Amoy Wanderings

Over the past few decades, the West has promoted the idea that the only truly impartial worldview is secularism, the absence of religion In fact, secularism is now seen as the dominant and only viable perspective in the world, which--in typical Western myopia--ignores about 3.17 billion people in the East who are adherents to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and folk religions (according to Adherents.com ). We in the West have little understanding of the role religion plays in the daily lives and worldviews of nearly half of the world's population. Two weeks ago, I was able to witness an annual event in our apartment community which vividly demonstrated the divide. Our community is located on the outskirts of Xiamen in an area made up of country folk. The story we've been given is that this apartment complex was built on the ruins of a village and housing was given to many of the people to replace the homes they lost. So, the atmosphere of this complex is much more rural than most....

 As we spend our last few hours in our apartment, a funeral is starting in the apartment complex center square. This will mean several hours of loud music, singing, wailing, and general noise. Generally, foreigners leave the apartment complex during these days because it can be difficult to think because of all the noise. Unfortunately, our new apartment will be right next to the square. A few weeks ago, there was another funeral in the complex, and I went down to take some photos. Funerals are quite the community event, and although I was obviously just curious about the goings on, I was received well and even given a water bottle. They generally set up two tents in the square for the friends and family of the deceased, and then onlookers gather around outside. They often bring in a band (or two in this case) who generally focus more on volume than accuracy believing that to be loudly off key or off beat is better than not being heard distinctly. I politely, and quiet...