An Ethic for Religious Sharing

First, a Definition of Terms:

• Appropriation - The act of participating in a ritual or meaning making event, or the use of an artifact (or replica of an artifact) that originates, or seems to originate, in a cultural/religious context other than one's own.
• Misappropriation - Appropriation without respect for, acknowledgement of, nor deep understanding of the culture/religion being appropriated. Appropriation without permission.
• Cultural Borrowing - Appropriation. Often used in place of "appropriation" due to the emotional overtones of the word appropriation.
• Religious Sharing - the gift of giving permission to use, or offering access to, cultural/religious rituals, symbols, etc. of ones own tradition, and the respectful acceptance of that gift on the part of members of other cultures.

Between people/cultures of equivalent power, sharing is easily possible. All that is required is a basic understanding of the other culture, mutually respectful communication, and some clarity about permission.
However, in the case of Unitarian Universalists as a group, sharing is almost never between equals. Unitarian Universalists as a group are middle and upper class, north american, white. We are historically colonizers, oppressors, beneficiaries of racist systems. This requires additional ethical obligations when considering enjoying the spiritual gifts of others.

• First: Know where you stand. You cannot know when you are sharing and when you are not, you cannot know who you are and what you have to offer, until you know your own history and place. You also cannot know why you need what you think you need to borrow unless you know your self. What is your personal, congregational, and movement-wide history? Your heritage? Geneology? What resources do you bring to the table? How do you define yourself and your movement? What is your theology...
• Second: Know what you are borrowing. Do you know where the sage smudge stick comes from? If you don't, perhaps incense, or some other smoke ritual that you DO know the source for will need to take its place until you can do your research. As a Jun player, I need to know what the name of the song I am playing is, what rituals and vocals it is played with, and what is the dance. What is the cultural context? What do I know about the ritual/symbol itself? Is it public domain?
• Third: What is the provenance of what you are borrowing? How did this come to you. Can you name the teacher/book/source? Do you trust the teacher/book/source? Did you get permission? Do you trust the source of the permission? I try to know the teacher, the teacher's teacher, and the ethnicity of the people from whom I learned a drumsong. For instance, it matters that the lineage is fairly direct since that means to me that the people who teach me have the authority to do so.
• Fourth: Know from whom you are borrowing. What do you know about the history of the people? The culture? the current situation of these people?
• Fifth: Are you in right relations with the people you are benefiting from? If you are benefiting from Luisah Tish's insights from Yoruba tradition, are you in a mutually respectful relationship with the African American and Caribbean community? As a drummer who has benefited from expat. African teachers, am I active in supporting the interests of West African or African-American people?
• Sixth: Give credit. Put it in the order of service. State the names of the sources of this tradition when you use it, especially in public.
• Seventh: When you mess up. Forgive yourself, and begin again in love. Do your best...

Here's how this works for me in the context of music... I try to use my traditional djembe and juns for playing traditional West African music. I play West African drumsongs that I know the context of, and songs I learned from a person of that culture, or from a respectable student of someone from that culture. I always acknowledge the tradition and people who originated the song. I try to honor the context of the playing: at least acknowledge that I'm playing a harvest song out of season if I opt to do so. When I'm just noodling around and playing African-inspired drumming I try to clarify that this is what I'm doing. In return for the gift of drum and dance in my life I spent several years promoting teachers and helping them make a living after arriving in the US of A and have taught classes to kids of color as a way of lifting up and passing along the genius of that heritage. I always acknowledge teachers and sources. When an African American person confronts me about "ripping off her culture" I am prepared to speak to that accusation without defensiveness. I truly believe it is more important to keep the traditions alive than to respond to the criticism by stopping playing. But in exchange for that gift I have responsibilities.

This approach is more complex for Unitarian Universalists because the first step is less defined for us. With music I have a pretty good idea of the musical traditions that belong to the American culture and where they came from (Ken Burn's "History of Jazz" is one great source of knowledge.) The history of Unitarian Universalist religious elements is just as complex, but less well documented and accessible. That doesn't let us off the hook, but it does mean the work will not be done easily or done quickly. It is still worth doing.