Golden calf
An interesting interfaith initiative....

At the Lubar Institute, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim undergraduates have started to overcome religious intolerance through candid conversations about cartoon controversies, gender issues, and prayer practices. Shared trips to mosques, churches, and synagogues have enabled them to form relationships of trust and respect by learning about each other’s sacred spaces, texts, and rituals. Through debate and dialogue the students have been startled and comforted by the fact that they share sacred sources, stories of prophets, and a social obligation to care for the poor (Tzedakah, Zakat, social gospel). With each new revelation of their commonality, their bounds of moral imagination have expanded, and their “they” has given way to a “we.” All this gives good reason to believe that the Abrahamic paradigm is not just a noble idea but a promising new foundation for civic discourse and interfaith understanding.

Might be onto something. I don't see the need for a literal focus on Abraham the man. Seems overly complex and off-center. The real center of all these religions is a protest against greed and idolatry, and an attempt to enforce Natural Law.

As I've been saying repeatedly: Natural Law, as described in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, is God's lab notebook. Long experimentation taught us what God wants. We may be able to skip a few of the finer details, but we need to realize that the basics are OBJECTIVELY PROVEN FACTS.

Four major religions arose when reformers tried to break the golden calf of greed and idolatry, and tried to restore Natural Law.

Moses tried to reform the greedy idolatrous Jews and didn't get very far.

Jesus tried to reform the greedy idolatrous Jews, along with their Greek and Roman equivalents, and didn't get very far ... but ended up founding a completely separate group.

Mohammed tried to reform the greedy idolatrous Jews, along with Christian equivalents, and didn't get very far ... but ended up founding a completely separate group.

Luther tried to reform the greedy idolatrous Romans, and didn't get very far ... but ended up founding a completely separate group.

In more modern times, the Islamist movement is trying to reform greedy idolatrous secular Muslims. Like previous reforms, it also opposes greedy idolatrous Jews and Christians, but Osama's original target was the hypocritical Saudi elites.

The real permanent conflict is between Natural Law supporters and decadent elites, not between the four traditions. Southern Baptists and hardass Muslims have nearly everything in common, but theological idiocy makes them enemies.

The problem with this set of simple parallels, of course, is that you're not allowed to say "greedy idolatrous Jews". So it won't work.

Labels: Natural law = Sharia law

  ¶ 5:44 AM