Chaplain's Corner

You may recall the debate that arose in the middle of November when a church in Winnipeg cancelled its agreement with the Mennonite Central Committee group that was planning a fund raising event at the church. The reason for cancelling the agreement:  the leadership of the church found out  that an aboriginal drumming group which smudged as a part of their preparation to perform was scheduled to open the event. In the aftermath of the decision much was said about tolerance, religion, spirituality and inclusion as the media covered the story.

That unanticipated conflict over the spiritual values of the church and the MCC’s choice to include this aboriginal traditional spiritual rite raises a number of questions. But I would like to reflect on just one: What does it mean to practice religious tolerance in a multi-cultural country where members of society embrace a wide variety of spiritualities? This question requires that we understand the distinction between religion and spirituality. One of the First Nations spokespersons who reflected on this situation used the words “religion and spirituality” to insist that if the leaders of the church understood the distinction this conflict wouldn’t exist. I respectfully disagree. Is there a difference between religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs? Well, part of the problem in using the distinction is that too often there  is no agreement on what the terms actually mean.

In previous articles I have defined spirituality as the longing of every human heat to live a meaningful life; the longing to be connected to oneself, others, the natural world and the divine; the longing to live with faith and hope in the face of life’s uncertainties; and the longing to contribute something to the greater good. Religion is any system of belief that has an identifiable and shared set of beliefs, values, rites, rituals, philosophy of life and world view. Many times, one’s religion is a primary means of addressing one’s spirituality. This was the case in the situation that arose in November. The issue was that the spiritualities’ of the church and the drumming group that had been invited to participate in the event were not compatible. Unfortunately, this was discovered just a few days prior to the event, leading to the cancellation.

Equally unfortunate is that this incompatibility resulted in conflict instead of resulting in deeper understanding. Religious and spiritual tolerance does not require that we seek to ignore the differences and incompatibilities, but that we respect and honor each other recognizing the differences and incompatibilities.

Sadly, as I have observed this dynamic at work, there has been unnecessary and disrespectful pressure placed on those who hold to spiritualities and religions that are not compatible to attempt to syncretise as opposed to respect the real and irreconcilable differences.

Maybe I am sensitive to this reality because I work in the field of spiritual care. Many working in my field have worked to sycretize differing spiritualities, trying to find commonalities, similarities and common ground; instead of recognizing them as rightfully and necessarily different. Although there may be fragments of similarity between the Christian Faith and Aboriginal Spiritual Traditions (and other spiritual traditions), they are distinctly different, the locus of worship is different, the core beliefs are different and we shouldn’t expect a Christian congregation to be comfortable allowing the spiritual traditions of our Province’s indigenous people to be practiced in its sacred space.

Possibly the lesson we can all learn from this unfortunate situation is that if a group is organizing  an event and part of the plan is to hold it in the sacred space of one religious tradition, that it shouldn’t assume that it will be acceptable to that group to have practices, rites, or rituals from another spiritual tradition as part of the program. This is part of what it means to respect one another.