It was incredibly refreshing yesterday — during the national prayer breakfast — when President Obama made room for the Godless in the manic realm of a national, religious, fervor and reinforced the necessary separation of church and state.

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all…

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” The Torah commands, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” In Islam, there is a hadith that reads “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

It’s a pleasure to read those inspiring words from our world leader who recognizes there can be more than one God and even no God at all — and the facts of those beliefs is no one’s business but those who hold them; and it is certainly not the role of the government to enforce one, narrow, view of redemption and the afterlife.

I have always found it curiously and morally offensive when Christians claim their God will save and protect Muslim children. 

Does Jesus care about Muslim children?

Perhaps the more important question is, “Do Muslim children want to be saved by Christ?”

Or are Muslim children just “raised wrong” and they fail to realize there is only one Christian Godhead — and it is only in their deaths, when they are ultimately Saved, that they will finally realize the true way and the real want of the single deity?

Should the world religious majority rule all questions of prayer and redemption and the afterlife or are we only seeking out trouble in a land that needs no further religious consumption?

11 Comments

  1. Good to let people be alone with their thoughts. We don’t need government decided religion.

  3. I think you might be able to say that certain children are raised wrong – but only in the sense that it is wrong to teach that strapping a bomb to yourself and killing people in a marketplace is somehow a good notion.
    I think it’s critical to keep religion amongst members of the faith and not to try to thrust it down people’s throats.

  4. Good advice all around, Gordon. If religion is important, practice it, celebrate it, and let it lead you — but draw the line at forced conversion and embeddings its tenets in mainstream government policy.

  5. Encouraging thoughts all around David! Good to see a new direction.
    As long as we learn to tolerate each other the wprld will be a better place to live.

  7. Love that you’ve posted the importance of this.
    Even within Christianity there are so many differently held beliefs – I can think of multitudes of ‘Christians’ that I would not want teaching my own children and, likewise, many who would be horrified at what I would teach their own.
    Schools already have plenty on their plate – there is no reason your religion has to be taught and led while at school for you to be able to believe while you’re there.
    Why officially single kids in the minority out and make them even more uncomfortable? Their peers are already, unfortunately, masterfully skilled at it.

  8. There is only one savior. Jesus Christ. He is the only way or you’ll be in hell.

  11. Can I flip that around on you since you one sided it?
    Does Allah care about Christian children?
    Do Muslim leaders that only voice the word of Allah displease you? Almost seems as if you believe Christians should be apologetic for their beliefs. Muslims and other religious faiths are the victims.
    There are Public Schools in America that take breaks to accommodate Muslim students for their daily Islamic prayers yet there are those that want to take “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Make sense?
    As for your recent comment Mr. Boles “A world religious war to determine the winner?” do you not believe that is going on now? Have you seen fitna by Geert Wilders and because of his movie there are death treats against him. Islamic Extremist can behead a man in the name of Allah, post it on the net and I don’t see Muslim leaders taking to the forefront condemning such actions.
    I wish we lived in a perfect world of harmony but if you’re going to make religion a destabilizing factor shouldn’t all religious be the cause not just Christianity?

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