091417

Gods Shrines Faiths

Oh My! The Religion Issue Volume 134 Issue 6

utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon

Thursday, September 14, 2017

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RELIGIONISSUE

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 14, 2017

THE DAILY BEACON STAFF

EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief: Alex Holcomb Managing Editor: Rob Harvey Chief Copy Editor: Nick Karrick Engagement Editor: Rrita Hashani News Editor: Annie Tieu Asst. News Editor: Kylie Hubbard Arts & Culture Editor: Allie Clouse Sports Editor: Tyler Wombles Asst. Sports Editor: Damichael Cole Digital Producer: Bryce Bible Asst. Digital Producer: Mary Hallie Sterling Opinions Editor: Morgan Schneider Photo Editors: Emily Gowder, Adrien Terricabras Design Editors: Laurel Cooper, Lauren Mayo

ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION

Student Advertising Manager: Zenobia Armstrong Media Sales Representatives: Zenobia Armstrong Advertising Production: Nathaniel Alsbrooks Classified Adviser: Mandy Adams

CONTACTS To report a news item, please e-mail editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com or call 865-974-2348 To submit a press release, please e-mail editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com To place an ad, please e-mail beaconads@utk.edu or call 865-974-5206 To place a classified ad, please e-mail orderad@utdailybeacon.com or call 865-974-4931 Advertising: (865) 974-5206 beaconads@utk.edu Classifieds: (865) 974-4931 orderad@utdailybeacon.com

“Aren’t we supposed to hate each other?” I jokingly asked.

“Yeah, probably,” Altaf responded.

We had a good laugh over that conversation earlier this year. The thought of actually hating one another based on our different religious backgrounds was hysterical, and the fact that we aired it out so casually was unexpected.

While Altaf’s spiritual experiences focus on Islam, most of my religious experiences have been Christian, and I understand religion best when talking about it from a Christian perspective. Of course, like any typical college student, I’m not totally sure what I believe about anything, anyway.

What color is the sky?

But, this issue you’re holding or looking at online doesn’t focus on Christians or sky-confused journalists. Instead, this issue

focuses on Buddhists, Pagans, Muslims, Tennessee football fans, coffee shop owners, secularists and all the other believers in our area.

While it’s likely that many of us have at least one friend or acquaintance who ascribes to each one of those religions, it’s doubtful we’ve heard these stories in the way they’re presented in this issue.

This is because a UT experience is a different experience than an experience anywhere else. People have different lifestyles here than they would in other cities and universities — even if only in a slight way. Of course, none of the sources in here speak on behalf of every UT student that follows a similar path, but each source does know at least something about the general experience a Volunteer on that same path has.

We didn’t stop with learning about religious experience; we wanted to know more about the essence of belief. We asked a religious studies professor and her class to define religion, and one of our staff columnists discussed the

origins of our belief systems. We also surveyed students about their religious identities, and the survey, which is still open on our site, is being updated with each response.

As a journalist, I don’t comment on current events, but I think it’s safe to say that many religious fights — both privately and publicly — stem from misunderstandings. Most discussions aren’t like the ones Altaf and I had, ones that bring people closer. Many religious arguments begin and end with harsh words and blocked Twitter accounts or shouts and fists in a protest.

With knowledge of this violence, finding tolerance and acceptance for others through conversation can be awkward or even repulsive.

Fortunately, we have had these conversations for you, and while your learning shouldn’t end with an article, it’s a damn great way to start.

Enjoy.

Alex Holcomb

Religion at UT Survey What are you designated as?

Are you a part of a religious organization on campus?

Editor-in-Chief: (865) 974-3226 editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com Main Newsroom: (865) 974-3226 editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com LETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor must be exclusive to The Daily Beacon and cannot have been submitted to or published by other media. Letters should not exceed 400 words and can be edited or shortened for space. Letters can also be edited for grammar and typographical errors, and Letters that contain excessive grammatical errors can be rejected for this reason. Anonymous Letters will not be published. Authors should include their full name, mailing address, city of residence, phone number and e-mail address for verification purposes. Letters submitted without this information will not be published. The preferred method to submit a Letter to the Editor is to email the Editor-in-Chief at editorinchief@ utdailybeacon.com .

CORRECTIONS POLICY: It is the Daily Beacon’s policy to quickly correct any factual errors and clarify any potentially misleading information. Errors brought to our attention by readers or staff members will be corrected and printed on page two of our publication. To report an error please send as much information as possible about where and when the error occurred to managingeditor@utdailybeacon.com, or call our newsroom at (865) 974-5206.

