Truly dangerous ground...

I pondered what I wrote most of the day today while at work. I was scheduled all day in poker, and today (with bad weather on an already slow Tuesday) was a quiet one, to say the least.

I stand by what I wrote, but wanted to clarify only a few points. As I said initially, I cannot be "objective" when discussing religion, because I am a Catholic to the very core of my being. I not only believe that my faith provides the fullest and clearest path to God's salvific plan for all mankind, I feel I have a "better-than-average" understanding of why that faith is right when others aren't.

The only people that can be truly "objective" about religion are atheists... and they will be unable to attest to the actual merit of any religious position because no religious position can have merit to a true atheist. So, when comparing the merits and influence that one religion might have over another (especially when one of the sides being compared is the one you are on, so to speak)... I cannot claim to be impartial or objective by any stretch of the imagination.

In short, I believe that Christianity is the shortest, surest path to God that there is... and that Judaism is the foundation upon which Christianity was built and is, by extension, part of that salvation plan. Divisions within Christianity only "water down" the basic principle message that Christ came to deliver... they do not separate those who raise the questions from God simply because they raise the questions.

Wiser minds than mine have determined that there is "grace" to be found in the Islamic faith... and that, to me, means that I do not have the corner on understanding God's plan for the world. What I do know is that the adage employed very often by one of our own members for decades now is still very true: There is no grace in error.

Perhaps there are many areas of "truth" that Islam shares with Christianity... I can think of a few immediately. "There is only one God..." is one of them. "Thou shall not do murder." "Love is the greatest virtue."

Where I feel my faith differs from Islam is that there is no "redemption" there. Free will is removed as a factor because it is not needed for salvation... I do not need to "believe" that praying the five daily prayers will help me get to heaven, I only need to know they need to be done. A non-believer converting to Islam to save himself from a beheading is perfectly acceptable (both now and in the past)... but ANY person (believer or non-believer) that denies the tenants of Islam is so less than worthy of life that their death has no weight on the soul of the person that kills them. Allah has no concern for the person that denies the truth of the Qu'ran... so much so that the destruction of even ONE "holy book" by an infidel is worse than the death of hundreds of non-believers who never even saw a Qu'ran before in their lives.

I understand that not every Muslim feels that what I am describing is Islam as they understand it... that is very true, but it is no less true that I assert that tens of millions of Muslims believe EXACTLY what I am describing, and would gladly cut out my heart for having written what I have already written here.

Just as my "faith" has its fringe elements... the Westboro Baptist Church followers, for example... Islam has its fringe elements, too. However, I'm not sure that the "fringe" of the Islamic world are the ones that cheer on the madmen flying planes into buildings. I think the "fringe" of that faith are the ones that feel that women have the same inherent rights, freedoms and individual value as men... or that there exists a universal right to express yourself no matter what your faith is... or that each and every person should have a voice in their government's actions... that we all have the right to CHOOSE how, when and where we will worship God, and by what name we will call Him.

Nope... on this issue, I can't be "objective".