Sen Raphael warnock’s victory over Republican opponent Herschel Walker will mean that it will mean that U.S. Senate will have two ministers ordained to serve in the Senate chamber. Another is Senator. James Lankford of Oklahoma. Just one percent of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are ministers ordained.

The number of clergy members is low even though people in the clergy are often able to speak abilities. A desire to serve, and have strong connections to their communities. These are all attributes that are beneficial in the world of politics. Additionally, Americans are among the most religious people in the Western world. Why are the clergy have such a low representation in Congress? What effect could this have on policies and priorities that emerge from Washington?

Business People, Lawyers And Lawyers Are The Leaders

Within the Congress and the Presidency course I instruct, I address the professional backgrounds of former Congress members. Congress and how their professional backgrounds influence the lawmaking process.

Nearly 50% of U.S. senators worked as attorneys prior to their political careers. And 138 representatives of the House of Representatives have law degrees. In addition to law, it the most popular previous profession for Democrats in Congress and business. The most popular former occupation of Republicans.

Lawyers in Congress are able to write legislation with words that guide judges. And administrative agencies in the hope of protecting laws from legal challenge. The disadvantage of this approach is that legislation can constrained. By legal terms that only lawyers are able to understand.

In addition, the increasing number of Republican members of Congress with business background reflects. The opposition of the party’s ideology to regulation by government over business in the private sector.

The recent presidents of each party a reflection of their political stance. In the past three Republican presidents Donald Trump, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush All of them worked in the field of business prior to their entry into politics. Joe Biden joined Democratic predecessors Barack Obama and Bill Clinton as presidents who completed law school.

From The Outside, Looking Into Republican

The clergy members however, are from the top of the list of Congress-related jobs a step just behind engineering, agriculture journalism, labor real estate, medicine as well as the military.

There is only one past U.S. president, James Garfield has connections to an earlier time at the pulpit and even those connections are tinny. Although Garfield is frequently identified as an ordained minister of his church, the Disciples of Jesus Christ, and indeed, he did speak to congregations when he was an adult but there do not appear to be any official or official ordination documents. Prior to his entry into politics were Civil War general, teacher and lawyer.

The absence of clergy in Congress could draw less attention to issues of faith in Washington. Morality might be considered less important while creating public policies to help the less fortunate are given a lesser time. However the clergy has always been active in American politics, even if not in elected office, typically engaging in influence over policies and politicians.

Some of the most prominent gospel preachers from the evangelical church Jerry Falwell Jr., Franklin Graham, James Dobson and Kenneth Copeland all spoke out for Trump’s victory in the reelection election. Reverend Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton have each run for the Democratic presidential nomination and Rev. William Barber has garnered attention in recent times for his leadership of Moral Mondays protests to promote progressive and civil rights cause within Raleigh, North Carolina.

Papal And Legal Resistance Republican

The past has seen were lawful and doctrinal constraints for clergy who work in the government. In the 1970s, certain states had constitutional limitations against clergy members who served in state legislatures, which can serve as a pathway for those who want to run for national offices.

In a decision of 8-0 in 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that the state regulations violated the freedom of exercise clause in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This decision permitted Rev. Paul McDaniel, a Baptist minister, to to be a delegate at the Tennessee State constitutional conference.

Church policies can also deter clergy from running for offices. There were two Catholic priests who served as members of the House of Representatives ended their candidacies in 1980 , when they were notified by Pope John Paul II declared that the Church would start strictly enforcing an canon law that states that priests shouldn’t be in public offices.

A prominent one included Father Robert Drinan, who was elected for five terms as an U.S. representative from Massachusetts. Drinan was well-known throughout the country for his prominent opposition to and opposed to the Vietnam War, and he was the first to introduce an impeachment resolution to the president Richard Nixon. Drinan’s stance on abortion rights was particularly controversial with Catholic clergymen.

Separation Between State And Church Is A Fundamental Value

Another factor that contributes to the lack of numbers of clergy elected to national office could be related to the long-standing American tradition of segregating religion from the government. In the year 1802 the presidency of Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that the language used in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declared a wall of separation between Church & State.

While the majority of Americans are religious, the conviction that politics and religion must be separate entities is prominent within America. United States. A recent Pew Research Forum survey found that 63 percent of Americans believed that places of worship should kept from politics, and 76 percent (76%) of Americans agreed that religious institutions shouldn’t be able to publicly endorse the political parties.

In addition, clergy could financially disadvantaged when it comes to running for a national office. The majority of the members of Congress in the last the year had millionaires. Except for certain megachurch pastors, the majority clergymen are not in the profession to earn money You won’t find many of them with the resources to finance their own campaigns.

The symbol of the meditative monk or nun often represents the Buddhist faith. This kind of representation could make it appear as if Buddhist beliefs and practices rooted in heterosexual practices. But, there’s ample discussion about the diverse manifestations of sexuality in humans and sexual orientations in the premodern Buddhist texts.

