COMMENTARY: What Happens After Rites of Passage?

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Bar/bat mitzvah. Teenage baptism. Jukai. Shahada. Sacred thread. Millions of Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus have participated in one of these rituals or witnessed such rites of passage that are intended to bond people to a faith community. But what is the lasting effect of these ceremonies? Do […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Bar/bat mitzvah.

Teenage baptism.


Jukai.

Shahada.

Sacred thread.

Millions of Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus have participated in one of these rituals or witnessed such rites of passage that are intended to bond people to a faith community.

But what is the lasting effect of these ceremonies? Do they transform one’s beliefs and behavior, or are they perfunctory ceremonies that are little remembered or even forgotten?

Arthur J. Magida, an astute observer of the American religious scene, explores those intriguing questions in his new book, “Opening the Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage.” His probing interviews with 20 representatives of five spiritual traditions provide some surprising answers.

Leon Botstein, the musically gifted president of Bard College and a child of Holocaust survivors, was born in Switzerland and came to America in 1949 at age 2. That young Leon would have a bar mitzvah “was a foregone conclusion … but I don’t remember anything of the actual event.”

However, Botstein told Magida: “What is great about a bar mitzvah as an idea is the acknowledgment … that the child is now an equal member (of the Jewish people) … when done right, it can be terribly important.”

Bob Abernethy, anchor of the PBS program, “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” since 1997, is the grandson of a prominent Washington, D.C., Baptist minister. His father was the secretary of the International YMCA in Geneva, Switzerland, where Abernethy was born.

With that pedigree, it’s no surprise religion plays a central role in Abernethy’s life, but as he admits, “The effect of all that religiosity (including baptism at age 13) was an inoculation more than an inspiration. It may have prevented any real engagement. … But whatever I do will be strongly influenced … by … the church of my grandfather.”

Columbia University Professor Robert Thurman was raised in an upper-class New York City Christian family, but today he is a recognized leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and holds the first endowed chair in Buddhist studies in the United States.

When he became a bhikku (a Buddhist monk) at age 24 under the guidance of the Dalai Lama, Thurman’s mother was not surprised since “I had kicked over the baptismal font as a baby, drenched the priest, and barely got baptized.”


But the adult Thurman today recognizes that “any rite of passage in any religion has value; it’s the interpretation of these religions that is critical … (so people) don’t become fundamentalist fanatics and … don’t insist on literalist interpretations of ancient mystical documents. … ”

Coleman Barks, a native of Tennessee, became a Sufi Muslim 30 years ago. Now 68, Barks has devoted his life to translating the mystical poems of Jalal ad-din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273) into English.

Although there is no formal initiation ceremony in Islam, the brief shahada: “There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” is said so often it has become an integral part of a Muslim’s life and is a passage into the religion.

Barks’ entrance into Islam came in 1978 when he met a charismatic Sufi from Sri Lanka who was living in Philadelphia. “Being with him was about the only initiation I ever had. … He initiated me into the opening heart … that is still occurring even though he’s dead.”

Magida describes Dr. Deepak Chopra, the former chief of staff at the New England Memorial Hospital, as “a one-man international conglomerate” of “spiritual globalization … and the most famous Indian in the West.” Yet, Chopra, child of a Sikh father and Hindu mother, does not formally identify with Hinduism although he draws “inspiration from Vedanta … the eternal source” of Hindu wisdom.

Chopra never participated in the traditional sacred thread Hindu initiation ritual, but he told Magida,“If the ceremony makes them happy, then that’s OK.” The ritual in India can take four days, but in the U.S. it’s been reduced to a few hours of prayers, absolutions, purified butter poured into a fire, and chanted mantras.


At the end of the ceremony, three sacred threads, each 2 feet long, are presented to the initiated person and are worn even during bathing. The threads are symbols of holiness and goodness.

Magida concludes his thoughtful book with a call to recast our traditional rites of passage as “an assurance that the past” still remains part of our community and daily lives.

DSB/JL END RUDIN

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)

Editors: To obtain a photo of Rabbi Rudin, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.

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