week 8, post 2

One thing has stuck out to me in a big way in all this reading and discussion of various kinds of religious teachings, traditions, and practices. That is the tendency of people to personalize religion. Often, it does not seem to be enough to think something is applicable and important to your life because you believe it is God's will; it seems that people often need to believe that God is talking to them, or their group, directly.

A prime example of this is seen in the Rastafarians. God's word is written in the Hebrew Bible, which includes the story of Solomon, king of Jerusalem. The Ethiopian Kebra Nagast tells a more complicated version of Solomon's affair with the Queen of Sheba, which (through their son) brings the biblically blessed line to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian kings are thus all seen to be descended from Solomon, culminating with Haile Selassie who is seen by the Rastafarians to be a reincarnation of Christ. Though living in Jamaica, the Rastafarians as transplanted Africans feel a deep kinship with Ethiopia, seeing it as an uncorrupted homeland. As the people of this Zion, the Hebrew Bible seems to apply to them in a very direct and integral way.

While the Rastafarians are a good example of this personalizing of religious texts, it is seen in dozens of places and groups, as deeply varied in belief and intent as the small society of Americans who are convinced that their forefathers pointed the way to the Ark of the Covenant to the countless people who live in Israel as the promised land. I wonder what piece of human nature it is that needs to feel like the scriptures apply to us not simply because they were written for all humanity, but because they were written specifically for US.