In the current debates on gender, nonbinary definitions , in particular. Have embraced in numerous countries where this old religion used. Sexuality and gender in Buddhism are at the heart of my work. My research shows queer existence within the tradition of Buddhist monastic ordination appears be changing slowly.

Buddhist Spiritual Ethics

Monasticism, in which individuals break any ties to the secular world. And dedicate their time to studying and practicing their religion is the ideal of an Buddhist community. Because of their devotion to their faith, monks and nuns revered role models for the lay community. And also provide advice on Buddhist practice. In exchange the lay community provides assistance to the monastic group.

The Buddhist ideal of enlightenment is not a candidate for descriptions in either logic or language. Which includes its beliefs on gender identities. The famous assertion in the text of the 1st century Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra. In enlightenment there is no male or female, is a good illustration of this idea very well.

However, Buddhist teachings usually arrange their followers according to male and female genders. The four foundations of the Buddhist sangha, or community which includes nuns, ordained female monastics. Monks, or men who have ordained as monastics, laywomen and laymen organized according to gender. The gender-based structure also used in the monastic living arrangement. Monks and nuns reside, study , and practice in separate areas.

This is the same for public teachings too. The seating arrangement places monks in front and monks on one side. Nuns on the otherwise, and laypeople in the back, separated by gender. The people who do not fit into the classification of male or female are not able to categorized in the best Buddhist community.

Buddhist Sexual Differences

One instance of people who part of the gender-based binary system a category of queer folks referred to as pandaka. This Sanskrit word can translated literally as the person without testicles. Another meaning could be people who do not conform to the norms of masculinity in society. Pandaka can refer to anyone who infertile whether congenitally or regularly or someone who’s sexual preferences considered to unconventional. The term could also mean queer.

The treatment of pandakas or queer people in the early days of Indian religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism was generally scathing. They considered to be a threat due to their sexual inclinations and not permitted the monastic or ordination.

These accounts are found in the earliest Buddhist texts dating back more than 2500 years. Actually, up to the present, in order to be admitted in the Buddhist monastic community, one needed to be able to meet certain requirements which included unambiguous Genitals.

Queer Exceptions

One of the concerns about the acceptance of LGBTQ individuals within this Buddhist community is the fact that their gender non-binary does not seem to fit in the structure that is fourfold of the sangha. A different concern could be concerns over maintaining the integrity and respectability for the celibate monastery community. Thus, Buddhist orders are geared towards creating and keeping the monastic order an ethically ideal group that can a spiritually enlightened community.

In Buddhism it believed that the results of one’s previous moral decisions manifested in one’s body. The Buddha’s ideal body thought that it the outcome of virtues. The traditional Buddhist texts affirm that sexual expression and queerness have ethical consequences. Being sexually explicit a sign of past negative karma that often interpreted in some situations as grounds to excluded from monastic life, but not necessarily from Buddhist practices in general.

The mention of LGBTQ Buddhists in the premodern Buddhist writings are rare and infrequent. They mostly in the form of warnings against their ordination in the texts on Vinaya which the name used to describe the discipline for Buddhist practitioners.

Changes In Sexual Norms

While they not represented in Buddhist religious practices, LGBTQ Buddhists in the recent years have been working to be part of these Buddhist communities. Kathoey performers, kathoey a term used to describe transgender females or gender nonconforming gay men from Thailand have ordained to their sex at birth. However, their ordination ceremony isn’t uncontroversial.

The Thai Sangha Council, the supreme body of Thailand’s Buddhist organization of Thailand attempted to ban these practices in 2009. Thai Buddhism part of the Theravada tradition, which practiced throughout Sri Lanka and a large portion of Southeast Asia. Beyond Theravada and within Mahayana and Vajrayana practices, the requirement of having a gender-neutral identity for monastic ordination is evolving.

The monk refused full ordination due to his transgender identity within The Theravada Tradition accepted by The Tibetan Buddhist community in India. Michael Dillon, born as a girl Laura from West London in 1915, disqualified from obtaining full ordination under the Theravada tradition due to getting outed as transgender.

Buddhist Apprentice Monk

But, Dillon preordained as an apprentice monk in the Tibetan tradition, and promised full ordination. However, the death of his father prevented that from happening achieved. Dillon published a book about his efforts to alter gender roles and to accepted by the Buddhist community. In the book the book, he suggested that Buddhist doctrines should be able to accommodate the broad concept of what is gender.

Other transgender and gay monastics in the Tibetan Buddhist world include Tenzin Mariko, the very first publicly transgender Tibetan Buddhist. An ex-monk and the 2015 Miss Tibet contestant, Mariko is now an LGBTQ rights advocate. She often cites her monastic experience and wisdom of kindness as the source of her inspiration https://kakeksiji.com/.

Tashi Choedup, transgender Buddhist monk, also talks about his experience with his teacher’s insistence on not asking about gender identity according to the Vinaya at the time of his ordination. Choedup was a student at an welcoming monastery which did not impose rigid gender-based divisions. Choedup currently works to create awareness and acceptance for transgender people in the Buddhist community.

