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The dreidels were spun. We ate yummy latkes and trimmed shiny trees. Yet we've forgotten Jesus' birthday and the good ol' Maccabees My modern carol may fail to warm the heart, but it certainly rings true. We pay little attention to the meaning of the religious holidays that we've drenched in secular purposes. Most of us don't even realize that our Islamic friends have their own feast this time of year, Ramadan. With the shopping almost done, it's time for reflection and -- especially for parents -- some teaching. I turned to the Web to remind myself of the religious history of these holidays, journeying to three sites: the Jewish portal Zipple.com, Christianity.com, and Islam101.com. When each managed to make me feel like an outsider, I discovered a solution: Beliefnet.com, an umbrella site where numerous religions find a home, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Beliefnet is the best place I found to teach children and yourself about all different faiths. And if we're lucky, on sites like Beliefnet we might learn a thing or two from each other. For instance, the site creators used the holiday season as an excuse to excerpt Bishop John Shelby Spong's book Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Virgin Birth and the Treatment of Women in a Male-Dominated Church. This forward-thinking bishop offers historical documentation about the reality of the virgin birth and tries to unlock the mystique of the Holy Mary. This type of skeptical, yet spiritual, text was refreshing and educational. I didn't know all the different versions of the Christmas story before, but now I do. ISLAMIC AWAKENING. I also quickly learned about Chanukah, the festival of lights, which this year begins on Dec. 22. The holiday commemorates the victory of the Jewish Maccabee family over the Syrians and the Greeks who ruled Ancient Israel in the 2nd century B.C. Chanukah remained a minor holiday until the 19th century, gaining a higher profile mostly in response to the hoopla surrounding Christmas every year during the same season, according to the site. Just as eye-opening was a column by Michael Wolfe, noted author of books of fiction, poetry, and travel history, who described how his travels in Morocco led him to an Islamic awakening. Among other things, Wolfe passed along what he learned from an older Muslim about the importance of Ramadan, the monthlong celebration in which Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, or having sexual intercourse between sunrise and sunset. "It's good for the system, and it armors your heart, so only good things can touch you," an old man told him. This type of dialogue can help people understand the beliefs of others. If nothing else, the conversation is launched. A few other useful services secure my allegiance to Beliefnet. A section that offers tips about how to respectfully send holiday salutations to those who belong to different faiths is the nicest holiday touch. This part, in particular, is a practical resource for parents who want to teach their children how to embrace friends with different beliefs. The most fun, however, came from a quiz that helps visitors rate the strength of their convictions. I discovered I was an "old-fashioned seeker, happy with my religion [Catholicism] but searching for the right expression of it." The questions were even more educational than the test result. They force test-takers to consider everything -- from whether they believed in angels to the level of tolerance they had for other religions. Beliefnet was my spiritual salvation on the Web. JEWISH MOTHER JOKES. Compared with my experience at Beliefnet, the sites I visited that were devoted to particular religions left me less satisfied. Zipple.com educates readers about the holidays Jews celebrate throughout the year, including Chanukah. This holiday's symbol: The miracle of a lone bottle of oil that lasted for eight days, when it should have lasted only for one. According to Zipple, Chanukah's significance is magnified today because the Maccabees were fighting against assimilation forced upon them by the Syrians, a battle Jews still wage, though in different circumstances. In fact, when I visited Zipple, the lead story was "The Interfaith Evergreen Dilemma," a well-written article that focused on how mixed families decide whether to put a Christmas tree up in their homes and the sometimes painful emotions that issue evokes. It seemed to me, though, that the right of Christian spouses to maintain their own traditions was left out of the discussion. That left me with mixed feelings about the site. Still, the site's recipes and especially its jokes create a charming sense of community on the Web. I highly recommend the Jewish Mother Jokes page: "How do you know Jesus was a nice Jewish boy? He stayed at home until he was 30. He went into the same profession as his father. His mother thought he was God." LIKE AN OUTSIDER. I had reservations also about Christianity.com, a Christian Web site whose chairman is Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson. Christianity.com's missionary zeal left me feeling that the site considers non-Christian religions and their believers as simply wrong. Though a delightful feature showed respect for the Jewish Chanukah celebration, its tolerance was undercut for me by an attack on the belief of a professor -- who teaches at a Christian university -- that women are physically equal to men. The lesson seemed to be that young people shouldn't question their own faith. On the other hand, news stories on Christianity.com provide accurate, informative analysis, ranging from the Presidential election to male eating disorders. Through a link to a Catholic site, I found a thorough and intriguing depiction of St. Francis of Assisi, for whom I am named. But many of the other spiritual stories on Christianity.com left me feeling like an outsider, excluded from my own (broadly defined)faith. OVERLOOKED HOLIDAY. Though I took a Western religion course recently and read the entire Koran, I still had the most to learn on my visit to Islam101.com. I'm not alone: Islam remains a mystery to most Americans. Chanukah and especially Christmas put Judaism and Christianity in the spotlight at least once a year. The feast of Ramadan, which ends next week, is largely overlooked in the U.S., even though its significance for Muslims is profound. Islam101's link to www.muhammad.net taught me that the end of the Ramadan month marks the anniversary of the visit paid the prophet Muhammad by an angel who told him that God (Allah) had chosen him as His messenger. The main site of Islam101 is mostly an advertisement for distance-learning courses on the Muslim religion, including "Introduction to Islam" and "Islam and Science." The links, like Muhammad.net, which present the coursework and readings, definitely provide sound facts about the history of this often-misunderstood religion. But like its Jewish and Christian counterparts, the site is religious and therefore preaches a way of life under its own belief system, largely to the exclusion of others. As at Christianity.com, exhortations to convert are blatant, and the status of women is a hot topic. One article tries to undo stereotypes about how Islam treats female followers by attempting to prove that Judaism and Christianity, and their sacred texts, have as much, if not more, to answer for. I'm not sure I agree. But I will give the site credit for bringing to the forefront a much needed discussion of women's proper place in religion and society. SOME GREATER FORCE. The goal of all these sites is to inspire discussion, secure followers, and give people a sense of belonging and deeper faith, and I'm sure they'll win an audience. I say this even though I sometimes felt uncomfortable on my pilgrimage through the religious Web. Most people need to believe that a greater force exists -- a Being who is the smartest, the kindest, the strongest. These beliefs connect us to fellow believers. But those same beliefs sometimes separate us from our fellow humans. Any of these sites can teach us about a specific tradition. But Beliefnet can do that -- and more. Beliefnet fulfills the Web's potential by allowing people to explore different faiths and, perhaps, to find common ground with one another. After all, as it says on Beliefnet, "we all believe in something."  Di Meglio is a freelance writer based in Fort Lee, N.J.  | | |
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