What? You think there are dozens of major religions and thousands of sects within them. That may be true when you consider that many people believe in a long list of do’s and don’ts that are peculiar to their particular “religion”. But if you look beyond the creeds and admonitions, you will find that are only two basic belief systems: generosity to others and narrow systems of “we are right and you are wrong”. And all the major religions have many generous believers and far too many hateful believers.
In the third and fourth centuries there were major fights over what the exact natures were of God and Christ. Often these fights were more political than religious, often depending on the belief of the current Roman Emperor. Those who didn’t hold the right belief could be exiled and have their writings burned.
These persecutions of others in the name of Christianity continued through the centuries and into this century.
We have Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, who set out to rid Spain of “heretics”, generally meaning Jews and Muslims. He was more merciful than some of his predecessors; he didn’t torture suspects without the testimony of at least two witnesses of “good nature”. John Calvin was instrumental in the burning of Michael Servetus at the stake along with his books. His crime: denying the Holy Trinity. The Ku Klux Klan upheld “Christian morality” by bombing black churches, killing innocent children.
On the other hand, we have many examples of Christian generosity. The Quakers were very active in the anti-slavery movement. Florence Nightingale tended to the wounded and dying in the Crimean War. Mother Theresa cared for the dying in India. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for non-violent resistance to segregation and other maltreatment of blacks and others.
Islam has been called a religion of peace, but human arrogance has subverted it, just as it subverted Christianity. Muhammad had not been dead long before his followers started bickering over who was his rightly heir. If I’m reading the Wikipedia entry on Sunni-Shia correctly, Sunnis believe the leader of Islam is selected by consensus and Shias believe the leadership is inherited by descendants of Muhammad. There are many more differences, many similar to the Protestant-Catholic split in Christianity.
Just like with Christianity, many wars have been fought between these two groups over the centuries. Meddling from “Christian” powers has exacerbated these differences in the last hundred years, opening the old sores of the Crusades. We have Muslim-Muslim violence and Muslim-Christian violence. Shias blow up Sunni mosques and Sunnis blow up Shiite mosques. Sunni Saudi Arabia doesn’t want Shiite Iran to gain to much influence and Iran doesn’t want Saudi Arabia to gain much influence. Into this antagonism is thrown the wild card of Daesh (aka Islamic state). Daesh shows about as much mercy as did the “Christians” mentioned above.
An interesting aspect of the Koran are the injunctions to have proof for your knowledge. This may be why in the Dark Ages of Christianity, Arab mathematics and science were making great strides.
I didn’t have time to check it out thoroughly, but some say that Islam means peace. Google Translate didn’t give me this, but a Wikipedia entry on Islam did say that Islam comes from the trilateral root s-l-m. One of these words is “salaam” for peace. Hm, close to the Hebrew “shalom”.
Charity, especially to the poor, is one of the five pillars of Islam. The word for charity is zakat, which also means purification.
One Islamic charity is the Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross. I haven’t read much about it recently, but it has been active in disasters.
Two well-known Muslims who come to mind with a more peaceful outlook are Malala Yousafzai and Muhammad Yunis, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
Malala is the young Pakistani girl who was shot by terrorists who didn’t think girls should be in school. Fortunately for her and many others, she survived the attack.
Muhammad Yunis is the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank provides low-interest, small loans to the poor. These loans have allowed many people to start small businesses to support themselves.
We often think of Buddhists as being pacifists. “One’s mind should be free from hurting or harming others” and several other sayings. Unfortunately, down through the centuries, Buddhists have been involved in wars and killing. Think of the “King of Siam”. The news has recently had many stories of Buddhist rioting against Muslims. Of course, the Taliban didn’t help by destroying Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The first Muslims killed by Burmese were in the 11th Century. In the 17th Century Muslims who fled India after losing a war of succession were killed after a dispute with a Burmese pirate king. Some modern Muslims have fled Burma to Thailand where they have been put in several refugee camps. There are also reports that the Thai military towed boatloads of Muslims out to sea and left them there.
Fortunately, we have Buddhists like the Dalai Lama. A refugee from his own country, he still manages to be cheerful and work to promote peace. He too won a Nobel Peace Prize.