The Daily Beacon is published by students at The University of Tennessee on Monday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters. The offices are located at 1340 Circle Park Drive, 11 Communications Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0314. The newspaper is free on campus and is available via mail subscription for $200/year or $100/semester. It is also available online at: www.utdailybeacon.com

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28.3% Freshmen 22.6% Sophomore 26.5% Junior 17.4% Senior 9% Graduate student 0.6% Alumni

Have your religious beliefs changed since coming to UT?

80.6% Yes 19.4% No

23.9% Yes 70.3% No 5.8% Not applicable

Have you become more or less dedicated to your beliefs since coming to UT? 42.6% No change 23.9 % More dedicated 18.7% Less dedicated 7.1% Extremely less dedicated 4.5% Extremely more dedicated 3.2% Have left or changed religious beliefs

RELIGIONISSUE

Thursday, September 14, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

Coming out of The Broom Closet into a safe place Kylie Hubbard

Asst. News Editor It’s not a Harry Potter fan club.

Instead, The Broom Closet is an organization for UT students who consider themselves magical to gather, practice and grow together.

Weekly members gather to discuss culture, legends and stories. The club members also practice divination and other magical arts at weekly meetings.

Dalton Eisenstein, vice president of The Broom Closet and anthropology major, said The Broom Closet is a place for people to learn about paganism.

“The Broom Closet is a place for people to learn about these religions in a safe environment. We want them to be able to express themselves and to talk to others about questions that they have because sometimes [paganism] is not as accepted as main religions such as Christianity or Islam or Judaism,” Eisenstein said. “It’s a religious minority. We want to make sure it’s a safe place. We want to educate those who are not familiar with it.”

The Broom Closet meetings often involve

workshops such as sigil-making and using books of shadows. The members also join together in holiday celebrations that follow solstices, equinoxes and the mid-points between them.

Members celebrate their holidays according to a pagan calendar called the wheel of the year, which includes eight seasonal festivities called sabbats.

“They (sabbats) follow the wheel of the year, which is in line with the agricultural year. A little weird in the modern era because most of us are not farmers, but that is where we draw our holidays from,” Abigail Brennan, president of the Broom Closet and senior in anthropology, said.

The group began when three students met in a religious studies class centering around religion and witchcraft in fall 2015. After deciding to start a pagan club, the students asked their professor, Randy Hepner, to be the sponsor. Hepner agreed and is still acting as the advisor of the club.

“He (Hepner) lit up,” Eisenstein said. “He said he had been waiting for years — since he came here (to UT) — for someone to try and start one a (pagan club). He was on it.”

After gaining Hepner’s support, the students began stumbling through the process of

starting a club. In the spring semester of 2016, The Broom Closet wrote their constitution and received official club status.

“We had two meetings that spring to talk about what we wanted to see the club do, such as celebrating group holidays and having workshops together to learn different skills,” Brennan said.

The members tabled at the engagement fair in fall 2016, and after some time, they managed to get 15 regulars.

Although not extremely prominent, paganism is popular locally, Brennan said. The Broom Closet members plan to expand by taking field trips to connect with other pagans in the area.

“We are planning to get more involved with the East Tennessee Pagan community,” Brennan said. “There is actually a large population of Pagans here in East Tennessee. They have a Pagan Pride every year.”

When compared to the other religious organizations on campus, The Broom Closet is values privacy to a much higher degree to help members keep their identities hidden.

Secrecy sparked the idea for the name of the club as the term “broom closet” refers to those who keep their religion a secret.

“A lot of Pagans are private about their

religion, even at their job,” Brennan said. “Not everyone feels comfortable being out about their religion, or they want to keep it as a personal thing that makes it special to them.

We offer a community for that.”

Club membership is open to anyone, even those that aren’t practicing and just want to see what the organization is like.

“We are open to people who aren’t practicing but want to know more about what it is about. As long as they agree not to out the other people in the club, they are definitely allowed to come and check it out and see what it’s about,” Eisenstein said. “We’re not affiliated with Harry Potter ... We have the cauldron and the broom in the name, and everyone says ‘oh is this a Harry Potter thing?’ No, we’re not Harry Potter and definitely not scary.”

The Broom Closet officers strive to create a familial community by providing support for those who choose to come out of the broom closet.

“Some of our core members have become family to us. We reach out to one another outside of class,” Brennan said. “Because Pagans don’t have a church that they go to, it’s a nice sense of community, something to go to when you’re going through things.”

