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Kudos to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Carrollton! Your leadership in creating a world of co-existence and respect for each one of God's formulas (religions) is appreciated. I hope and pray that other places of worship follow your steps.
This is so good to see!
Indeed Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had also advised his community that learning is the most important thing in life - he had said; if you have to go to China to learn something good, go for it. He even made a suggestion that "if Romans practice and it works for them, you can follow it as well...”
The question is what does one learn going to China? Certainly not about Islam at that time, but definitely one would learn the art of living; how other people live, pray and earn their livelihood.
We have to work for that day, when you hear the beauty and wisdom of every faith included in the sermons in every place of worship. We should be preaching respect, dignity and honoring the otherness of other.
Let individuals in each congregation speak up against any bigotry spewed out by the individual preachers towards others; there shall not be any demeaning of other faiths, peoples or cultures, there shall not be any relegation of others to a lower status, that amounts to loading one with negative sentiments or slowly poisoning the minds and hearts.
A place of worship should not be a place of uploading hate, but rather of forgiveness and embracement just as Jesus did. The place of worship should be uplifting, it should be the sanctuary of conflict mitigation, and it should be the place to nurture good will. That is what God wills; peace and co-existence amongst his creation. That is what brings peace in communities, and that is the purpose of religion, every religion.
If you want a better society, you have to speak out and take the responsibility for creating it, the least you can do is, do your share of the work. Speak up against any bigotry spewed out towards others in your congregation; there shall not be any demeaning of other faiths, peoples or cultures, there shall not be any relegation of others to a lower than us status, that amounts to loading one with negative sentiments or slowly poisoning the minds and hearts.
A place of worship should load one with peaceful thoughts, words and actions.
The place of worship should be uplifting, it should be the sanctuary of mitigation of conflicts, it should be the place to nurture good will. That is what God wills, and that is what brings peace in communities.
Mike Ghouse
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