What Is True Religion?

I'm taking a class based on Manna and Mercy by Daniel Erlander.

It's a great book, written in comic-book style, with a very serious purpose. 

Erlander's intent is to explore the history of God with human beings, viewed through the prism (point-of-view) of Jesus. 

Although Manna and Mercy was published in 1992, it remains almost preternaturally relevant today, especially given the division in Western culture, along with its growing diversity.

Towards the end of the first class meeting, in response to a final question, I scribbled an answer:  "Is religion a response to our life? Is religion an attempt to explain our situation?"

Merriam-Webster's definition of religion is, "a belief in god or gods. an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies and rules used to worship god or a group of gods."

So, at its core, religion seeks to establish a belief and a system with the goal of worshipping God.

Religion then isn't primarily interested in replicating itself, competing with or dominating a culture or political system. In fact, it would seem that religion's true purpose is antithetical to anything other than worshipping God.

The twist is that human beings enmeshed in western culture have a difficult time dealing with spiritual things. Since the Enlightenment (17th to 19th centuries), we're been more centered on the material and practical. Down to its 21st Century evolution: Success vs. Soul.

If you'd like a Biblical take on the subject, James 1:27 is a great place to begin. That scripture reads: "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." NLT. 

According to James, genuine religion is other-centered, loving and serving. It isn't at all interested in proselyting, converting or coercing people into a particular belief system.

If you're more of an Old Testament sort of person, then you might be interested in what Micah had to say: "What does the Lord require of you but to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before your God." (Micah 6:8 NIV). 

I really like The Message version of this verse: "But God's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love..."

What Jesus may have looked like

My personal favorite on this subject is recorded in Luke as coming straight from the mouth of Jesus. "One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: 'Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'" (Luke 10:25). 

Jesus replied: "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"

The man answered: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

"Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live." Luke: 26-28 NLT).

Matthew contains perhaps the ultimately succinct version of Jesus' take on religion: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:36-40 NIV).

So, it turns out that my hastily scribbled answer as to the purpose of religion (see the fifth paragraph above) wasn't the right one! 

A more biblical, Jesus-focused answer would be: True religion is centered in love and focused in relationship. 

Meet Dr. Sharon Carlson, Director of WMU's Archives & Regional History Collections

“It’s a huge misconception that we’re only here for the University,” says Dr. Sharon Carlson, Professor and Director of the Archives and Regional History Collections (ARHC) at Western Michigan University (WMU).

Another misconception may very well be the extent of the ARHC holdings!

The Archives and Regional History Collections are housed within the Zhang Legacy Collections Center off of Oakland Drive, along WMU’s eastern campus. The bulk of archival storage space at the ARHC consists of nine double-sided units that are 32 feet tall and 57 feet long. In fact, staff use a special forklift to make full use of them!

Holdings include the Kalamazoo Gazette archives, over one million photographic images including negatives, digitalized journals from the Civil War, business and organizational records (like those of the Kalamazoo Genealogical Society, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine, Arts Council of Kalamazoo Upjohn Company and several paper companies that had their roots in Kalamazoo).

Dr. Carlson points out that visual resources include the Ward Morgan Collection of over 26,000 photographic negatives that give insight into companies and products made in Kalamazoo from 1929-1980. The same collection contains more than 500 images highlighting the contribution of women to industrial production during WWII, which have been digitalized.

“Libraries are changing,” says Dr. Carlson, hence the digitalization of records and photographs making them accessible on-line. 

The ARHC houses the French-Michilimackinaw Research & Translation Project, which is the largest collection in the United States of microfilmed French documents about the history of European settlement in the Great Lakes and North America.

And the ARHC holds the records of the Kalamazoo Ladies’ Library Association, which has the distinction of being the first women’s organization in the United States to build a clubhouse (in 1878.)

An oral history collection includes interviews that document the experiences of African-Americans, Native Americans and Mexican Americans who lived in Kalamazoo.

