Are Jewish sororities going to be pressured/forced by NPC to change their rituals?

[carnation]

I don't think there's anything particularly white about our rituals but yes, many are highly Christian. I have actually seen the rituals of many GLOs because some friends are ritual collectors. Our ritual is not demeaning in any way; it's very...cherishing. I never saw a sorority ritual that wasn't.

But as I've said here before, I wouldn't have pledged AEPhi and demanded soon afterwards that they remove all the Stars of David or sections from their ritual that made me feel uncomfortable. Same with a lot of honor societies I'm in. I remember how distinctly uncomfortable I was 5 minutes into the ceremony. However, I worked hard to get those letters and far be it from me to trash what some people wrote many years ago.

Change is not always necessary or best.

[SWTXBelle]

Many of our groups incorporate Greek gods and goddesses - but how many of our members are practicing members of an ancient Greek religion? We understand their use metaphorically. Short of a ritual that requires a member to be a Christian, I'd argue that those who aren't might be able to regard inclusion of Christian symbolism, etc. in the same vein. YMMV, and I don't know others ritual, obviously, but just the mere inclusion of Christian symbols and readings shouldn't mean that the whole of it requires our members of any creed to have to BE Christian to understand their meaning within the ritual.

[Kevin]

It's a question of whether you want your organization to be inclusive or not. Gamma Gamma Chi can do what it wants, Gamma Phi Beta can do what it wants. What I'm saying is that choosing to do something and choosing to do nothing is a choice--and having better than average knowledge of my organization's history, we suffered a lot as an organization when we refused to allow chapters to initiate non-whites, and while this is definitely a far cry from that, I wonder whether at some point it won't seem such a far cry?

I'm not saying that I pledged and then demanded changes. I've been around awhile and I see the world moving in a certain direction and wonder whether the discussion is worth having, and I, whose opinion matters to no one in my organization, thinks it is a discussion worth having.

[Sciencewoman]

When my sister was a chapter advisor, they had to stop Initiation due to a new member who objected to a religious element and was not sure she wanted to continue...right in the middle of the ceremony, they stopped and called their regional director for guidance. The regional director said she either needed to decide she was OK with participating, or not. With the way recruitment is set up, you really don't have much choice in selecting a group whose religious elements may or may not align with your beliefs, nor do you know for sure how religious any group's SECRET initiation ceremony is ahead of time. Before she told me this, I had so idea there was a strong connection to Christianity with any group's ritual, and it's struck me as quite problematic ever since. Allegory is one thing, but if a group's ritual is based on an expectation of a certain religious belief, initiation isn't the best time to announce that!

[carnation]

I can think of a few jerks who would have done that on purpose just to screw with the sorority. They're the same people who demand other things during membership, like they don't want to ever have to attend chapter because they need to study or they don't want to attend rush workshop because their boyfriend wants them to stay home until the last second of summer and he might be "The One".

(actually based on real stories)

[naraht]

Getting back to Jewish sororities. (I'm a conservative Jew) The degree to which various parts of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes are associated with either specifically Judaism, more with Christianity (even though it is in the Jewish Bible) or almost viewed as Secular varies.

Specifically:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which is most of the lyrics of Turn, Turn, Turn isn't really viewed as Religious by most people,
Psalm 23: (The lord is my Shepherd) seems to be most often used by Christians and
Psalm 137:5-6:If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. I would associate that with a Jewish Sorority...

[Sen's Revenge]

Disappearing posts.

Interesting.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge

Disappearing posts.

Interesting.

FWIW, as far as I can see, any post which has disappeared was deleted by the author.

[Sen's Revenge]

Originally Posted by Kevin

FWIW, as far as I can see, any post which has disappeared was deleted by the author.

I've contacted John about it. I've never been a mod, but I definitely posted something that is no longer there.

[Cookiez17]

A week? I was initiated in the fall and my period was 6 weeks, and that was the cap at my school. We did learn founders, history, symbols, etc. and as my NME said "this will all connect during initiation" and she was right when it was time for the ceremony. And she did mention Christian symbols were used and she simply stated that my org (and others) were made in a different time, and it's fine if it wasn't your personal beliefs. I can't imagine having to rewrite 100+ year old ritual.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

A week? I was initiated in the fall and my period was 6 weeks, and that was the cap at my school.

We are exaggerating. Please don't take it literally.

[Cookiez17]

Oh no of course but I've heard of schools widdling down their new member periods to a week.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

Oh no of course but I've heard of schools widdling down their new member periods to a week.

Sigh, Cookiez, no you haven't or if you have heard such rank misinformation, you should have known better than to believe it. This is not true for any NPC group. And we are specifically talking about NPC here.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by thetalady

Sigh, Cookiez, no you haven't or if you have heard such rank misinformation, you should have known better than to believe it. This is not true for any NPC group. And we are specifically talking about NPC here.

She may be thinking of those fraternities that initiate right after bid acceptance (?).

[FSUZeta]

Back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth, pledge periods lasted an entire quarter/semester. Those of us who put on our best animal skins and ambled over the sorority cave for our pledge meetings feel that we were much better prepared for initiation. We had a thorough knowledge of our orgs and histories, as well as the other orgs on campus. We learned the greek alphabet, the names of the other fraternities and sororities on campus, the abbreviations of those names, their badges and pledge pins and had to be able to recognize them on sight. We even learned where each fraternity and sorority on campus was founded and each founding date. Then a couple of sororities decided to shorten their pledge periods, and the other orgs joined suit-many, or all, without consulting their constituency. So we get new members who have a "skim the surface"knowledge of his/her org's history and initiates who are surprised to find out that their chosen orgs had a distinct religious persuasion.