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RELIGION ISSUE

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 14, 2017

WANTED: ACTIVE BYSTANDERS

Students meet and study in Awaken Coffee located in the Old City.

Rrita Hashani / The Daily Beacon

Awaken offers devotion, drip Headed to the swamp?

We are looking for Active Bystanders!

VOLS represent UT no matter where we are, and we take care of each other on game days.

If you see something that isn’t right, Speak UP!

Steps to Speaking UP! The voice within yourself

Responsibility

The situation

Appropriately

Your options

@volshelpvols

wellness.utk.edu

This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WA-AX-0024 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.

Allie Clouse

Arts and Culture Editor Tucked between the numerous shops that align the cobbled streets of the Old City hides Awaken Coffee. At first glance, Awaken appears to be a hip, cozy hangout for coffee-fueled young professionals and students — but if they venture past the barista counter, guests find that it is actually much more.

In 2004, Adam Lutts found his calling in youth ministry work. Soon after, the Lutts family became involved with Awaken City Church, the parent congregation of the smaller Old City assembly. After serving as a youth minister for Awaken City Church, Lutts was inspired to expand the church and connect to people in Knoxville’s downtown area.

In January 2016, Lutts and his wife opened Awaken Coffee with a simple vision in mind: combine the laid-back atmosphere and local feel of a coffee shop with worship.

Thus, Awaken was born.

“We wanted to start a downtown church community where people could come and find their place,” Lutts said. “Many of us have tried to fit into the church and only found we were a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. Our thought was being involved in the local community was the best way to meet people, start conversation and build relationships. Most churches only have their doors open a few hours a week and depend

on people to seek them out. In the coffee shop, we have people seeking us out each and every day.”

Awaken Coffee is a literal doorway to Awaken City Church, which meets every Sunday in the building’s back room. Most new members are introduced to the church through visiting the coffeehouse.

“A number of people have been so impressed with the coffee business and the people who run it or frequent it that they have wanted to visit the church community as well,” David Morgan, Awaken Coffee regular turned churchgoer, said.

Morgan started coming to the shop to work on his photo and video business. After some time, he began attending church services after learning of Awaken’s faith-based background.

“I noticed the church sign and could tell the vibe at Awaken was more friendly and a closer community than other coffee shops I frequent. I checked out the church service last December, and I immediately connected to the ethos of the people,” Morgan said.

“I have met a number of professionals and small business owners in downtown Knox, and I was pleasantly surprised at how many go to Awaken Church.”

Lutts recognizes the appeal and attention that the coffee shop creates for Awaken’s spiritual sector. He views the business as a comfortable way to transition into worship.

See AWAKEN COFFEE on Page 5

RELIGION ISSUE

Thursday, September 14, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

AWAKEN COFFEE continued from Page 4 “It’s been a great doorway to get people involved in our church community.

Customers love the shop and are very engaging, so naturally our back room space comes up. It’s a beautiful room, and it’s always a conversation topic,” Lutts said.

“When they find out it’s a church, they are usually very intrigued.

So many people involved in our church came in for coffee and visited the very next Sunday. It’s been an incredible way to meet people and get them involved in the church.”

Although the coffee shop attracts interested patrons, Lutts wants customers and potential congregation members to know that Awaken City Church is its own unique and separate experience. Unlike most traditional churches, Awaken has no affiliations with any denomination and instead focuses on the individualistic talents and skills of its members.

“Our thought was to create a church around the people God sent us and use their strengths and desires to set a vision for our church, to fulfill the great commission of Jesus,” Lutts said. “Instead of the church leadership setting goals and vision on day one, we decided to wait and see the passion and skill set of the people in our community.

Visitors order handcrafted coffee, tea and pastries at the front counter of Awaken Coffee.

Rrita Hashani / The Daily Beacon

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Since starting, we are in constant communication about who we are and what we want to accomplish.”

Congregation members are encouraged to utilize Awaken as a venue to express themselves, share their stories and build spiritual relationships together.

“It is OK to admit failure here. No one puts up the mask of ‘church life.’ There is an honest reality that we all can talk about at Awaken as well. We want to see each other mature and grow in every way. We are all for each other and never want to see anyone be left behind or flounder alone. The focus at Awaken Church is that we all want to follow the teachings of Jesus in our contexts,” Morgan said.

Members like Morgan find comfort in the church’s openness and familiarity — a concept Lutts imagined when initially combining coffee and church into a single meeting place.

