Quote search – Religion August 27, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Religion.Tags: Judaism
3 comments
I’m asking for your help — the help of anyone reading this. I would like for you to share some of your favorite quotes. Let me explain.
I’m trying to do something that may seem a bit over the top. I’m trying to outline what I believe about this and that, about everything from Spirituality to War, from Angels to Psychology. You get the picture.
I’m 52 years old, and I can see more clearly that there is an end to all of this material world living. For some ridiculous reason, I would like my children to be able to find out what Dad thought about some of the big issues of life and some of the not-so-big ones, as well.
Here’s how I’m doing it: If you have read this blog before, you know I like to quote people. I figure if someone else said something really well, why do I need to try to say it really average. So I have decided to start organizing quotes with which I agree — emphasis on “agree.” For example: here’s entries to this point under Religion:
“Religion points us to the last things, framing the final direction that informs our decisions about life, both personal and public. The chief service of religion, then, is to teach us that the first things are the last things.” (Editors, “Putting First Things First,” First Things, Mach 2000, p. 12)
“[G]reat religions in their crusading youth spread through the nations the peace of Heaven and the sword of the Lord.” (Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World, 1925, p. 1)
“Judaism and Christianity—unlike Buddhism, Islam, and other traditions—understand creation and redemption in historical continuity; the accent of hope is not on salvation from the world but on the salvation of the world.” (Richard John Neuhaus, “The Public Square: A Pope of the First Millennium at the Threshold of the Third,” First Things, January 1995, No. 49, p. 84)
You get the idea. (By the way, I’m a Christian, but I think truth is revealed in other faiths, as well.) Now, I would like to expand on each of those thoughts, but right now I’m just collecting and organizing.
So here’s how I would like your help: Share with me your favorite quotes about Religion. It may be really profound or really funny or really sad; most importantly, it should be something you think is true about religion in general.
Less theology, more love April 24, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Islam, Jesus, Theology, Truth.5 comments
Love God and love people.
Jesus said it. Others said it. It seems to be the core truth. Maybe this is what Plato was searching for.
I’ve been reading about Islam. My knowledge is still very basic, but I see a few things. Mohammed started out in a good direction, pretty consistent with Judaism and Christianity, pretty consistent with loving God and loving people. But along the way he became more political and then more militaristic and then he started making exceptions to his earlier teachings and he began to justify violence.
Christians have done it, too. The Crusades are a great and terrible example. Christianity started out great, pretty consistent with Jesus; but along the way he became more political and then more militaristic and then started making exceptions to Jesus’ earlier teachings and began to justify violence.
True religion for me is summed up in Christ, and His teaching is summed up in loving God and loving people. Hate, killing and hurting in the name of a good cause perverts the cause, whether it be Christianity, Islam or any ideology. It seems we may need less theology and more loving.
Vigilante moralists March 2, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Ethics, Freedom, Islam, Jesus, Truth.7 comments
Those of us who are basically moral folks have to be careful. We look at the world around us and see the moral decay and it makes us want to wipe out immorality because we know how distructive it is to individuals and society. That is a good instinct. The tricky part comes in the approach we take to wiping out immorality. Do we do it from a compassionate perspective that recognizes our own failings and the importance of maintaining human freedom, or do we do it by attacking.
National Public Radio reports the latter in Gaza. A story by reported today on “Morning Edition” that a “violent group in Gaza has murdered prostitutes and destroyed a variety of businesses in the name of Islam. Some worry the crimes are meant to impose a wider Islamist social order in the area.”
This story is about Islamic moralists, but we Christians must not be smug. Religious fundamentalism breeds this sort of verbal and physical violence whether it be Islamic or Christian or whatever.
Westervelt used a great phrase — “vigilante moralists”. In other words, these seemingly moral people have taken the law, and it is religious law, into their own hands and are seeking to enforce it with murder and destruction. They don’t seem to see the murder and destruction as moral failure.
Your local Christian fundamentalist may not be murdering and destroying property, but he or she does often seek to take away the freedom that leaves the door open to immorality. And even if they don’t seek it they often secretly wish it.
Make no bones about it, freedom and immorality go together. If people are free then they will act in ways that are destructive to themselves and to others. In fact, it is a basic Christian teaching — all have sinned.
So how do we “fight” immorality. We keep holding up a moral standard, one exemplified by Christ and other great religious leaders throughout history. We keep seeking to live in such a moral way. We reach out to the “immoral” with compassion and understanding. We make sure we do not use immoral means to pursue moral goals.
Muslims and Christians January 16, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Islam, Religion, Truth.5 comments
I have been privileged in recent days to be involved in a public discourse with Ummadam, a Muslim. This conversation has taken place in the comments sections of our blogs, but I thought I would bring some of it to the surface.
I had to confess to Ummadam that I know little about Islam and have never read the Quran. I told her that I have had a hard enough time trying to comprehend my own faith and its implications.
In her most recent comment on my blog titled “Where’s the authority?” Ummadam replied the following to a question of mine:
“Muslims believe in all of God’s Messengers, Prophets, and Revelations. We believe that He sent revelations to Prophet Moses as well as Prophet Jesus (peace be upon them both. However, we believe that each of their communities strayed and that the original Revelation no longer exist and what we have now known as the Old and New Testaments are not the original Revelations We believe that as God sent Jesus to guide the people back to the straight path, that He too sent Muhammad as his last and final Prophet to mankind as a guidance. We believe that the quran confirms the truths in both previous revelations and we believe that it also clarifies some of the falsehood that has crept in. Anything else we remain silent about as God is the Best Know-er.”
My response:
“Thanks, Unmadam. That is helpful. I think there is no doubt that the communication of revelation has been shaped by culture and that we Christians (I will not speak for Jews) have given poor expression to Christ’s teachings at time. As someone who admittedly knows little about Islam, I would say that I suspect your honored text most likely has also been influenced by culture and that the people who honor it have given poor expression to Muhammad’s teachings. I find it interesting also that Christians and Muslims see their honored texts in such finality.
“I hope I have not offended in anything I just said. I am predisposed to express what I’m thinking and do not mean any disrespect you and your faith when I raise questions and see difficulties.”
I had an interfaith dialogue with a Hindu friend a few years back, but this is my first dialogue with a Muslim. I must say that in this dialogue I fear being misunderstood or disrespectful. Of course, I can feel that way with some Christians, as well.
I do not know much about Islam and I feel I know so little about my own faith, but I do know this: God loves us all, and I pray that His love is manifested in me in my dealing with others.
