Interfaith as a Faith

[RubySera_Martin]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

That's a pretty sad comment to make. You accuse "fundies" of all sorts of interesting discriminations, but you appear to have absolutely no problem applying them yourself.

Just so you know. That refers to the post I had deleted. You blasted me for deleting it. So I reposted to please you. Now you blast me again. Quite the hypocrite you are.

There's a reason why you lose some of your best thinkers. We didn't get to where we are by taking crap like this.

As I said, it's your site. It will be what you make it.

[I, Brian]

Ruby, no confidences have been betrayed - there's a big difference between stating that you communicated with someone, and actually reposting private correspondence in public.

As before, I tried to help you and make you welcome - but you refuse to act responsibly, and simply continue your aggressive and abusive behaviour.

If that's what constitutes being among the site's best thinkers, then I'm truly glad that it's the one's who dare to be civil that we encourage to stay.

You can still do that, you know, but if you feel you can't accept basics of mutual respect and civility then perhaps CR really isn't for you.

[RubySera_Martin]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

That's a pretty sad comment to make. You accuse "fundies" of all sorts of interesting discriminations, but you appear to have absolutely no problem applying them yourself.

I have absolutely no problem informing the world about the Number 1 threat of our planet. I can give you the evidence if you want it. You don't want it and I won't waste it on you. You wouldn't believe it if you saw it.

Many people are very blind. Right along with the rest of the world you will see it when it's too late. The sad thing is that people think if they kill the prophets things will be just fine. Unfortunately, the prophets perish with the populace. We have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

In case you don't know it, I am NOT a lone voice in the wilderness. Just take a look at all the new titles of studies on fundamentalism in the past five years.

This thing is

FOR REAL.

We are tolerant of beliefs so long as nobody gets hurt.
When the West goes down, so do we.

I am not speaking against any specific person. I had no intention to say this much. However, you accuse me falsely of a lot of stuff and refuse to believe it when I correct you. I have a point to make and I will make it. You can delete it if it bothers you. That's your business. It's your site. My point:

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM IS
THE #1 ENEMY OF THE PLANET.

[I, Brian]

Ruby, a question - why is religious fundamentalism the #1 enemy of the planet? Is it by any chance because of intolerence?

[bolo]

Sadly it would seem that some are quite incapable of seeing a wolf at the door – even when one gets its teeth into their flesh.

If we persist in alluding to ‘Christian fundamentalism’ then the fact is that the very first commandment ("I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me") runs in distinct opposition to all modern principles of democracy in our western establishments and is nothing but a sectarian declaration promoting religious dominance over other faiths. The principles of modern democracy were 'not' laid out in the bible, as some would like us to think, but by political theorists. In 1797 America made an agreement with Tripoli, declaring that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Sadly many modern fundamentalists fail to understand this and insist that it is a ‘Christian country’ – the same can be said for the UK which also contains countless persons and groups that promote such intolerant beliefs. They have no intention whatsoever of sharing the religious monopoly of these nations with others. Sadly a minority of more naïve types fail to appreciate these unfortunate facts as the somewhat negative responses on this thread have proved so well. I really do wish that the reality were different but it is not. History gives us explicit evidence that fundamentalism, of any ilk, first infiltrates then denigrates, defames, subdues and ultimately kills anything and anyone that stands in its way. We can either learn from this fact as responsible, truly caring adults and be vigilant or alternatively, like the proverbial ostrich (and some of the more credulous types), bury or heads in the sand and open the interfaith doors wide to well-versed and excellently funded smiling missionary fundamentalists that rely on our gullibility to gain a foothold into our realms. Fundamentalists are exceedingly clever and well trained and ‘mission’ to other faiths, via interfaith liaison, is high on their agenda. Various denomination continue to rip each other apart as one committed Christian will say – ‘Jews, Muslims etc need to hear the Gospel and come to the Lord,' whilst the more liberal – minded will say ‘No no’ and then be roundly accused by the fundamentalists of ‘not’ properly promoting their spriptural doctrine as indeed they are not according to biblical decree.

Go check out the sites yourself for so-called ‘Christian witness’ (that means ‘mission targets’) to: Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sheiks etc they are all there evaluating, correlating with each other under larger religious umbrella organisations and waiting to be given the opportunity to move in – all eager to share interfaith with nice trusting folk who are overtly innocent and do not realise what they are actually up to. It really is that straightforward my friends, yet a blinkered minority can not or perhaps ‘will not’ see it. The question is ‘why’ are some apparently so deaf and blind to these facts of life on this issue – why are they so terribly enthusiastic to throw us all to the wolves of missionary fundamentalism at interfaith and what exactly are their bona fide motives herein?

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM IS
THE #1 ENEMY OF THE PLANET.

Spot on!

Ruby, yes you clearly have your head screwed on right and I am glad to see that at least one person is aware of these dangers.

[Quahom1]

reality...

[RubySera_Martin]

Originally Posted by bolo

Spot on!

Ruby, yes you clearly have your head screwed on right and I am glad to see that at least one person is aware of these dangers.

