Religion is a difficult subject to discuss for no topic evokes
such passion in people.
Religion is a difficult subject to discuss for no topic evokes such passion in people. But religious fervor fuels much of today’s hatred and intolerance around the world. It is even at the heart of some social issues between Americans here at home. We need to examine the excesses of True Believers even at the risk of touching a nerve.
Perhaps the greatest irony of humankind’s time on Earth is that more inhumane acts and death have occurred due to the zeal of religious True Believers than for any other reason.
We all recognize the motivation for terrorism like we saw on 9/11, the murder of doctors who perform abortions, killing in Northern Ireland, Middle East and Indonesia, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and on and on. The list is endless.
Whenever I visit the mission at San Juan Bautista, I am heartbroken by the contrast of a gift shop selling crucifixes and other religious curios 100 yards away from a mass grave, the tragic resting place of hundreds of Native Americans who died as a result of True Believers’ efforts to “save” them.
Why do we do we continue to do this? Why haven’t we learned? What makes us take what should be our best thing and too often turn it into a rallying cry for evil?
One does not have to be a religious scholar to see that some of us have lost sight of what religion is – or should be. It is nothing more than a spiritual path that help adherents connect with the transcendent, the universal, the Great Spirit, God – whatever you choose to call it. Why are we here? What is the purpose of our lives? What happens after we die?
Tough questions. And while our miraculous minds may be able to land a robot on Mars, it cannot answer these questions. It can only try. That is all religion can hope to do – try, and in so doing give us some comfort in our ignorance and perhaps a brief glimpse across the void.
If anyone or any belief system claims to have THE answer, turn around and run as fast as you can, you are talking to a fanatic. He may have found HIS answer, which brings him great comfort – a comfort he wishes to share with others. It may even be a path that suits you, but it is definitely not THE answer.
When a charismatic zealot, a spellbinder, presents one path as the Ultimate Truth, then non-believers become heretics. Next comes intolerance, then hate and finally violence.
I hear people say that this is a Christian nation founded by Christian men. Wrong. This country was founded by Christian men who had the amazing wisdom to write a document that promised that any religion – any religion – could be practiced freely. Mohammed, Vishnu, Buddha, the Great Spirit, Shamans, Jesus and all the rest are welcome here. No religion should be certified here. Every religion and spiritual practice that doesn’t harm others, should not only be tolerated here, but also truly respected.
Beware of the True Believers. Beware of people with “answers,” because they are “right.” That makes someone else wrong, and now we’ve got trouble. It seems better to me to listen to those who help us ask the right questions so that each of us might be guided in the search for our own answers. To the people on either side of you who have chosen a different route to those answers, offer your blessing and your love.
