Religion and Cultural Appropriation

[agricola]

Agri, I think I must be tending toward syncretism. Thankfully, from what you tell us, the Jews don't think I'm going to hell for it, since y'all don't believe in one, right?

Jews don't really care much about what non-Jews believe. Enjoy.
Just - it is possible that whatever you think you 'need' from a completely different faith, which you aren't getting from your own (broadly defined) religion, probably DOES exist within your own (broadly defined) religion, and because it is there already, you could simply pull on THAT, instead of picking up random bits and pieces divorced from their own context, and randomly patching up your own personal faith....'syncretism' is like patching your old car with random truck parts and pieces of somebody's discarded dining set, instead of actually FIXING it with aftermarket proper pieces. So to speak.

Christianity, as a faith, however, kinda builds on that in a way. Depending on how much you believe about Christmas being Saturnalia and Easter being a fertility goddess and Christmas trees are something about Odin.

(I don't think 'syncretism', in other words, is actually STRANGE. I think it is actually fairly normal to some extent. But it is also - to some extent - appropriation.)

Purim is possibly something 'syncretic', actually. Not that I'd ever say so at Purim.

Or possibly the British thinking of 'curry' as something thoroughly British.

[gordie91]

I think Agri's distinction about appreciation and appropriation and her examples are very good and provide a good place to start when determining which category one may fall into.

When talking about syncretistic religions, from my perspective, those have been spoken of in the context of historical heresies. For instance, I was discussing with a cradle orthodox this past Sunday about Easter. For us this past Sunday was Palm Sunday and that Easter or Pascha (look familiar?) is next Sunday. He was talking about how it is difficult sometimes to explain to people and so most of the time he just assumes the other person observes Easter and will wish them a happy Easter. But then he said something that sounded interesting to me and that was, the bunny is pagan we look at that as pagan. He and his family never viewed this time of year in the context of a Bunny. His parents were Greek immigrants and he was born here in America. So, I suppose, those from the old country do not understand the concept of the Easter Bunny and have not utilized that cultural aspect of American life.

[Ivy]

Jews don't really care much about what non-Jews believe. Enjoy.

Nice.

I AM sincerely grateful they don't evangelize.

[B.H.]

I hear about cultural appropriation a lot and wonder how this relates to religious beliefs. Can a religion be appropriated when it should not be? For example, if you were not raised as a Buddhist, is it cultural appropriation to study Buddhism later in life and declare yourself a Buddhist? Or any other religion?

What an interesting question. I wonder if the most informative thing to do would be to ask someone from a particular religion to see how they feel about it, or how they were received if they converted from another faith. BH or Agri might be able to speak to this issue.

Someone I read once, years ago.....wish I could remember who it was*.....felt that one should best stay and work within whatever religion they were born into. Whoever it was had probably never heard of the cofc.

*maybe it was the Dalai Lama.

It was William James.

[Ivy]

My thought, for whatever it's worth: The idea of appropriation is probably best discussed with someone in the particular culture one wants to share in.

I just recently saw where people need to avoid using white sage, etc. as a cleansing method unless one is indigenous. I guess I will use
up the sage I have or send to a native friend, or at least ask her about it.

I could probably use some of the mountain herbs from the Appalachians and be ok.