If I put a damper on your Christmas cheer, I’m sorry. But remember that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the “Prince of Peace”. I hope that the examples I gave of people of different faiths working for peace will give you hope for a brighter future. With our help, the religion of generosity will prevail.
Also in the Reader Weekly, 2015-12-24 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2015/12/24/6439_there_really_are_only_two_religions
Showing posts with label John Calvin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Calvin. Show all posts
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Thursday, December 04, 2014
Playing God
ISIS is playing God. It is deciding who should live or die based on a narrow religious belief.
If Allahu akbar (God is great) means anything, then shouldn't Allah be the One deciding who should live or die? If God is so dissatisfied with those who don't believe as ISIS does, then shouldn't God be the one sending a Great Flood to punish all the sinners? If God destroyed the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, shouldn't God be the one destroying the cities of the Yazidis for their "blasphemy" rather than ISIS?
Speaking of blasphemy, aren't those who charge blasphemy against others being blasphemous themselves. Is the supposed blasphemy against God or against their interpretation of God and God's laws?
These truly blasphemous acts have been going on for millennia by people with all kinds of religious beliefs.
Jewish law called for stoning those who blasphemed against Yahweh. But didn't Yahweh give a commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." Yahweh had no qualifiers on that commandment. Yet within a few years Joshua destroyed dozens of cities, supposedly on the command of the Lord God. Was Joshua playing God to assume that he could freely kill the residents of these cities? He “destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded”. The Book of Joshua is one big compendium of violence and giving the spoils to the victors.
Irenaeus was a bishop in the early Christian Church. He railed against those who didn't believe as he did. He was so successful in banning alternative beliefs that books expounding other beliefs never made it into the Canon, and those who had these books buried them in the desert. An example is the Book of Judas.
Tomás de Torquemada was appointed as Grand Inquisitor in Spain. He had many Jews and Muslims tortured and killed because he deemed that they didn’t fully and sincerely convert to Christianity. His name has become synonymous with overbearing interrogation. Ironically, he himself was a descendant of Jews.
Of course, Protestants weren't innocent either. Jean Calvin, originally a Catholic, was an active opponent of Michael Servetus’ anti-trinitarianism. Calvin was instrumental in having Servetus burned at the stake on order of the Geneva city council.
The Church of England, albeit not strictly Protestant, fined people in the 1500’s for not attending church. The 1559 Act of Uniformity penalized those who conducted unofficial services. Some who did conduct unofficial services were executed for sedition.
The Pilgrims escaped England because they did not like the trappings of the Anglican Church and the imposition of religious conformity. One group fled to North America and landed in Massachusetts. They in turn demanded conformity. The Quakers upset this conformity, often with disruptive acts. The Pilgrims tried throwing them out and they would return. They hung some and bored holes in the tongues of others. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses should be glad they live in our times. They only get doors slammed in their faces.
Is it any wonder that the writers of the Constitution included ““no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States”? It is also a wonder that many “strict constructionists” want to have prayer breakfasts, have candidates meet with religious leaders, and call into question the Christianity of the President.
Jack Whitley was asked to resign as chairman of the Big Stone County Republican Party because of his facebook comments that Muslims are “parasites” and “terrorists”. What if he had an “Office or public Trust under the United States”? Would his vile remarks be considered failing a “religious” test?
Unfortunately, these hateful attitudes are not just held by those who call themselves Christian or Muslim. From “Gandhi” with Ben Kingsley, I remember the hateful remark of a distraught Hindu father, “Muslims killed my baby! I want to kill Muslims!” Muslims in Burma have been persecuted by Buddhists many times for over 600 years; it continues even to today. This doesn’t resonate with one of the Eight Truths of Buddhism: Right Action: Acting in a non-harmful way.
I am always suspicious of anyone who claims to speak for God, whether they go up a mountain or read from some book that is full of contradictory advice. Especially when they call for the expulsion or murder of people that don’t hold exactly the same views as they do. These hateful people forget one of the most important words in their holy books: forgiveness.
In addition to the Buddhist Right Action, there are:
“thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”: Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39 (and elsewhere)
“...and you should forgive and overlook: Do you not like God to forgive you?” Qu’ran: Surah 24, v. 22.