“I think the combination of working with other local business people during the week who go to Awaken Church along with the honesty of life that marked a number of the people I met made me want to be here,” Morgan said. “I do not like pretense or pomp, so the conversations and people were refreshing and made me want to invest in the relationships here. In a short time, I have met some pretty amazing people who come from all sorts of backgrounds. The friendliness and transparency of the people I have met have been incredible.”

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The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 14, 2017

RELIGIONISSUE

RELIGION ISSUE

Thursday, September 14, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

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Brain Rules: Did we create religion, or did religion create us?

Anu Kumar Staff Columnist

The concept of religion has been present throughout humanity’s evolution through time, so it’s obvious that the human race has an affinity for connecting to the divine.

The term ‘religion’ has many different definitions, ranging from the service and devotion directed at a divine higher power to following a personal set of beliefs and morals to participating in certain rituals to not eating certain foods.

Our affinity with religion and our attempt to understand it from a neurological perspective can be traced back to the sixteenth century in France, the home of René Descartes. Descartes was considered a rather unconventional philosopher at the time because he put an emphasis on emotions and feelings. He tried to connect our feelings to what was happening in our brain, even though very little was known about our brain during his time.

Descartes believed in something called “Mindbody dualism,” which states that each human being has a physical brain and a metaphysical soul, which he called “the mind,” that was given by a higher power. Descartes believed that the gateway between the soul and the physical brain was connected by the pineal gland, which we now know today is responsible for melatonin regulation and circadian rhythms.

Descartes’ theory was widely rejected, but it provoked people to think about the existence of a soul and if we could biologically quantify it.

Since our species clearly had an early fascination with religion, it raises the question, “Was our brain shaped by religion?” It does not really matter what religion — just the concept of religion is enough. A 2014 paper published in Brain Connectivity attempts to tackle this question.

Dr. Gopikrishna Deshpande, assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, teamed up with NIH researchers to study how different brain interactions could give insight into someone’s personal beliefs. They specifically looked at the theory of mind, or ToM, which is the ability to interpret an individual’s state, such as feeling depressed and hopeless, rather than immediately interpreting it as an imbalance in neurotransmitter levels.

The ToM neural network, according to various

neuroimaging literature, has been suggested to have certain areas that it occupies. These areas include networks in the prefrontal cortex and the superior temporal sulcus — the prefrontal cortex is responsible for higher order thinking, and the superior temporal sulcus is responsible for processing multiple types of sensory information. It is suggested (but not confirmed) that it also plays a role in social perception.

Deshpande and his team found through the use of fMRI that individuals with stronger ToM activity tended to be more religious, as was printed in Science Daily’s summary entitled “Evidence of biological basis for religion in human evolution.” Deshpande notes that this could be the reason why religion came into existence at the beginning of our evolutionary journey as a species.

Another study in 2016 implies that the ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens are the reasons why devout followers of a religion stay devout. It notes the connection between having an elevated mood and having a connection to others, specifically those sharing the same religious beliefs. The nucleus accumbens acts as a reward system; when engaging in activities that are associated with the belief, neurotransmitters like dopamine rush your system. The ventral striatum helps send signals to the amygdala, which might explain certain fears that a person can develop while practicing in a religion – such as the fear of certain

entities or breaking a religious code.

Even though multiple parts of the brain were mentioned, there is not a specific area of the brain that is deemed religious. Several aspects of our brain take in information and reconstruct it in a way that makes sense to us. Also, every brain is coded differently and has unique experiences which either reinforce or inhibit certain behaviors.

Because of this, the nucleus accumbens can activate when giving to charity, playing with a dog or reading about an opinion that is similar to one’s own.

As Jordan Grafman, the head of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory and theology professor at Northwestern University, explains: “As these societies became more co-operative, our brains evolved in response to that.

Our brain led to behavior and then the behavior fed back to our brain to help sculpt it.”

Humans have always sought to understand the unknown, and that has aided our survival more than we realize. These bonds and cultures that we form around certain moral codes or divine worship styles has been the center of liberating movements and brutal wars throughout history. We must understand that the need for something greater — a greater purpose or a greater understanding – is common across all cultures and classes and that we have more in common with each other than we might think.

Men on Pedestrian Walkway hold signs asking existential questions to make college students think and spur conversation. Emily Gowder / The Daily Beacon

Columns of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

Columns of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

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The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 14, 2017

RELIGION ISSUE

Defining Religion

Scholar of religion, Jonathan Z. Smith cited a list containing more than fifty definitions of religion.

Having so many definitions does not mean we cannot define religion, Megan Bryson but rather, as Assistant Professor of Smith said, “It can Religious Studies be defined, with greater or lesser success, more than fifty ways.”

