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

[TriDeltaSallie]

Originally Posted by VioletsAreBlue

I hate to be naive, and I am not as involved as others but --

Ritual is sacred. It is meant to be a privelege only to those members. How does NPC even know what religious elements exist in initiation, new member ceremonies, meeting ritual, etc? How can they require something they theoretically are not privvy to?

This discussion goes back to the now closed thread about Delta Gamma's changes. Specifically I'm referring to their stated stance on Facebook about the problems of the whiteness of their founding and how that needs to be changed: "Because of that, the rituals, practices and traditions of sororities were built upon white ideals and perspectives."

Those "white ideals and perspectives" are the Christian and biblical content in the rituals of probably most/all of the NPC groups that were not explicitly formed as Jewish or secular groups.

This is the thread: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=247110

[robinseggblue]

Originally Posted by Cheerio

How is NPC pressuring/forcing each group to rewrite their ritual? Wouldn't each group choose on their own to do so/not do so? When did changing an NPC Ritual become THE THING to do? And how is it a double standard if NPC isn't mandating/pressuring?

I agree with you, Cheerio.

TriDeltaSallie, I understand that you are disappointed that a pivotal part of your ritual didn't happen during the virtual initiation. However, this seems to be an individual decision on Tri Delta's part. If this wasn't removed due to either time limitations or privacy concerns, I would venture to guess that perhaps a portion Tri Delta members had petitioned the Exec Board to change a part of ritual? I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case (or maybe they did remove a part due to time limitations or privacy concerns).

NPC did not put out anything even alluding to sororities changing their rituals. And they would have no right to do so now or in the future. No offense, but I feel like this thread is on the verge of fear mongering. Where is there a shred of proof that NPC had anything to do with this? Any change in ritual would be an organization's individual decision.

Originally Posted by VioletsAreBlue

I hate to be naive, and I am not as involved as others but --

Ritual is sacred. It is meant to be a privelege only to those members. How does NPC even know what religious elements exist in initiation, new member ceremonies, meeting ritual, etc? How can they require something they theoretically are not privvy to?

Not naive, I completely agree with you. We all know our own initiation ceremonies, which are obviously all different. While it is clear that some organizations have religious elements within their rituals, a non-member wouldn't actually know what or how many religious elements a ritual they are not privy to would contain.

Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie

"Because of that, the rituals, practices and traditions of sororities were built upon white ideals and perspectives."

Those "white ideals and perspectives" are the Christian and biblical content in the rituals of probably most/all of the NPC groups that were not explicitly formed as Jewish or secular groups.

This seems to be Delta Gamma's position, not NPC's. The quote you are pulling from is a comment that DG HQ made on Facebook. Therefore, what they do along these lines is an individual decision for their organization.

I'm not sure how to break this to you, but the US is an overwhelmingly Christian country and not all Christians are white. Plenty of POC identify as Christian.

In fact, as I'm looking at Pew research data from 2018, 79% of Black Americans identify as Christian, 77% of Latinx Americans identify as Christian, and 70% of white Americans identify as Christian. (Link)

I'm honestly not sure why most posters in this thread are equating increasing membership diversity with loss of "white" Christian ideals.

[carnation]

To robinseggblue: Not white, just Christian. Three of my daughters are non-white, Christian, and Greek and they are very angry that people might come into their sororities and then "demand" that the ritual be changed.

[robinseggblue]

Originally Posted by carnation

To robinseggblue: Not white, just Christian. Three of my daughters are non-white, Christian, and Greek and they are very angry that people might come into their sororities and then "demand" that the ritual be changed.

I know. I'm baffled that TriDeltaSallie equated Christian ideals with "white ideals and perspectives," which I guess she got from the DG FB comment.

[carnation]

Robinseggblue, some people who are saying that NPCs should become more diverse aren't just talking about race. Almost all the blacks, Hispanics, and Asians I know are Christian.

What I am saying here is that we shouldn't be pressured to change the Christian parts of our rituals. These are precious and soothing parts of our rituals, almost like the responses my church has at the Eucharist. I know that I could never do ritual again if the New Testament sections were removed. I don't even know if I would want to remain a member if I knew that my sorority caved to pressure to change because of some vocal and vicious women.

[GreatGnat]

As a non-Christian member of an NPC organization that has ritual based in Christian ideals, I personally think the ritual could be so much more meaningful and comforting were the New Testament references removed. I served as ritual chair in my college years, and every now and then my chapter would hold ritual "translations" where we thought about our ritual's deeper meaning outside of the Christian context. Each time we created something which we could all connect to and was more beautiful than the official ritual. I know it was deeply unsettling and uncomfortable for myself and other non-Christian members to adjust to the ritual after our initiation, and even now as an alumna I have trouble saying the words which directly mention Jesus or God.

I have nothing against Christians or the Christian faith, but it just felt very disingenuous to be saying these words which have roots in a faith which I do not identify with. I don't imagine that my organization would change its ritual, but I would love to see a version which affirmed the beliefs of all our members and did not ask anyone to proclaim devotion to figures they personally did not follow.

[carnation]

A lot of us would have virtually no ritual were the New Testament sections removed.

We have had numbers of exchange students from around the world living with us for at least 12 years. Some of their countries are being overrun by immigrants (some legal, some not) who come there and then complain about Christian or Jewish symbols and holidays. One girl said that immigrants in her town were trying to have Christmas decorations, including lights, made illegal at Christmas because "they make them feel uncomfortable". And there are a few citizens who buy into that and urge the others not to put up decorations because they make the immigrants feel bad!

This is no different. No one should come into a Christian organization and then complain about their ritual.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by robinseggblue

I'm honestly not sure why most posters in this thread are equating increasing membership diversity with loss of "white" Christian ideals.

Personally, I was replying to Kevin's comments....

"I don't know your individual rituals, and don't expect you'd share, but not addressing these things smacks a bit of Christian/white supremacy, and considering the troubled history of many of our groups in that regard..."

"--a constant reminder that our organizations roots are thoroughly white and Christian "