More kneeling

[jsrechts@imap.unc.edu]

Poster: jsrechts@imap.unc.edu

I believe your are misunderstanding what people have been writing.  This
thread started out with one post asking about the custom of kneeling in
the SCA.  She mentioned her hesitation about kneeling due to her
religious beliefs.  All the subsequent posts to her said that there is
no hardbound rule that one must kneel before the monarchs.  On the
contrary, all of the posts on the subject told her that if she didn't
want to kneel she didn't have to. 
Additionally, there was a brief discussion about Jewish traditions
regarding the practice of bowing.  

The posters views were not subject to group evaluation.  Instead, the
custom of kneeling among Jews was discussed.  And to go further, it is
the custom among Jews to discuss Jewish law and tradition!

You state,  "Faith is so private that it's no one's place to question
another's religious practice, from a scholarly point of view or
otherwise."
I strongly disagree.  One's personal views are private until he or she
states them in the public realm.  Then they become open to response.
Additionally, if there is no discussion of religion, or religious
practices from a scholarly point of view,
then none of us learn.  This in my view, is a very Bad Thing.  Religion
was (and still is) an important part of daily life in the Middle Ages,
just as it still is for many around the world.  Discussing religious
pratices is NOT endorsing or condemning a certain spiritual viewpoint.
Quashing discussion on such an important (and historical) subject is
nothing more than a tacit endorsement of ignorance.  One of the goals of
the SCA is to educate people about medieval life, leaving out the
discussion of religious practices in SCA formats is the equivalant of
having a say, having a late 20th century re-enactment without TV's or
computers!
This doesn't mean the institution religious practices, it does mean
acknowledging and discussing their existance and meaning.    

I'm sorry you feel put off but in terms of religious practices and
beliefs (especially those beliefs that are not mainstream), but in the
past 10 years, I have found the SCA to be, by and large, one of the more
tolerant groups around.


Lyanna










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