God has no religion

"God has no religion." -- Gandhi

Of all the things Gandhi said, this one may be the most interesting.

Gandhi was, by all accounts, rather universalist in his views. We share that, although his perspective and mine were shaped by different core religions. Another thing we seem to share is a belief that all religions are about love. In particular, I think they are (or should be) about love and respect for both God and all His creations.

Everything else is just window dressing. By which I no means intend to say that it's unimportant; the rules you adopt as a sign of devotion are definitely important. The commitment to those rules and rituals help you show that love and respect, and help you overcome your own flaws by doing so. It's a very human thing to adhere to a religion (or a non-religious moral and ethical code), to give oneself a guide to life.

But God isn't human, and he has no need for those things.

Which, again, isn't to say that He wouldn't consider them important for us to adopt. What I think it does mean is that (from His perspective) it matters very little which particular religion is used to acheive the goal of trying to live up to that ideal of respect.

And I think that is what Gandhi was getting at as well.

neighbors

So, I was thinking again about universalism (that's a small 'u' there), and you know what? I don't even care if it's Biblically justified. I mean, I should, and I guess I do a little, since my last post on it bothered to quote the Bible and talk about it in that context, but to be honest? I care more about the fact that I know a lot of people who are not Christian that I'm pretty darn sure Jesus would be happy to have as a neighbor.

Amongst my friends and acquaintances, both online and off, are Jews, Wiccans, pagans of various types, Buddhists, and a few people who don't fit so neatly into a category, plus of course a fair number of Christians, agnostics, and atheists. I don't run into Muslims as often, or at least not ones that mentioned they were (not so strange given the way people often react to that), but I've certainly known a few.

Of that list, every group has had people in it who were strongly for acceptance and tolerance and support for everyone who needed it... just the kind of beliefs and actions that Jesus would want to see from people. How could he not want them as his neighbors? As to what God Himself would want, well, if He sent Jesus down to us with that message about love, I'm pretty sure He'd be pretty happy to have them around as well.

Ultimately all the arguments about whether or not you said the magic words or followed the right rituals or voted on the right issues or love the right kind of person or whatever it is any give particular Christian church wants to argue is the "right" way to be a Christian really seem pretty small in comparison to that thought. (I suspect a lot of those people on my list from other religions would agree with the principle of the thought, even though their details would, of course, be different.)

Of course, it's not up to me. As one of my favorite bloggers once said, that decision's above my pay grade. But the nice thing about that is it's also above everyone else's, too. No one on this earth gets to decide who gets to go to Heaven, or who would be welcome to go should they wish.

Universalism

I've written before about how I can reconcile being a Christian with believing that non-Christians aren't doomed to either eternal punishment or exile from Heaven, but I've felt a need lately to talk about it some more. Maybe it's because I keep seeing so many people—both Christians and non-Christians—talking about how exclusivity is a major hallmark of Christianity.

Sunday Thoughts

I've written before on my difficulties with reconciling the idea of a loving God with a God that would condemn people to eternal punishment for not saying the right words, and why it is I came to believe that the latter is wrong. It's an important topic for me, though, so I have some other thoughts on it.