It's time to reclaim religion | Sharon Brous

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

翻译人员: Yubo Wang 校对人员: 绮丽 罗

I was a new mother

我曾经是一个新生儿的母亲

and a young rabbi

也是一位年轻的拉比（犹太人的学者）

in the spring of 2004

在2004年春天的时候

and the world was in shambles.

也是世界一片混乱的时候

Maybe you remember.

也许你还记得

Every day, we heard devastating reports from the war in Iraq.

每天我们都会收到关于战争在伊拉克带来毁灭性创伤的报道

There were waves of terror rolling across the globe.

曾经恐怖主义的浪潮也席卷了全世界

It seemed like humanity was spinning out of control.

这一切都让人觉得人类正处于失去控制的边缘

我还记得那天晚上

I remember the night that I read

about the series of coordinated bombings

我读到发生在马德里地铁里的

连环式爆炸

in the subway system in Madrid,

and I got up and I walked over to the crib

然后我起身，走到婴儿床旁边

where my six-month-old baby girl

那里正沉睡着我六个月大的女儿

lay sleeping sweetly,

她睡的如此香甜

我听到了她呼吸的节奏

and I heard the rhythm of her breath,

and I felt this sense of urgency coursing through my body.

一种紧迫感包围了我

我们正处于一个现实构造转换为思想意识的时代

We were living through a time of tectonic shifts in ideologies,

in politics, in religion, in populations.

无论是在政治方面，宗教方面，还是人口数量方面

Everything felt so precarious.

所有事情都充满了未知的不确定性和危险性

And I remember thinking,

我从未忘记过思考

"My God, what kind of world did we bring this child into?

“上帝，我们到底把我们的孩子带到了怎样一个世界啊？”

And what was I as a mother and a religious leader

“我， 作为一个母亲和一个宗教领袖，

该为这种现况做些什么？“

willing to do about it?

Of course, I knew it was clear

当然， 我很清楚

that religion would be a principle battlefield

在这个快速发展变化的国际局势中

in this rapidly changing landscape,

宗教问题就像是一个原则性的战场

同样已然明了的是

and it was already clear

that religion was a significant part of the problem.

宗教已经成为一个非常敏感而重要的问题

然而我的问题是，

The question for me was,

could religion also be part of the solution?

宗教能否同时成为解决方案的一部分呢？

Now, throughout history,

纵观历史上下

人们已经遭受了可怕的犯罪和暴行

people have committed horrible crimes and atrocities

in the name of religion.

以宗教为名义

当我们步入21世纪的时候

And as we entered the 21st century,

it was very clear that religious extremism was once again on the rise.

宗教极端主义又开始盛行

Our studies now show

如今我们的调查显示

在过去的15到20年中

that over the course of the past 15, 20 years,

hostilities and religion-related violence

不同宗教间的敌意和宗教导致的暴力事件的次数

have been on the increase all over the world.

在全世界范围内快速增长

But we don't even need the studies to prove it,

但是我们甚至不需要用研究去证明

because I ask you, how many of us are surprised today

有多少人会感到惊讶当我问你

when we hear the stories of a bombing or a shooting,

我们听到的爆炸或枪击事件

when we later find out that the last word that was uttered

我们听到的人们在扳机叩响或炸弹引爆前

before the trigger is pulled or the bomb is detonated

留下的最后一句话

is the name of God?

这一切的事情却都是以上帝的名义

如今，当我们知晓有些人

It barely raises an eyebrow today

when we learn that yet another person

通过夺取上帝的子孙的生命

has decided to show his love of God

来表明对上帝的崇敬与爱意

by taking the lives of God's children.

我们都不会加以关注

In America, religious extremism

在美国，宗教极端主义

就像是一个反对堕胎的白种极端基督教徒

looks like a white, antiabortion Christian extremist

walking into Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs

走进科泉市的计划生育处

and murdering three people.

谋杀了三个人

It also looks like a couple

也像

一对受伊斯兰教鼓舞的夫妇

inspired by the Islamic State

walking into an office party in San Bernardino and killing 14.

