Items on this page are not directly from Unity Church of Charleston and the views and opinions may not reflect our beliefs, standards or principles. If you have questions regarding these principles, beliefs and standards, please feel free to contact us using our contact page on this site.
West Ashley resident Paula Thrush has had a double lung transplant and is undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation. The West Ashley community has stepped up to raise funds for the surgery.
Paula Thrush, a resident of West Ashley, moved to Durham, N.C. in Jul, to prepare for her double lung transplant. After a few weeks of physical therapy and few weeks waiting on the active transplant list, a suitable pair of donor lungs were finally located for her. Dr. R. Duane Davis and his surgical team at Duke University Medical Center performed the complicated operation to replace her diseased lungs, and she was transferred to the pulmonary ICU around 5 a.m. on July 15.
Normally a patient spends three to five days in the ICU, going through the steps to remove the ventilator, having numerous blood and tissue tests, including a swallow tests to make sure her larynx was working properly. Thrush worked hard and her determination paid off. She was off the ventilator on July 16, passed her swallow test and began talking and walking again.
The physicians at Duke want their patients up and out of the bed as soon as possible to avoid becoming weaker than necessary, as all time spent lying in bed causes the patient to lose strength. Thrush was up and walking with assistance on the first day.
The drugs used to prevent rejection of the new lungs can also cause complications, such as diabetes, which may or may not become permanent. There is no denying that this is a major operation and recovery is slow and difficult, but the chance at a longer and more healthy life made it a good choice for Thrush, who at 48, was in end-stage chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Although she was on supplemental oxygen for the first few days, she is now mainly free, and breathing the same air as the rest of us. No more oxygen bottles to lug around. While no recovery is trouble free, Thrush's has been amazingly speedy and without any major problems. She was discharged a few days later to the Duke Center for Living to continue pulmonary rehabilitation. The physical therapy helps her to breathe more deeply and keep her new lungs healthy. After about a 6 week course of physical therapy and numerous visits with the physicians, Thrush will return home to West Ashley.
Thrush has incurred a lot of expenses for her medical treatment, medications, and relocation that will not be covered by her insurance. Her friends and family are asking the community for help. Please send your donation to Unity Church of Charleston or to her fund at the National Transplant Assistance Foundation. Checks can be sent to Unity Church of Charleston, "Paula Thrush Fund," 2535 Leeds Ave, Charleston, SC, 29405. For other payment arrangements, please give them a call at 566-0600.
The National Transplant Assistant Fund has established a trust fund for her and donations can be made by visiting her website directly at http://tinyurl.com/ntafpaula, or by visiting NTAF's home page, www.ntafund.org , and searching for Paula Thrush at the patient search menu. Or donors can mail a check payable to: 'NTAF South Atlantic Lung Transplant Fund' with "in honor of Paula Thrush" in the message line NTAF at 150 N. Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120, Radnor, PA 19087.
More Good Interfaith News – June 1
Yesterday our state interfaith partnership held its regular meeting. I arrived wondering what would be the fallout from Rev. Ed Kosak’s having published his letter of amends to Pagans to this high-profile group. Ed’s letter was never mentioned but in our fresh agenda and handouts was a new group roster – listing my religion as Pagan! Our first new business of the day was a proposal for an event by John Halfacre of Clayton Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church in Newberry, SC. When John handed out his printed proposal I was tickled pink to see among the multi-colored bubble-bursts with names of different religions – Pagan! I crowed my approval of our new pink bubble and received a big grin from John. He asked all present to turn in a form indicating which committees we might be willing to serve on for this new event. Today I was pleasantly surprised to receive a message from John asking me to chair a small committee tasked with creating and leading a closing ceremony. At this point I am quite elated by the turnaround and progress here in South Carolina. I’ll post more about the event, a Gathering of Faiths, when we have details, but for those in the area, it will be on Saturday, November 5.
A few days after my May 24 post (below), my friend Cookie called to ask if I might be able to travel to Charleston the next morning for service at the Unity Church. She’d been tipped off that Rev. Ed Kosak was going to make his apology to Pagans the subject of his sermon. With only a little nervousness and much anticipation I got on the highway on Sunday morning and arrived in time for hugs from a surprised Ed and grinning Cookie. The service was sweet, with about 100 people in attendance. Ed had already held one service and gotten positive feedback from some of those attendees; my hope was for my presence to be caring and supportive.
