshippers in the mosque that Ramadan is over, when he officially declares that the rim of the new moon has appeared over the horizon.

This is the signal for a great celebration: 'Id-al-Fitr, the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast. For three days there is feasting; Muslims exchange cards and greetings, and give parties. They try to help people in need at this time, and visit the mosque and the graves of dead members of the family. Muslim children look forward excitedly to the festivities, as special foods are eaten: spicy meat and potato pastries called "samosas", deep-fried "pakoras", carrot pudding and squiggly orange sweetmeats called "jalebi". They also receive presents of money and new clothes in brilliant colours and beautiful materials, richly decorated with embroidery and sequins.

Muslim children look forward to the festivities of Td-al-Fitr at the end of the twenty-eight days of Ramadan in much the same way as children in the West look forward to Christmas.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year

late September -- early October

In Biblical times the Hebrews celebrated their New Year in the autumn -- at the end of all their work in the fields. The old year had ended, the new year had begun.

That is why Jews, descendants of the Hebrews, celebrate their New Year in autumn, in September or early October. The date in the English calendar varies from year to year, since the Jewish calendar is based on the moon and the English on the sun. The Hebrews began each new month at a new moon and so there will always be a new moon at Rosh Hashanah.

Like all Jewish festivals, the New Year or Rosh Hashanah actually begins at sunset -- the day lasting until the next sunset. As it gets dark, the holy day and New Year are welcomed in the Jewish home. First, two candles are lit, usually by the mother. Then the father takes a cup of wine, all the family say a blessing over the wine, and then all drink it. Then they say the blessing over a special loaf of bread called a challah. The family follows this ritual every Sabbath eve -- but usually the challah is in the form of a plaited loaf with poppy seeds on top. For Rosh Hashanah a round loaf is used, to show that the seasons go round and New Year is here.

Next comes the sticky part -- all the family take pieces of apple, dip them in honey and say, "May the New Year be for us a good and sweet year". Then all eat the apple -- followed by loud licking of fingers!

Some will go to Synagogue on New Year's Eve, but most will go the following morning. The rabbi and cantor (who leads the singing) wear white robes.

The Torah is the parchment scroll containing the first five books of the Bible. Jews read from it every Sabbath and holy day. The story on Rosh Hashanah tells of God commanding Abraham to take his son, Isaac, and go to a distant mountain to offer him as a sacrifice. In the end Abraham is prevented from killing his son, and instead sacrifices a ram he finds nearby, caught by its long horns in a bush. Some say the story teaches us that God wants us to serve him through life, not death.

We remember the poor ram -- for in every Synagogue a Ram's Horn or Shofar is blown many times on Rosh Hashanah. It not only recalls the story of Abraham and Isaac, but reminds the Jews that it is time to repent of their sins. Ten days after Rosh Hashanah will come Yom Kippur -- the Day of Atonement -- when Jews fast all day, spending most of it in Synagogue and asking God to forgive them for their sins in the past year. Only when they have repented are they ready for a real new year.

After Synagogue on Rosh Hashanah all go home for a festive lunch. The room will be decorated with the New Year cards sent by family and friends. The cards give the same greeting as the family used when meeting their friends after the Synagogue service: "L'shanah Tovah" -- "Have a good New Year".

Diwali, the Hindu New Year

End of October -- beginning of November

Diwali is the Indian New Year, the "Festival of Lights". Various stories are told about Diwali in different parts of India, but the best known is this Hindu event: a prince, Rama, rescued his wife, Sita, from the ten-headed, ten-armed demon king, Ravana.

When they returned in triumph for their coronation they were guided back to their country by thousands of clay lamps (diva or deepa) which the rejoicing people had set out for them.

(Sikhs also celebrate the festival as a reminder of the time when their sixth Guru or spiritual teacher, Hargobind, was released from prison.)

Before the five-day celebrations start, Hindus clean their homes thoroughly, just as the people of the royal city of Ayod-haya cleaned and polished their homes to welcome Rama and Sita. Then the 'deepa' are lit, and their lights can be seen twinkling in the windows to remind people of how the royal couple were guided home.

Several days before Diwali, on a festival called Dussehra, effigies of the demon king Ravana are burnt. On the most important day of Diwali house fronts are lit up, tiny nightlights burn in coloured jars and joss sticks are burnt to perfume the air.

The "deepa" lights also welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. She is said to visit homes which are brightly lit and to ensure their good fortune in the coming year. She is supposed to bring the presents which people give at this time: toys, sweetmeats and new clothes. They also send greeting cards, some of them exquisitely painted on leaves or peacock feathers.

Diwali is a festival of rejoicing because goodness has triumphed over evil, light over darkness. Like all New Year festivals, it is a time of looking forward to the future.

Passover - Pesach

Around Eastertime Jews celebrate their Passover, a festival that existed long before the first Easter. In fact Jesus himself celebrated the Passover shortly before his crucifixion.

