What makes the Temple Mount feel sacred to the non-religious?
The Temple Mount is loaded with religious background that many followers of Judaism or Islam feel makes the Temple Mount so sacred. However, what makes it feel sacred, and does it feel this way to people who are not followers of Islam or Judaism?
One agnostic or more secular jewish author named Menachem Magidor described his experience at the Temple Mount when he was a young boy. Part of what made the services feel so powerful was the "reverence felt by the multitude gathered in the Temple," and the "strong feeling that [he shared] a very deep experience of a community with whom [he had] a powerful bonding" (page 364).
Similarly, in Sari Nusseibeh's article "The Haram Al-Sharif," Nusseibeh discusses how one way to describe why a place is sacred is that sacredness comes from man. He states that if a place is regarded as more or less sacred by human beings, it is sacred because that is how it is perceived- not due to it's objective sacredness, or it's physical appearance. Nusseibeh describes two other ways I which sacredness can determined, which both involve religion. One involves God himself dwelling in said place, and the other has to do with it being a "'transitory meeting point' between the two worlds" (page 368). This is similar to what Eliade claimed made a space sacred, which was it's ability to connect the two worlds. However, to a person without religious belief, what makes these sacred places still so alluring?
Perhaps it is the act of worship itself that is so alluring to all humans. Both Magidor and Nusseibeh mention animal sacrifice rites that occur annually in a temple. Magidor states that although this would have bothered him as a young child, the atmosphere in the temple was clearly still very powerful. Even if one does not have religious belief and can not look at a sacred place with awe that that is where god revealed himself, there is something about the trust that people of faith have in religion and the lengths they go to to show their faith that is alluring all the same.
In conclusion, and just as Magidor made clear, one does not need to hold religious belief to feel the sacredness of the Temple Mount. They can still feel the reverence.
One agnostic or more secular jewish author named Menachem Magidor described his experience at the Temple Mount when he was a young boy. Part of what made the services feel so powerful was the "reverence felt by the multitude gathered in the Temple," and the "strong feeling that [he shared] a very deep experience of a community with whom [he had] a powerful bonding" (page 364).
Similarly, in Sari Nusseibeh's article "The Haram Al-Sharif," Nusseibeh discusses how one way to describe why a place is sacred is that sacredness comes from man. He states that if a place is regarded as more or less sacred by human beings, it is sacred because that is how it is perceived- not due to it's objective sacredness, or it's physical appearance. Nusseibeh describes two other ways I which sacredness can determined, which both involve religion. One involves God himself dwelling in said place, and the other has to do with it being a "'transitory meeting point' between the two worlds" (page 368). This is similar to what Eliade claimed made a space sacred, which was it's ability to connect the two worlds. However, to a person without religious belief, what makes these sacred places still so alluring?
Perhaps it is the act of worship itself that is so alluring to all humans. Both Magidor and Nusseibeh mention animal sacrifice rites that occur annually in a temple. Magidor states that although this would have bothered him as a young child, the atmosphere in the temple was clearly still very powerful. Even if one does not have religious belief and can not look at a sacred place with awe that that is where god revealed himself, there is something about the trust that people of faith have in religion and the lengths they go to to show their faith that is alluring all the same.
In conclusion, and just as Magidor made clear, one does not need to hold religious belief to feel the sacredness of the Temple Mount. They can still feel the reverence.
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