Islamic terrorist or Christian zealot?

A bomb explodes in a crowded marketplace, the work of yet another extremist group.  A fundamentalist Christian minister announces that God hates fags, that the only good soldier is a dead one, and that he intends to burn a pile of Korans. A man sights down the barrel of a rifle, pulls the trigger, and justifies to himself the killing of a doctor who has performed abortions.  In each case, the media dutifully reports it, speculates on motives, and writes stories about this latest action by a religious extremist.

For many of us, this is how we learn about other faiths, through the lens of the media, and we conclude, not without merit, that we are far better believers, that our faith is superior, and that we would never do as “they“ do.  But the truth is that most actions by these extremists are rooted in politics and are about power. In addition, the media explores stories addressing the extremists' culture and conditions that spawned their actions. They also identify their religion because most often the perpetrators cloak their actions in their ideology.  The result is that the media can attach convenient labels to extremists, like “Islamic terrorists“, or “Christian zealots”

Not only do we look at other religions through the lens of the media, we look at our own through the lens of our teachings, both at home and in church, and for many, this results in a belief that our faith, our religion, is the only path to God.

I am a Meyers Briggs INTJ. I thrive on truth, knowledge, and ideas, and I believe we are truly privileged to be observers of our universe and given the gift of questions.  It is our inquisitive natures  that drive our collective accomplishments as mankind, and that underpins our search for God and the search for meaning in our lives.  In my life, I have journeyed through history, philosophy, science fiction, classic novels, stories of all kinds that demonstrate who we as mankind were, are, and hope to be.  I have also learned about all of the world's major religions and religious philosophies. The sum of all this has given me a humanistic perspective of life and mankind, and brought with it a great respect for the beliefs of others.  My respect for other faiths comes primarily from the fact we must take matters of religion, and God, on faith alone because there is simply no scientifically proven truth we can look at.  Given that faith is the foundation of our belief, how can we be so arrogant as to say our faith is somehow better, or more real than another’s?

Moreover, if we look at the lives and influences and lessons of all our major Prophets and Messengers, and  for us Christians, Jesus, we quickly see they all taught a similar set of lessons.  What is most interesting to me is that I found my own faith strengthened and invigorated by the realization that we as Christians are not alone in our journey to God, that others have found God in their own way, in their own time, in their own geography, and that we all share this journey together.

Given all this, when I found out about World Interfaith Harmony Week, I saw a chance to put my experiences and beliefs into action.  I have received a great deal of satisfaction in helping to bring the week to Toronto, and moreover, finding so many like minded people.  Together with existing interfaith groups we have created events that are all about “looking for ways to work together” because we believe that by working together with other faiths, we will learn to appreciate what we have in common, and we will learn to respect how we differ, and we will learn that we are simply on different roads together, on a journey to our One Shared God.

So the next time a bomb goes off, or someone threatens to burn Korans, or mock another religion, we can point to intolerance, inability to compromise, and the selfishness of individuals as the cause, not their faith.