This blog is sure to anger a good many people, though its not my intention to do so, though, I will face the fact of that reality. Two evenings ago here on this site was a cold reminder that in this Interfaith Ministry, there is much work to be done. As in any other Community, we are faced with the " I and Me " Syndrome. The " I " Believes that " I " alone am the center of the Universe, and my opinion is the only one that matters. The " Me " will want to make everyone else believe it. In my personal opinion as an observer. We all can deny it if we will, and most will, " We " all suffer from both of these syndromes. Mayhap, not believing that we do, in reality we do.... If we really sit down and think about it reasonably and rationally. The reality is there, no matter how small we may think it is.
Firstly, One must remember that in pretty much every aspect of our lives we are faced with Newton's 3rd law of motion. " To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". I won't explain that here, I would hope we are all Adult and educated enough to know what this means. But, I'll say this, Every coin has two sides, Our Singular side and the flip or opposing side. That sounds crude perhaps, however for this blog I will consider it accurate. ( With exceptions to that rule of thought of course). For a conversations sake we have " Point- Counter Point " Thought - Counter Thought . Not just with other people but within ourselves. That is the reality of life as we must live it, or live in a make believe existance. One exception to this 2 sided coin is Religion/ Spirituality/ Belief or Non- Belief as it were. This coin is multi dimensional at best. For the sake of this blog we will stay with this train of thought.
Two nights ago, there were two posts made on the main page, one was an article regarding Paganism which was an Academic article written with the contributions and insights from Prominent Sources who held Doctorates in their given field, Such as Philosophy, Theology and or Prominent Lecturers. This post was met with inciteful comments for reasons I believe to be 1) the dislike for the person posting, and 2) because it was an article based on research by Educated individuals in which does not agree with the perception of their belief in Paganism, yet the very next evening a Post was made on Paganism that was using as a reference an Opinion from an Engineer who is a self proclaimed Druid/Pagan claims no Academic Accredidation, also with no accredited sources,yet this was considered Scholarly, and these same Inciteful commentors Thought this was a factual and fascinating article. Further reading of this article I found myself in the comment section of this BLOG, only to find that a good many disagree with the thoughts of it.. Are we Up to the Interfaith Task?
The Second post was my post in which I was responding to a post made on the Interfaith Circle Group which was regarding the Bombing in Paris and the link of the terrorists to Islam. The post in short was in my opinion one sided as well as inaccurate. This post clearly stated by the poster, that the members of the terrorist groups of Isis, Al Qaeda and the Taliban are not Muslims and do not believe in Islam, when in Fact by their own admission in every case that I have witnessed, that is their claim. When 1 person claims to be of a singular Faith, we must take it at face value that they are of that Faith. If 100,000 people make the same claim of a singular Faith base, are we supposed to believe that just because they also belong to Terrorist organizations, that they cannot be of the Faith they claim to be, or are we to believe that it is no more than a lie and it is impossible for them to be Muslim as they claim. I presented an article with basically the same accredited sources to back my counter point, that in fact they are as they claim, Muslim, albeit Radical and I will restate, RADICAL...That being said, there is and always has been and always will be RADICAL sects of any given Religion and or Belief system. That is Real life......Not just my opinion...It is Proven fact by accredited sources. Not to mention the World at large.
Now on the Group Interfaith Circle last week an argument insued between my Wife Cindy and another member. When a counter point was brought up time after time to this member, this member lashed out at my Wife saying that everything she says is stupid which this member has done before when valid counter points were made by her to his statements, That was a personal attack in which she responded with a factual attack about his ever changing Religious Conversions a fact which has been clearly evident on this site. This members claims are of course unfounded due to my Wifes Academic accredidation. Yet my Wife alone was removed from this group, when both were equally to blame. Interfaith Circle is supposed to be a site to discuss Interfaith Ministry or at least this credo claims it as such." Interfaith Circle
Our culture is one of religious plurality, and as interfaith ministers we are duty-bound to building bridges between members of differing religions. But, interfaith work is not easy. Here is a place for inter-religious dialogue, sharing resources, and discussing how we can better serve and strengthen our religious communities by embracing the diversity around us. " Unless I mis read this....
It would appear that the only discussion permitted is those that would agree with the site owner and those who share their beliefs. Are We Up to the Task?
This site is deemed to be a place of learning, or so that is what I get from the intent of " Children of the same Universe" where diversity is supposed to be the rule. However over the past year here I have observed 1 important issue. Pagans - vs- Christians, or was that Christians - vs- Pagans. 1 other very important observation I have seen is this. Close mindedness and the lack of Critical thinking. Now to give my answer to the question Are We up to the Task? I find it hard to say yes to this for this reason. In any Forum that is supposed to be a learning environment 2 things are needed for productivity. 1) Objectivity or Open Mindedness and secondly Critical Thought. Without that claims of all inclusiveness and diversity for all is invalid. When Groups claiming such yet only intend open mindedness to those of like minds and are spiteful to those who aren't, then Interfaith Ministry is not only difficult, it is impossible....... Taz
