The ethics of adapting other traditions
I had the pleasure of attending a Passover Seder last week, and I enjoyed experiencing the ritual and the food and learning some history. I have been to some non-Jewish “Seders” as well, which take the basic Passover theme of liberation from oppression and use it in a more general way to create secular rituals. I’m of two minds about this. I know that most ritual has been borrowed at least in part from somewhere else, and that human rituals travel and evolve over time and across cultures. Yet it seems a little rude to me to “use” another group’s ritual for a different purpose. I feel the same qualm about celebrating Kwanzaa, since although it was created by a humanist and is the winter solsticetime ritual that makes the most sense to me, I’m not African-American. At the Ethical Society, we often adapt traditionally religious music to make it fit our religious humanism, such as by changing God references to Life or Love or whatever seems appropriate. Since a lot of religious music was adapted from secular sources in the first place, I don’t feel so bad about making new changes, but what do you think: Is it disrespectful for groups to adapt others’ traditions for their own uses? Or is that just part of human cultural development? Do you borrow from other traditions to create meaningful ritual in your life?
Kate Lovelady, 38, of Dogtown is the Leader of the Ethical Society of St. Louis, which was founded in 1886 and is currently the largest Ethical Society in the nation. Kate's life partner, Billy Dechand, is a local musician. Kate's hobbies include vegan baking and riding her 49cc scooter. 
I think that if and when you appropriate a cultural/religious rite from outside of your own experience, you need to make a decision about why you’re doing it.
Some choices: are you trying to educate yourself, and so come to understand this person or group that seems so very different from you? Are you looking for meaning in your own life by exploring these things? Are you trying to strip out the very real religious significance of something like Passover and turn it into a secular feast? In other words, your reasons and your motives matter a great deal.
In Jewish tradition - my tradition - in the Haggadah, it states that it is praiseworthy to not only tell the Passover story at the Seder but re-tell the Passover story as many times as possible to as many people as possible in the way that they will understand it. This the reason for the Haggadah story about the Four Sons: each of the Four Sons understands the world in a different way and the father teaches his son about the Passover story and its laws according to which of the four types of understanding the world his own son matches or approximates. The reason is that the theme and messages of Passover are timeless; they apply not only to Jewish people but to all humanity. Therefore, if another culture or religion adopts the basic foundation of the Passover story and adapts it to their tradition, that is helping to spread the basic message of the Passover story: that physical and political freedom can be attained with an unshakable faith and confidence in one’s belief system.
Eli Ha-Levi, BA, M.L.I.S. (professional librarian)
Website: http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/passover/
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Why should the non-religious not reclaim the major holidays?
“Christmas” is a Christian appropriation of a celebration of the shortest day of the year, albeit slightly mis-timed today.
“Easter” is a poorly matched to the lunar year, so a very bad match to the solar year, but it is a celebration of spring.
Simian