This morning the minister of the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Duluth, the Rev. Gail Lyndsay Marriner, gave a sermon on belonging, about the four levels of belonging we have - intimate, personal, social, and community. Sorry, I don't think I have the last right but it is beyond the level of neighbors, friends, and groups we join.
As an example of belonging she cited an atheist who joined a Presbyterian church because of the moral beliefs of the members. Although he didn't believe in God, he felt he belonged with people who lived as he thought Jesus taught.
This led me to think about how many people reject those who don't believe exactly as they do and therefore do not belong in their company. We have that in people who claim to be Christian rejecting those who are Muslim. We have those who claim to be Muslim who reject Christians. We have people who claim to be Sunni killing those who claim to be Shi'a and vice versa.
They don't look to the common ground that they have in being neighbors or citizens of a city or country that needs to make the electricity function reliably, to provide clean water, to properly dispose of sewage, and to have a fair and responsive police force.
Jonathan Swift captured the folly of belief being more important than co-operation in "Gulliver's Travels" where those who broke their eggs on the little end (little-enders) were superior to those who broke their eggs on the big end (big-enders) and vice versa. For this, they had war without end.
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In trying to find the source of the Rev. Marriner's story, I came across a wonderful quote:
Infidel: In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.
- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary", quoted in "Atheistic quotes"