走进圣贝纳迪诺的党政办公室并且杀掉了14个人

And even when religion-related extremism does not lead to violence,

甚至即使与宗教有关的极端主义没有导致暴力事件

it is still used as a political wedge issue,

也会导致政治上的分裂

cynically leading people to justify the subordination of women,

比如人们对女性的从属地位的确定

the stigmatization of LGBT people,

对同性恋者的歧视

性别歧视，伊斯兰恐惧症和反犹太主义。

racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

This ought to concern deeply

这些都值得引起

those of us who care about the future of religion

在乎宗教未来发展的人

and the future of faith.

和在乎未来信念寄托的人的深深的思考

We need to call this what it is:

我们可以将现况称为

宗教史上最大的失败

a great failure of religion.

但是重要的是，这并不是宗教所面临的唯一的问题

But the thing is, this isn't even the only challenge that religion faces today.

在我们需要宗教作为

At the very same time

that we need religion to be a strong force against extremism,

抵抗极端主义的一股强大力量的同时

it is suffering from a second pernicious trend,

它正遭受着第二个致命的趋势

what I call religious routine-ism.

即被我称做宗教惯例化的趋势

This is when our institutions and our leaders

这种趋势就是我们的社会机构和领导者们

are stuck in a paradigm that is rote and perfunctory,

深陷于墨守成规

从而缺乏生命力，缺乏独特的视角

devoid of life, devoid of vision

and devoid of soul.

也缺乏基本的灵魂

Let me explain what I mean like this.

接下来让我来解释我为什么这样说

One of the great blessings of being a rabbi

作为一位拉比，最大的幸福就是

is standing under the chuppah, under the wedding canopy, with a couple,

与一对夫妇站在结婚的彩棚下

and helping them proclaim publicly

帮助他们把这喜讯公之于众

and make holy the love that they found for one another.

让他们对彼此的爱神圣化

I want to ask you now, though,

现在我请你们

to think maybe from your own experience

想想你们自己的经历

or maybe just imagine it

或者只是想象

about the difference between the intensity of the experience

新婚站在彩棚下

under the wedding canopy,

和结婚16或17周年纪念日

and maybe the experience of the sixth or seventh anniversary.

发生概率的差别

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And if you're lucky enough to make it 16 or 17 years,

如果你十分有幸迎来了十六或十七周年纪念日

if you're like most people, you probably wake up in the morning

你却像大部分人一样，早晨醒来的时候意识到

realizing that you forgot to make a reservation at your favorite restaurant

你忘了预定你最喜欢的餐厅

你也忘记了卡片

and you forgot so much as a card,

and then you just hope and pray that your partner also forgot.

于是你就希望伴侣也同样忘掉了这个事情

Well, religious ritual and rites

宗教的惯例与习俗

were essentially designed to serve the function of the anniversary,

都是特别为迎合周年纪念日的意义而设计的

它是一个容器，承载了那些

to be a container in which we would hold on to the remnants

of that sacred, revelatory encounter

创造了宗教的

神圣的，启示性的邂逅

that birthed the religion in the first place.

The problem is that after a few centuries,

而问题就在于，几个世纪过去后

the date remains on the calendar,

周年纪念日的日期仍然在日历上

but the love affair is long dead.

但是这段爱恋却已然消逝

That's when we find ourselves in endless, mindless repetitions

这个时候我们才发现

我们陷入了无休止无意义的生活死循环中

of words that don't mean anything to us,

起床，坐下等琐事都是因为有人要我们这样做

rising and being seated because someone has asked us to,

holding onto jealously guarded doctrine

固守着被妒忌看护的信条

that's completely and wildly out of step with our contemporary reality,

这是完全彻底的背离我们如今的现实的

engaging in perfunctory practice

我们参与到马马虎虎，得过且过的日常中

simply because that's the way things have always been done.

只是因为这是我们平常做事的方式

宗教的影响力在美国正在衰退

Religion is waning in the United States.

