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Candidates Should Stress America’s Devotion and Diversity
America is the most religiously devout nation in the West and the most religiously diverse country in the world in an era of global religious conflict. The next President needs to help our country - and the world - understand how the combination of devotion and diversity makes us stronger.
Religious rhetoric has played a central role in American discourse since our beginnings. John Winthrop, one of the first European settlers in America, famously used a Biblical image to describe the society he hoped to build: A city upon a hill that would be a beacon for the world. No doubt he imagined a steeple in the center.
That steeple is now surrounded by the minarets of Muslim mosques, the Hebrew script of Jewish synagogues, the chanting of Buddhist sangas and the statues of Hindu temples. America (unlike Europe) has remained a remarkably religious country while also becoming an amazingly diverse one. According to some scholars, there are now more Buddhists in America than Episcopalians, and more Muslims than Presbyterians.
From Northern Ireland to South Asia, the Middle East to West Africa, people are fighting, killing and dying in the name of God. Segments of all the faith communities warring elsewhere – Protestants and Catholics, Shias and Sunnis, Hindus and Buddhists – live in America, often in close quarters. In my home city of Chicago, Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims (who have fought several wars in the past half-century) congregate on the same one-mile stretch called Devon Avenue. A stone’s throw north, in the suburb of Morton Grove, Arab Muslims and Israeli Jews own businesses a few blocks apart on Dempster Street. They join the same block clubs, shop at the same grocery stores, send their kids to the same schools. In addition to being Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus, they are neighbors and Americans.
Perhaps America’s greatest gift to the 21st century will be to show the world that religious communities can live together in peace--each connected to their own particular tradition, all cooperating to serve the common good.
Call this “A New City On a Hill”.
I would welcome religious rhetoric from candidates who hold out this hope for America, and the world.
By
Eboo Patel
|
January 31, 2007; 11:37 AM ET
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Posted by: Verse Infinitum | August 5, 2007 12:59 AM
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There is no revelation of God apart from Jesus Christ. He alone is God! The only visual evidence you will ever see of the Person of God!
He has nail-scarred hands, nail-scarred feet, a riven side and many stripes on His back. He deserves our supreme love and adoration. He alone is to be worshipped! All else is very, very secondary to this one true God!
Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! No if, ands, or buts about it!
In the end, He alone will reign as Supreme! I stake my life on it!
Posted by: Mike, LR, AR | July 23, 2007 1:48 PM
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Posted by: ricql jeaxsvmn | July 10, 2007 1:34 PM
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Posted by: ricql jeaxsvmn | July 10, 2007 1:33 PM
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Posted by: ricql jeaxsvmn | July 10, 2007 1:32 PM
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It's a great achievement for Islamic leaders and scholars as well as Newsweek and the Washington post to present this imperative opportunity for inter cultural and global philosophical dialogue. What's important is that by exchanging our ideas and comments regarding inter religious relations and world events that affect our views of each other as fellow human beings. Since the advent of humanity, We strove to make sense of the world we live in and the lives we've experienced. Worldwide curiosities to learn the true nature of life and our universe is an exceptionally rare virtue upon life on Earth. In other words, we're the only known species on the planet who've pursued to unravel these great mysteries and developed written philosophies based upon our understanding of the world around us.
One such philosophy that lasted throughout the ages of humanity is commonly known as religion and spirituality. Ever since our early belief in the Sky God and the God Mother from ancient Pagan times, we vigorously pursued to unravel the truth about our most profound questions. As any educated person would know that religion and their core beliefs or faith have evolved over time. Paganism, Monotheism and Polytheism have been influenced by humanity as these great philosophies have influenced our perceptions and decisions in life over the ages. Over time humanity has embraced diverse religious faiths and spiritual convictions that continue to influence our behavior in our times and most likely beyond.
What's vital for humanity's progress and even survival is to know the true nature of faith itself. To understand the true origins of faith. But most of all, is to accept the truth for whatever it may be. Each one of us will learn the absolute truth once we die. But until that time comes for anyone of us to depart this world, we really don't know the answer to God's existence nor do we have the absolute truth in regards to the true nature of God. Besides if we did possess the truth, there would've been only one religion on Earth with no diversification of any way, shape of form. There would only be one holy scripture written throughout human history.
Considering one's religious faith to be absolute, while considering others to be false would be ethnocentric at best. While collectively searching to unravel the mysteries on nature, life and the universe through sincere reasoning and serious research would be enlightening at its worst. Most importantly, we must accept the fact is that none of us have conclusive evidence to confirm our core beliefs and there's always an immanent change that our most cherished beliefs could be wrong. Our greatest challenge would be to tolerate the truth no matter what it may ultimately be. With such an open mind, we would be able to overcome any future discovery that would contradict our faith regarding the true nature of life, spirituality and divinity.
Humanity does have the ability to achieve such a social achievement. However, it's solely up to humanity and not any other entity or groups of entities to decide our destinies. Each one of us has a choice to make; either hopelessly engaging into meaningless inter cultural conflicts or combine our scientific and cultural gifts to thrive into an enlightened global civilization that could ultimately expand beyond our solar system. The choice is yours, and the time to make it is now!