January 18th, 2022
God Is Not One has been one of the most enlightening and empowering books I have read.
Religion isn’t going away. I’m not a religious person, but I take it as a personal responsibility to learn about the people I live with on this planet. Like most people, I always felt religion was one mountain and the varieties were different paths leading to the same peak. I realize now that’s akin to saying “I don’t see color,” discrediting billions of experiences I didn’t really understand.
Now let’s talk about Islam.
I learned so much about the fastest-growing religion in the world last night (Christianity is still the largest but dropping, from 35% of the world’s population to 33% in the last hundred years, while Islam has doubled in the last 30 years, from 11% to 22% or more). But I really want to share a revelation that helped me see things as they are, and not how America wants me to.
In the Bible, there are passages that blame the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ. This is accurate information.
In the 1940’s, some Christians pointed to these passages to justify the genocide they were commiting against the Jewish people.
These Christians were also called Nazis.
Now, if I were to tell you that you were a Christian like those Nazis were Christians, you would be upset. You might even punch me in the face. You would tell me your understanding of your religion would never allow you to murder innocent people.
Still with me? Because those Christian Nazis are to most Christians what those terrorist bombers are to most Muslims.
For example, the people who crashed into the Twin Towers broke countless rules of Islam, including laws against suicide and the killing of other Muslims, not to mention the basic principles the religion is based on, like justice and peace.
In short, they were crazy people.
Every religion, every workplace, every family has crazy people.
And if you’re the type who says, “The Quran says scary things!”, I’ll play a game with you: you give me a scary line from the Quran, and I’ll give you one from the Bible. Probably one of the passages where God literally tells people to kill other people.
And the thing is, you’ll lose, because the Quran is way shorter than the Bible.
There are Moderate and Progressive Muslims, who can recognize the parts of their religion that may be antiquated and grow from it, just like there are so many brands of Christianity. I’m kind of obsessed with Sufis now and how they see the world.
It really is a beautiful religion.
Anyway, this is a reminder: if you decide to not learn about the people around you, whose fault is it when you don’t understand?
If you’re having trouble answering that question, then your problem probably has two thumbs.
The Den 