Hands Off Another Person's Religion

Recently I watched a special on CNN in which some folks in Tennessee attempted to prevent the construction of a mosque in their community. I can understand that people who are used to their religion a certain way would be bothered by a strange religion flourishing in their midst. I can understand the feelings of the people who watched the twin towers being destroyed by terrorists who happened to be the same religion. Having said this, I believe that there is a greater issue here that is being ignored. The issue is a simple one. We live in a world with hundreds if not thousands of religions and there are many who have no religion at all. All of these people are Children of God. All roads lead to God. Those who believe that their religion is preferred by God are wrong. Nobody understands God so fully that he or she can claim to know God's mind. No religion has the final answer no matter what the adherents of that religion might say or think about the matter. We know far more about the universe today than did the folks who founded the various religions of the world. That doesn't make them wrong. As I said, all roads lead to God, and no matter which road you travel upon, you will eventually end up in the Kingdom of God. As Christ said, it is within each of us. We need only seek it out. If the number of religions in the world is not staggering, think upon the fact that there are billions of planets like ours just in this Galaxy alone. There are billions of Galaxies besides ours. It is likely that each planet has the potential of life, and if so, the possible religions in the universe would be numberless from our perspective. Is God going to ignore them all and just concentrate on the religion of a small part of America. The Golden Rule guides us. You want others to respect your religion. Following the Golden Rule you should respect theirs. It is not only sensible, it is what God expects of us. Getting back to the theme of this posting. Keep your hands off of another man's religion, and expect him to do the same. Only by this means can we walk into the Kingdom of God, hand in hand, together.

A GNOSTIC LOOKS AT LIBYA

Why on earth would a gnostic find Libya a suitable subject? The answer may surprise you. Because the gnostic seeks God in metaphor rather than literally, any subject is suitable for interpretation. I submit, that Libya is a key argument for the proposition that politics and religion are obverse sides of the same coin. So far as I know, most if not all Libyans are Muslim. Americans should not gloat over Muslims killing Muslims. In our Civil War, more than a half million Americans died. Religion has not stopped human beings from killing one another for exclusively political reasons. While we empathize with the desire of the majority of the Libyan people to have a democratic government, we understand why Qaddafi is killing them to retain power. That is what despots have done in all of recorded history. When Julius Caesar was murdered, his adopted son, Octavian, waged a war against the faction that killed his father. The result was that the killers of Caesar ultimately lost their lives and their political power. At this point, you might ask where does religion fit in all of this. I wish that Pope John Paul II was still alive. He would have much to say on this subject and it would be worth listening to. This is what I think he would say. I think that he would start by suggesting that the base message of Jesus was freedom for all men. This freedom would be both political and religious. You cannot abridge one without abridging the other. I think that he would follow up this thought, by suggesting that Jesus showed us how to achieve this goal. It comes from the simple recognition that we are all children of God, no matter whether we believe in god, call God by another name, follow another religion, or attend church on Sunday morning. With this comes the ultimate connection to gnostic thought. The gnostic believes that you achieve union with God by learning to understand what God wants from us, and living your life accordingly. Jesus said the the "Kingdom of God" is within us all, and he went on to say that we are ignorant of this fact. He gave us several parables to assist us in the search. The "Good Samaritan" teaches us to regard our brothers, whoever they might be, as we regard ourselves. When we look closely at the people we hate or do not understand, our ignorance and hatred disappear. In another way of speaking, we are a "family of man." Every human being is our brother or sister. The "Prodigal Son" teaches us to forgive, even the sins that affect us the most. Only in forgiveness can we come together as a people. The parable about the wages given the workers teaches us that it is the result, and not the method of achieving that result that matters. The last person through the Gates of Heaven is just as important as the first person who enters. Finally, the statement about how hard it is to enter the Kingdom while retaining all of your riches should alert us to the fact that it is our heart and not our wealth that defines us. Pope John Paul II reached out to all men and all religions. He understood what Jesus wanted from us. He lived that principle in his own life.

With this in mind, it is not wrong to say that the struggle of the Libyan people for freedom is more important that our struggle to make up for our lost wealth in the current recession. As the Libyan People go, so go We. As John Donne so aptly put, "ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." When we reach the end of our lives, our wealth falls away and goes to other people. Our hearts go with us to the next stage of our lives, and help to define us in the eyes of God.

In searching for freedom, we are all Gnostics.