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

[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.

[PKT4LIFE]

Originally Posted by carnation

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

Exactly! This would include us.