Reaching for his Bible, Ed almost apologetically read from the New Testament Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. I blinked back tears as he put his book down and began to explain how he had been trying to walk on the other side of the road to avoid the bleeding Samaritan by the road. He then read aloud his letter of “amends” to his congregants. The quiet in the room made me wonder how this would be received, but when I looked around I saw expressions which ranged from smiling to quizzical. These folks knew their minister as a man of integrity and they received his words with trust and equanimity, followed by enthusiastic applause.
Turns out that Unity churches have a practice of holding a “talkback” after the minister’s remarks. As a wireless microphone was handed around to those who raised their hand, a wonderful interfaith dialogue ensued. Two or three times I was asked to address specific questions. Because this is a regular practice for Unity, there was no anxiousness over one person dominating the conversation or awkwardness when someone posed a difficult question. Many people shared with me afterwards how glad they were to have been able to learn more about Paganism, some of them excited to realize that they hold Pagan beliefs and could thus feel a connection with me and my trible.
May this precious faith family continue to prosper and learn together and be especially blessed for their loving openness. In the photo are (l to r) Cookie Washington, Rev. Ed Kosak, and me (Holli Emore).
Healing In the Bible Belt – May 24, 2011
A most extraordinary thing has happened to me this week; if it’s not a first, it’s certainly the first I’ve heard of, and most unusual in these parts. A Christian minister yesterday issued a written apology and “amends” for his feelings about Paganism, sending it to a statewide list of religious leaders here in South Carolina, and specifically addressing me. By a quirk of fate I was traveling in his region yesterday and we were able to meet for a very heartfelt visit over lunch, at which time he gave me his permission to share his letter still further. It’s a story worth telling, I believe.
Late last year I was nominated to the steering committee of a newly-forming statewide interfaith partnership. The timing was perfect as I had made a personal decision in 2010 that the year ahead would be my time to step out into local and regional interfaith work. Besides my work as executive director of Cherry Hill Seminary, I still rely financially on my additional consulting work with nonprofits. Though not in the broom closet, I am selective about those to whom I expose my Pagan identity. But for my entire life I’ve actively engaged with all sorts of faith communities, even working in the 90s as a capital campaign consultant for a small national firm serving Episcopal parishes, dioceses and schools. Having reconciled with my Christian roots, I am comfortable joining nearly any group for a special service on occasion. Many of my Christian minister friends are privately very supportive of my Pagan faith and work.
It was with pride and a bit of trepidation that I began to attend meetings of the interfaith partnership early this year. I should not have been shocked to see my name at the very end of the contacts list, my religion noted as “Other,” but I was. Among the imams, rabbis, priests, and Native American, Sikh, Baha’i and other leaders, there has been not a murmur – so far – of protest at my presence, though the chair had privately asked me to accept the role of “advisor,” until people could get to know me and accept me as a full voting member. I held my figurative nose and said, “Of course.”
A review of the charter document revealed a core aspect which I considered highly problematic. It named a specific group of nine religions as those to be included in the group, “and perhaps others.” These nine are: Islam, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Native American, Jain, Sikh, Baha’i, and Judaism. Who chose this group? I do not know, but the entire committee waved in the charter by consensus with no discussion, while I clenched my teeth and waited for the right time to trouble the waters. Honestly, it seemed that no one even noticed the exclusivity of this selection.
Ironically, I have just finished my first week in the Cherry Hill Seminary fall course, “World Religions From A Pagan Perspective,” taught by noted scholar Michael York. During our first week class members have dived into the deep waters of how to define religion. It’s no surprise that academicians have as much difficulty as the rest of us with this tricky topic. Here I will cite York’s 2003 text, which speaks clearly to my story:
“What is interesting about these World Christian Encyclopedia figures is . . . Excluding those orientations that we can identify as pagan, the followers of Judaism as well as Sikhism, Jainism, Bahai, and all other remaining religions (e.g., Gnostic, Masonic, Occult, Mystic) constitute together less than 1 percent of the number of total global inhabitants. In other words, the religious profile of humanity in broad terms breaks down into six general categories: Christian/Islamic (50%), nonreligious/atheist (21%), Hindu-Buddhist (19%), new religious (2%), other (1%), with, allowing for a 1-percent margin of error, pagan as a sixth grouping (5-6%).”