Across the board, churches and synagogues and mosques

从甲板上，教堂里，到犹太教会，清真寺

are all complaining

所有的宗教都在抱怨着

about how hard it is to maintain relevance

让这些宗教保证看起来对宗教毫无兴趣的新一代年轻人

仍然与他们有关联，是多么的不容易

for a generation of young people who seem completely uninterested,

因为这些年轻人不仅对宗教的核心机构不感兴趣

not only in the institutions that stand at the heart of our traditions

but even in religion itself.

也对宗教本身不感兴趣

And what they need to understand

同时，这些教会里的人需要明白的是

is that there is today a generation of people

如今的这一代人

已经厌倦了暴力和宗教极端主义

who are as disgusted by the violence of religious extremism

as they are turned off

因为宗教枯燥乏味的一成不变

by the lifelessness of religious routine-ism.

他们已经放弃了相信它

Of course there is a bright spot to this story.

当然这些事也有积极的一面

Given the crisis of these two concurrent trends in religious life,

谈到这两个在宗教世界里同时发生的趋势的危机

about 12 or 13 years ago, I set out to try to determine

在12或13年前，我开始寻找

其他的方法

if there was any way

that I could reclaim the heart of my own Jewish tradition,

去重新定义我所属于的犹太教传统的核心

to help make it meaningful and purposeful again

以此来重新使犹太教在这个动荡的世界上

in a world on fire.

重新具有它存在的意义

I started to wonder,

我想

what if we could harness some of the great minds of our generation

如果我们可以驾驭我们这一代伟大的思想

再重新从一个大胆的，有创新的角度

and think in a bold and robust and imaginative way again

去思考下一个重复的宗教生活会是什么样

about what the next iteration of religious life would look like?

Now, we had no money, no space, no game plan,

我们没有钱，没有空间，没有计划

but we did have email.

但是我们的确有电子邮件

So my friend Melissa and I sat down and we wrote an email

于是我的朋友Melissa和我

开始给我们的朋友和同事写邮件

which we sent out to a few friends and colleagues.

It basically said this:

基本内容就是

"Before you bail on religion,

“在你放弃你的宗教信仰前

why don't we come together this Friday night

让我们这周五晚上小聚一下吧

and see what we might make of our own Jewish inheritance?"

看看我们还能为犹太的文化遗产做些什么”

We hoped maybe 20 people would show up.

我们的期待值只有二十个人

It turned out 135 people came.

但是却来了一百三十五个人

有犬儒主义者，有探求者

They were cynics and seekers,

atheists and rabbis.

有无神论者，也有拉比

Many people said that night that it was the first time

很多人都说，那晚是他们有史以来

that they had a meaningful religious experience in their entire lives.

第一次拥有了如此有意义的宗教经历

And so I set out to do the only rational thing

从此我开始只做一些普通人只会在特定情况下做的

that someone would do in such a circumstance:

正确的，理性的事情

I quit my job and tried to build this audacious dream,

我放弃了我的工作

尝试着去让我的这个无畏的梦想

a reinvented, rethought religious life

真正实现为经过彻底改造的，重新思考的宗教生活

which we called "IKAR,"

我们把这个梦想称作“IKAR”

which means "the essence" or "the heart of the matter."

是“本质，精华”，“问题的核心”的意思

Now, IKAR is not alone

如今，IKAR 并不孤单，

在我们的梦想在当今宗教局势中

out there in the religious landscape today.

There are Jewish and Christian and Muslim and Catholic religious leaders,

因为有很多的犹太教，基督教，穆斯林教和天主教领袖

many of them women, by the way,

（顺便说一下，他们之中有很多都是女性）

who have set out to reclaim the heart of our traditions,

都开始重新定义他们宗教的核心

who firmly believe that now is the time for religion to be part of the solution.

