Religions are irreconcilable, people are not

Hrm, I missed this whole discussion, but:

I explained that every religion is exclusive: each religion is the heart of a world-story that leaves nothing out, nothing that could be used in any other world story:

That's simply untrue: in fact, it's the text-literalism religions which go out of their way to be incompatible with all other worldviews: in fact, most religions that are and have been on this world do and have interacted and syncretized and shared, both in concepts and stories and all the like.

Plenty of these religions are also quite capable of accepting that the neighbors may see the Gods and spirits in a different way, or have different practices. Only certain religions which (and to the extent that they) are *self-defined* by their exclusivism necessarily think the criteria by which some are exclusivist are even the important part: even the context in which the question is asked show this bias in a way... certainly in how you answer it, Reverend: for you, 'love, tolerance and compassion,' which is what the Dalai Lama really spoke on, are things that you believe in your own beliefs must be commanded, thus making who's doing the commanding and judging the focus of these things.

For the Dalai Lama, as a Buddhist, the actual love, tolerance, and especially compassion are themselves the important parts.

If he were to ask me as a modern Pagan this question, he'd ask, *How* do you go about these things?

I'd say that to me and I think most modern Pagans, our way to these things comes of direct involvement in and experience of the connections between ourselves, others, and the spirit world: seeing that we *are* all deeply-connected and that to harm one, we harm all. To borrow a phrase, attempting to 'perfect' desire rather than to dissolve it or subordinate it.

But in terms of things like love and compassion and tolerance, (And, really, connection, even if through the practices of Buddhism) ...certainly those goals are the same thing among each other.

There's a lot we can (and have) learned about these things from each other, not because, even, of where we are similar, but because we are *different.*

It's a very polytheist view, but diversity is indeed a strength: and in terms of getting along with different kinds of people and world-views, we can do better than 'tolerance:' we can love the different views of things, rather than teach ourselves to be frightened by them.

"In teaching "The World's Great Religions" at the University of Hawaii, I was privileged to have in class devotees of all these religions. I loved them all - all my students, not all their religions. I explained that every religion is exclusive: each religion is the heart of a world-story that leaves nothing out, nothing that could be used in any other world story: each religion is a unique way of seeing-and-living in the world, as unique as the human clump which was its source. Respect for these religions is an aspect of respect for human life, for each human being. But each human being has both an appreciative and a critical capacity, and should use both in evaluating all religions: the failure to use one is as wrong as the failure to use the other."

Very, very well said.

TO FARNAZ

Yes, in another context, "appreciative of differences" - both their beauty & their danger. And of course critical of similarities, which may be more different upon reflection than upon the surface.

At the core all religions have one thing in common. A belief in a whole slew of unnatural phenomenon. Each slew may differ from religion to religion, in some cases even overlap. Discussing these religions and trying to make sense of them is just as fruitful and as stupid as to comparing and contrasting Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" against Alexander Dumas's "Count of Monte Cristo".

When discussing the religions, I cannot get past these superstitious beliefs in the organizing documents (scriptures). Be it be the virgin birth and resurrection of Christians, Parting of the Waters and the Joshua being swallowed by a fish of Judaism, The flying horse or talking bones of Islam, or the many a superstitious beliefs of Hinduism, Jainism, & Buddhism from monster heads swallowing the moon & the Sun to the sweat (or the semen) of an ape swallowed by fish giving rise to a fully grown man. Any memes (all religions are indeed memes) that are based on all these silly theses deserve no respect and have really nothing to teach the 21st century humanity. I sincerely wish and hope that they are all relegated to the dust heap as the humanity as done with Alchemistry, Thorism, Zeusism and thousands of such other memes.

Rev. Elliott,

Once anyone says that his/her way is the right way,we are lost, and many people say this.
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You say, "We earn the right to be critical (of differences) by being appreciative (of similarities)."

Can we be appreciative of differences? A hard question, harder than it may seem.

I agree that we must understand the differences. It is in that demarcation that we can critically appreciate what we are after. If I want to join a religion that says deny science and believe in one book or one man as my way to go, I want the freedom to go for it. If I want to join a religion that says take in all the evidence before you and become aware of your own personal relationship with truth, I want the freedom to go for it. If I fail to realize that I joined the Nazis, or other genocidal monster mono-ideologies, my lack of discrimination has contributed to my participation in himsa - harming of the world. Without the ability to discriminate what I want in a religion and what I don't want, I am but a money supply to those that control the religion to which I belong.

hariaum

In an "On Faith" comment yesterday, I wrote this: "Our differences are precisely what we must face as we live out our convictions; and it's a dangerous romanticism to believe that the deep differences can be shelved in the interest of 'one world'."

- Willis E Elliot

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....but we can, if we really want to, find and work on commonalities of interests in the interest of the one and only world we inhibit rather than let our differences make this world unlivable with unresolved and perennial conflicts.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Aummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Amennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..

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PEACE, PAZ, SHALOM, SALAAM, AHIMSA, ZHINGYU..
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..... Credit "JJ" http://onwapo.com