So, according to a Christian academic resource, at least four of our interfaith group’s nine categories fall into 1 percent of the world’s population, relative to upwards of 5% who are pagan.
At our second meeting I noted to the full group that my religion had a name – Pagan – and was not called “Other,” but last week we all received a fourth emailing with an updated attachment perpetuating this insult. After months of wondering when I should push back, I finally clicked on “Reply All” and wrote this:
Dear [chair] – Is it possible for the contacts list to stop referring to my religion as “Other”? As you might imagine, this is rather offensive, which I am sure is not your intention at all. The name “Pagan” is well established around the world, including the halls of academia, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the United Religions Initiative, and more. If we are truly to achieve our objectives for interfaith harmony, perhaps our own steering committee is a good place to start. Thank you,
Respectfully,
Holli S. Emore
Executive Director
Cherry Hill Seminary
The silence for the next 24 hours was deafening, as they say. Then I began to hear from a few people catching up on their email. The supportive ones were, predictably, women. One member of the group noted that this opened a discussion about where to “draw the line” on who should be included in an interfaith group. I’m aware that there has been some offlist discussion which has not included me.
Then my friend Cookie, called to tell me that her friend, a Unity minister on our steering committee, had agonized ever since reading my post, and asked her opinion of a letter he wanted to send to me and the group. Cookie couldn’t cheer him loudly enough, being the Amazonian activist for social justice that she is, and yesterday he sent the letter, which went to leaders of those nine religions throughout the state of South Carolina. With the kind permission of the Rev. Ed Kosak of North Charleston, I share here his public statement:
Dear Interfaith Partners,
In the interest of understanding each other…of seeing the good in each other…of Interfaith, I wish to make an amend to the adherents of the Pagan faith. I speak strictly for myself. For years now, I, IN MY HEAD, have understood that Pagans are good people, moral people…that they are a legitimate spirituality. IN MY EMOTIONS, though, I have felt that they are satanists, that they sacrifice animals and people, etc. Also, in my head, I knew they never do such things. But in my emotions, I felt uncomfortable with them. For this judgment and fear, I make amends. After recently having worked this through cognitively and emotionally, I can unequivocally support our Pagan brothers and sisters. My hope is that others with my experience can cut through their issues around paganism after reading this. Or perhaps this can provide the intellectual framework to help people to do so.
Have pagans done bad things to people? Probably, but so have Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims etc. and these faiths continue to do so in the name of their religion. So I don’t hold past issues or current ones against Paganism.
Pagans have varying concepts of God. They do believe in a consciousness greater than themselves, just like our Buddhist Brothers and Sisters do. And if you were at our first Interfaith Partners meeting, you all know how much I love Buddhism as I practice a variant of its meditation every single day. Buddhism has transformed my life immensely and it is not “God-fearing”, though I am a lover of God as I understand God.
I recently wrote Holli Emore, of the Cherry Hill Seminary, apologizing for holding up this wall to paganism. I don’t want it and I have done all I can to purge the feeling of fear from my heart and will do so if the feeling comes up again. I don’t think Jesus, or the Buddha or Muhammad or Mother Theresa or Gandhi would want me holding judgment and fear in my heart for good people. I don’t want to fear or hate any person on this planet. My commitment is to work hard on my own issues and ego in doing Interfaith work.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rev. Ed Kosak
Minister, Unity Church of Charleston
To say that I have been mightily moved would be an understatement. To be so affirmed, and so publicly, and by a Christian leader demonstrating such exemplary humility, honesty and courage – well, I don’t yet have the words for how I feel.
What I did say to Ed over lunch is that his action moved far beyond the relatively insignificant relationship between the two of us, even beyond the relationships on the interfaith committee. The stand he has taken is the first pebble in a vast pond; the ripples will reverberate for some time to come.
