So, what with atheism being an ever-increasing, growing label that accurately describes a good portion of the world, why on earth would religious groups even consider going against eachother's efforts as a means of attempting to recruit followers?
Yes, of course it can be argued that most faiths contradict other faiths in at least a few matters. It can even be agreed that the practices of some faiths have no place in this modern world, the year being 2014 and all (stoning, honour killing, conjugal rights, gender inequality anyone?).
Well as far as I'm concerned, I find it very hard to take seriously any religious teachers who claim that their faith is the only true path, that all others are flawed and not true. If a fair few religious leaders continue to feed us this fundamentalist bullshit then no wonder atheism is on the rise. Given dwindling church attendance figures (at least in the UK, I have no idea what statistic trends are for other faiths or countries), surely faith leaders should be promoting open-mindedness and more progressive views?
On that note, praise to the most recent Pope, a man whose humility and grace already evident in his leadership has restored some of my hope in the Catholic Church (whilst myself not Catholic, it would be ignorant to overlook the church's significance from an influential perspective). When a diseased man bowed down to the Pope, the latter rebuked him - this man was not to bow down to the Pope, nor was anyone for in his own words "I am not God". Then the Pope himself bowed down to this diseased man. It is little episodes like this that continually give me inchings of hope that religion can work, that is when those who teach it practice what they preach - not necessarily in the word of the law but in the spirit of it
Also praise be to the Dalai Llama, a religious leader currently in exile who visited Northern Ireland (a land rife with sectarian conflict even in this day) and led a peace walk across a bridge in Belfast, along with both Catholic and Protestant clergy and followers. This is a man who represents a faith, the most extreme acts committed in the name of being self-immolation (many Tibetan monks have set themselves on fire in protest at China's self-imposed rule on what they refer to as the "Tibetan Autonomous region"). Whilst violent in some ways, this act of protest is not harmful to others, but unfortunately the same cannot be said for those who decide to self-immolate and it is regrettable that such groups should feel enough injustice is present to justify such self-harming and sacrificial deeds.
I have realised that I have written most of this post without actually explaining what Universalism is, so for those who do not know I had better illuminate thusly:
Religious universalism is the belief that all religions contain a fragment of divine truth and knowledge, that is applicable and fine-tuned to suit the particular culture and historic context of it's inception.Or, as I also like to put it:
All religions are misguided, but some are more misguided than others...(Communist oxymoron I know...)
Basically, at times I find that religion troubles me greatly, be it either certain interpretations of my own or other people's faiths that I find disagreeable. There are too many different opinions, both between faiths and within them - too many contradictions and conflicts caused for any one faith to be intrinsically right.
At the end of the day, the individual's right to choose for him or herself what to believe should be down to him or her always, ain't no self-righteous fool with the right to tell them otherwise!
Goodnight, I can't believe this post is published almost a year after writing!
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