World religions, by population

 The Pew research center has been keeping an eye on religious affiliations around the world. More than half of us are Christians or Muslims.  Only about two tenths of one percent of us are Jews. Their headline takeaway is the growing number of unaffiliated:

Nearly a quarter of the world’s population is religiously unaffiliated 

 

 

How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020
Muslims grew fastest; Christians lagged behind global population increase  By Conrad Hackett, Marcin Stonawski, Yunping Tong, Stephanie Kramer, Anne Shi and Dalia Fahm 

The repugnance of slavery (1847)--an open letter

  The civil war was preceded by a schism among Northern and Southern Baptists over the institution of slavery.  The recent rediscovery of an original document puts that story in the news.

The NYT has the story:

Discovery of 178-Year-Old Baptist Antislavery Document Elates Faith Leaders.  The handwritten resolution, signed by 116 Baptist ministers from Massachusetts who called slavery “repugnant,” was thought to have been lost.  By Aishvarya Kavi

"The scroll was handwritten in 1847, just two years after Baptists in the United States split, with the Southern congregations breaking off over their Northern counterparts’ condemnation of slavery.

"Using forceful language, 116 Baptist ministers in Massachusetts had signed their name to what they called “A Resolution and Protest Against Slavery,” condemning the system as “entirely repugnant.”

...

"At the time, the increasingly forceful stance by the Baptist ministers in Massachusetts against slavery reflected the widening divide between the North and South

...
"That national breach would become so wide that, 14 years after the document’s signing, it would lead to the Civil War."

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This offers a ray of hope to those of us who today sometimes sign open letters.

Informed consent and mortal sin, in the case of Medical Aid in Dying

 Studying morally contested transactions doesn't always suggest paths by which consensus might be reached. It often suggests that conflicting views may be irreconcilable. 

That seems to be the case for the growing legalization of Medical Aid in Dying (MAID, also called medically assisted suicide), about which I've recently blogged several times.  

MAID laws face determined religious opposition.  When Hawaii legalized MAID in 2018, the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu issued some guidance to clergy pointing out that the law's requirements for informed consent seemed to coincide with the requirements for a sin to be a mortal sin.

 Diocese of Honolulu November 5, 2018: Instruction Regarding Sacraments and Funerals In Situations Involving Physician Assisted Suicide for Clergy, Parish Staff and Ministers to the Sick and Homebound
“Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], no. 2280)

...

7."For a sin to be a mortal sin, three conditions must be fulfilled:

•  the matter must be grave,
•  the person must have knowledge of the gravity of the matter, and
•  the person must freely choose the matter after sufficient deliberation (see CCC, nos. 1857-1859).

8."The process required by the State of Hawaii for a person seeking medically assisted suicide is meant to guarantee that he or she is fully informed and has made a deliberate consent, thus likely fulfilling the requirements for mortal sin.

9." If a person dies in mortal sin without contrition, such final impenitence results in the “exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back” (CCC, no. 1861; see no. 1864)

 

HT: Julio Elias

Evangelical resolution on the 21st Century

 The NYT has the story:

Southern Baptists Endorse Effort to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage
The nation’s largest Protestant denomination was motivated by conservative Christians’ success in reversing Roe v. Wade.   By Ruth Graham

"Southern Baptists voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to call for the overturning of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, with strategists citing the successful effort that overturned the right to legal abortions as a possible blueprint for the new fight.

...

"The measure opposing same-sex marriage was part of a sweeping and unusually long resolution under the title, “On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family.” It includes calls for defunding Planned Parenthood, for “parental rights in education and healthcare,” and ensuring “safety and fairness in female athletic competition,” a reference to the debate over transgender women in women’s sports.

...

"The resolution that passed on Tuesday criticizes the pursuit of “willful childlessness” and refers to the country’s declining fertility rate as a crisis. That language goes beyond Baptists’ traditional support of general “family values,” embracing a cultural agenda that encourages larger families as a matter of civilizational survival. Baptist theology does not oppose birth control per se.

Other resolutions passed on Tuesday called for banning pornography, and condemning sports betting. “We denounce the promotion and normalization of this predatory industry in every athletic context,” the gambling resolution stated. It called on corporations involved to “cease their exploitative practices,” on policymakers to curtail sports betting, and on Christians to refuse to participate.

...

"Last year, the convention adopted a resolution opposing the use of in vitro fertilization, frustrating many Republicans who wanted to reassure voters that their opposition to abortion would not endanger widely popular fertility treatments."