开始坚定的相信是时候让宗教成为解决方案的一部分了

We are going back into our sacred traditions

我们回想我们神圣的传统

却猛然醒悟，我们所有的传统

and recognizing that all of our traditions

contain the raw material to justify violence and extremism,

都包含着用不成熟的因素来对待暴力和极端主义

包括对待同情和怜悯

and also contain the raw material to justify compassion,

和平共处和仁慈好意

coexistence and kindness --

that when others choose to read our texts as directives for hate and vengeance,

所以当他人从我们的文章中读出憎恨与复仇时

we can choose to read those same texts

我们可以从同样的文章中读出

as directives for love and for forgiveness.

爱和宽容

我发现

I have found now

in communities as varied as Jewish indie start-ups on the coasts

与犹太教发源在海岸边一样与众不同的教会

to a woman's mosque,

比如属于女人的清真寺

to black churches in New York and in North Carolina,

比如纽约和北卡罗来纳城内的黑人教会

to a holy bus loaded with nuns

比如满载着修女的神圣巴士

that traverses this country with a message of justice and peace,

他们向国家传递着公正与和平的气息

以及共同的宗教精神

that there is a shared religious ethos

that is now emerging in the form of revitalized religion in this country.

他们现在以在国度内复兴宗教的形式而浮现

And while the theologies and the practices vary very much

而当在这些独立的教会间

出现宗教体系和日常传统非常不同的情况时

between these independent communities,

what we can see are some common, consistent threads between them.

我们却可以看到隐没在这些情况中的共同点

I'm going to share with you four of those commitments now.

下面我就来与大家分享这四个相同点

The first is wakefulness.

第一个便是思想觉悟

我们生活在一个这样的时代

We live in a time today

in which we have unprecedented access

可以通过各种各样出人意料的途径

to information about every global tragedy

得知每一个

发生在世界各个角落的悲剧

that happens on every corner of this Earth.

Within 12 hours, 20 million people

有两千多万人，在十二个小时内

saw that image of Aylan Kurdi's little body

就看到了阿兰科迪的小小身躯

washed up on the Turkish shore.

在土耳其的海岸边被海浪无情的冲刷

We all saw this picture.

我们都看见了

We saw this picture of a five-year-old child

看见这个图片里的五岁男童

pulled out of the rubble of his building in Aleppo.

企图从已成废墟的阿勒波的家里逃出

每次当我们见到类似的图像

And once we see these images,

we are called to a certain kind of action.

我们都会不约而同地开始行动

My tradition tells a story of a traveler who is walking down a road

在我的宗教里流传着这样一个故事

一个旅人在路途中看到一栋漂亮房子着火了

when he sees a beautiful house on fire,

and he says, "How can it be that something so beautiful would burn,

他说:"这么漂亮的一座房子着火了

为什么人们都坐视不见呢？“

and nobody seems to even care?"

So too we learn that our world is on fire,

同样的，现在我们的房子--这个世界也正在经历十万火急地事情

and it is our job to keep our hearts and our eyes open,

我们应当敞开心扉，擦亮眼睛

and to recognize that it's our responsibility

发现这其实是我们的责任

去把火焰熄灭

to help put out the flames.

This is extremely difficult to do.

这件事的确很困难

Psychologists tell us that the more we learn about what's broken in our world,

心理学家告诉过我们，人们越是见到这个世界支离破碎的一面

the less likely we are to do anything.

就越是会放任不管

It's called psychic numbing.

这便是心理麻醉

We just shut down at a certain point.

即我们选择性的忽略了一些重要的问题

Well, somewhere along the way, our religious leaders forgot

然而，在时代发展的道路上，各宗教的领袖似乎忘记了

that it's our job to make people uncomfortable.

我们的责任即是使人民面对残酷的现实

It's our job to wake people up,

让他们有所觉悟

以此来迫使他们远离漠不关心的态度

to pull them out of their apathy

然后迎来改变的痛苦

and into the anguish,

and to insist that we do what we don't want to do

做我们本不想做的事情

看到我们本无视的实况

and see what we do not want to see.

Because we know that social change only happens --

因为我们知道社会的改变永远只发生在

(Applause)

（掌声）

when we are awake enough to see that the house is on fire.

