And God Made The World

And God Made The World

“Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Pope John Paul II in his Address to young Muslims in Morocco, August 19,1985 said: “Christians and Muslims, we have many things in common, as believers and as human beings. We live in the same world, marked by many signs of hope, but also by multiple signs of anguish. For us, Abraham is a very model of faith in God, of submission to his will and of confidence in his goodness. We believe in the sane (rational, balanced, stable) God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection.” 

In his acceptance of the Ecumenical Council of 1960-1965, Vatican 2, Pope John Paul II asserted that as a descendent to the throne of St. Peter, the true message of Jesus was all inclusive, that all people of the world were saved.

The religious xenophobia so pervasive in our society today is born out of ignorance. In his tremendously brilliant lectures on comparative religion, Professor Charles Kimball reveals the vast similarities of the 5 basic world religions, all faith based: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. 

I particularly like Dr. Kimball’s example in his lecture to a Muslim audience, and the question put to him was that he must be a Muslim because he preached all of the tenants of Islam and that Muslims believe the all inclusive that if you do no harm that you will be rewarded. Dr. Kimball’s answer was that he was a Christian.

Another example from his lectures came from a Hindu, who stated, to the effect,“the other 4 basic religions are really Hindu, they just don’t realize it!”

And, most people have heard the name Dali Lama. This Buddhist Monk’s world views mirror the other four basic world religions. This beautifully enlightened Buddhist Monk said: “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them”. And another famous quote from this brilliant religious leader: “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

The Judaeo-Christian culture is self evident to the Western World with its revelations of hope, kindness, forgiveness, jubilee, and more. Perhaps Judaism, going back to time recorded, is the genesis of the other religions, since Jesus was a rabbi born in the days of Herod the King.

Buddha was a prophet in 600 BCE, and Mohammad, self-proclaimed the last of the prophets, around 600 CE, but Hinduism has no founder and goes back to unrecorded antiquity, to the days of “oral tradition”. Perhaps the questioning Hindu in Dr. Kimball’s audience was correct.

With the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, 701 BCE, and if the Assyrian army proceeded to destroy Jerusalem, would there be Judaism, Christianity, Muslim religions?  This question reveals the historical, special connectivity of these three religions.

The only differences between the religious communities is diversity and cultural manifestations, but the common thread is, to use Dr. Kimball’s phrase, the “human capacity for self transcendence”. 

The human species has been religious from time recorded, from the Ancient Greek Gods of Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, and more. I think that the human experience is in our DNA to be religious with the brain manifestations of delight in prayer and self reflection. 

Scripture is replete with God’s message of Joy and Salvation for all religious communities of the world. Inherent in a gift is that there is no payment in return.

My prayer is for everyone to know of the vast religious similarities of all religions, instead of hearing the vast reporting of the religious xenophobia promoting the “fear factor” of religious differences.