Separation of church and university

 There are tensions between churches and universities, and one of them is playing out between the United Methodist Church and several Methodist universities.

Here's the story from  Inside Higher ED:

SMU Wants to Separate From the Church but Keep the ‘Methodist’
The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in an ongoing legal saga between the United Methodist Church and Southern Methodist University over who governs the university.  By  Sara Weissman 

"A contentious, six-year legal battle between the United Methodist Church and Southern Methodist University is coming before the Texas Supreme Court today.

"The controversy centers around who maintains control over the university—its Board of Trustees or the church—after the university tried to distance itself in 2019. The move came at a time when the church strengthened restrictive policies toward LGBTQ+ ordinations and marriages, exacerbating ideological fault lines within the denomination. SMU president R. Gerald Turner said at the time that the church decision would have no bearing on the university as “a separate corporate entity governed by the SMU Board of Trustees” and the university would continue to follow its nondiscrimination statement, which includes “sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.”

...

"The conflict started when university leaders changed its articles of incorporation in November 2019 “to make it clear that SMU is solely maintained and controlled by its board as the ultimate authority for the university,” Turner said at the time. The Board of Trustees also removed language that the university was “to be forever owned, maintained and controlled by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church.”

...

"“Put simply, the Trustees of SMU had and have no authority to amend the Articles of Incorporation without the prior approval and authorization of SCJC,” the 2019 lawsuit reads. The church has accused the university of breach of contract and fiduciary duties.

...

"Affiliated institutions are required to go through a process every 10 years where they affirm they’re following church policies and procedures, although they have the option to let their affiliation lapse. But the United Methodist Church and its advocates are adamant that SMU went about asserting its independence in the wrong way."

Organ transplant ban by Taliban in Afghanistan (BBC)

 Afshin Nikzad forwards me this report from  the BBC Persian service (in Farsi, but automatically translated by Chrome):

Kidney transplant halted in Afghanistan  by Sajjad Mohammadi

"A number of private hospitals in Kabul and Herat told the BBC that the Taliban government has banned kidney transplants in Afghan hospitals for a month now.

"The Taliban government's Ministry of Encouraging Good and Forbidding Evil announced about a month ago that, according to the seventh paragraph of Article 18 of the ministry's law, the sale and use of human body parts such as kidneys, liver, eyes, and hair is prohibited.

"The ministry said: "The basis and purpose of this decision is to preserve human dignity and respect, and the human body has special sanctity, and its organs should not under any circumstances be used as a means of commercialization or profiteering."

Marriage markets among religious Jews

 Here's a 2024 report:

The Challenges of Singlehood among American Orthodox Jews Part II  by  Dr. Matt Williams, Dr. Michelle Shain, Dr. Guila Benchimol, Channah Cohen, and Elisha Penn, The Center for Communal Research of the Orthodox Union  ou.org/research

Note: a shadchan is a matchmaker, a shidduch is a match.

 

"Matchmakers believe single men and women need someone “in the middle” to coach or guide them through the dating process. Some matchmakers see it as their role to help single individuals understand what compatibility looks like in a partner and that some single individuals’ expectations are “very unrealistic.” They express “trying to change the mindset” of the people they try to set up. Because some matchmakers feel that single people are inflexible about their “list” and are “looking for people they cannot have,” they may offer “a little bit of tweaking” or “point certain things out” to single men and women about their dating choices. One matchmaker describes her work as “1% idea, 99% counseling, guiding, phone calls.”  

...

"In summary, the single men and women interviewed and surveyed rarely feel they can successfully find a spouse on their own. Based on the survey findings, they are correct—the more one diversifies the types of finders they use, the more likely they are to meet eligible dates.
"At the same time, single men and women express frustration at the difficulty of accessing relevant potential partners. Few women and less than half of men feel they are frequently exposed to quality potential matches.
"Within our sample, more than a third (male 35%, female, 36%) of respondents met someone they dated in  the last six months through friends and family, well over the 20% who met through a matchmaker. Friends  and family play a key role in helping single men and women find a suitable partner as they are the ones who know them best and can suggest compatible people to date. This finding is echoed in the forthcoming OU study on the shidduch system in the Yeshivish community. Perhaps because it is not formalized like matchmakers, the role friends and family play is often overlooked, but it is a very effective way to meet  potential dates"

 

HT: Daniel Lerer 

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Earlier, for  some secular comparisons: 

Friday, August 9, 2019

Coupling up with the help of the internet

 

and on the importance of matchmaking: 

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

What has G-d been doing since the Creation? (Matchmaking, of course...))