So many of we spiritual sojourners carry scars or even still-bleeding wounds from our religious past. Some of us process the experience, move out of the pain and continue on our way. Some others of us are like the dog who cannot stop licking its sore, making it grow larger and more ugly even while trying to keep it clean. Under those circumstances, healing just won’t come. It doesn’t help that we are immersed in a national culture of religious conservatism and intolerance. No wonder it’s so tempting to stay in the perceived safety of the broom closet.
Well, Ed Kosak and I have just stepped together out of our respective closets. Every minister dreads the inevitable complaints by members who don’t like it when their pastor takes a controversial stand. I don’t know if that will happen at Ed’s church, but I know that he bravely faced that possibility when he wrote his letter.
Some larger ripples may manifest on the interfaith steering committee, depending upon how more conservative religious leaders choose to respond to this development. I detest conflict, but I more deeply despise a culture which devalues my lifelong pursuit of spirituality, setting a standard to discriminate against and disrespect people of “other” faiths who may come along behind me.
South Carolina is a difficult place to live. Our history set up a legacy of juxtaposed haves and have nots, intellectuals and uneducated, liberal and conservative, black and white. Some days it feels that our entire society is polarized by one issue or another. (You may wish to read my report on a little of our religious history in my April 26 post below.)
Today, though, the day feels a little brighter. Thank you, Ed.
Interfaith Landscape In South Carolina – April 26, 2011
Introduction
The state of South Carolina holds remarkable diversity, particularly in light of its relative cultural isolation since the Reconstruction era. The predominant culture, however, may be generalized as religiously conservative Protestant, economically and socially middle class, and politically conservative. Shared respect for politeness as supporting the social order maintains civility among most individuals, but it does not necessarily extend to acceptance, or even tolerance, of religious diversity.
Those who are Muslim or may appear to be Muslim (e.g., Sikhs), have expressed growing concern over the potential for violence. The billboard pictured below would seem to give credence to that concern. While Pagans hold many fears related to being open about their religion, reports of child removal or other direct bias are rare. The more common concerns include bias during divorce and child custody proceedings, job and housing discrimination, and social ostracization. Most frequently, Pagans and other religious minorities complain that most public meetings, including government meetings, begin with Christian prayer, and that Pagans are rarely, if ever, included in activities with other religious leaders, or allowed clergy access to patients in the hospital. Pagan religious accommodation in nearby prisons followed the threat of inmate lawsuits.
“Interfaith Landscape In South Carolina” documents my initial direct engagement with formal interfaith activities here, through meetings with the Interfaith Partnership of South Carolina, the Women of Faith group, and interviews with selected religious leaders. My roles as Executive Director of Cherry Hill Seminary and as an Ambassador for the Parliament of the World’s Religions have built a valuable network of international and national ties, but until the past year I had limited my exposure as a Pagan to the local community, fearing loss of income to my consulting business. I chose this activity because of my desire to become involved now with local interfaith work, and my desire to better understand the motivations, strategies and personal spirituality of those involved.
Historical Overview of Religious Diversity in South Carolina
As one of the original thirteen colonies, South Carolina has long included an array of religious diversity belying its reputation for rigid conservatism. Historian Walter Edgar notes that South Carolina’s cultural heritage is very different from the other English colonies, being largely influenced in the 1630s by England’s richest colony at the time, Barbados.
Promotion of Barbados by the Lords Proprietor, distributed in England, Ireland and France, stressed both economic opportunity and freedom of conscience. During this time of the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Huguenots (French Protestants) from France, the pamphlet advertisements were intended to attract the wealthy, educated Huguenots to direct their flight for religious freedom to the new colony in the Caribbean. With the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Huguenots began to swell the population of South Carolina, quickly becoming the most prominent ethnic group, after the English, and featuring prominently in colonial affairs. Eventually, the English began an intentional settlement of South Carolina, establishing the predominance of an Anglican religious culture.