Religion — as a complex phenomenon — defies a single, universal definition. Not only do individuals understand religions differently, the term’s meaning differs across languages and cultures. In the United States, Protestant Christianity provides the dominant paradigm: faith in a divine being whose message for humanity is recorded in a sacred text and a weekly meeting to explore that text in a special building.

If all religions had to squeeze into this definition, we would be left with distorted and incomplete images. What about religions that emphasize practice over belief? What about multiple sacred texts? And, what about religions that do not set aside a day of the week as holy?

If we insist upon a single definition of religion, we risk excluding or alienating people who identify as religious, especially those who do not belong to the majority religion. From this perspective, there are political and legal stakes in defining religion. We saw this in Tennessee in 2010, when then Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey mused that Islam was less a religion and more a “nationality, way of life, cult, whatever you want to call it.”

Denying Islam the status of religion does not stem from its historical, cultural and theological dimensions; it stems from views which — with no empirical basis — cast Islam as more violent than other religions. In this case, Ramsey’s definition hinged on the idea that genuine religions are peace-loving, but by that criterion, scholars of religion would have to ignore much of world history.

One might expect the law to generate clearer definitions of religion, but their unspoken assumptions and unequal power structures exert strong influences. For instance, gaining legal status as a religion brings the benefit of taxexempt status, and it falls to the government to decide which groups qualify. In some parts of the U.S., Buddhist groups have struggled to be recognized as a religion because they do not fit the Protestant-centric definition of religion.

In “Dixie Dharma,” the scholar Jeff Wilson recounts how a Buddhist temple in Richmond, Virginia, faced a drawn out battle with the city government to be recognized as a “tax-exempt

religious corporation.” One problem was that the Buddhist temple did not fit city officials’ definition of a church. For one, different groups used it: one Vietnamese Buddhist group, one Japanese Zen group. Moreover, it had no regular weekly meeting on a set holy day. Only when Richmond’s Buddhist community marshalled support from the American Civil Liberties Union did the city relent and recognize them as a religion.

It is easier to identify the act of defining religion — and the power dynamics involved in doing so — in politics and the law, even when the definitions remain unspoken. Yet in our daily lives we also define religion, often unconsciously. For example, the claim to be “spiritual, not religious” reinforces a distinction between a direct, personal relationship with the divine (spiritual) and a relationship with the divine that only occurs through rituals and institutions (religious).

Though this paints religion in a negative light in relation to “spirituality,” the spiritual-religious distinction is still rooted in the Protestant-centric (or specifically, Evangelical) emphasis on a direct, personal relationship with the divine and a suspicion of ritual and institutional mediation, which many Protestants associate with Catholicism.

Even when we use religion metaphorically, we presuppose certain definitions. For example, we might refer to fanaticism for UT football as “religious,” even though most people would not classify UT football alongside Judaism, Hinduism or Christianity. However, this metaphorical use still assumes an understanding of a “real” religion’s characteristics: a devotional attitude, weekly gatherings (games), rituals (Vol Walk), heroes (Peyton Manning), creeds (General Neyland’s Maxims) and institutional structures (Neyland Stadium) correspond to features of established religions.

In talking about religious devotion to football teams, TV shows or bands, we participate in defining religion even if we do not see these objects of devotion as “religious” in a literal sense.

The academic study of religion does not endeavor to come up with a single, all-encompassing definition of religion. However, as Smith observed, this does not mean defining religion is futile. Instead, trying to define religion in crosscultural, comparative perspective can make us more aware of religious diversity and more cognizant of our own unspoken assumptions about what makes religion religious.

Abigail Brennan, Robert Cottingham, Jarrod Creasy, Katherine Harwell, Andrew Kitts, Savanna Sanford, William Simerly, Alexis Solomon, Grady Sutton, Meghan Tiller, Dustin Wade, Paige Rose White and other students of Method and Theory in Religious Studies class contributed to this article.

Columns of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

PUZZLES&GAMES

Thursday, September 14, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

STR8TS No. 1026

Tough

Previous solution - Medium

9 7 8 3

6 4 2 3 1 8 3 4 1 2 9 3 2 4 7 8 5 9 5 8 6 4 5 2 6 9 7 6 4 5 7 8 5 3 7 8 6 9 6 7

3 4 9 8 4 8 6 2 5

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7 8 9 5 6 5 6 7 6 4 1 7 8 3 3 2 2 1 4 1 2 5

How to beat Str8ts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Like Sudoku, no single number can repeat in any row or column. But... rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. These QHHG WR EH ÂżOOHG LQ ZLWK QXPEHUV WKDW complete a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;straightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. A straight is a set of numbers with no gaps but can be in any order, eg [4,2,3,5]. Clues in black cells remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight. Glance at the solution to see how â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;straightsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; are formed.

