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Sunday: July 16: 11AM Religion, Culture and Nationality;
Spiritual Dimensions |
Lakeshore Interfaith Institute /Mothers Trust is pleased to host
Carol Anderson, Phd and Kiran Cunningham, PhD for a thought provoking
discussionof how Culture and Nationality give unique characteristics to
religions born on another soils. Religious beliefs seldom remain monolithic and the values and
the values and life outlooks of a
people or nation will usually modify and transform the teachings
of a new religion coming from a different culture. Examples of this are
everywhere; Catholisism in Central America has become a fusion of Indigeous
and Christian spirituality with the Virgin of Guadalupe, now the Patroness
of the Americas, as a prime example. African religions, such as Ibo and
Yoruba, brought to the New World by Africans in the17th century, fused
with Catholic teachings to become Santeria and Candomble , now an important
religious movements in Cuba and parts of Brazil. The Christianity
brought by missionaries to India and Africa have exibited the same trajectories
of modification. Hinduism in its American expression by Euro-Americans
has many manifestations, almost none of which closely resemble the Hinduism
in India. With serious talk about'The Clash of Civilizations' ie; between
Islam and "The West", it is very important to remember that Islam in America
and Europe will soon become subject to the same cultural and national
transformations as have been experienced elsewhere with other religious
movements. To embrace this inevitable fusion rather than suspect it can
have very positive results . Dr Cunningham teaches Anthropology
at Kalamazoo College and works with the Tagore/ Gandhi Foundation in Calcutta,
India. Dr Anderson teaches World Religions at Kalamazoo College and has
done extensive research on Buddhism in Sri Lanka This will be an
interactive program with ample time for questions and discussion from
participants. ALL ARE WELCOME!!
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