All In Good
Faith
As
Thanksgiving approaches, we are reminded of why the Pilgrims left their
homeland and sailed to an uncertain future in the New World. Their sacrifice began
the struggle toward religious freedom in this country. A study of religious
diversity and tolerance in today¹s world could be a topic of interest this time
of year as we move into the holiday season. I¹ve compiled a variety of
resources below to assist in your program should you be interested in this
topic. (Refer to my Diversity
Awareness webpage for resources on cultural diversity.)
Study of the world's religions will lead to an
understanding of religious diversity.
Understanding of religion will lead to
inter-religious dialogue.
Dialogue will lead to peace among religions.
Peace among religions will
lead to peace among the nations.
(Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance)
The
Constitution of GSUSA states, ³The motivating force in Girl Scouting is
spiritual. The ways in which members identify and fulfill their spiritual
beliefs are personal and private.² Before pursuing a religious topic with your
girls, please review the Spirituality/Religious Policy of GSUSA from the ³2006
Blue Book of Basic Documents² provided below. Also refer to Guidelines For
Sensitive Issues
listed on page 40 of Safety Wise.
Girl Scouts of the
USA makes no attempt to define or interpret the word ³God² in the Girl Scout
Promise. It looks to individual members to establish for themselves the nature
of their spiritual beliefs. When making the Girl Scout Promise, individuals may
substitute wording appropriate to their own spiritual beliefs for the word
³God.²
Girls are encouraged
and helped through the Girl Scout program to become better members of their own
religious group, but every Girl Scout group must recognize that religious
instruction is the responsibility of parents and religious leaders.
Every Girl Scout
group shall respect the varying religious opinions and practices of its
membership in planning and conducting activities. When a Girl Scout troop is sponsored
by one religious group, members of different faiths or religious affiliations
within the troop shall not be required to take part in religious observance of
the sponsoring group.
GSUSA provides guidance on Teaching
Girls Respect for Diversity: Our Basic American Values (2003 internet
archives). A tool kit entitled, Building
Partnerships with Religious Institutions provides additional insight.
GSUSA provides guidance to leaders using Songs of Thanks and
Grace while avoiding ³songs that might be offensive to religious or ethnic
groups². If you have a diversity of religious beliefs in your Girl Scout
family, select a nondenominational
grace (compiled by Sue Wichers of Merritt Island). Leaders can also refer
to the National Jewish GS Committee¹s listing of Blessings, Graces and
Prayers for Girl Scouts.
A document entitled ³All in Good Faith: Girl
Scouts and the Religious Community Working Together² was published by GSUSA in
2003 to provide guidance on religious issues, and included the following FAQ¹s:
Q. Can a Girl work on a religious award during a
troop/group meeting?
A. Normally a girl should work on her religious
award outside of the troop/group meeting. However, if one of the requirements
is a service project, and all the girls are working on their respective
religious awards, they may choose to do a group project instead of working on
their own.
Q. Is it appropriate for girls to say a grace
before meals at troop/group events?
A. Since not all faiths may have the custom of
saying a grace before meals, the troop/group leaders can ask girls what their
custom is at home and give each girl the opportunity to take turns sharing that
custom at a meeting.
WAGGGS¹
Exploring Spirituality Program
³The
recognition of a spiritual dimension to life is one of the universal core
values of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. These values
are at the heart of the Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting Movement.² Exploring
Spirituality (Modules 1-4, 5-9, 10) is a WAGGGS
kit which ³invites Girl Guides/Girl Scouts throughout the world to explore
their understanding of spirituality and to learn from each other as they do so.
. . This document is designed for trainers/leaders and the activities are
directed towards young adults. . .
It¹s aim is to highlight and concentrate on the spiritual development of
each individual.²
WAGGGS describes the purpose of their Exploring
Spirituality program below:
Many leaders are looking for new ways of
helping young people grow spiritually. In today¹s multi-cultural and
ever-changing society, this is no easy task. Without proper guidance some
leaders have tended to impose moral and religious attitudes on young people.
This document is not a religious document.
It¹s aim is to highlight and concentrate on the spiritual development of each
individual Girl Guide/Girl Scout through:
1.
strengthening
the spiritual dimension in Girl Guides/Girl Scouts.
2.
introducing
the user to the experience of spirituality around the world.
3.
encouraging
the exploration of the nature of spirituality both in the life of an individual
and of communities
The
five major world religions each have a religious
occasion that is celebrated during (or close to) the holiday season. Dates
vary from year to year for many of those listed because of the calendars used
by the respective religions. The below dates are for 2007. (Additional activity
resources are provided through links at the bottom of this page.)