SUDOKU Medium

5 3 8

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The solutions will be published here in the next issue.

Š 2017 Syndicated Puzzles

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ACROSS 1 Heating system network 6 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jeez, why donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you just mind your own business?!â&#x20AC;?

14 Floored 15 Gain with little effort

No. 1026

1

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD â&#x20AC;˘ Will Shortz

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org

16 Its first cover, in 1970, said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dynamite Afrosâ&#x20AC;?

18 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rests oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyesâ&#x20AC;?

19 Grammy category 20 Class of fliers?

1

2

3

4

16

37 Orange side

18

38 Stuff â&#x20AC;&#x153;testedâ&#x20AC;? in the 1960sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Acid Tests

20

9

10

21

22

25 29

30

31

35

36

37

41

42 47

43

44

50

50 Trap during a ski trip, say

54

52 Sunset, e.g.

56

57

54 Basketball tactic

58

59

29 Amalgamate 33 Fuzzy food

E T H O S

S P R A T

T H E S E

C H E W

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S C E N E S

M O N O

40

51

48 52

49 53

55

56 Rings 57 ___-Carthage International Airport

59 How you might feel after finishing this puzzle

58 Eschews overnight shipping?

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE B E T T E

39

45

23 It passes Luxor Temple

28 Players rush for them: Abbr.

38

32

34

46

27 Ayn Rand hero

13

27

49 Octaviaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;othersâ&#x20AC;?

26 Setting after resetting

12

23

26

47 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry about it,â&#x20AC;? slangily

24 1984 Summer Olympics star

11

19

33

46 European capital

8

15

28

44 Overturn

7

17

24

42 When Supreme Court sessions start: Abbr.

6

14

35 Pair on a table at a nice restaurant

41 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Close one!â&#x20AC;?

5

21 Fragrant biblical gift

31 In a darling way

If you like Str8ts, Sudoku and other puzzles, check out our books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store at www.str8ts.com

34 First name on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Keeping Up With the Kardashiansâ&#x20AC;?

M U S I C O N E H O E I N A R T S T A D U E L T R O I S S O U T A P S C R S C O N O R L E L L Y W O E M I C R O P L A I N H O R N E

A L D M E O O W I I C H S L A I V P R E E O U N T I N T O S E E T S G E T M A N A S P O K T S N E

J A L A P E N O S

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9 Certain congregation leader

35 Selena Gomez or Eva Longoria, e.g.

36 Hyatt hotel line

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1 Like some religious laws

11 C. S. Lewis piece?

2 Not backed up

13 Hole near a tongue

40 Least happening

3 Haunted house sights

15 Recess rhyme starter

41 Ready

4 Most affectedly dainty, to a Brit

17 2015 N.F.L. M.V.P.

5 Political century: Abbr.

6 Firebird alternative 7 Rapper with a role in the 2015 film â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dopeâ&#x20AC;?

8 Eli Manningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team, on scoreboards

12 Through bribery

38 Fitness legend Jack 39 Adds to the pot

43 Crashes into, in a way

22 Measurement in a 45 Parted with celestial coordinate system 48 Family planning options, briefly 25 Boo-boo 51 Roberts of 30 One lighting romance up the dance floor 32 It can crawl or fly, but not walk 33 Dinar spenders

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RELIGIONISSUE

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, September 14, 2017

MSA chapters gather for a group photo during their annual MSA Showdown retreat, hosted by UT MSA • Courtesy of Khaled Nurhssein

Muslim Student Association dispels myths, builds bridges Annie Tieu

News Editor In a post 9/11 America, the Islamic world continues to be scrutinized, and a group of UT students seek to dispel misconceptions about Islam while connecting with the UT community.

Abdalla Husain, junior in linguistics and executive board member of Muslim Student Association (MSA), helps create events for Muslim and non-Muslim students as a part of outreach efforts to make MSA a resource for students with questions about the religion.

“A few of our goals are to give Muslim students that are here a place where they can pray together, where they can just hang out, spend time with each other, so they can get familiar with the Muslim community in Knoxville and grow spiritually,” Husain said. “We also try to collaborate with other groups on campus and try to get to know other groups.”

