“Let all be healthy, let all be happy, peace, peace, peace.”
This was the opening prayer of the first session I attended at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, a chant that the Hindu people say every day before
meditation. The session, “Environmental Ethics: World Peace and Harmony through
the Environment” didn’t necessarily blow my mind in regards to environmental
ethics, but I was struck by the simplicity of that prayer and his advice
thereafter: “The best way to get peace of mind is to pray for others to get
peace of mind.” And there it was, over and over again – this reminder that
Christianity is not the only religion where love
for thy neighbor is of the utmost importance.
A love for others was everywhere, and I suspect, within most
if not all 8,500 participants at this incredibly diverse religious conference
in Salt Lake City, Utah last week. Among our daily themes: the widening wealth
gap and income inequality, women’s rights, the indigenous people, war/hate/violence,
climate change, and emerging leaders.
Yes, here one could truly sense the presence of the sacred, and a holy
and genuine love for Mother Earth and all of her residents. And I must say, this commonality of love,
compassion, acceptance and forgiveness was refreshing, a vibe that I did not
expect to grab me as much as it did.
You know, there was a time in my life when I
looked with disdain upon the world’s religions outside of Christianity. Yes, an
attitude of superiority and self-righteousness prevailed and I judged persons
outside of my religion as “lost” or condemned, for no other reason than they
were not “believers in Jesus Christ” as in: Christians. But one need only spend half a day in this
setting to seriously reconsider that assumption. Perhaps, I’ve been the lost one all along! Professor Kristen Johnston Largen from
Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary jokingly said as much when pressed after her
presentation “Rethinking
Salvation: Images and Metaphors for Salvation in a Pluralistic World.” A man
asked her, “Who are the lost ones?” And without hesitation, she quipped
“Christians!” I am sure we can all think of plenty of instances where
we’ve been on the wrong end of bad behavior by those who claim Jesus as Lord. She rightly went on to
qualify this jab at herself and the rest of us Jesus followers by noting that
it is, after all, Christians who “are the ones in most danger of doing evil in
Jesus’ name…” Truth be told, if you’ve ever judged or thought yourself better
than another because of what you or they believe, then it ought to be painfully
obvious that we are all lost.
Thankfully, it is God who does the finding, not us.
The
Parliament helped me to ponder the notion that Christianity does not reign supreme. But, fear not little flock, I’m
still Christian through and through, and Jesus is my homeboy or rather, I am Jesus’ homeboy (to be theologically sound.) But if you find those five italicized words
above offensive or you are feeling a bit uncomfortable with the idea that all
these other religions can also point us to the God of love, then you may
want to consider finding something else to do, because I’m pretty sure you’re
not going to like the rest of this either.
The
conference opened up for me the truth that faith communities are wise to not only
seek collaboration and common ground inter-denominationally (between others
within their own religion) but perhaps it is also in the world’s best interests
that all of her different religions need to come together as one as well. The Dalai Lama believes that “compassion and tolerance are a sign of strength, not
weakness,” and I am learning slowly and with great discomfort that he is right.
For instance, I came to Salt Lake City with a tremendous amount of disdain for
Mormons. Facing my own skepticism and negative perceptions of various systems
of belief (especially Mormonism), I have been pressed from within and out that
tolerance is hugely important if we are to practice what we preach (and when I
say “we” I mean the collective “we” of most major religions): the daily
practice of love, compassion and forgiveness towards ourselves and others.
Therefore, if acceptance and love for the neighbor is the end all/be all goal
of Jesus’s ministry (he taught us to “love our haters” for cryin’ out loud),
then tolerance has got to be a noble step in the right direction, in my
opinion. So, (swallowing hard), despite my unswerving mistrust of Mormons,
I will (try, really, really hard to) tolerate
Mormonism going forward.
Finally, at Sunday’s plenary on Climate Change, I really resonated with Brian McLaren when he said “something is trying to be born among us” and “the
movement we need must transform organized religions into organizing religions”
– two statements that I need to hear now as well as those who, perhaps like me
of yesteryear, may find themselves believing their religion is right while
others’ are wrong. For me, the “something trying to be born” has got to be a
collective abstinence from this insatiable need to be right, this irrational
need to be welcomed to the afterlife party while self-righteously looking down
our nose at those who we think ought to be left out or lost for all eternity.
Because when
I walked around all of those weird, joyful, kind, gracious, curious and
open-minded people like me these last several days, I don’t have one ounce of
doubt that somehow, someway, God has room for all of us. I also believe that God
isn’t ready to let our world destroy itself, and that despite our best attempts
to trash this planet, the Divine One, whatever name we assign Her (yes, I am
aware I gave God a female pronoun), is begging us to think and be constantly
aware that our choices, big and small, have the power to bless or curse, build
up or belittle, love or hate this life we’ve been wonderfully and mysteriously
given. So it’s time to “nurture the compassion, not the aggression within” as
Jane Goodall so aptly put it. Yes, it’s time to live like Stanislov Petrov – a
U.S.S.R Colonel who saved us all one unforgettable September night in 1983 when
the universe decided to pull a prank and tempt nuclear war (The Man Who Saved the World); Petrov, a human being, just like you and me, didn’t listen to the
noise, didn’t follow protocol, didn’t give in to the aggression, but instead
when it mattered most, went to the depths of his humanity and listened to his
heart.
