I had a small inkling that Judson Memorial Church was atypical and involved in community works. But I had no idea of the extent of this involvement nor the radical nature of the social programs it has supported. In fact, I am puzzled as to how some of the causes they have supported are even congruent with the tenets of the Protestant Church. Christian churches do have a history of outreach and social programs, but Judson really takes it much further and in unexpected directions.

Founded in 1890 by Baptist preacher Edward Judson, the church was established form the beginning to serve the growing immigrant community in lower Manhattan (the Church is located on Washington Square South, immersed in the NYU “campus”).

They ran a free medical/dental clinic and a settlement house at 179 Sullivan Street. At times, they allowed homeless men to sleep on their pews. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Moody and associate minister and composer Al Carmines (1962-81) brought Judson first a city-wide and then a national reputation, opening the church to experimental, avant-garde artists from many genres such as dance, painting, and theatre. They have organized politically around issues of civil rights, free expression, abortion rights, and the decriminalization of prostitution (in the 1970s they established a Professional Women’s Clinic for women engaged in prostitution). Judson Church trains future clergy in public ministry and has taken a leading role in the New Sanctuary Movement for immigrant rights. They are “gay-friendly.”

Regarding the quote currently displayed outside the church: Voltaire was a major figure in the French Enlightenment, and his works are a huge subject matter – he was a prolific writer, having penned over 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets. He took many controversial positions and was exiled from France a number of times. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses.

Voltaire is often mistaken as an atheist – some attribute this view to a quote from one of his poems that translates, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.” Actually, Voltaire was a leading Deist – his criticisms were more of organized religions than of religion itself.

I’m not being evasive, but space on this blog does not allow for a proper distillation of the various thoughts about Voltaire’s quote, “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” Suffice it to say that many feel it has been misinterpreted and taken too literally. Any theologians or philosophers who want to posit an interpretation of God’s sense of humor?

This scene was so evocative of childhood summers – bathing suits and sprinklers. This woman was, of course, not running through these sprinklers, but sunbathing at 10 AM on a weekday with lawn sprinklers in the background was both unusual and suggestive – the scene begged for a photo. Soon, sunbathing will be a distant summer memory. Although it is technically still summer, the collective mindset changes greatly after Labor Day and the start of the school year. The reality of summer’s end is further reinforced by cool clear days, a presage to autumn.

I am surprised at how universal the practice of cooling off by running through a sprinkler is. I always assumed that only the desperately poor resorted to this summer heat cooling solution. But in speaking to many people over the years from different social strata and countries, running through sprinklers appears to be a play activity that transends class and nationality. Children will generally eschew concerns regarding image or status. The size of a pool or the particular location of a summer house is not of much concern to a child on summer break. Of course, there are exceptions – children who have been raised at an early age to appreciate the “finer things,” which frequently translates as snobbery. I find that this can be quite disturbing.

Children should be taught about quality and not be brought up as classless boors, but one must be careful to not end up with children intolerant of the ordinary – the world is comprised predominantly of ordinary people and ordinary things. Arrogance, snobbery, elitism, and one-upmanship are not endearing qualities in children, and all should remember that the world is populated with haves and the have-nots, primarily have-nots.

I am reminded of a frightening occurence in a restaurant. A young child was essentially having a temper tantrum. The reason? His preferred salad dressing was not available: balsamic vinaigrette…

If you are looking for surprises, head to Manhattan’s Chinatown, generally considered the largest or one of the largest (depending on whose counting and how) outside China. The main attractions here are primarily restaurants, indoor and outdoor food vendors, and shops carrying Chinese tourist items and heavily discounted consumer goods, including copies of brand-name merchandise.

So I was quite startled while walking by the ticket office to the Fung Wah bus company to find the Mahayana Buddhist Temple, an enormous place with a faux pagoda front and lions, prominently located at 133 Canal Street and the Bowery – in no way an out-of-the-way location. Yet I have been by the intersection hundreds of times and never noticed this place.

Whimsically, I entered the place with no expectations. I was even more surprised to find a huge room with this 16-foot-tall Buddha, the largest in the city.
Until 1995, this building was occupied by the Rosemary Theater. In 1996, it was converted to the Mahayana Buddhist Temple by Annie Ying, who established the first storefront temples on the East Coast and a temple/retreat on a 114-acre site in South Cairo, New York. Her husband, James Ying, operated a chain of gift shops in Chinatown and the neighboring suburbs.

But the most interesting twist is that their son, Dr. Nelson Ying who runs the temple, has a Ph.D in nuclear physics and is adjunct professor at the University of Central Florida. He was the first Buddhist preacher to perform Buddhist weddings in New York State. He is not a priest, however, as he does not meet the requirements of being vegetarian or unmarried. He and his parents hail from Shanghai, which they left in 1955 to come to this country. Only in New York…

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