(NAME-MCE) My Solution to the Problem

Wed Apr 29 01:28:47 CDT 2009

Keeping one's faith in the closet is very different than the school or
government sponsorship of holidays that represent a particular faith or
religion.

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³I will listen to you especially when we disagree.²Barack Obama
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Nicholas Meier, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Education
CSU Monterey Bay
nicholas_meier at csumb.edu
http://www.nicholasmeier.com
(o) 831-582-3536
(h) 831-688-2708 

> From: Bill Howe <bill at billhowe.org>
> Reply-To: NAME LISTSERV <name-mce at nameorg.org>
> Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:50:44 -0400
> To: NAME LISTSERV <name-mce at nameorg.org>
> Subject: Re: (NAME-MCE) My Solution to the Problem
> 
> 
> 
> What do you say to those that claim this is akin to throwing out the
> baby with the bathwater? Can we not have an interfaith society where
> one does not feel they must keep their faith in the closet? Is it not
> possible to enjoy the celebration of all faiths? Some of my best
> friends are Yankees fans. I don't root for their team but we share a
> love of the sport.
> 
> On 4/14/09, Blumenfeld, Warren [C I] <wblumen at iastate.edu> wrote:
>> Dear Bill,
>> 
>> Since you asked about my solution to the problem of religous imposition, I
>> suggest that we continue to ensure that we as a nation respect religion by
>> keeping it within the private sphere, where everyone continues to have the
>> freedom to worship or not as they see fit. But I would propose to keep
>> religion out of the public/governmental spheres. Take it off of our
>> currency, delete it from the pledge of allegiance, take it from our public
>> and governmental celebrations and official functions like the presidential
>> inauguration, congressional gatherings, judicial hearings; and keep it out
>> of the commerical sphere--shopping malls, public street decorations, etc.
>> The commercialization of religion not only cheapens religion, but it also
>> imposes religion on others.
>> 
>> Most of the religious hegemony evident in this country is Christian
>> hegemony. The concept of "hegemony" (Gramsci, 1971) describes the ways in
>> which the dominant group, in this case Christians in general and
>> predominantly Protestants, successfully disseminate dominant social
>> realities and social visions in a manner accepted as common sense, as
>> "normal," as universal. The dominant group (in this instance, Christians)
>> reiterates its values and practices while marginalizing and subordinating
>> those who do not adhere to Christian faith traditions.
>> 
>> Based on Peggy McIntosh's (1988) pioneering investigations of white and male
>> privilege, we can, by analogy, understand Christian privilege as
>> constituting a seemingly invisible, unearned, and largely unacknowledged
>> array of benefits accorded to Christians, with which they often
>> unconsciously walk through life as if effortlessly carrying a knapsack
>> tossed over their shoulders. This system of benefits confers dominance on
>> Christians while subordinating members of other faith communities as well as
>> non-believers. These systemic inequities are pervasive throughout the
>> society. They are encoded into the individual's consciousness and woven into
>> the fabric of our social institutions, resulting in a stratified social
>> order privileging dominant ("agent") groups while restricting and
>> disempowering subordinate ("target") groups.
>> 
>> As there is a spectrum of Christian denominations and traditions, so too is
>> there a hierarchy or continuum of Christian privilege based on 1) historical
>> factors, 2) numbers of practitioners, and 3) degrees of social power. In
>> this regard, in a United States context, though the gap in privilege between
>> Christian denominations is apparently shrinking, white Protestant
>> denominations may still have some greater degrees of Christian privilege,
>> relative to some minority Christian denominations, for example, African
>> American, Latino/a, and Asian churches, Eastern and Greek Orthodox, Amish,
>> Mennonites, Quakers, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, adherents
>> to Christian Science, and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
>> Saints, and still in some quarters, to Catholics.
>> 
>> Religion and spirituality are private matters between individuals and
>> families. Religion and religious practices should not be imposed upon those
>> who do not as members of dominant groups may believe. We truly need to
>> separate religion from government, and religion from the public square.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Warren Blumenfeld
>> 
>> Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:11:24 -0400
>> From: "Bill Howe" <bill at billhowe.org>
>> Subject: Re: (NAME-MCE) U.S. & Christian Privilege
>> To: "'NAME-MCE - National Association for Multicultural Education
>>         EmailDiscussion Group'" <name-mce at nameorg.org>
>> Message-ID: <4E24C406F7F843CEA4C229249A750557 at multicul6c1705>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>> 
>> Warren:
>> 
>> What is your "solution" to this "problem"?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: name-mce-bounces at nameorg.org [mailto:name-mce-bounces at nameorg.org] On
>> Behalf Of Blumenfeld, Warren [C I]
>> Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 12:28 PM
>> To: Blumenfeld, Warren [C I]; name-mce at nameorg.org
>> Subject: (NAME-MCE) U.S. & Christian Privilege
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> U.S. & Christian Privilege
>> 
>> by Warren J. Blumenfeld
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> As spring peers forth from the soil and tree limbs, the annual Easter egg
>> roll, sponsored by the President of the United States and the First Lady,
>> thrills elementary and pre-school age children each year, a tradition
>> dating
>> back to 1879. Introduced by a beautiful rendition by Fergie of the Star
>> Spangled Banner, this year, Barack and Michelle Obama invited 35,000
>> children representing 42 states. Also, in school classrooms throughout the
>> country, students and their teachers dip hardboiled eggs into brightly
>> colored dyes, and display Easter eggs of pink, yellow, blue, green, red,
>> and
>> lavender. An excitement wafts through the classroom as students imagine
>> sharing their treasures with parents or caregivers, as teachers reward the
>> good work of their charges with delicious gleaming chocolate bunnies.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Many people (most likely the majority) consider these events, played out in
>> Washington, DC and in some schools in the United States, as normal,
>> appropriate, and joyous seasonal activities. Upon critical reflection,
>> however, others experience them as some of the many examples of
>> institutional (governmental and educational) (re)enforcements of dominant
>> Christian standards and what is referred to as "Christian privilege,"
>> though
>> presented in presumably secularized forms. They represent some of the ways
>> in which the dominant group (in this instance, Christians) reiterates its
>> values and practices while marginalizing and subordinating those who do not
>> adhere to Christian faith traditions. I ask then, is this country one that
>> truly separates religion from government? If not, how do we make it so?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Warren J. Blumenfeld is co-editor of Investigating Christian Privilege and
>> Religious Oppression in the United States, 2009, Sense Publishers
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
>> Department of Curriculum & Instruction
>> Iowa State University
>> Ames, IA 50011-3192
>> Office Phone: (515) 294-5931
>> Office Fax:     (515) 294-6206
>> Home Phone: (515) 232-8230
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> Sent from my mobile device
> 
> 
> 
> Bill Howe
> Asian Pacific American Coalition of CT http://apaact.com/
> Personal Website http://www.billhowe.org
> Multicultural Dimensions http://www.multiculturaldimensions.org
> Travel Blog http://billhowe.org/BillBlog/
> Multicultural Education Blog http://billhowe.org/MCE/
> 
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