[1]calvarybaptistraleigh.com
Muslims and Christians can argue with each other forcefully as to who considers God more loving. Each will argue that their faith has a more loving image of God. Yet we can find plenty of examples, among both, of people who say they believe that God is a loving God, yet their own words and deeds show that none of this love is being reflected in them. If we believe God to be loving then why can God not love others? Why do we feel compelled to be the ‘enforcer’ of what ‘we’ consider to be God’s commands? Will God only love us if we make sure others are obeying God’s commands? Will God only love us if we are obedient to God’s commands?
[2]One Ummah shiatv.net
One tension, I guess, is the balance between being an individual and being part of the community. If we are part of a community, be that a village, a clan, an ethnic group or a nation, then we have to live in harmony and follow rules of morality should of the community. But being in a community means there are obligations and there are benefits. We have to live according to what the whole community deems correct but the community also takes care of its own; the community takes care of the weak and the fallen.
Unfortunately, many who want to enforce God’s commands on others very strong in the other aspect of community; that is taking care of our own. Niether Muslim fundamentalists, who are becoming increasingly intolerant of ‘others’, nor be it Christian fundamentalists, who argue strongly for certain issues especially a ban on abortion, is strong in community welfare. It is plain to see in the current debate over health care reform which is strongly driven by personal selfish concerns with nary a thought of the poor and destitute. It can also be seen in the lack of effort to pull people out of poverty, so that we, the richest nation ever has among us some living in abject poverty. This is also true of Muslim fundamentalists. Prophet Muhammad once said that all believers are like ‘one body’, if one part is in pain the whole body suffers [3]. With over 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide and many being very wealthy it is a testament to their lack of observing this edict from the Prophet that great majority of Muslims live in poverty and are illiterate while Muslim fundamentalists argue about such ‘important issues’ like the proper way to greet one another and what foot to enter the mosque with!
So how can religious fundamentalists be made aware of this one sided self righteous view of their faith that they are portraying? How can they be approached to do better?
One response is to say you have to decide, are we a community so that we enforce uniform moral laws of God AND takes care of our own or not? A community must do both things and if we are not willing to undertake the welfare responsibility as a community then don’t try to enforce God’s law, let God decide the fate of ‘others’, don’t involve in what you consider their morally bad actions. If you are against abortion, don’t have one (and for men, don’t have sex outside marriage for that may lead to an abortion), if you are against homosexuality don’t engage in it, etc. Keep morality a personal issue only. But if you want to enforce community laws of morality then step up to also support community welfare. Otherwise it isn’t about God’s laws and God’s commandments. Such blunt advice usually is not received well. The fundamentalists want to enforce THEIR morality on others but they do not want to help in the welfare.
The gentler approach hasn’t been tried much. It is more difficult but, if they would listen, perhaps someone can make them aware of the true loving nature of God. The Christian and Muslim fundamentalists have forgotten the true loving nature of God because God’s love sure isn’t reflected in their words and their actions……let’s see if the comments this time support or contradict these observations! 