我们清醒的意识到它急需改变的时候

The second principle is hope,

第二个便是希望

and I want to say this about hope.

关于希望我必须说

Hope is not naive,

它并不是那样天真

and hope is not an opiate.

也不是什么麻醉剂

Hope may be the single greatest act of defiance

希望可能是对悲观主义的政治

against a politics of pessimism

和对已经绝望的文化

and against a culture of despair.

最大的蔑视

Because what hope does for us

因为希望所能带给我们的

is it lifts us out of the container

是让我们挣脱那个

阻挠我们前进的牢笼

that holds us and constrains us from the outside,

并且告诉我们，“你们可以自由的梦想与思考

and says, "You can dream and think expansively again.

That they cannot control in you."

这是一切其他事物所不能控制的”

I saw hope made manifest in an African-American church

今年夏天，在芝加哥南部

in the South Side of Chicago this summer,

我看到希望已在美国非裔的教堂里得以显现

where I brought my little girl,

那是我带女儿

她现在已经十三岁了

who is now 13

and a few inches taller than me,

比我还要再高一点点

去听我朋友Rev.Otis Moss讲道的地方

to hear my friend Rev. Otis Moss preach.

That summer, there had already been 3,000 people shot

这个夏天，在芝加哥大约有3000人被枪杀

从一月到七月

between January and July in Chicago.

我们去教堂听他讲道

We went into that church and heard Rev. Moss preach,

结束后

and after he did,

是优雅的女声合唱

this choir of gorgeous women, 100 women strong,

stood up and began to sing.

100个合唱成员站起身展开歌喉

"I need you. You need me.

“我需要你，你亦如此

I love you. I need you to survive."

我爱你。我想要你好好的活着”

And I realized in that moment

在那一瞬间我恍然醒悟

that this is what religion is supposed to be about.

这就是宗教活动应有的样子

它应当给予人们生存的目的

It's supposed to be about giving people back a sense of purpose,

a sense of hope,

希望的感觉

a sense that they and their dreams fundamentally matter in this world

和一种每个个体和每个梦想都至关重要的感觉

that tells them that they don't matter at all.

纵使这个世界总是让人们感到被忽视

The third principle is the principle of mightiness.

第三个便是强大原则

There's a rabbinic tradition that we are to walk around

我们犹太法师有一项传统

with two slips of paper in our pockets.

兜里揣着两张纸片走在路上

One says, "I am but dust and ashes."

一张上面写着，“我渺小如灰烬，我什么都不是”

也就是说我只是一个不起眼的存在

It's not all about me.

I can't control everything, and I cannot do this on my own.

我不能掌控任何事，我也不能凭一己之念决定什么

The other slip of paper says, "For my sake the world was created."

而另一张纸上写着，“世界因我而被创造”

意思是，虽然我不能掌控任何事

Which is to say it's true that I can't do everything,

但是我的确能做成一些事

but I can surely do something.

比如宽容

I can forgive.

I can love.

比如爱

I can show up.

比如展示自己

比如抗议

I can protest.

I can be a part of this conversation.

比如成为讨论的一部分

We even now have a religious ritual,

我们现在甚至有了宗教仪式

a posture,

这种宗教态度

可以使无能为力与强权在握之间存在一种悖论

that holds the paradox between powerlessness and power.

In the Jewish community,

在犹太聚集区里

一年中唯一一次的跪拜礼

the only time of year that we prostrate fully to the ground

is during the high holy days.

发生在非常神圣的日子里

这是完全谦恭的一种表示

It's a sign of total submission.

Now in our community, when we get up off the ground,

如今，我们行毕跪拜礼后

we stand with our hands raised to the heavens,

我们起身，手指向天堂的方向

and we say, "I am strong, I am mighty, and I am worthy.

低语，“我很坚强，我有权利，我很有价值。

我不能做成一切事情，但是我的确能做好我力所能及的”

I can't do everything, but I can do something."

