It is not surprising that there is much enduring heat and light surrounding the various world religions, especially between Islam and the other major monotheistic belief systems: Christianity and Judaism. This is especially true as we pass and reflect upon another September 11th anniversary.
Controversy is assured now that we are in the midst of a Global War on Terror, GBOT as dubbed by the acronym philes in the U.S. federal bureaucracy. Most folks would agree that so-called Islamo-fascists, or should we merely name these folks radical Muslims, are fomenting fear and carnage wherever and whenever they can. Osama bin Laden wants the U.S. off his homeland’s soil (Saudi Arabia) and he’s not going to stop killing until that happens. He also has a gripe with the brand of Islam believed and practiced by the Saudi royal family. As a result, bin Laden, and his very broad and rag-tag band of supporters, is prosecuting a nasty enterprise on our planet.
Because so many Muslims are not standing up and giving Osama and his adherents the back of their hands or the toe of their boots, the argument is advanced that Islam, the so-called (by its adherents) religion of peace, is actually a religion of death, dismemberment, destruction, and despair. How could an alleged small minority co-opt the beliefs of over one billion people worldwide?
So, it’s not surprising that we have come to believe that Muslims represent the devil’s view of the world, just as they believe that way towards the other major monotheistic groups. Many Muslims have felt that way about Christians and Jews for centuries. After all, many interpret the Koran, especially the Sura entitled “The Table,” as proscribing even friendly relations with such infidels as Jews and Christian.
If Mohammedism, Judaism, and Christianity are all monotheistic religions, where does that leave us? Are there three different and distinct gods? Or is there one God, and all three religions worship the same one in three diverse manners?
Of course, the answer lies in the gulf between human and divine. As an indicator of what “man” (or woman) can do when we put our minds to it, there are about 34,000 (give or take a few hundred or thousand) varying Christian denominations worldwide, according to the World Christianity Encyclopedia. All those sects or branches or entities, or whatever word you wish to employ, are allegedly worshipping the same single individual!
Is it any wonder that conflicts, concerns, and confusion arise when crossing major religious boundaries?
Of course, it doesn’t matter what I think about this. Or what you think. It is really all about God, unless you do not trifle yourself with God’s concerns in the first place.
But back to Islam. I used the label Mohammedism in an earlier paragraph. Any self-respecting Muslim would revile against my characterizing his or her religion based on a human (Mohammed) rather than God. That moniker is as blasphemous to Muslims as is the Christian claim that Christ - in human form – is God. Muslims would say that God is too great to lower himself, or be lowered by humans, to such a banal and debased form.
Recently I read a book by an Iranian former Muslim, who converted to Christianity. She was very critical of Islam, asserting that the God described in the Koran, the one that requires – and perhaps can only understand – prayers recited in Arabic multiple times daily was not really the true God. She said that their God could not be the God of salvation, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit – the Trinity, one in three forms – that the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant denominations accept.
Her points were compelling, yet I marvel that all three religions have common roots in Abraham, the man who received God’s promise to be the father of a great nation. Of course, Islam followed Ishmael, Abraham’s first son with Hagar, his wife’s maidservant, while the Jewish and Christian religions followed Isaac, born of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, long after her child-bearing years had passed.
I should stop here, as there is so much more to discuss, and such dialogue would become endless. We know how religions have argued with and among each other for millennia. [Today’s split in the Anglican Communion and The Episcopal Church of the United States is a prime example.]
Think about this interesting admixture of three seemingly connected, though greatly divergent, belief systems. Think of the mayhem. Think of the pain and suffering we have endured throughout the centuries. Think of the slaughter, which continues to this day.
Think also, and mostly, about God. This should be about Him, not us. What does He think? Who is He? Where is He?
Whose God is it anyway?
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Fred W. Apelquist, III, M.Ed.
Approximately 790 words.
© September 2007
YETMO: “You’re Entitled To My Opinion,” A Balanced Point of View
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