THANK YOU, Bolo! I know I'm not the only one but I won't endanger the reputation of the other person I know for sure who thinks like this. World Council of Churches, with head-quarters in Europe, refuse to believe it. I think people who make it their job to fix the world's religious problems should at least be aware that the problems exist. They denied it when told by a resident. Perhaps they have changed their mind by now but they sure didn't believe me the other winter when they visited the school where I'm studying. They actually requested a change of topic.

I guess they had just come from a visit in Texas or somewhere and they had been treated well. The thing is, the churches that participate in ecumenicalism are not the militant fundamentalists. So of course they didn't see anything worth worrying about. They probably pulled up as close as possible to the front entrance of the building they were visiting, which probably was one of the few relatively liberal places in the area. As international delegates, they would naturally have been treated well.

Anthropology teaches us to listen to the people we are visiting. These people didn't. My prof explained that it's because they're from Europe and don't encounter it on the daily basis we do. And here in Ontario it's mild compared to the Belt Buckle of the US. It's been through interaction on forums like this that I became aware of the sinister threat.

My profs listen to my concerns and complaints about fundamentalism but they seem to think it's mainly personal stuff for me. I've found one prof who does not feel this way. I told him what I want to study and he told me it's an important topic. I asked him why he says that. He needed some time to find the words to explain it but it resonated exactly with my own intuitions. This is a very serious problem. The world will never go back to its pre-Bush days. It cannot. It's been too long.

The way this topic fits into the thread is that interfaith endeavors are obligated to work closely with the context in which they exist. So long as we deny the politico-religious situation this cannot be done effectively.

[RubySera_Martin]

Originally Posted by Quahom1

reality...

Lol!!! The reality is that most balls are not as smart as this one.

[RubySera_Martin]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Ruby, a question - why is religious fundamentalism the #1 enemy of the planet? Is it by any chance because of intolerence?

Brian, listen carefully to what Bolo is saying and I think you will get the picture. Take into consideration that Bolo is in the thick of it while you are on the other side of the ocean.

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by RubySera_Martin

Lol!!! The reality is that most balls are not as smart as this one.

I'm sorry, the "pendulum" was meant to show an attempt at balance. That is reality.

v/r

Q

[kenod]

Originally Posted by arthra

That "Spong" you mentioned in your last post would be "Bishop John Shelby Spong" I take it...

Yes, sorry if it sounded a bit disrespectful, but I was quoting.

I was curious about your feelings about particpating say in an inter-faith program... What would be your apprehensions if any... or any reservations...What are your ideas?

I think anybody with an inquiring mind would be interested in participating in an inter-faith program on a cultural level. At the moment, when there are so many misconceptions about Islam caused by the terrorist incidents, I feel that would be very valuable.

On a recent tour of Thailand I was very interested in finding out more about Buddhism, and visited some temples and a Buddhist monastery.

However, I would only participate in a religious service that recognized Jesus Christ as God. My preference is a Pentecostal church, but I would worship with any Christian denomination. When I was in Rome I stayed at a Benedictine monastery for 2 weeks and enjoyed attending some of their worship services.

My concern when reading this thread and others, is that fundamentalists tend to get stereotyped - as does any group. Sure, I believe my faith is the one true faith, but not everyone is called to walk the same path. I would rather fellowship with a devout Muslim than a hypocritical Christian.

Ken

[kenod]

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM IS

THE #1 ENEMY OF THE PLANET.

And here I was worrying about global warming, bird flu, and nuclear winter ... silly me!

.

[kenod]

Unless, of course, it is the fundamentalists who are responsible for global warming, bird flu, and nuclear winter ... could be

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by RubySera_Martin

Brian, listen carefully to what Bolo is saying and I think you will get the picture. Take into consideration that Bolo is in the thick of it while you are on the other side of the ocean.

I think it's fair to say the issue is much more of a US issue than British one.

While I can certainly appreciate that there is a lot of aggression in spreading certain ideas/ideals by many different belief systems in the US, I really don't think CR itself is in any danger of being subverted, and neither the UK anytime soon.

And as before, I'm not going to start discriminating against Christians on this site merely for having a fundamentalist position. We seek civility, the ability to discuss without denigrating. We have Christian fundamentalists here who accept that and are very welcome for it.

I've met plenty of "liberals" whose positions of extreme intolerance simply looked like a mirror of the very things they claimed they were fighting against.

Personally, I don't think anyone benefits from a position of "The evils of the world can be blamed on ____ ", where ____ can be "gays" "blacks" "white" "women" "men" "lefties" "fundies" etc.

In my opinion, it's just another form of prejudice, and you can't fight prejudice with prejudice, hate with hate. Communication, education, and perserverence, perhaps. And that starts with dialogue. That's what interfaith is for, isn't it?

2c.

[arthra]

Hello Kenod!

Thanks for your reply to my post.

Kenod wrote:

"I think anybody with an inquiring mind would be interested in participating in an inter-faith program on a cultural level. At the moment, when there are so many misconceptions about Islam caused by the terrorist incidents, I feel that would be very valuable."

I think that's an excellent point and I would personally welcome you to participate in a forum we occasionally have sponsored by our Inter-faith Council. We had one on the Middle East situation awhile ago that was very well received in the community and I totally agree there are misconceptions about Islam that should be explored...

God's blessings!

- Art