In a world that conspires to make us believe that we are invisible

在这个努力想要使我们认为自己渺小如尘

and that we are impotent,

手无缚鸡之力的世界

religious communities and religious ritual

是宗教团体和宗教习俗在提醒我们

can remind us that for whatever amount of time we have here on this Earth,

不管我们能在这个世界上待多久

whatever gifts and blessings we were given,

不管我们被给于了多少祝福与礼物

不管我们有各种各样的资源

whatever resources we have,

we can and we must use them

我们可以，也必须用他们

to try to make the world a little bit more just

去使这个世界变得更公正一点

and a little bit more loving.

也更具有人情味一点

The fourth and final is interconnectedness.

最后一点便是世界的互联性

A few years ago, there was a man walking on the beach in Alaska,

许多年前，一个男人正在阿拉斯加的海滩上散步

一个足球出现在他眼前

when he came across a soccer ball

上面还写着日本字

that had some Japanese letters written on it.

He took a picture of it and posted it up on social media,

他拍了张足球的照片，并且把它放到了他的社交软件上

然后，一个日本的少年联系了他

and a Japanese teenager contacted him.

He had lost everything in the tsunami that devastated his country,

他说他已经在重创全国的海啸中失去了一切

but he was able to retrieve that soccer ball

但是现在他找回了他的足球

after it had floated all the way across the Pacific.

在它已经漂过整个太平洋之后

How small our world has become.

世界已然变得如此之小

作为人类，我们很难记得

It's so hard for us to remember how interconnected we all are

我们是多么的心有灵犀

as human beings.

And yet, we know

然而，我们都知道

that it is systems of oppression

从激进的独立主义的谎言中

that benefit the most from the lie of radical individualism.

受益最大的却是政府采用的镇压手段

Let me tell you how this works.

这是为什么呢？

I'm not supposed to care

我本不应关心

when black youth are harassed by police,

黑人青年被警察一而再，再而三的骚扰

because my white-looking Jewish kids

因为我有着白皮肤的犹太孩子

也许永远都不会因为同样的事（皮肤黑）而被定罪

probably won't ever get pulled over for the crime of driving while black.

但是我并没有给予漠视的态度，

Well, not so, because this is also my problem.

因为这同时也是我应该关心的问题

And guess what? Transphobia and Islamophobia

同时，变性者恐惧症，伊斯兰恐惧症

and racism of all forms, those are also all of our problems.

和各种形式的种族歧视，

And so too is anti-Semitism all of our problems.

同样，反犹太问题也是，

也是我们应当关心的问题

Because Emma Lazarus was right.

正如Emma Lazarus所说

（掌声）

(Applause)

Emma Lazarus was right when she said until all of us are free,

正如Emma Lazarus所说，

除非我们所有人都获得自由，否则其实我们都是囚禁的

we are none of us free.

We are all in this together.

大家都是这样的

And now somewhere at the intersection of these four trends,

在这四个趋势的交叉口

of wakefulness and hope and mightiness and interconnectedness,

觉悟，希望，强大，互联

诞生了一项生机勃勃的，多信仰的，公正的运动

there is a burgeoning, multifaith justice movement in this country

that is staking a claim on a countertrend,

来为趋势和逆趋势画上一条清楚的界限

saying that religion can and must be a force for good in the world.

因为宗教应当也必须成为世界的一股正能量

失败的宗教极端主义的出现伤了我们的心

Our hearts hurt from the failed religion of extremism,

我们也值得拥有推陈出新的宗教理念

and we deserve more than the failed religion of routine-ism.

It is time for religious leaders and religious communities

是时候让宗教领袖和宗教团体

在精神与文化改变方面做出领头作用了

to take the lead in the spiritual and cultural shift

that this country and the world so desperately needs --

况且这种改变也是国家和世界所急需的---

a shift toward love,

向真情改变，

toward justice, toward equality and toward dignity for all.

向公正改变，向平等和尊严改变

I believe that our children deserve no less than that.

我相信我们的下一代值得一个更好的世界

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）