My favorite though is:
“What is hateful to yourself, do not to do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it.” - Rabbi Hillel (a contemporary of Jesus), Talmud Shabbat 31a.
This article was also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2014-12-04 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/12/04/4460_playing_god
If Allahu akbar (God is great) means anything, then shouldn't Allah be the One deciding who should live or die? If God is so dissatisfied with those who don't believe as ISIS does, then shouldn't God be the one sending a Great Flood to punish all the sinners? If God destroyed the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, shouldn't God be the one destroying the cities of the Yazidis for their "blasphemy" rather than ISIS?
Speaking of blasphemy, aren't those who charge blasphemy against others being blasphemous themselves. Is the supposed blasphemy against God or against their interpretation of God and God's laws?
These truly blasphemous acts have been going on for millennia by people with all kinds of religious beliefs.
Jewish law called for stoning those who blasphemed against Yahweh. But didn't Yahweh give a commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." Yahweh had no qualifiers on that commandment. Yet within a few years Joshua destroyed dozens of cities, supposedly on the command of the Lord God. Was Joshua playing God to assume that he could freely kill the residents of these cities? He “destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded”. The Book of Joshua is one big compendium of violence and giving the spoils to the victors.
Irenaeus was a bishop in the early Christian Church. He railed against those who didn't believe as he did. He was so successful in banning alternative beliefs that books expounding other beliefs never made it into the Canon, and those who had these books buried them in the desert. An example is the Book of Judas.
Tomás de Torquemada was appointed as Grand Inquisitor in Spain. He had many Jews and Muslims tortured and killed because he deemed that they didn’t fully and sincerely convert to Christianity. His name has become synonymous with overbearing interrogation. Ironically, he himself was a descendant of Jews.
Of course, Protestants weren't innocent either. Jean Calvin, originally a Catholic, was an active opponent of Michael Servetus’ anti-trinitarianism. Calvin was instrumental in having Servetus burned at the stake on order of the Geneva city council.
The Church of England, albeit not strictly Protestant, fined people in the 1500’s for not attending church. The 1559 Act of Uniformity penalized those who conducted unofficial services. Some who did conduct unofficial services were executed for sedition.
The Pilgrims escaped England because they did not like the trappings of the Anglican Church and the imposition of religious conformity. One group fled to North America and landed in Massachusetts. They in turn demanded conformity. The Quakers upset this conformity, often with disruptive acts. The Pilgrims tried throwing them out and they would return. They hung some and bored holes in the tongues of others. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses should be glad they live in our times. They only get doors slammed in their faces.
Is it any wonder that the writers of the Constitution included ““no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States”? It is also a wonder that many “strict constructionists” want to have prayer breakfasts, have candidates meet with religious leaders, and call into question the Christianity of the President.
Jack Whitley was asked to resign as chairman of the Big Stone County Republican Party because of his facebook comments that Muslims are “parasites” and “terrorists”. What if he had an “Office or public Trust under the United States”? Would his vile remarks be considered failing a “religious” test?
Unfortunately, these hateful attitudes are not just held by those who call themselves Christian or Muslim. From “Gandhi” with Ben Kingsley, I remember the hateful remark of a distraught Hindu father, “Muslims killed my baby! I want to kill Muslims!” Muslims in Burma have been persecuted by Buddhists many times for over 600 years; it continues even to today. This doesn’t resonate with one of the Eight Truths of Buddhism: Right Action: Acting in a non-harmful way.
I am always suspicious of anyone who claims to speak for God, whether they go up a mountain or read from some book that is full of contradictory advice. Especially when they call for the expulsion or murder of people that don’t hold exactly the same views as they do. These hateful people forget one of the most important words in their holy books: forgiveness.
In addition to the Buddhist Right Action, there are:
“thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”: Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39 (and elsewhere)
“...and you should forgive and overlook: Do you not like God to forgive you?” Qu’ran: Surah 24, v. 22.
My favorite though is:
“What is hateful to yourself, do not to do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it.” - Rabbi Hillel (a contemporary of Jesus), Talmud Shabbat 31a.
