Religions Should Spread Love, Not Hate

Four weeks ago I wrote a column on that branch of fundamentalism that hopes, by proselytizing, to convince others that there is only one correct way to be a spiritual person. I wrote that many fundamentalists are not proselytizers; many do not believe that they are spiritually superior to those not of their ilk. I asked for letters of response and got a deluge.

One woman wrote about falling in love with a man, knowing he was in love with her, but finding their love nearly impossible in the face of his proselytizing fundamentalism.

One man in his eighties wrote of his children and grandchildren who are so “born-again, so rabidly of the belief that there is only one way to heaven,” he can barely talk to them. When he asked them if the billions of Hindus and Muslims were going to hell because they were not bornagain Christians, his progeny answered “Absolutely”.

Of the “believe-in-Jesus-or-go-to-hell” point of view, one woman wrote: “The total ignorance is scary because it creates division and unrest.” Proselytizers, she pointed out, might look within to discover why they are so scared of the world that they must put themselves on a pedestal.

Many of the letters, like these, were supportive of my point of view. The point of view, in a nutshell, is this: proselytizing fundamentalism was dangerous in the early middle ages, is dangerous in its Muslim version in the middle east, and is dangerous in the United States. Why? Because in the end, proselytizers lead people to religious aggression, even war. They have done so throughout history, and today: murdering doctors, condemning people they love, shooting it out in places like Waco.

“These people,” one writer said, “are becoming a political force which must be reckoned with. For them to become too powerful would constitute a grave danger to the constitutional right of religious freedom for those with opposing beliefs.”

Over the Christmas weekend, my wife and I phoned friends in Turkey, where we lived during the mid 1980s. One of our topics of conversation was the growing movement in that country of proselytizing Muslim fundamentalists. When I expressed my concern for Turkey’s democratic ideals, our friends laughed, “Are you kidding? Don’t you in America have a problem with these people too?” How could I disagree?

Many of the letters I received were not supportive of my point of view. Some cautioned me to beware of God’s wrath and hell’s damnation. One man wrote that only Christianity proclaims a resurrected Savior. “All other religious founders are dead in their graves.” This fact, he argued, proved his religion’s unique sacredness. One woman argued that centuries ago we believed the world was flat. Now we know it’s not. In the same way we will all one day realize that Jesus’ way is the only way.

From all the letters I gained insights and wisdom. I also left the letters from the proselytizing fundamentalists without hearing how we can heal our differences. The only pledge of healing that resounded was this one: “When everyone comes to believe, the world will be saved.” To argue that healing cannot occur until everyone believes as the “believer” simply continues the problem. If a single religious view dominates a democratic society, the society has lost its fluid center. I can’t see this happening in America without a war.

There is a great deal of hurt, fear and anger in the hearts of the fundamentalists who wrote me. There is also a great deal of hurt, fear and anger in the hearts of nonfundamentalists. It is building in both.

For me the bottom line is this: Will someone please tell me why the practice of proselytizing is needed in modern life? Since to force one’s view on another one must believe that view to be superior, the concomitant question must be: why is religious superiority necessary? From where I sit, information systems can carry the religious truths of any group to any other, and people can believe or not believe. Am I being naive? Why do mature men and women need crusades, jihads, programs, murders, group suicides to feel whole?

The next millennium is soon upon us. Shouldn’t we get a good answer to these questions before it comes? Shouldn’t we notice that one group’s belief in its own religious superiority is a tried and failed historical practice that civilization can no longer afford?

One writer put it better than I can. I’ll end with her words: “Let God remain Great, not a bludgeon, nor a matter for whining, nor a vehicle for spreading fear and hate.”

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Michael Gurian The Spokesman-Review