Stuart M. Matlins

A guide to etiquette and visiting other people's religious ceremonies. This volume includes African American Methodist churches, Baha'i, Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Christian Congregation, Church of the Brethren, Church of the Nazarene, Evangelical Free Church of America, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Mennonite/Amish, Native American, Orthodox churches, Pentecostal Church of God, Reformed Church in America, Sikh, Unitarian Universalist, and Wesleyan churches.… (more)

How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook edited by Stuart M. Matlins and Arthur J. Magida. Imagine you have a Jewish coworker who invites you to her temple for her daughter’s bat mitzvah. What do you wear? Bring along? Where should you sit? Or your Hindu neighbor has died and you want to express your condolences. What should you do? What would you experience? Is it OK to bring a plate of food next door? What KIND of food??
This interesting book contains chapters about 29 faiths from Buddhist to Hindu to Episcopalian to Pentecostal. Each chapter has a short history of that faith, its main tenets, and its basic worship service. It also lists life cycle events like birth ceremonies, coming of age and marriage ceremonies, and funeral services. It explains each one, what will happen, where one should sit, times, if any, when a guest should NOT enter or leave the worship space, and more information so you will know what to expect, feel more comfortable, and avoid making any faux pas.
Another way to use this book is to read the chapters of the faiths you think are either most similar or most different to Lutheranism. See if you are right! You can also just read those sections which seem most interesting to you. This book can answer questions you have always had about other faiths but never knew anyone you could ask, or if you did know someone of that faith, you did not ask them for fear of embarrassment.… (more)