CB14 Says No To Japanese Sect's Church Plans
According to a tipster, a Japanese religious sect that wanted a variance to build a temple up to the lot line on a residential street in Midwood was voted down earlier this month by Community Board 14. According to DOB records, the Tenseishinbika Religious Organization, which paid $620,000 for the 50-by-100-foot lot in 2007, wanted…
According to a tipster, a Japanese religious sect that wanted a variance to build a temple up to the lot line on a residential street in Midwood was voted down earlier this month by Community Board 14. According to DOB records, the Tenseishinbika Religious Organization, which paid $620,000 for the 50-by-100-foot lot in 2007, wanted to build a two-story building at 583 East 23rd Street in South Midwood without the required 15-foot front yard. Of course, in the end, the community board’s opinion is just that—it has no legal power to stop the project, and we all know which way the BSA leans. GMAP
We all deal with issue of wanting things to never change, especially when we have bought into a neighborhood or have grown up there…well, things do change and always will. Every neighborhood in Brooklyn has had multiple shifts in population. That is what the melting pot is. Even remotely invoking religious or ethnic intolerance is a sad way to go, especially in a multicultural locale like Brooklyn. We can all get off course here, but spiritual organizations have been around forever and their have been “spin-offs” of such communities have so, too. Just because a such group is relatively young or not “original” to Brooklyn or the US doesn’t make it a cult. Let’s stop fighting and be more welcoming of the inevitable…Brooklyn and the world keep on changing and it’s always refreshed us. OK, it’s just my two cents and wish for peace.
In spite of its name South Midwood is a late Victorian community( approx. 1899-1910) NORTH of what is now called Midwood (originally Nottingham, Manhattan Park, et al). South Midwood is largely bordered by Glenwood Rd, Foster Ave., Bedford Ave and E. 21 St). There are three churches in the community: two are Gothic and one Romanesque with a touch of Arts & Crafts detailing. There are no synagogues, either traditional or modern. CB14 voted against the granting of an oversize variance for the Japanese temple because the plans submitted to the board were incomplete. Many board members also expressed puzzlement at the “out of context” design of the structure: a two storey rectangle with rounded front entrance, flat roof, and an exterior of white metal.
BSA rarely considers the advice of commmunity boards, so it is likely that this strange, bloated building will mar one of the non-landmarked sections of Victorian Flatbush.
In spite of its name South Midwood is a late Victorian community( approx. 1899-1910) NORTH of what is now called Midwood (originally Nottingham, Manhattan Park, et al). South Midwood is largely bordered by Glenwood Rd, Foster Ave., Bedford Ave and E. 21 St). There are three churches in the community: two are Gothic and one Romanesque with a touch of Arts & Crafts detailing. There are no synagogues, either traditional or modern. CB14 voted against the granting of an oversize variance for the Japanese temple because the plans submitted to the board were incomplete. Many board members also expressed puzzlement at the “out of context” design of the structure: a two storey rectangle with rounded front entrance, flat roof, and an exterior of white metal.
BSA rarely considers the advice of commmunity boards, so it is likely that this strange, bloated building will mar one of the non-landmarked sections of Victorian Flatbush.
In spite of its name South Midwood is a late Victorian community( approx. 1899-1910) NORTH of what is now called Midwood (originally Nottingham, Manhattan Park, et al). South Midwood is largely bordered by Glenwood Rd, Foster Ave., Bedford Ave and E. 21 St). There are three churches in the community: two are Gothic and one Romanesque with a touch of Arts & Crafts detailing. There are no synagogues, either traditional or modern. CB14 voted against the granting of an oversize variance for the Japanese temple because the plans submitted to the board were incomplete. Many board members also expressed puzzlement at the “out of context” design of the structure: a two storey rectangle with rounded front entrance, flat roof, and an exterior of white metal.
BSA rarely considers the advice of commmunity boards, so it is likely that this strange, bloated building will mar one of the non-landmarked sections of Victorian Flatbush.
In spite of its name South Midwood is a late Victorian community( approx. 1899-1910) NORTH of what is now called Midwood (originally Nottingham, Manhattan Park, et al). South Midwood is largely bordered by Glenwood Rd, Foster Ave., Bedford Ave and E. 21 St). There are three churches in the community: two are Gothic and one Romanesque with a touch of Arts & Crafts detailing. There are no synagogues, either traditional or modern. CB14 voted against the granting of an oversize variance for the Japanese temple because the plans submitted to the board were incomplete. Many board members also expressed puzzlement at the “out of context” design of the structure: a two storey rectangle with rounded front entrance, flat roof, and an exterior of white metal.
BSA rarely considers the advice of commmunity boards, so it is likely that this strange, bloated building will mar one of the non-landmarked sections of Victorian Flatbush.
Oh I know, having engagined in many table pounding, spittle flecks a flyin’ …um….discussions 🙂
Its such a difficult subject- I think the more desperate the person, the more extreme they can become but religion and faith I think are necessary and have brought much good. Huge downsides though. Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t all too human to be entrusted with faith?
Cult vs sect is a great way to start a table-pounding argument with spittle flecks a’flyin’. To an aggressive atheist, I’m sure my Roman Catholicism is a cult; to a Scientologist, Xenu is part of a Real Religion, man. It is, as they say, a spectrum, but on the cultish side of the spectrum you will find distinctive characteristics such as mind control, highly centralized personal authority over members in one charismatic leader, secretiveness, pseudo-gnostic initiation rites, stigmatization and shunning (or worse) of members who wish to leave, and demand that members surrender earthly goods and $$ to the group. There are sects within organized religions, and there are cults within sects.
I agree- that group is a cult- but on theother hand, while they worship Schneerson as a great rebbe and Messiah, they still do so well within the Judaic system of belief. In other words, Schneerson was not promoting his own brand of religion- or even himself as a Messiah- his real power came from his teachings and interpretation of the Torah and Jewish law. Judaism has a long tradition of ….er…discussions of the meaning of the Torah and in fact these arguments are incorporated into our religion in the Talmud and the Midrash. I guesss the closest analogy would be the End Times Evangelical Christians.Extreme interpretations of Christianity but still well within the parameters of it.
Whereas the spaceship coming soon is not.
My point is that one person’s cult is another person’s sect and another person’s one true path to salvation. And that such subjective distinctions should be irrelevant to a land use decision-making body.
And following your definition of a cult, I would think that Rebbe Schneerson qualifies as just such a charismatic individual, some of whose followers consider to be the Messiah.