From the earliest years, African slaves entered South Carolina, arriving from the West Indies. They brought their indigenous religions, most notable Bakongo, from the Congo-Angola region, but there were also small numbers of Islamic Senegambians even then. Plantation journals record male slaves facing east for prayer five times a day, and the distribution of beef rations to some individuals during hog-killing times. The well-known Gullah culture of the lowcountry areas of the state can be traced directly to West African culture, and root workers are still prevalent in most parts of the state. Slaves began to convert (or be converted) to Christianity from early years, but brought much of their religious culture into their new religion, including variations of animism and the distinctive black musical approach to worship.
Prior to the American Revolution, non-Anglicans were referred to as Dissenters, but records show a harmonious collaboration among various denominations, the ministers of one group serving members of another which might be absent a minister for a time. The governor in 1770 wrote favorably about the diversity of Christian denominations in the colony, but noted that neither Roman Catholics nor indigenous African religions were welcome.
The 18th century cleric Charles Woodmason traveled extensively in the Carolinas during his career, concerned about the evangelical fervor characteristic of religious meetings in the frontier regions (e.g., New Lights, and “New Sects”). By this time Charleston was one of the largest centers of Judaism in colonial America, and is currently home to one of the four oldest synagogues in the country. Religious groups also included a Presbyterian meeting, an Independent-Congregationalist meeting with ties to New England, a Baptist congregation with ties to Pennsylvania groups, a Quaker meeting, an Arian congregation offshoot of the Baptists, a German-speaking Lutheran congregation, and a French-Calvinist Geneva-style congregation. Icons of the Great Awakening like John Wesley and George Whitefield visited Charleston. The overall Anglican culture, however, continued to be a force for moderation, and religious controversy was generally avoided.
One exception to the avoidance of controversy was on the issue of slavery. The backcountry Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and Quakers were notably anti-slavery, the Methodist General Conference even decreeing in 1784 that slave-owning could justify expulsion from the church. In 1800 the Conference directed all Methodist clergy to sell any remaining slaves they owned. Unfortunately, by 1805 this policy was already dropped, more Baptist ministers than lay members owned slaves, many of the Quakers had migrated to the Midwest, and Presbyterian clergy who held antislavery positions had moved to Ohio. Other clergy tied abolitionism to women’s rights and other movements perceived to disrupt the social order established by the church.
By the mid-19th century Columbia was home to Baptist, Episcopalian, Lutheran , Methodist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches, as well as a Hebrew Benevolent Society. Separate meetinghouses for black members of downtown congregations eventually developed into their own churches. At the beginning of the Civil War there were more black Methodists than whites, and about equal numbers of whites and blacks comprised the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. Predominantly black congregations spread rapidly across the backcountry. Following the war, most blacks preferred to separate themselves socially as much as possible from white society, and during this time many all-black denominations were created, the largest being African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ).
Religious denominations demonstrated a strong commitment to education, founding many of South Carolina’s colleges, e.g., Erskine, Furman, Newberry, Benedict and Wofford Colleges, and Allen University, during the 19th century. By the 20th century, and in the wake of culture-changing events like the Scopes trial, the perceived libertine culture of the 1920s, the subsequent Great Depression, and struggles for racial equality, religious leadership was often characterized by stringent cries against immorality, secular education, and alcohol.
Intrafaith groups like the Christian Action Council and the South Carolina Council on Human Relations were formed in the 1950s and 1960s to work for racial justice. These groups are still active; ironically, the latter only began inviting women to its monthly luncheon in recent years. In 1997 a religion subcommittee of a Commission on Race Relations appointed by the governor recommended the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the State House dome. Today conservative religious groups strongly influence the outcome of most elections, and legislative action on issues such as regulation of video poker machines, reproductive choice, blue laws, and same-sex marriage.
Although South Carolina was a significantly-diverse colony and state until the mid-19th century, from then until about the mid-1950s it was markedly homogeneous, probably due to its immigration from other countries being the lowest in the U.S. Since that time, immigrants have included Greeks, Vietnamese and other southeast Asians, Pacific Islanders, east Europeans, East Indians, Middle Eastern, and Central and South American people, all bringing with them their cultures and religious practices. Numerous people self-identifying as New Age live in all parts of the state; many of these belong to Unitarian Universalist or Unity congregations.
