The Many Paths to God

By -=Bruce Berrien=-

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."    John 14:5-6.

Whether we are Atheist, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, etc., I believe that the aspect of God that we encounter when we die is the Word, God in action, no matter what we called or did not call the supreme being(s) in life. That is what John 14:6 tells us.  It is a statement of mechanism, not exclusivity.

I believe that Jesus is the highest revelation of God in human history and the best path to God. That is why I am a Christian.  I also believe that all faiths have God's truth.  I do not believe God condemns anyone because of their place of birth or faith or lack of faith, nor do I believe that Christians have an exclusive claim on God.

Conservative Christians are repelled by the possibility that their God and the God of Islam could be the same while they embrace the God of Judaism.  Muslims trace their ancestry through Ishmael, the son of Abraham by the slave girl, Hagar. Theirs is the God of Abraham whether conservative Christians like it or not. Just as the God of Judaism is the God of Abraham.  Even without the link through Abraham, I think that inherently all monotheists share the same God. 

Atheists do not believe in any Supreme Being, but are closer to God than the nominally religious.  To reject God you must first think about her.  Such thought puts an atheist closer to God than all those who are indifferent or oblivious, lost in their own daily lives. Atheists will be judged just as we all will be, on how we treat the least.

My personal belief is that everyone at some point will be confronted by God and know that God is real.  At that point whether before or after death, one can choose to be with God or not.

The immortal soul is a Greek concept, not Hebrew.  I believe that without God, there is no existence.  If a person rejects God, knowing God exists, then that person after death ceases to exist.  No hell, no eternal punishment, just ending.

The God of love that Jesus modeled desires to wrap us in her love forever, but the choice is always ours. 

The Mosque near Ground Zero in New York City

Photo by Shazron

People continue to demonstrate against the community center with a mosque inside being built.  The polls say that the majority oppose this community center because it is too close to where the twin towers once stood.  Of course, the new building will not be visible from where the twin towers block.  Politicians have come out for and against.

Why is this happening?  People are frustrated with what is going on in their lives.  Many fear the changes in this country as a more urban, less white group of leaders begin to take over.  Many have felt the monetary effects of the recession.  Savings have been lost.  Retirement set back or put off indefinitely.  There is real fear that a middle class way of life is being taken away from the majority of Americans.  People who are afraid need to feel they still have power.  One way to feel power is to focus on another group to denigrate and feel superior to.  Muslims are the group that has received that focus.

Leaders in some Christian venues have fanned the fear into hatred of Muslims.  All Muslims have been made a threat to Christianity.  Regularly, emails circulate through churches containing diatribes against Muslims and creating the vision of Muslims as being two-faced, polite to us on one hand and plotting our demise on the other. The message is that it is either or.  Christianity must defeat Islam or fall.

Republicans have also played a part in this, fanning the flames of hatred and coming out against the mosque and the man trying to build the community center.  They have even toyed with the issue of our President's faith.  In the hysteria of the moment some Americans believe the President is Muslim not Christian.  An interview he did in 2004 is circulating through the faith community trying to fan that belief.  How?   In the interview, then State Senator Obama does not use the code words of faith that evangelicals would use.  His answers reflect a more intellectual approach to faith, but a very strong faith.  Those lack of code words will convince some that he is not a Christian.  How sad.

My question:  Why does it matter what faith he is as long as he upholds his oath of office?

If it does matter, then we are not a tolerant nation.  A Muslim is as much a person of faith as a Christian.  Christian, Muslim, Jew all worship the God of Abraham.  Even this may be too much.  Shouldn't an atheist be able to be President?  I would say yes as long as we have a very clear knowledge of his value system.  Will an atheist ever be President?  I doubt it.  To be elected a person will have to have at least nominal faith.

Christians need to reflect on our heritage.  Jesus said to "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those that mistreat you."  He summed it up:  "Do to others as you would have them do to you."  Denying someone their place to worship is not fulfilling the Golden Rule.

The United States was not designed to allow majority rule.  The United States was designed to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.  We need to act under that premise.  The community center with the mosque must be built.

                                                 

Islam in the World - Statistics

A new study on the distribution and population of Muslims has been published. An article in the Guardian touches on the major conclusions of the Pew study.

One in four people in the world is Muslim. One in three people in the world is Christian. Christianity and Islam account for more than half (7/12) of all religious people in the world.

Both these monotheistic religions share a common progenitor: Abraham. Abraham's two sons father great societies. From Isaac, the younger son, come the Jews. From Ishmael, the older son, come the Arabs.

Both Jews and Arabs worship one God. I believe they worship the same God. If each would realize that perhaps peace would come to the Middle East.

We learn from the demographic study that most Muslims live in Asia, but Muslims can be found everywhere. Christians need to realize that Islam is a complex and nuanced religion. Most Muslims only want to live peacefully. There are only a fringe groups of jihadists, just as in Christianity there are fringe groups that espouse violence. We must learn to coexist in a diverse religious world.