The festival, called in Hebrew Pesach, lasts for a week and there are special services in the Synagogue on the first and last days. However, it is a festival celebrated mainly in the home. On the first night (or the first two) families and friends gather for a Seder: a mixture of a service, history lesson and family party.

During the evening everyone (even the children) will drink four glasses of wine as a sign of rejoicing and everyone will eat from the symbolic foods on the table. These are there to remind the Jews of the time (long ago -- about 1250 B.C.) when their ancestors were slaves to Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, and of how Moses, with God's help, rescued them and led them to freedom in their Promised Land. As each of the symbols is displayed or eaten, so another part of the story is told. To start with, the youngest child present asks (in Hebrew) four questions about the Seder, and gradually the answers are given. You will find the questions on page 56.

Parsley is eaten as a reminder of the spring. Before being eaten it is dipped in salt water, a reminder of the tears of the slaves in Egypt, and the Red Sea that parted to allow the Jews to escape. Everyone must eat bitter herbs -- horse -- radish or onion -- to make tears come into their eyes, again a reminder of the tears of the slaves. However, the bitter herbs are dipped into a sweet paste called Charoset (there is a recipe on page 56 for you to make some) that represents the mortar the slaves used to build Pharaoh's cities. The bitter herbs and the sweet paste together remind us that a bitter beginning had a sweet, or happy, ending. On the table (displayed, not eaten) is a roasted lamb bone. It is a reminder of the lambs the ancient Hebrews killed the night before the Exodus from Egypt. Before cooking the lambs they smeared the blood on the doorpost, and the Bible says this saved them from the plague which affected the Egyptians. All the firstborn of the Egyptian families were killed that night, "but the Angel of Death passed over the houses of the Hebrews". This is where the name Passover comes from. Of course, Jews today don't kill a lamb or use its blood, they just tell the ancient story.

Also on the table is a roasted egg- another reminder of spring.

Finally, there is the matzah or unleavened bread. For the whole week of Pesach Jews eat matzah instead of normal bread. It looks (and tastes) like hard water-biscuits. The Bible says that on the day the Hewbrews left Egypt, there wasn't time to let the dough rise before baking, so the Jews had unleavened bread.

Wesak, the Birthday of the Buddha

May

On the festival of Wesak, at the first full moon in May, Buddhists celebrate the birth of the Buddha, his "enlightenment" and his death.

The Buddha (the word means "the enlightened one") was an Indian prince, Gautama, who was born in the sixth century B.C. He left his luxurious palace to live a life of fasting and meditation. By thirty-five he had found a perfect understanding of the meaning of life and had become "enlightened". For the next forty-five years, until his death, he taught his way of thinking to rich and poor, ignorant and learned.

Wesak is rather like Christmas; Buddhists give presents and decorate their houses -- with garlands, lighted candles and lamps. They place flowers before statues of the Buddha and release caged birds in memory of the reverence he gave to all living things.

Part IV

4.1 Religion in the USA

Texts for translation and discussion

1. Religion -- "One Nation, Under God".

Looking at religion in the U.S., we are once more faced with a typically American contradiction. From its very beginnings as a nation, Americans have been extremely careful to separate church and state, religion and government. The Constitution, specifically the First Amendment, forbids the government to give special favors to any religion or to hinder the free practice of any religion. As a result, there are no church taxes in the United States, nor is there an official state church or a state-supported religion. There are no legal or official religious holidays. Christmas, for example, is an important religious holiday for Christians. However, Congress cannot proclaim it, or any other religious observance, to be an official or legal holiday. To do so would violate the Constitution. There are no political parties in the United States that have "Christian" in their names and there are no crosses in courtrooms. The days are long since passed when it was assumed that America was, or should be, "a White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant" (WASP) nation. Yet surveys show that religion continues to be quite important to many Americans, especially when compared with people in other countries. A nationwide poll in 1994 indicated that 59 percent of Americans regard religion as very important in their lives. Still, 69 percent thought religion was losing its influence on U.S. life.

Membership in the so-called "mainline" Protestant churches in the U.S. has actually fallen in the last ten years by about 8 percent. Furthermore, church attendance by Roman Catholics has dropped by about a third during the same period. By contrast, membership in the fundamentalist Christian churches has gone up by 35 percent, and orthodox Jewish congregations have increased by as much as 100 percent. The increase in the fundamentalist Christian groups has attracted much public attention. One reason is that many of these church groups actively publicize their beliefs and try to influence public life and political processes. Many have their own radio or television stations which they and their members finance. Yet overall the fundamentalist churches still represent a minority, even if a very active one, of all American church groups and members. Certainly, the great attention paid by the media in the U.S. to the sex and tax scandals of several fundamentalists and TV "evangelists" greatly damaged the faith their followers had in them.