Shelly McIntosh, a leader from Arizona,
shares her thoughts on being sensitive to girls¹ religious diversity during the
holiday season. (Also, read a GS alumnae¹s story of A
Lesson in Love and Understanding.)
We had 6 new girls join our troop this year. One of them happens to be Jewish. It hadn't come up before but I wanted to make certain that however we handled the holidays, ALL our girls felt included and NO ONE felt excluded. We do NOT get into discussions of specific beliefs in our troop but I did think it might be appropriate to discuss TRADITIONS.
We are scheduled to go to a hotel and
decorate Gingerbread houses in their conference room at a meeting in December.
After the Gingerbread houses are done, the hotel will serve the girls pizza and
we will have our holiday party at that time. I am pretty sure the hotel will
have a Christmas tree display and since we have had Christmas parties in the
past, it is possible that the kids will refer to this as a Christmas party,
although it is actually a holiday party.
I didn't agonize over this but I did think
about it carefully. I finally sent an email to the stepmother of the girl who
is Jewish. I asked her if her daughter would feel comfortable with this field
trip. And then I asked if she would feel comfortable if we did a Chanukah craft
at the meeting prior to the field trip. I also suggested that the troop would
be happy to learn about any Chanukah traditions her daughter would be willing to
share (but that she should not feel PRESSURED to share in any way).
I was so happy I sent the email when I
received the response! They are so happy that I was considering their
daughter's beliefs and feelings. They said that while she doesn't celebrate
Christmas, she is not uncomfortable about it at all and our field trip will be
great. She is a little nervous about talking to the kids at the troop but her
parents are going to come with her and help. They will teach everyone how to
play the dreidel game and we will all make two crafts - a Menorah wall hanging
out of felt (the "flames" will be attached with Velcro so they can be
"lit") and we will paint wooden dreidels I found at a craft store.
I feel good about this - it reinforced my
belief that when I am confused about the best way to proceed and my motives are
entirely about being sensitive and considerate of someone else's beliefs or
feelings, the best thing to do is just SAY that directly to the person and see
what they thinkŠ I do think STRONGLY that as long as we are really honest and
our intentions are to be respectful, we aren't likely to offend anyone. I have
found personally that if I assume things or try to complicate things or the big
"avoid things" - that is when I make things harder.
If they had preferred we didn't identify
their daughter as not being Christian, that would have been okay. If they had
preferred she not be involved in the Gingerbread decorating, that would have
been fine. Whatever they wanted, I wanted to be sensitive to what the child and
parents wanted.
When your area has a high
diversity of cultures, your girls might like to celebrate what you all have in
common as Julie from New York suggests:
In my neck of the woods (and there are very few woods left around here)
a Girl Scout "Christmas" Party with Santa Claus and reindeer would
offend a lot of people, including many who celebrate the holiday. There are just so many cultures, faiths
and traditions in our area, focusing on just one would never be fair (media
advertising not withstanding).
Girls in our area celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan,
Biram, you name it (often a family celebrates two of the above).
A few years ago my troop decided that
instead of a December holiday party we would have a solstice celebration. The
girls researched how different countries and cultures marked the return of the
sun at the winter solstice, and we had a small celebration, which include
aspects of many of the things they learned about. It was very moving and even though they were only in fifth
grade, they got a lot out of it. It's a nice way to bring all the modern
holidays into the mix too as in some way they all involve light. Happy Solstice
-however you celebrate it.
A
Ten Commandment Hike
introduces girls to a variety of religions by stopping at 10 separate houses of
worship. This program was successfully organized for Boy Scout and Girl Scout
troops in Orlando for a number of years. If interested in planning a program of
this nature, you may want to refer to the reasons that the event was discontinued
in 2000. Other regions have continued this program, which is primarily
organized by Boy Scouts since religion is a part of the BSA program.
To
help girls appreciate diversity during the holidays, Lynn in California shares
her ideas. . .
My first year (Brownies) I had everyone
bring something that their family uses during celebrations in December. Since
we didn't have any Jewish girls in the troop, I brought dreidels to share with
the girls & told them the story of Hannakah. We have learned a bit about
the festival of lights (Diwali - Hindu), Hannakah and Christmas. We do not make
items, exchange gifts or sing (except they taught me the dreidel song.) I have
shared about Rammadan when it is celebrated (Nov. 6 is the first day this
year.) We do not fast nor share in the Buka Puasa spread.
