Getting Better The Hard Way

Frank Kaufmann

August 20, 2008

Religious people know that God (by whatever name) is greater than the evil of
which we as a race are capable. They know that the love of God is such
that our positive welfare is sought more than arbitrary punishment for our
misdeeds. The combination of God's perfect love and power with with
responsiveness from the faithful produce a fascinating reality, a reality
that benefits everyone, not just the faithful. The reality I describe here is this,
God's love and power plus the positive conditions created by the faithful (in all
faiths) translate or repackage all horror into pathways from which positive
good can arise. This is always the case, as it is also now in current world
affairs.

On September 11, 2001 violent and resentful people attacked the United States
of America, killing 3,000 non-combatants, including many Muslims. Surat
5.032 in the Qu'ran compares the murder of one innocent soul to the taking of
all human life! These vile and violent assailants who in their acts violated
dozens of Qu'ranic injunctions, nevertheless attributed their decisions and
actions as an expression of Islam (rather than misunderstanding their actions
as an expression of some other religion or ideology). All perpetrators came
from the Islamic cultural sphere.

Attack on a sovereign nation is a political act that requires political and in

virtually all cases even a military response. Virtually all wars (since they deal
with ultimates, absolutes, and uncertainties) resort to a "God is on our side"
mentality (this is a natural result of the fact the humans are related to God, and
tend to call on God (or some superstition surrogate) when things are uncertain
and scary). In this case the tragedy of religious error escalated drawing the
beautiful religion of Christianity unwillingly into the hellish energy spawned by
the 911 attacks. (Too bad famous, inhospitable, and intolerant people who are
believed by many to be Christian added bigoted opinion into the foolishsphere,
adding to the (false) impression that hostilities are "religious.")

As this degenerate, violent, and murderous spirit persists one is tempted to

bemoan the fact that the original perpetrators chose to identify their villainy
with a world religion. Indeed government and security policy decided to accept
the position of the 911 killers. Something like, "11 suicidal, murderous guys
called it Islam, so we'll call it Islam." As a result, great injustice, bigotry and
intolerance of a religious flavor has come to influence the behavior and
attitudes of secular people and institutions (as well as those who live by a
perverted (bellicose) form of their respective religions) . This fact that secular
activity (such as economics, security, military activity, international relations
etc.) have been drawn downward under impulse of intolerance and religious
bigotry, lead many in the world to imagine that ours is a time in which
interreligious relations are at an all time low.

The fact however, is that this is not the case. Precisely because those
carrying out demonic and murderous agendas at present do so openly relating
themselves to perversions of this religion or that, behavior among genuinely
religious people actually is reaching new heights of enlightenment, humility,
charity, openness, and transtradition collaboration. Because genuinely
religious people are being SO badly misrepresented by murderous and demonic
perps, they are living their religions to an ever more beautiful and exemplary
degree. Also because "combat-based" secular institutions (such as security
and military) have become vaguely and confusedly tied to "religion" in name,
here again genuine religious believers in a near excessive effort to
demonstrate just the very opposite presently show a breadth, embrace, and
respect for other traditions that we have never seen before. The great irony is
that, one almost could say that this is a good time for religion. Its true
adherents are showing all its best and most promising elements and
dimensions.

The only unfortunate part of the tale is that it took such a terrible breakdown
in secular relations to evoke, regenerate, and spur to hitherto unreached levels
of interreligious, mutual embrace and collaboration. But this rubber-band
style of narrative unfortunately always has been the burden borne by the
divine. The best of our religiosity and spirituality almost always is evoked only
by breakdown and tragedy. Hopefully soon, we will rise to point at which
flourishing spirituality energizes itself through its own healthy and positive
benefits, rather than laying dormant until fear, despair, and emergency awaken
us as a last resort.

Under ordinary circumstances, even good religious people have tended to sit
contentedly in their respective cocoons, not bothering to care about how our
neighbors pray, dream, raise our children, and seek to be better people day by
day. But in a world folding together as one family, even this peaceful (but
parochial) way of being religious cannot be seen as acceptable. There is still
too much separation in such a set up, and this "uncaring" way cannot be seen
as consistent with the guidance and preferences from God (by whatever
name). Strangely then, the 911 attacks have led to a flourishing of religious
life, and a level of multi-religious collaboration the world has not seen in many
an eon.

The flourishing interfaith world is reaching an ever more sophisticated depth

and healthy complexity, but we must recognize a much higher mission that
comes with this opportunity. This opportunity arose due to God's perfectly
constant power to transform ill into blessing. The curse and the
embarrassment that all religions face as the secular critics point to violence
and intolerance is our own fault. We should have been more vigilant to prevent
such a thing. So our chastisement is harsh, and our awakening is late. But the
interfaith community must not undersell this opportunity. Of course religious
leaders must quench the flames of violence and murder that possess the
secular arena. And yes, religious leaders must rescue the reputations of our
respective religions from the besmirching we have suffered from demonic
perps who defile the names of our religions. But far more important than this
repair work, is the mission of religious leaders in this time NOT to miss this
opportunity that has come at such great cost. This time, the world of religion
must reach an utterly unprecedented plateau. The persistence of discrete
traditions is permissible only as the best ways to speak to believers in
our respective cultural spheres. But NO other lines of division or demarcation
should persist. The religions of the world, while not sacrificing their roots and
identity must become "religion-blind" when realizing and carrying out our
shared responsibility and scriptural obligations as centers of compassion, care,
and sacrificial service.