As you might expect, the Archives and Regional History Collections are very much a public resource, shared with several historical organizations, including the Kalamazoo County Historical Society, Oshtemo Historical Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Kalamazoo Valley Genealogical Society.

All of this is to say that Dr. Carlson, along with four full-time staff and part-time WMU students working in the ARHC are very busy people!

“My work is very different and very interesting,” she says. “It seems like there’s never enough time to work with all the collections (within the ARHC).”

Dr. Carlson’s own interest in history began when she was growing up in Shelbyville. “I’ve always been interested in the places I’ve lived.” 

So, because her parents met while attending WMU and were well aware of its resources, they took Dr. Carlson to Waldo Library to research her home.

“I’m a product of WMU,” she says, noting that several family members claim WMU as their alma mater. Dr. Carlson has been employed by WMU for 35 years, most recently as the Director of the Archives and Regional History Collections.

She has a library science degree and was originally hired as an archivist. She subsequently earned a Ph.D. in history. Dr. Carlson also has a master’s degree in public administration and teaches archival administration.

With such a broad range of academic experience, Dr. Carlson advises that the type of degree a person chooses who is interested in her field should partially depend upon where you’d like to work after graduation. She points out that a degree in library science offers job flexibility.

Dr. Carlson’s love of learning and for the career she has chosen are evident in her conversation. For her, history goes well beyond a series of dates and isolated events. “When you make history personal, it makes a difference.”


To access the Archives and Regional History Collections' on-line click here 

For information on ARHC's hours and parking, check here

The Ungrateful Refugee by Diana Nayeri: A Review

Diana Nayeri

I began reading THE UNGRATEFUL REFUGEE while spending five hours in the emergency room of a veterinary hospital with my cat Buddy. Nonetheless, Diana Nayeri's story kept me riveted to the page.

THE UNGRATEFUL REFUGEE is a telling of Nayeri's experience as an immigrant, intertwined with a more objective look at this extremely complex subject.

At its best Nayeri captures the unique aroma of her family's escape from Iran and her fraught relationship with her father and mother. At its not-so-best Nayeri tends to reexplain the heart of the matter, diluting its powerful truth.

At times Nayeri's brilliance comes through when she seems to break free of the past, and of a writing style that can inhibit the flow of her natural ability to tell a story.

Towards the very end, Nayeri's analytical abilities and sheer intelligence radiate.

Take for example this snippet: "Originality is the privilege of the educated. And yet, when the refugee refuses to be original or specific, her story fails; she is sent away. If, in her terror and her shame, her memory alters or embellishes, collapsing ten years of suffering into a year, or changing a lost hand to a lot arm, it is because she knows that if you were transported to her home, you'd see hangings, shootings, beheadings. You'd say: 'Get the hell out.'"

Nayeri has harsh words for reporters and news pundits covering immigration. "Here is the biggest lie in the refugee crisis. It isn't the faulty individual stories. It is the language of disaster often used to describe incoming refugees - deluge or flood or swarm. These words are lies."

She calls out news outlets who "report total asylum requests as a proxy for asylum seekers," noting this doesn't account for second requests.

She accurately reports the historic scope of the situation, however, citing United Nations High Commission for Refugee data from 2017 - 68 million people displaced worldwide, 40 million of these individuals internally displaced, 25 million being refugees, and three million asylum seekers. 2018 data from UNHCR reports 70.8 million individuals being forcibly displaced worldwide due to persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. The highest displacement figure on record. Of these individuals 25.9 million are refugees, 41.3 million are internally displaced and 3.5 million are asylum seekers.

Despite these historic levels, Nayeri points out that most refugees go to neighboring countries "Only a few million try for Europe, and yet, everyone thinks that Syria and Afghanistan and Iraq are emptying into the West."

Nayeri says that "Our shame [on the part of immigrants] has helped create a cynical, sedated world wherein being a fully realized human is the privilege of whites, Christians, and the native-born."

"Nativist fury, not an exile's pleas for rescue, is the irrational spectacle, the unearned reaction, in today's refugee narrative."