Another year everyone brought something in
how they celebrate the New Year. In January we celebrated Tet (Chinese New
Year) learning the difference between the Chinese & Vietnamese calendars
(must have been the year of the Cat or Rabbit - only a few differ.) The
Japanese have changed their New Year's celebration (3 days) from the lunar
calendar to start Jan. 1st. So we've had black-eyed peas (rather Southern USA),
various Asian sweets, and flowering plants.
Each year we celebrate different holidays
from different countries. After they pick their Thinking Day country I try to
have each of those holidays throughout our meetings - some are earlier or later
than the calendar year due to the decision making. We've made lanterns, learned
about the moon & stars, made kites, celebrated dolls, cooked ANZAC
biscuits, and eaten a variety of sweets while doing so. However, we don't hold
parties per se.
Thelma
in Texas shares how her troop won the Grand Prize (!!) in their local Christmas
parade with a religiously diverse theme. . .
My troop entered the annual town holiday parade. The theme was "A Cartoon Christmas". That year, most of the other major religious observances were close to the same time. We did "Ms. Frizzle explores winter holidays with the Magic Schoolbus". My van got covered with yellow paper and we had Santa Claus, a Christmas tree, Kwanzaa symbols, something to do with Ramadan and a menorah all over it, as well as tinsel, ornaments, etc. The girls dressed up as the schoolkids. We had girls who celebrated all these religions and got to share with each other a little. Someone along the route asked if I was a particular religion. My reply was, "No, we're just trying to include everyone!"
The
below Jewish version of the Left/Right
Gift Exchange Story was written by Doreen¹s family in California. (Girls
set in a circle, each with one gift on her lap. All pass gifts to the left or
right according to the cues in the story. Pause before reading the last section
to be sure that the gifts are evenly distributed, then continue reading slowly.
When the story ends, the girls get to open the gift left on their lap.)
Chanukah was almost here and Ema (Mother)
Wrightstein was just about finished decorating her home. Abba (Father)
Wrightstein and Moishe Wrightstein just finished polishing the menorahs.
"There is not much left to be
done!" said Abba Wrightstein as he came into the kitchen.
"Did you hang the dreidels where I told you
to?" asked Ema Wrightstein.
"I left them right where you told
me," said Abba Wrightstein.
"I hope we have enough candles to last
eight nights. I barely have any
candles left," exclaimed Moishe Wrightstein.
The phone rang and
Hannah Wrightstein answered it. She came running right back into the kitchen
exclaiming, "Aunt Vivian told us she left some potatoes
for us on Bubbie's porch! I'll go right there and get
them," she said as she left the house.
After Hannah Wrightstein returned, Ema
Wrightstein, Abba Wrightstein, and Moishe Wrightstein began to peel the
potatoes for latkes. The entire Wrightstein family sang Chanukah songs as they
finished preparing potatoes. The potato peelings were left in the sink.
Then they left all of the latkes sizzling in the pan, hoping they had chosen the
right potatoes for the day.
If
interested in any of the below council-own programs, contact the council first
for permission and ordering information:
Programs of Religious Activities with Youth
(PRAY) offers a number of religious awards to ³encourage the spiritual growth
of young people². Girls normally work with representatives of their individual
religious organization to earn these awards. Check the current PRAY News Bulletin for Girl Scouts
for updates. Middle school girls may find that many of the Religious Award
program requirements will be completed as they work towards their Confirmation
or Batmitzvah.
*Note
on Catholic Awards: ³The National Catholic Committee requires that adults who
facilitate the Catholic Awards must receive training and authorization from
their diocese.² In addition, ³some Catholic Dioceses have their own awards for
some levels of Girl Scouting and do not promote all the national awards.² The National Catholic Committee for Girl
Scouts and Campfire lists area contact information. The National Catholic Committee on Scouting may
also be of assistance.
A selection of patch programs available through
religious organizations include:
Patchwork
Designs offers a Happy
Holidays Patch Program for those who wish to do activities relating to Christmas,
Hanukkah, and Kwanza during the winter holiday season. A number of
participation patches are also available through various sources, including:
·
GS
Sunday, GS
Sabbath, GS
Shabbat patches (GSUSA)
·
Youth
Sunday and various Faith
patches (Advantage)
·
Faith
patches (PatchSales.com)
·
Service
to God patch (Joycrest)
·
Faith charm and pendant
(Design-it)
The Pluralism Project provides a State-by-State Map of
religious resources in the U.S. (including a report on the Religious Life
in Orlando, Florida (1900-1999)) and Religious Diversity News
headlines. The mission of this project by Harvard
University¹s Committee on the Study of Religion is to
³help Americans engage with the realities of religious diversity through
research, outreach, and the active dissemination of resources.² They explain
further:
In the past thirty years the religious landscape of the United States has changed radically. There are Islamic centers and mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples and meditation centers in virtually every major American city. The encounter between people of very different religious traditions takes place in the proximity of our own cities and neighborhoods. The results of the 2000 census underscore the tremendous scope of ethnic change in our society, but tell us little about its religious dimensions or its religious significance.