The dogmatic view of the monastic community that restricted the kathoey monastics as well as Dillon’s pursuit of ordination seems to be shifting. Experiences of Mariko and Choedup are a sign of progress and offer the promise of a larger institution-wide change.

Conversion of Paul the Apostle is a pivotal moment in Christianity. This is how his faith efforts in spreading the gospel ignited what’s today the most popular religion in the world. Following Jesus’ death at the age of 33 A.D. 33. His followers spread slowly out of Jerusalem to seek refuge in cities like Cyrus, Phoenicia, Damascus and Antioch. Acts of the Apostles, written by St.

Luke the Evangelist around A.D. 80, provides an account of what church members and followers faced in their early days. The book Acts, Luke tells the tale of the saint. Stephen, the first Christian martyr who was brutally killed in A.D. 36. Stephen’s death, Luke says, prompted others to flee the area in order to avoid falling into the same fate.

Mystical Conversion Faith

Acts of the Apostles tells the story of an individual, Saul of Tarsus, who played an instrumental part in the spread of early Christianity. A fervent Jewish as well as a Roman citizen Saul was a shrewd advocate of the new religion. As he witnessed the violence surrounding Stephen’s murder. He became convinced that it was his solemn duty to harass Christians and take them to prison.

He also wanted to punish those who denied their faith. His granted permission by the priest of high priesthood in Jerusalem to hunt down and detain those fleeing Christians. When he was on his way toward Damascus, Syria, however the light of heaven appeared around him.

Promoting The Message Faith

The first place that early Christians fled for refuge from persecution was Antioch which was the capital of Roman Syria. Paul, who had recently converted to Christianity, discovered himself in the city and, along with the apostle Barnabas who was also there, spent the next period of time preaching and founding an early Christian church. It was there that the term Christians-followers of Christ-was coined Acts 1121.

It was in Antioch where Paul began three separate travels, described in Acts which covered more than 10,000 kilometers in the period between A.D. 46 and 57. The book describes Paul’s trips to present-day Israel, Syria, Greece and Turkey and walking routes that the Romans constructed to ensure control of the Empire. He also had to endure traversing in awe on the weather-exposed decks of vessels.

Paul spoke persuasively about the kingdom of God Acts 198 and was also able to perform extraordinary miracles Acts 1911 such as healing the sick. In Cyprus the Baptiste the Roman consul named Paulus Sergius. He spread Jesus’s gospel and founded churches across the Roman Empire as religious communities that included confessions, liturgies, deacons, and priests.

Resistance To Detention And Martyrdom

In every place he went, Paul also encountered Jewish supporters who branded Paul as a heretic. He was subject to beatings, stoning and even jail time in the course of preaching his gospel. The story of Athens, Acts recounts how Paul irritate by the abundance of idols. He attempted to talk to the people. As I walked around and looked over your items that you worshiped.

I saw an altar that had the following inscribed to an unnamed god. Therefore, you don’t know the thing you revere Acts 1723. He debated over whether this unknown god was the biblical God who was the creator of the heavens and Earth. Some laughed, while others stated that they wanted to learn more about Paul Acts 1732. By simply talking to people and converting them each one at a time.

Acts mentions that Paul repeatedly detained from the Romans and imprisoned twice in Rome. In the first instance, sometime between A.D. 60 and 62 the apostle arrested for causing a riot at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Then he allow to live in a residence, where it is believed that the guards made into Roman guards.

The Romans took him in another time in the period between A.D. 62 and 67. The second time, he detained in Tullianum which was a maximum-security prison. Then, shortly after, Paul is said to have been executed. His fate is unclear. However, the most widely reported story claims that he killed on the orders of the Roman Emperor Nero. This is because he blamed him for being an influential Christian chief for the city’s burning.

Paul’s Unique Methods Faith

A number of other missionaries and apostles promoted Christianity simultaneously as Paul. Although biblical sources show that Paul did not claim to be anything other than an advocate for Christ, he did have an innovative strategy. He was able to baptize all souls, regardless of the fact that the person was Jewish or Gentile.

One of the most pertinent questions was the question of whether people who have converted to Christ are also assumed to be Jewish. According to the Jerusalem apostles it was a yes. They believed that faith was integral to Jesus his doctrines as a Jewish Rabbi. Paul disagreed. He embraced people from the Gentile world who attracted by Christianity but weren’t keen on embracing Jewish customs.
Paul was a brilliant and controversial man Paul wrote his thoughts along with his ideas into letters during his journeys. There are some who say that he wrote so many letters because a lot of people disagreed with Paul.

His letter to the Romans argues, for instance, that faith in Christ transcends Jewish Law, that each community is a member of Christ’s body. In all, he wrote 13 letters seven of which are firmly his, and six are in dispute. He is the most prolific writer of the Bible. 14 out of 27 works of the New Testament are attribute to his name though scholars differ on the number.

In all of it, Paul articulated Jesus’ kingdom of God message into a message that the majority of Gentile people could understand and accept. His ability to communicate the message of the early Christianity is truly remarkable. The three trips he made in Acts have permanently established the fledgling faith of the Gentile areas and further.