As a child I was taken to the Welsh Baptists by my grandparents and then to the Unitarians by my parents...since then I have made friends across the Christian spectrum and also with other faiths...
I had a long intense conversation with a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka. I shared a classroom with a Seik for several years . I had a Jewish boyfriend when I was about 15. I attended the humanist wedding of a colleague where God was never mentioned but I am sure He was there.
I became a hippie in my twenties after having had my call into ministry refused on the grounds of my femaleness. I was always certain of the presence of God.
Teaching in Rochdale in the 80s meant that I had classes of Muslims and I read the Koran to find a beautiful book which reminded me of the Old Testament.
Christians now rejoice in all things ecumenical and hopefully Anglicans and Methodists can really join together at various times in our yearly cycles. I have also done joint services with our Roman Catholic priest...we work well together.
To expand faith over other religions as well as embracing different branches of Christianity is to me what Jesus was asking us to do.....to love each other as He loved us......it has no let out clause for differing beliefs....we are all people....there is one God....just many ways of describing Him/Her.
To see on Twitter a growing relationship between a Rabbi and an Imam is a great joy as they greet each other cordially every morning as one is getting up and the other is going to bed....they have started to share vocabulary now....which is a symbolic act of friendship which is often funny as well as touching.
Social media has its faults but if it can bring together even on a fleeting basis people from different backgrounds and belief systems then it can't be all bad! Who knows, it might even be a tool for good.....it's up to those of us who use it.
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2 comments:
As a product of the same era I too had an ambivalence toward anything spiritual I prefered modern philosophy (existentialist) (logical positivism) etc etc ,although my parents were both RC they lost their religion with the death of their first son so I was left to make my own mind up and as I was always top of the class in religious studies (loved theology) I came to the conclusion that there was no God but that of ones own conscience and what your conscience dictates. Viewing the old testament as a jumble of interesting story's and the new testament as a misrepresented Philosophy.
That is until I encountered Death in all his forms riding with me everyday enough to be on a first name basis. After the break up of my first marriage I had to find employ very quickly and ended up delivering money in London for Securicor which can be said to be eventful! After one of my encounters with some very lazy,greedy types who tried to relieve me of my said charge I found myself in a tropical paradise married again (Ink barely dry from No1) to a lovely girl of Buddhist persuasion! We have been together now for six joyful laughter filled years and have a very active three year old menace.
While visiting my wife's family in Issarn province I suffered one of my funny turns and my father in-law took me to the local temple not so much a shrine as it was just some accommodation blocks for the monks the temple itself being a grove of slender trees arched over to form a beautiful canopy which he just let me walk around for an hour.
I was so moved by this experience that I asked to go back a second time and was instructed in the proper form of genuflection which I humbly performed in good faith alone under the trees to a gilt covered Buddha and found out what faith really means because on rising from the third bow the statue "Winked at me" and an old lady who was sweeping the dust said in perfect English "Buddha says Hello" I sat there dumbfounded for half an hour until Dad got impatient for a beer so we picked up our fishing rods and sat by the local pond in silence which is not usual for two such garrulous men.
I have never told a soul about this encounter until now.
Martin. I've only just found this remarkable comment! Thank you so much for sharing this! It is beautiful and I hope the love and joy you are finding stay with you all your life....blessings to you both!
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