Q4 Should Deafhood Have “Churches”?
What are the places that discuss Deafhood? At conferences? At universities? At deaf schools? Inside DeafRead vblogsphere? Yes to all and more. What about churches, mosques, and temples serving deaf people? Those established and ministered by dDeaf people. Do they mull dDeafhood?
This blogsite does raise spiritual and religious issues being dDeaf. It is so new for many of us. Should there be Deaf “churches”? The quotation marks are stressed. Religious edifices all over the world house sacred spaces. Do the Deaf World have a sacred space? There is almost nothing like this being contemplated by dDeaf people today. We will realize it is inside us, restlessly percolating. Yes, DeafHood will eventually set up a “church” but in a form so different, yet so natural to us.
The “church” of dDeaf Peoples, simply, is a Deaf Circle. Anywhere on earth you can create a circle of Deaf people. Use a chalk or your pointing finger to draw a circle on the ground. Or set up chairs in circular formations to draw one. Many of us experience education in rooms with desks and chairs in semi-circular formations. dDeaf people could not communicate with one another if everyone is in any straight line formations. We will be unable to see each other. We need to move our bodies toward one another, forming a “D” circle, to use our beautiful visual-spatial languages.
Google “spirituality” and we find sites extolling the use of the circle in religions. The American “Indians” gave us the circular sweatlodge. Our planteary home, the only one we have, is a circle. We live in a circular mother shrine we need to viligantly protect. We need to celebrate mother earth and our “D” lives on/in it. With the civil right movements of our blacks, the deafs, and the queers in America, there is something promising, a resurgence of mother earth spirituality to heal our home. Deafhood and its hearing comrades will unveil our secret to the world, our languages to be more visual-based.
If we do end up establishing “churches” extolling and celebrating Deafhood, what will it be? We saw the joys and horrors religion and political institutions had produced in the history of humanity. Should Deaf Peoples start setting up “churches” modeling after one of them? No, DeafHood will go pagan-like. Just get together in a “D” circle and discuss how to celebrate dDeafhood. That s it.
We, dDeaf people, will create a sacred space of a “D” circle in order to delve into this new concept, DeafHood, or being dDeaf. Again to quote one of our sages, Paddy Ladd . . . .
The setting up of Deaf churches from 2010 onwards was a crucial development, The new concept of a Diety as consisting a set of guiding spirits of Deaf elders from centuries past, who were celebrated and prayed to for guidance, was at first laughed at, until it was pointed out that in many of ther world’s religions, beliefs like this were not uncommon. Once the concept was accepted, it spread like wildfire through the lands, til we have today at our conferences, our own ceremonies for honouring those who led us here and who still guide our way.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:59 am
From 2010 onwards? Excuse me, but I have to correct Ladd, there were Deaf churches established in the past, and some are still with us today. The first deaf churches established in modern times date back to 1980s and early 90s.
However, the first Deaf church was established in late 19th century, it was founded by Thomas Gallaudet (not to be confused with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet). The first Deaf priest (of Episcopal Church), Henry Winter Syle was ordained in 1876.
My point is that Deaf churches do exist long before “Deafhood” came along. However, interestingly enough, some Deaf Christians showed up at Gallaudet when the protests were at peak, but were turned away by protestors mocking them. It’s clear to us, who are Christians, that “Deafhood” has no place for Christianity at all.
Picard90
July 4th, 2007 at 10:14 am
It would help the deaf community tremondously if there are many deaf churches with deaf pastors along with hearing churches with large deaf ministries. Deaf people need to get in tune with their spirituality & invite God into their lives.
The reason we need many more deaf pastors is because they can play a key role in bringing more rights for deaf people. Look at Martin Luther King, Jr. for instance who helped to bring many civil rights for African-Americans. We cannot expect government or tax-funded secular deaf agencies to truly fight for our rights as deaf citizens.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
If you are going to make Paddy Ladd and Co deities, I think that is a non-starter ! Are you trying to start one of those American cults or something, surely, LA is the place for that ? Do I need to chant ? use bells and things ? I respect your deafness but deafhood is unproven of value as yet, so far, it has only created difference… not ID. Using the Capital D, demotes the other deaf people, so that is a negative too. We need harmony not religion.
July 4th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I agreed with #2.Deaf Christian in some ways. I have been a Christian since 1975 and have observed that some deaf churches can’t support deaf pastors without having the support of hearing churches. In general, many deaf people do not have enough spirituality to support deaf pastors. My wife and I moved from Northern Virginia to the part of western Virginia and found a hearing church with a few interpreters. We have learned so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have a wonderful fellowship with the hearing people as well as our hearing pastor via the interpreters. Unfortunately we have tried to witness some deaf people to know Jesus Christ and most of them have rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have said it is not cool to learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will continue witnessing to the deaf people as long as God permits us. I have found that there is the possibility of up to 99 percent of the deaf people in America don’t want or know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some deaf people would prefer to attend the church where they could have a great party with a lot of food.
July 4th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Yes, Deafhood in Churches is a reality.
