Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 1:01am
A quiet end to religious intolerance
Column: All Paths
A great deal of my time is devoted to either thinking or talking about religious intolerance and interfaith cooperation. And, I am ashamed to say that even though I work hard in my community and in my role as UN Representative for an interfaith Non-Government Organization (NGO), I don't feel that I am doing enough to advance the cause.
I believe that most of what is said about interfaith cooperation by world leaders is just talk. No one is doing enough. Very little of this talk or dialogue translates into meaningful action. Maybe this is because we really don't know where to start or how to approach the problem.
But the solution is simple.
I think a good place to start is by affirming what William Perales said in a review of Kevin Seamus Hasson book, "The Right To Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War over Religion in America,": "freedom is safe as long as we all recognize that no matter how right we think we are, our neighbor still has the right to be wrong." Mr.Perales' statement is both emancipating and transforming. If this philosophy were adopted and applied by all of us, it would relieve us of a tremendous burden.
Oh what freedom would come from not having to prove that allow other views are wrong and ours is right! By simply honoring that others can claim to be right and absolute, no matter how wrong they seem to us, will allow us to devote more time to actually practicing what we think makes us right. This would make all of us better human beings.
Think about it! The politicians and religious leaders, who glean their daily bread from the business of divisiveness and intolerance, would have to find a new way to approach their jobs. Instead of thinking about ways to use differences to divide the human family, they would have to embrace them as tools for peace and community building.
Not only would these leaders be hard-pressed to justify their existence, the media would have to shift to programming and content that is more focused on good news. With this simple shift in thinking, our world would begin to immediately transform into a more global civil society.
I want to live in a more civil world. I want to live in a diverse world with opposing views where people can freely express their religious and cultural traditions without fear or judgment. Huston Smith said that, "If we were to find ourselves with a single religion tomorrow, it is likely that there would be two the day after." I say the more religions we have that require their adherents to embrace the values of love, peace, compassion and understanding — the better off the world will be.
Love, peace, compassion and understanding are the core moral values that most religions share. So why can't we accept another's right to be different or wrong as long as it is not injurious to us? This is why I like Mr. Perales statement. He is asking us to affirm our core religious values and practice them. It's simple, basic, and just might work. Practice what we preach; now there's a new idea.
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Rev. Jay Speights is an interfaith minister and main United Nations representative for The New Seminary in New York. He has an MA in public policy. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org} jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Jay Speights
I believe that most of what is said about interfaith cooperation by world leaders is just talk. No one is doing enough. Very little of this talk or dialogue translates into meaningful action. Maybe this is because we really don't know where to start or how to approach the problem.
But the solution is simple.
I think a good place to start is by affirming what William Perales said in a review of Kevin Seamus Hasson book, "The Right To Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War over Religion in America,": "freedom is safe as long as we all recognize that no matter how right we think we are, our neighbor still has the right to be wrong." Mr.Perales' statement is both emancipating and transforming. If this philosophy were adopted and applied by all of us, it would relieve us of a tremendous burden.
Oh what freedom would come from not having to prove that allow other views are wrong and ours is right! By simply honoring that others can claim to be right and absolute, no matter how wrong they seem to us, will allow us to devote more time to actually practicing what we think makes us right. This would make all of us better human beings.
Think about it! The politicians and religious leaders, who glean their daily bread from the business of divisiveness and intolerance, would have to find a new way to approach their jobs. Instead of thinking about ways to use differences to divide the human family, they would have to embrace them as tools for peace and community building.
Not only would these leaders be hard-pressed to justify their existence, the media would have to shift to programming and content that is more focused on good news. With this simple shift in thinking, our world would begin to immediately transform into a more global civil society.
I want to live in a more civil world. I want to live in a diverse world with opposing views where people can freely express their religious and cultural traditions without fear or judgment. Huston Smith said that, "If we were to find ourselves with a single religion tomorrow, it is likely that there would be two the day after." I say the more religions we have that require their adherents to embrace the values of love, peace, compassion and understanding — the better off the world will be.
Love, peace, compassion and understanding are the core moral values that most religions share. So why can't we accept another's right to be different or wrong as long as it is not injurious to us? This is why I like Mr. Perales statement. He is asking us to affirm our core religious values and practice them. It's simple, basic, and just might work. Practice what we preach; now there's a new idea.
— — —
Rev. Jay Speights is an interfaith minister and main United Nations representative for The New Seminary in New York. He has an MA in public policy. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org} jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Jay Speights