Due to the strong American tradition of religious freedom, there are a great many beliefs, denominations, and churches in the United States. The Roman Catholic church is by far the single largest denomination, with about 57 million members. Although there are approximately 79 million Americans who might call themselves "Protestants," they are distributed among many different, independent churches. There is no one church or church group that speaks for all Protestants or would be listened to by all. Each group, rather, supports itself. It employs its own ministers, builds its own buildings, and follows its own beliefs.

Although religion plays an important role in the personal lives of many Americans, it has relatively little real influence in political matters. This is especially true at the national level. Some Americans, for example, were afraid that conservative, religious supporters of President Reagan would be able to affect national policies in the 1980s. Today, however, it is clear that these fears were unfounded. The size of America, the tradition of religious toleration, and the is separation of church and state by law, as well as the extreme variety of religious backgrounds of Americans have prevented religion from gaining much influence on politics. Especially in comparison with many other western countries, the influence of religion on public and political institutions in the United States is minimal.

Court cases dealing with such issues as whether a private Catholic hospital can be allowed to place a cross on its own smokestack, or whether Christmas nativity scenes in public places go against the separation of church and state, indicate how seriously this separation is taken.

Patterns of Prejudice Many studies try to determine American patterns of prejudice. In one nationwide poll, for example, Americans were asked to state whether they "would or would not like to have the following groups of people as neighbors". Desirability as Neighbors
	Would welcome (%)	Would not (%)	Not sure (%)
Catholics	94	3	3
Protestants	92	5	3
Jews	91	5	4
Blacks	83	12	5
Koreans	79	14	7
Hispanics	78	16	6
Asian Indians, Pakistanis	78	15	7
Vietnamese	75	18	7
Russians	74	19	7
Unmarried couples	71	23	6
Religious fundamentalists	58	30	12
Religious sects, cults	31	62	7
Source: Gallup/M Times (1989)

4.2 A hard faith

How the new Pope and his predecessor redefined Vatican II

BY PETER J. BOYER

For many Catholics, the white smoke that curled into the Vatican sky in the early evening of April 19th quickly came to be seen as a distress signal. When it was revealed that the new Pope was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who had adopted the name Benedict XVI, Father Richard McBrien, a Notre Dame University theologian interpreting the event for American television, was plainly taken aback Asked his response, McBrien hesitated, and then said, "Surprised".

Such evident discomfort was widely voiced by liberal Catholics, and was reflected in the early portrayals of the new Pope in the press and among the com-mentators. The German Ratzinger was depicted as a rigid dogmatist, whose election foreshadowed possible schism, if not the destruction of the Church. Ratzinger had earned such derision by the fact of his service, nearly a quarter-century long, as the Church's guardian of the faith. In that role, he had enforced Church doctrine with a rigor that many Catholic theologians found chilling. But the animus directed at Ratzinger (who said he had prayed not to be elected) was also aimed, at least implicitly, at the pontificate of the man newly entombed in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope John Paul II. Because Karol Wojtylas outsized presence so neatly suited secular description -- he was the media-age Vatican pope who helped to bring down the Soviet Union -- it had been possible to overlook the radical core of his papacy. His predecessor John XXIII, who began his pontificate by convoking the transformational Second Vatican Council, is credited with opening the Church to the modern world. John Paul II commenced his tenure on a starkly different note. His first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis ("Redeemer of Man"), in 1979, opened with the words that foreshadowed his central theme: "The redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe and of history”. Liberals admired the Pope's ecumenical gestures--his historic visit to the synagogue of Rome, his pilgrimage to Jerusalem's Western Wall, his day of prayer with leaders of the world's other religions at Assisi in 1986 -- but they were dismayed by the publication, in 2000, of Dominus Jesus, the Church's declaration that Jesus Christ is the only true way to salvation.

Vatican II had acknowledged the validity of what is "true and holy" in other religions, which had led the Church toward what John Paul II saw as a dangerous acceptance of religious indifferentism. His 1990 encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, warned against the "incorrect theological perspectives" that led to the idea that "'one religion is as good as another'". The eternal mission of the Church, he wrote, was Christian evangelism to the world.

In an age he constantly decried for its relativism, Wojtyla proclaimed an absolute Truth, based on a fundamentally orthodox theology. Ratzinger's job was to hammer out the administrative details -- punishing dissident theologians, framing the Pope's exclusion of women from the priesthood as infallible teaching, discouraging liturgical novelty, and so on.

It was this fundamentalism of John Paul that Cardinal Ratzinger was defending in his instantly famous homily at the Mass for the election of a new Pope, on April 18th. "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism," he said, "which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires".

The new Pope clearly shares the view of his friend and predecessor that the Church must stand against modernity, to resist what he called "the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties". The West, ever more faithless, is now considered mission territory, but Ratzinger has suggested that the Church itself must first undertake a process of purification.