Amany Alshibli, senior in chemical engineering and vice president of MSA, said she was pleased with the increase in the visibility MSA has achieved through their events.

“I was really happy that last year we had interfaith events, or discussion panels, where we really were just trying to engage in a conversation,” Alshibli said. “And we find that there are a lot of people that are really, really interested in knowing … About our experiences, about our perspectives. I really appreciate that people are giving us a voice.”

While many recent national events have been difficult for Muslims, Alshibli said their members have noticed more support from the campus community.

“I know last year was rickety because of the election, but I know there were a lot of groups that anonymously donated donuts to us for finals. SGA met with us individually to hear about how they could best support us,” Alshibli said. “I think the efforts of people reaching out to support us have far exceeded those that have been causing misunderstandings.”

Husain also said that, despite the fact that

negative feedback is prominent, the majority of the campus community supports their organization.

“It seems that with every person that attacks us, attacks Muslims on campus, there seem to be 10 or 20 people supporting us,” Husain said.

“The negatives don’t outweigh the positives, in terms of support.”

Husain, who has always been a practicing Muslim, said he has not known a time when he did not feel like he had to defend his religious beliefs, especially in consideration of the Sept.

11 terrorist attacks.

“I had just turned six when 9/11 happened,” Husain said. “And it was a realization, relatively recently, that I had never known a life without having to be a little defensive about my identity as a Muslim ... I’ve always had to prepare myself to answer questions or to hear certain comments about Islam.”

According to surveys performed by the Pew Research Center in 2014, about 81 percent of adults in Tennessee identify as Christian, and only one percent identify as Muslim. Alshibli and Husain said that a small population of Muslims establishes a lack of knowledge about the religion.

“I think most of them are out of ignorance or people not knowing, just because the Muslim population is so small here,” Alshibli said. “It’s very common for a person to not know a Muslim personally, so I definitely see that as the reason for a lot of the misunderstandings. ...

There’s just this general lack of knowledge, and because of that lack of knowledge, people jump to all these conclusions. They hear these things in the media that make them think a certain way about Muslims.”

Media coverage of Islam is often focused on radical terrorism, and Husain said that the fearmongering coverage has created an association between the religion and terrorism.

“The worst cause of (ignorance) is fear-mongering in the media,” Husain said. “People just throw out the name ISIS as if every Muslim is somehow associated with them. It’s unfortunate to have that kind of association, and it’s nothing to do with the religion or my experience with

the religion. It’s solely due to the portrayal of Muslims in the media.

“And, it makes you think that they’re this big threat that’s facing our country, that’s facing us.

When in reality, we are just trying to get through college and go to work.”

Alshibli echoed this sentiment and said that, as a young adult still transitioning into adulthood like other college students, politicizing Islam is hard when trying to discover her sense of self.

“It is kind of weird because as a college student … It’s confusing for everyone,” Alshibli said. “It is an added layer of identity crisis, because (Islam) is such a politicized topic, and people put you in the context of events that have nothing to do with you.”

Being visibly Muslim, Alshibli shared that she is still learning about herself and her religion, which can be difficult when others put her in a spokesperson position for her religion.

“It becomes where you become the spokesperson for a whole group of people; I’m just a college student,” said Alsibli. “I’m still learning, I’m still learning about my faith, I’m still learning about everything.”

During Hurricane Harvey, The Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH) opened up four of their properties as 24-hour shelters.

They also helped with fundraising efforts for the Houston area. Using this as an example, Husain said some of the misconceptions of Muslims begin with the lack of coverage of the positive work Muslims do.

“You don’t see a lot of news coverage of that (volunteer work) … You see a lot of people saying Muslims are trying to make little Muslimonly communities and teach their extremism and creeping Sharia,” Husain said. “When in fact, the Muslims that are out there serving the community and helping the community – they’re not getting shown.”

Understanding begins when others realize Islam is like any other religion and that Muslims are normal people, Husain and Alshibli added.

“Islam is just like any religion. It takes a lot to learn about it, but I think knowing a Muslim personally can change that because then you

realize that,” Alshibli said. “You know, I’m a college student. I stay up way too late because I procrastinate on my work. I obviously care and love about my family and my friends … I have aspirations in my professional life. All of those things are things you don’t always hear in the media.”

Husain said that since Islam is not a common religion in the U.S., some people do not understand that Islam is just a religion in the same sense that Christianity is just a religion.

