Inter-Religious Discussion

1. No religion has the whole truth.
   
2. God is infinite. Man is finite.
   
3. God and man interface.
   
4. This interface is called religion by man. Today this interface is called religion by women. Men have been told to shut up.
   

   
   

5. All religions have roots in war and disease.
   
6. Comparisons of religions have historically been in the sense "My God is better than your God", or "My interpretation of God and Man is better than your interpretation of God and Man."
   
7. There are good men and bad men in every religion. There are good women and bad women in every religion too only the bad women sometimes look more attractive.
   
8. Every religion has good bits and bad bits like any great story.
   
9. All religions have had holy men and women, some called saints, prophets, divine, or enlightened, whatever.
   
10. All religions have had accountants and administrators and politicians.
    
11. All religions have had healers.
    
12. All religions have had artists. All religions have had critics.
    
13. All religions are prone to cherry picking especially when looking at their past or comparing themselves with others.
    
14. Ecumenicalism is defined as 'concerning or promoting unity among churches or religions". It's also been termed 'inter faith" or 'inter-religious'. There are innumerable 'buzz words' through out history in as many different languages for the same thing. Sighting God is like sighting UFO's. It's simple at first but complicated somewhere in the middle. No one knows the end yet, except individually.
    
15. I am a Christian. I believe all of the above. All religions are associated with other religions historically.
    
16. I am irritated when the 'best interpretation' of one religion is compared with the 'worst interpretation' of another religion. Compare Gandhi with St. Paul but not with Jo Bob out of Louisiana who chews tobacco or I'll compare Billy Graham with Sidhu the robber in Calcutta.
    
17. There are probably as many moslem idiots as there are Buddhist and Hindu idiots which compare favourably with the catholic and Baptist idiots or the Shinto idiots and the Taoist idiots. Many of these have written books and taught at university and had a television show on their religion in their country.
    
18. There are fanatics in every religion.
    
19. I am a Christian. I was born a Christian. I became a Christian. Being a Christian is this sense is like being a Canadian. I have to accept and tolerate and resist 'smiting' my Canadian neighbor. I have Canadian superiors and Canadian inferiors and laterals. I prefer the laterals.
    
20. When you make broad generalizations about religions, remember the devil is in the details. Every religion has it's dark secrets.
    
21. The names the Jews called the Christians were just as bad as the names the Buddhists called the Hindus or the Catholics the Protestants. No one admits to this. Some people just pray at your back in superiority.
    
22. My great great grandfather several times removed was a pagan, another a catholic and another a protestant. Even King David had mixed blood which means Jesus had mixed blood which means we all drink mixed blood at communion.
    
23. A lot of First Nations were cannibals. Cannibalism was popular in the past. There have no doubt been Christian cannibals, Jewish cannibals, Buddhist cannibals, Catholic cannibals, Moslem cannibals, Hindu cannibals, and Taoist cannibals, or Zorastrian cannibals. It wasn't something that was likely written about where peoples mothers or children might find out. Today there are still people apologizing for eating other peoples grandparents.
    
24. Solent Green is about institutionalized cannibalism in the future. We're still very young as a people. I'm hoping I make it out of this life without eating my neighbor. Sometimes I could bite his head off. I didn't feel that way when we first met him and I didn't know him. My mother said that we often hurt the ones we loved the most because they were closest. It's easy to talk in generalities about other religions. You don't have to live them. Most people who live anywhere or with anyone get to know the complexity. When people talk like everything is simple I usually ask what drug they're smoking. Either that or they're adolescent.
    
25. There are a very few things that we can agree on regardless of religion. First of all, lets start by agreeing not to eat each other. At least while we're having a discussion. Lets not have Campbells and MacDonald surprises at the conference on inter religions or inter faith. Let's make sure the banquet is well supplied. Having enough food for everyone has historically reduced the likelihood of cannibalism.