This article was also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2014-12-04 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/12/04/4460_playing_god
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Criminals hiding behind religion
An obscure gang of hoodlums has made world headlines by kidnapping over 300 girls, often by raiding schools. Boko Haram claims to be following Islam, but are they really? Most Muslims condemn these actions as against their understanding of Islam as a religion of peace. The violence perpetrated by Boko Haram is so perverse that even Al Quaeda has distanced itself from them.
“Boko Haram” loosely means “western education is sinful”. Boko Haram, like many other groups with a rigid agenda, is full of contradictions. First, if western education is sinful, why are they using weapons, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and now video cameras? These are all products of western education. Second, they use obscure passages of sacred texts and completely miss the larger message, that of all major religions, be kind to others. Kidnapping and massacres are not being kind to others.
Boko Haram doesn’t want girls to be educated, but it conveniently ignores all the Muslim countries with a large percentage of educated women, even countries with a conservative Islam.
Benazir Bhutto was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Afghanistan, where the Taliban keeps trying to overthrow the government because it is not “Islamic” enough, reserves 20 percent of the seats in Parliament for women.
Iran, with its hodgepodge of secular and religious rule, a few years ago had more women in its universities than men. It also had a hodgepodge of rules varying from university to university including gender-specific restrictions. Women can’t take computer science and men can’t take Persian/Arabic language!
Unfortunately, hate of others is not limited to Islam.
"Muslims killed my baby! I want to kill Muslims!” This was said by a character in the film “Ghandi” with Ben Kingsley. How could each and every Muslim be responsible for these stupid killings?
Muslims were killed in Guwahati, Assam, India, in sectarian violence. Sunnis kill Shia, Shia kill Sunnis. Boko Haram blows up mosques because their leaders don’t follow its dictates.
Ahab and his Canaanite wife, Jezebel, killed the priests of Jehovah. Then Elijah killed the priests of Ba’al.
Crusade after Crusade marched, with the blessings or incitements by Popes, to the Holy Land to rescue it from Muslims.
Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, had many tortured to get them to recant heresy. He was a “moderate”; he “moderated” the use of torture of previous inquisitions.
Jean Calvin brought charges of heresy against Michael Servetus; he suggested Servetus be beheaded. The government of Geneva decided he should be burnt at the stake.
The Ku Klux Klan, with crosses on their robes, killed blacks for the slightest suspicion of unapproved conduct, and it killed whites who opposed their actions.
In Northern Ireland Catholics killed Protestants and Protestants killed Catholics. And sometimes they killed their “own” because the latter wanted reconciliation and peace.
Qasim Rashid wrote “What Prophet Muhammad would say to Boko Haram”, Fox News, May 8, 2014. It is a good exposition of the importance of learning in Islam. He quotes Muhammad, “Seek knowledge even if you must travel to China” and “The search of knowledge is an obligation laid upon every Muslim.” Rashid writes, “Fatimah was a Muslim, an African, a female, and literally changed world history through education. Her revolutionary University of al-Qarawiyyin [founded 859] is now the world’s oldest university.”
The comments were a predictable mix of bad taste and prejudice. A reader “muhammad” summed it up with “I don’t see any difference between Boko Haram and many commenters in this forum.” The response to his post proved his point.
The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, claims he communicates with God. How many times have we heard a similar claim by those who hate others?
If God is so powerful, why does He use so many different intermediaries to make His will known? Few of these intermediaries even agree on what God revealed to them. Too many of these “intermediaries” have their own agendas. If I were to believe all that God said directly to these “intermediaries”, I could only conclude that God was schizophrenic. I doubt that, whatever God is.
I think it is more that certain people are telling God what He should believe and then forcing other people to believe as they do.
Elijah was in a power struggle with Ahab and Jezebel. Supposedly he challenged the priest of Ba’al to a sacrifice contest. Would Ba’al ignite the offering of his priests or would Jehovah ignite the offering of Elijah? Poof! Jehovah ignited Elijah’s water-soaked offering. Then Elijah had the people chase down and kill the priests of Ba’al. Why did Elijah do that? Did Jehovah use up his bolts of lightning? Wouldn’t He have an infinite supply of lightning to zap each and every one of these non-believers?
Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church claimed that “God hates fags”. Hm! If God hates fags so much, shouldn’t He just boom it out for all to hear?
We can say one thing with certainty about those who claim to speak for God. They are all fallible beings and probably misunderstood what God told them.
“Boko Haram” loosely means “western education is sinful”. Boko Haram, like many other groups with a rigid agenda, is full of contradictions. First, if western education is sinful, why are they using weapons, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and now video cameras? These are all products of western education. Second, they use obscure passages of sacred texts and completely miss the larger message, that of all major religions, be kind to others. Kidnapping and massacres are not being kind to others.
Boko Haram doesn’t want girls to be educated, but it conveniently ignores all the Muslim countries with a large percentage of educated women, even countries with a conservative Islam.
Benazir Bhutto was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Afghanistan, where the Taliban keeps trying to overthrow the government because it is not “Islamic” enough, reserves 20 percent of the seats in Parliament for women.
Iran, with its hodgepodge of secular and religious rule, a few years ago had more women in its universities than men. It also had a hodgepodge of rules varying from university to university including gender-specific restrictions. Women can’t take computer science and men can’t take Persian/Arabic language!
Unfortunately, hate of others is not limited to Islam.
"Muslims killed my baby! I want to kill Muslims!” This was said by a character in the film “Ghandi” with Ben Kingsley. How could each and every Muslim be responsible for these stupid killings?
Muslims were killed in Guwahati, Assam, India, in sectarian violence. Sunnis kill Shia, Shia kill Sunnis. Boko Haram blows up mosques because their leaders don’t follow its dictates.
Ahab and his Canaanite wife, Jezebel, killed the priests of Jehovah. Then Elijah killed the priests of Ba’al.
Crusade after Crusade marched, with the blessings or incitements by Popes, to the Holy Land to rescue it from Muslims.
Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, had many tortured to get them to recant heresy. He was a “moderate”; he “moderated” the use of torture of previous inquisitions.
Jean Calvin brought charges of heresy against Michael Servetus; he suggested Servetus be beheaded. The government of Geneva decided he should be burnt at the stake.
The Ku Klux Klan, with crosses on their robes, killed blacks for the slightest suspicion of unapproved conduct, and it killed whites who opposed their actions.
In Northern Ireland Catholics killed Protestants and Protestants killed Catholics. And sometimes they killed their “own” because the latter wanted reconciliation and peace.
Qasim Rashid wrote “What Prophet Muhammad would say to Boko Haram”, Fox News, May 8, 2014. It is a good exposition of the importance of learning in Islam. He quotes Muhammad, “Seek knowledge even if you must travel to China” and “The search of knowledge is an obligation laid upon every Muslim.” Rashid writes, “Fatimah was a Muslim, an African, a female, and literally changed world history through education. Her revolutionary University of al-Qarawiyyin [founded 859] is now the world’s oldest university.”
The comments were a predictable mix of bad taste and prejudice. A reader “muhammad” summed it up with “I don’t see any difference between Boko Haram and many commenters in this forum.” The response to his post proved his point.
The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, claims he communicates with God. How many times have we heard a similar claim by those who hate others?
If God is so powerful, why does He use so many different intermediaries to make His will known? Few of these intermediaries even agree on what God revealed to them. Too many of these “intermediaries” have their own agendas. If I were to believe all that God said directly to these “intermediaries”, I could only conclude that God was schizophrenic. I doubt that, whatever God is.
I think it is more that certain people are telling God what He should believe and then forcing other people to believe as they do.
Elijah was in a power struggle with Ahab and Jezebel. Supposedly he challenged the priest of Ba’al to a sacrifice contest. Would Ba’al ignite the offering of his priests or would Jehovah ignite the offering of Elijah? Poof! Jehovah ignited Elijah’s water-soaked offering. Then Elijah had the people chase down and kill the priests of Ba’al. Why did Elijah do that? Did Jehovah use up his bolts of lightning? Wouldn’t He have an infinite supply of lightning to zap each and every one of these non-believers?
Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church claimed that “God hates fags”. Hm! If God hates fags so much, shouldn’t He just boom it out for all to hear?
We can say one thing with certainty about those who claim to speak for God. They are all fallible beings and probably misunderstood what God told them.
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