Shouldn't there be one religion?

Paula Johnson:

My 15 year old son Joshua wants to know. How can there be a God when there are so many religions? If there was really a God wouldn't there be just one, right religion???

Mike Ghouse:

Everything was intentionally created (came into being or evolved) to be different and unique and every piece of matter is designed to seek its own balance, that is what sustains and gives continuity.

Humans were not designed to auto-balance, we have the element of freedom to find that balance within ourselves and what surrounds us. Each group, community, nation or tribe finds (figures out) its own balance; social, spiritual, economic, physical, biological, cultural or other.

The creator is all about love and has gifted the humans with an ability to think and choose what is good for them, and has reached out each one of us and has delivered a beautiful formula called religion through the spiritual masters to live in peace with oneself and others.

However, to maintain diversity, a guaranteed element for survival, limitation was built into the ability of the masters to deliver that message. Jesus, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Mohammad or Shamans… and all of them could reach only so many, but together they have reached every one.

Whether one is a theist or an atheist, humans find their own balance. I would rather say “we have created God in our own image and every image works for the follower.”... Read More

Religion and God are supplements to bring peace (balance) to each individual and what surrounds it; life and matter.

As beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, God is in the heart of the believer. Co-existence (Pluralism) is about accepting every which way one appreciates (worship) his creator and lives a full life without fear. No matter what name you call God, the source of all that has happend is same. All faith systems are beautiful and do what they are intended to do, if followed

The Pluralism Balance, a New equilibrium

Exclusive Claims on God worked when societies were exclusive - the whole nation was Catholic, Protestant, Wiccan, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist.... each group found its own balance. (excesess were made against free will by men who donned religious lables) and some times those men shamelessly determined peace will come through violence.

As the societies evolve, exclusive conclaves of groups by faith, race, ethnicity or culture will fade. Greater acceptance.

15 ears ago, when I began the foundation for pluralism, many in the town did not even know how to pronounce the word, some thought it was a religion. The interfaith movement has brought a greater degree of acceptance of the otherness of other. The subscribers to Pluralism and interfaith are creating their own balance. They are comfortable in beleiving that God can be worshipped any way you want, my way works for me as your works for you, what is the problem? God is diversity

Mike Ghouse is a Dallas based Speaker, Writer, Thinker and a Moderator. He is a frequent guest on talk radio and television networks offering pluralistic perspectives on issues of the day including Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, Peace, India and Civic issues. His comments, news analysis and opinions are on the Blogs listed at his personal website www.MikeGhouse.net. Mike is a Dallasite for three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com

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Kudos to the Unitarian Universalist Church

http://pluralismquestions.blogspot.com/2009/05/kudos-to-unitarian-universalist-church.html

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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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ARROGANCE and SPIRITUALITY

Arrogance and Spirituality are inversely proportional - i.e., greater the arrgoance, lower the spirituality (or religiosity) and higher the spirituality, lower the arrogance. Even claming your faith to be wiser, saner, better, deeper or philosophical is sheer arrogance, they you are not religious any more. To be religious is to care for life and what surrounds one. - Mike Ghouse

People are free and should always have the freedom to choose. The greater security and freedom comes when people around you are minding their own business. When you think your faith is superior, you don't look to others around you as equal partners of the planet earth, but some one who is less than you on the soft side and on the extreme side, destroying the balance including ecological, food and energy through wars, dominance, subjudgations... causing every one, the oppressor and the oppressed to live in tensions. It is all rooted in arrogance. ...

Religions are constantly guiding one to be humble, a few don't get it and create conflicts for their own end, but shamelessly using religion or claiming exclusivity that is not there in the scriptures.

Mike

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