We have witness a birth of a new Deaf denomination, which was formed last April 28, 2007, at the Deaf Summit in Indianapolis, Indiana by Deaf Pastors and Deaf Elders from 12 Deaf Churches in United States and Canada. The name of the new Deaf religion (denomination) is the Alliance of Deaf Reformed and Reformed Baptist Churches (ADRRBC). 490 years ago Martin Luther split away from the Catholic Church in 1517 starting the Protestant Reformation. In 2007, three Deaf churches in Lombard, Illinois, Columbia, Maryland and Danville, Kentucky have split away from the Reformed Church in the United States because our Deaf Pastors felt it is now time for us Deaf to start a new Deaf denomination.
This is the first time that the Deaf have their own Deaf denomination where all Deaf churches have Deaf pastors and where Deafhood is a reality and ASL is our language. Here is a list of cities that have Deaf churches that joined the new Deaf denomination.
1. Lombard, Illinois - Jari Saavalainen
2. Columbia, Maryland- Kenton Hoxie
3. Danville, Kentucky-Kevin Hamiliton
4. Houston, Texas- Sameul Marsch
5. Denver, Colorado- Billy Kaul
6. Sacramento, California-Chester Brock
7. Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Cassell Grice
8. Indianapolis, Indiana
9. Owensboro, Kentucky
10. Dallas, Texas
11. Toronto, Ontario, Canada
And more may join us soon.
If you want to learn more about our new Deaf denomination, go to http://www.deafreformed.org and if you are in Chicago our Summer Sunday worship service is at 10 am at New Life Deaf Community Church, 2020 s. Meyers Rd. Lombard, Illinois.
July 5th, 2007 at 11:57 am
People should read Paddy Ladd a bit better ! he did NOT agree or suggest support for the D/d thing, he made that quite clear, so don’t blame Mr Ladd for over-zealous cultural pushing of what he NEVER said.
It was the isolationists of the cultural world, that ASSUMED he said that, then built a tissue of lies on top of it. Can you base a religion on deafhood whilst the context has been deliberately misquoted ?
July 7th, 2007 at 11:18 am
You know, I often say to others that my son, (age 10 - hearing) is “my church.” In the ladt 10 years, I’ve learned more from him about forgiveness, humility, love, compassion, giving, tolerance, hope, etc. than I have learned anywhere else.
I do have my own faith in God, and consider myself a deeply spiritual person, but where I practice my spirituality goes beyond a church or synagogue. I learn and practice in the church of life.
This means that I also learn the same things (forgiveness, humility, love, compassion, giving, tolerance, hope, etc.) in the world of deafhood. In this way, being deaf is a greatly spiritual and humbling experience.
I can sense what you are trying to say here. Is being deaf and our journey into deafhood a spiritual experience? In my opinion, it is. Yes, because we learn many of the same morals and ethics from our deaf experience that we would in church.
Is our experience of Deafhood, religious (Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, etc.)? Not necessarily. Our deafness or deafhood is not defined by any one particular religion, though many Deaf people gather together to celebrate their particular religious faith in churches, temples, etc.
Could the experience of deafhood be called our church? To me, in a way, the answer is yes, just like being a mother to my son and a wife to my husband, and a employee to my boss, and a neighbor and friend are also experiences I would call “my church.”
These are the individuals and places where I learn more about myself as a spiritual person. They are relationships in which rise and fall and rise again as I practice the same ethics and morals I would in my religious church community. Being deaf is my life and life is my church.
So, do deaf people need deaf churches? Many would enjoy having a community of like-minded individuals with the same values, language, culture and norms in which they could celebrate their faith. I say it’s a good thing. Yet, I don’t feel that church is the only place to learn or be spiritual.
Life (being d/Deaf, hard of hearing, late-deaf, deaf-blind, A CODA, or hearing, being a woman or a man, being gay or straight, being employed or unemployed, being young or old,, etc., etc.) is a spiritual experience in and of itself.
~ LaRonda
July 7th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
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July 10th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
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August 6th, 2007 at 5:47 am
I’ve enjoyed reading your articles. I could not help but noticed that you are using d/Deaf as part of Deafhood. When I took an “introduction” presentation about Deafhood by three great speakers, they do not include the d/Deaf as the definition of Deafhood. Deafhood is a process of every deaf and hard of hearing individual whose experience has a lot in commmon in dealing with their lives on daily basis. I am not sure why you are narrowing to D/deaf people as who we are. I think we need to explore this further and have a better sense of learning who we are as we are in the learnign stage of Deafhood and beyond.
Again, keep up with great work!! I love your piece!
Thank you for your kind words. I look at the letters dD as the process from just deaf to culturally Deaf. By staring at these two letters, the growth of d to D is apparent. I also believe that the Deafhood concept applies to every hearing impaired persons. Most of them just “deaf” and continue living as hearing persons. Those who use sign language and embrace deaf cultural values are culturally Deaf. You are right in saying that we need to explore into this further. One of my questions raised on the issue if Deafhood is experienced by hearing people too. Generally no, but . . .
November 4th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
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