“Growing up in East Tennessee you inherently have at least some understanding of Christianity … There’s this influence of Christianity there, present just from the people, from being in this area,” Husain said. “There’s that understanding of Christianity, or at least a little bit of knowledge, that at least it’s something normal. But because Islam is so new and so rare in America, there’s not yet this understanding that it’s just a religion. It’s a faith that people practice, and that’s something that I’m hoping that we can achieve with MSA in the far future.”

Other hopes that both Alshibli and Husain have for the future of MSA is further becoming an integral part of campus and continuing to collaborate with other student organizations.

“I definitely do see us already moving in the direction of becoming more a part of the campus conversation and the campus community,” Alshibli said. “I think that’s partly been because of the leadership that’s come before me but also been, on the other end, people reaching out to us, wanting to do collaborative events with us, wanting to host interfaith panels, collaborate on events for the campus community. I’m excited to see how that will go.”

Husain said one of his goals is to improve the idea of Muslims as Americans and let people know that the two identities are not separate.

“Honestly, I see my life as committed to this outreach, to going to different groups, to helping people understand — both Muslims and people who aren’t Muslims — to understand that the identify of Muslim and the identity of American are not mutually exclusive, that the two are very compatible.”

RELIGIONISSUE

Thursday, September 14, 2017 • The Daily Beacon

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Buddhist temple offers accurate picture of faith Tyler Wombles

Sports Editor It is not exactly where someone would think to find a temple.

The Losel Shedrup Ling of Knoxville is located on Kingston Pike in the back corner of a shopping strip. Driving by, it is practically unnoticeable.

But the temple is there, and so are its members.

Jay Meeks, who is on the temple’s board of directors, said before a Wednesday class that he expected the number of attendees to be in the double digits.

“This class, we’ll probably have around 10 people today,” Meeks said. “Our Thursday meditation is usually lightly attended. Last week, we had three, but we’ve had 10 or 15 people in there. And then the Sunday practice tends to be a bit more heavily attended ... If we have special events, like if we have teachers from out of town, that can fill the place up.”

The temple focuses on the Tibetan denomination of Buddhism, which is a subset of the Mahayana branch.

Tibetan Buddhism typically utilizes various practices, including teachings by a guru, meditation and skepticism (defined as testing the words of the Buddha in order to promote analytic meditation). Mahayana is the most practiced form of Buddhism in the world. It attempts to dive further into the teachings of the Buddha.

The Losel Shedrup Ling temple was founded in 1993 as a satellite to a monastery in Atlanta that is affiliated with Emory University.

“I think in 1993, they basically planted this seed, for lack of a better term,” Meeks said. “The way that tends to work is they get it started, (funded) those types of things. And then it’s kind of hands off and we become an independent center.”

The Losel Shedrup Ling conducts two main practices. The first is made up of teachings

taught by a Lama, who takes the practitioners through an 800-year-old text and applies it to the modern world.

The second involves group practices in which practitioners conduct various meditative exercises together.

Taylor Bell, a practitioner at the temple, was drawn to the Losel Shedrup Ling because of the familial atmosphere that it offers.

“The community that we have here is really strong and really tightly knit,” Bell said. “We do some really amazing things here. If you go to some of the bigger temples in the Southeast, it’s got a much different vibe. It’s like having a family. So, this is why I come here to practice.”

Despite the close relationships among the temple’s members, Bell has experienced some confusion from the outside world as to what the Losel Shedrup Ling — and Buddhists — believe and practice.

“I heard this one guy, he said ‘Oh, I heard them Buddhists sacrifice goats and stuff,’” Bell said. “That can’t be further from the truth. We don’t kill anything. Most of us are vegetarians.”

However, Bell doesn’t feel that her beliefs and those of her Christian family members differ very much.

“I go to church with my grandmother every once in a while,” Bell said. “We can relate really well because our whole thing is about just being good to people and kind. I find that with good Christians, that’s kind of their same thing.”

The Losel Shedrup Ling has four officers: a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, all of whom are appointed by its board of directors. It is a not-for-profit corporation and does not require members to renounce affiliation with other religious groups or churches.

The temple’s weekly schedule includes classes and other meetings Sunday through Thursday.

Sunday’s sessions feature mostly practices and teachings; Monday’s session is focused on meditation; Tuesday, the temple hosts a book group that reads various Buddhist publications; Wednesday’s meeting is an introductory class to Buddhism, and Thursday’s is based on practices.

Above: A small class is held at the The Losel Shedrup Ling of Knoxville.

Lower Left: Banners and books line the walls of the temple.

Photos by Tyler Wombles / The Daily Beacon

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The Daily Beacon â&#x20AC;¢ Thursday, September 14, 2017

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