{"id":7782,"date":"2002-12-15T18:59:27","date_gmt":"2002-12-15T22:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7782"},"modified":"2018-12-27T17:17:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T21:17:49","slug":"christianity-judaism-and-atheism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7782","title":{"rendered":"Christianity, Judaism and Atheism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christianity\u2014Molly King<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molly believes that spirituality is the one thing that joins\nall religions. She read an adaptation of a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi\u2014\u201cLord\nmake me an instrument of your peace\u2026\u201d\u2014and said she tries to live by its\nadmonitions. She finds spirituality is a source of energy. For her as a\nChristian, spirituality means following the example of Jesus. She concluded\nwith another well-known reading, the Desiderata<\/em>, that\nhangs in her home: \u201cGo placidly amidst the noise and haste\u2026 .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atheism\u2014Mary Ann Zeppatello<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary Ann defines herself as an atheist and describes her\nspirituality as that of a humanist. She cannot identify with religion because\nof what has been done in the name of religion. Her ethical and moral principles\nhave led her to be active in antiwar and environmental causes. She explained\nher spirituality as \u201cmy connections with every other being and living thing in\nthe world.\u201d Rather than attending a religious service, she practices\nspirituality in other ways, such as by meditating while skiing or by writing a\nletter to a politician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judaism\u2014Jeanette Powell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeanette noted that each woman probably has a different\ndefinition for spirituality<\/em>, but that\nspirituality is the one thing that unites all women across faith boundaries.\nShe said that Judaism is not known for its spirituality; it is a concrete and\nobservant tradition. For Jeanette, spirituality means focusing on her mission\nin life and staying connected to the Creator. She finds one of the more\nmeaningful Jewish traditions to be the morning prayer, in which she praises\nGod, gives thanks for another day, and sanctifies the day to make it holy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We broke up into small groups for discussions on\nspirituality. The questions focused on: How do we know our spirituality, that\nis, does it come from feelings, beliefs and\/or activities? What are our daily\nor weekly spiritual practices? How does spirituality help us cope at time of\npersonal challenge or when others in our religious or ethnic group do something\nwe view as being wrong? How does spirituality affect us when we are being\nwronged, the object of persecution, or not being heard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the attendees asked for more information about the\nmorning prayer that Jeanette mentioned. She explained that the reading includes\nprayers and praise, interspersed with directions to look inward and reflect on\nyour body and health, your outlook on life, the needs of the world, and your\npurpose in life. Three examples of the prayers are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    \u201cModeh ani l\u2019fanecha. I give thanks to You,\nliving and eternal King, for You have returned my soul within me with compassion.\nAbundant is your faithfulness.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    \u201cBlessed are You, Eternal our God, who\nheals all flesh and acts wondrously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    \u201cMy\nGod, the soul You placed within me is pure.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian and Jewish women spoke about their personal spirituality, and an atheist described her spirituality as that of a humanist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,17],"class_list":["post-7782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-christianity","tag-judaism",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7782"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8538,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782\/revisions\/8538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}