Pluralism has long been a generative
strand of American ideology. Mere diversity or plurality alone, however, does
not constitute pluralism. There is lively debate over the implications of our
multicultural and multi-religious society in civic, religious, and educational
institutions. How we appropriate plurality to shape a positive pluralism is one
of the most important questions American society faces in the years ahead. It
will require all of us to know much more about the new religious landscape of
America than we presently know. . .
. . . [There are] roughly 17 million people, over 6 percent of the population, practicing diverse religious traditions within the U.S.. . . [Although the U.S. Census did not collect religious statistics and information from religious organizations may sometimes be inflated, they estimate that in the year 2000 there were approximately 200 million Christians, 6 million Jews, 5 million Muslims, 3 million Buddhists, 1 million Hindus, 750 thousand Pagans, 750 thousand Baha¹is, and 250 thousand Sikhs living in the United States.]
Using
the statistics provided in the article Who
Lives in the Global Village? by Donella H. Meadows, a breakout of the
world¹s religions might be roughly estimated as: 33% Christian, 18% Moslems,
13% Hindus, 6% Buddhists, less than 1% Jewish and 8% other religions. Of the
remaining population, 17% are listed as non-religious and 4% as atheists.
The
following excerpt is from the book description of, A New Religious
America - How a Christian Country Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse
Nation by Diana L. Eck:
"The United States is
the most religiously diverse nation in the world," leading religious
scholar Diana Eck writes in this eye-opening guide to the religious realities
of America today. The Immigration Act of 1965 eliminated the quotas linking
immigration to national origins. Since then, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs,
Jams, Zoroastrians, and new varieties of Jews and Catholics have arrived from
every part of the globe, radically altering the religious landscape of the
United States. Members of the world's religions live not just on the other side
of the world but in our neighborhoods; Hindu children go to school with Jewish
children; Muslims, Buddhists, and Sikhs work side-by-side with Protestants and
Catholics. . .
How Americans of all faiths and beliefs can
engage with one another to shape a positive pluralism is one of the essential
questions -- perhaps the most important facing American society. While race has
been the dominant American social issue in the past century, religious
diversity in our civil and neighborly lives is emerging, mostly unseen, as the
great challenge of the twenty-first century. . .
GSUSA
suggests ways for Girl Scouts to achieve pluralism through the four program
goals on pages 12-13 of the Cadette Girl Scout Handbook, which reads in part:
To live together happily in a country as
diverse as America, members of the society need to take pride in their own
cultural heritages while developing understanding, respect, and appreciation for
the cultures, races, and religions of others.
The American ideal is to become a
pluralistic society. In a pluralistic society, people of different backgrounds
live and work in harmony, joined by the common bond of being citizens of the United
States. Valuing human life in all its diversity is at the core of pluralism.
Living, working, planning, and solving problems together bring us closer to a
pluralistic society.
Diversity is like a mosaic of people of
different sizes, shapes, colors, ages, religions, genders, and abilities who
live together side by side. Pluralism, however, is like a kaleidoscope where
these differences interact with one another, form relationships, and become
changed for the better.
The steps toward pluralism follow the four
Girl Scout program goals for girls:
·
Developing
Self-Potential (Pluralism Goal: To develop pride in one's own cultural
heritage.)
·
Relating
to Others (Pluralism Goal: To encourage understanding and appreciation of people
from all cultures, races, and religions.)
·
Developing
Values (Pluralism Goal: To promote actions and decisions that show a respect
for all people.)
·
Contributing
to Society (Pluralism Goal: To work in cooperation with others for the
community benefit -- especially in ways that eliminate discrimination and
promote diverse people working or playing together.)
³Girl Guides of Canada is working hard with other cultures to make sure that there
are acceptable uniform pieces available. Girls of the Muslim faith may special
order conservative uniforms as pictured in the GGC catalog.²
A multi-cultural Razanne doll
gives Muslim girls an alternative to Barbie and comes with a conservative Muslim Scout uniform
similar in style to that offered to Canadian Guides.