The first Sikh family moved to South Carolina in 1967, and the first Sikh gurdwara was built here in 1994 (they note that the climate here is very similar to hot and humid Punjab). The earliest records of Baha’i in the state date to 1910, with a biracial religious community forming in Columbia by 1938. The Baha’i have been prominent in interfaith work since the 1960s, being instrumental in the founding of the University of South Carolina-based Partners In Dialogue group. Jains in South Carolina typically visit Hindu temples in Greenville, Columbia and Augusta (GA) because they house a murti of the founder of Jainism, Mahavir. Numerous Buddhist groups exist throughout the state, and there are currently several large Hindu temples and a Vedic Center. At least eight masjids serve the Muslims of South Carolina, and Muslim leaders are active with interfaith groups such as Partners In Dialogue, Interfaith Partners of South Carolina and Women of Faith.
Native American leaders are still fighting for tribal recognition in South Carolina. There are a number of pipe-carriers and Sun Dance participants in the area, and some of these say they prefer the Lakota tradition, even though they are of Cherokee descent. Various African diaspora religious practices are common around the state, if not well-documented. Some of these are a form of black-identity Kemeticism.
Modern Pagans in South Carolina are poorly-documented, if at all, but my personal estimate (based on personal experience, as well as extrapolating numbers from national surveys like ARIS, the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey) is that there are at least 2,000 individuals who self-identify as some form of Pagan.
The Coastal Interfaith Community, with strong leadership from the Unity Church of Charleston, has led interfaith efforts in the lowcountry, and became the catalyst for renewed activity by the University of South Carolina. This has led to the formation of a new statewide group, Interfaith Partners of South Carolina. At this time, leadership representation is restricted to a selected nine religions (Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Bahá’í, Unitarian Universalist and Native American). I have been invited to serve in an advisory capacity (i.e., no vote), but continue at the time of this writing to be listed on the official roster with a religious affiliation of “Other.”
Methodology
I initially approached a variety of faith leaders with a request for a personal meeting to ask them to comment on the following questions:
a. What kind of relationships do you maintain with faith leaders from other religions?
b. How do those relationships serve your current ministry?
c. Do your parishioners-members benefit from interfaith contacts and/or programs?
d. How would Columbia, West Columbia/Lexington, or South Carolina look different with improved interfaith activity and relationships?
e. What might we be doing to make that happen?
f. What would be the best way for Pagans to interact with other faith groups here?
From my years of experience conducting feasibility studies and community assessments, I am very comfortable with open-ended interview technique. While I approached these meetings with the objective of gaining participants’ input for this paper, I was also aware that the meetings would provide rare opportunities for building personal relationships, and perhaps help deter negative perceptions of Pagans. Since the timing coincided with the startup of the Interfaith Partners of South Carolina, I was able to meet with and get to know several of those members, in addition to other existing contacts. These mostly-new relationships should over time well serve the growing interfaith network around South Carolina.
I asked each participant for about half an hour or less, but in most cases they talked with me for an hour or more. Some provided additional feedback in subsequent email correspondence. I did not mention anonymity with my subjects, but it was implied, and several people confided personal and confidential material. I selected individuals who are local to me, but most of whom have statewide reach. They include:
Mrs. Zohra Arastu, Muslim from India
Carl Evans, Ph.D., Emeritus, Dept. Of Religion, University of South Carolina
John Halfacre, interfaith activist, Clayton Memorial Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Newberry, South Carolina
Sr. Nancy Hendershot, President, Providence Hospital
The Rev. Tula Henson, Rector, St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church
Katherine King, interfaith activist, First Baptist Church, Greenville, South Carolina
The Rev. Ed Kosak, Minister, Unity Congregation of Charleston
The Rev. Peter Lanzillotta, Ph.D.
Elizabeth McLendon, Co-Founder of Women of Faith interfaith group
Cookie Washington, Unity Congregation of Charleston
The Rev. Herman Yoos, Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, South Carolina (update: this interview did not take place, and we hope to speak in the future)
Several other individuals held limited conversations with me on various occasions, outside of these interviews. Those individuals included Unitarian Universalist, Baha’i, Orthodox Jewish, Pagan, Reformed Jewish, and others.
