Pluralism(14)

A:You also confirmed my guess in not believing in Muhammad as a prophet, so you see my surprise that how can it be possible that somebody believes in prophethood of someone, but still think that he is not his teacher.
This is that version of pluralism that I don’t understand, and in fact this is the gist of what I was going to write now, but since this email already is too big, I’ll send it separately soon.

B: IF I were born into the Muslim religion it is almost certain that I would accept Mohamed as my prophet. But that was not my experience. Nor when I read about it is there any inclination on my part to study Islam. I don't find fault with it. I just say it is not my path this lifetime. There are many Christian teachers. I ignore some of them because their path does not fit mine. But I acknowledge that they have helped other people. I don't go to AA because it is not my path. I don't have a problem with alcohol. I applaud those who do go and practice the concepts. I would say that pluralism implies that there are many ways to reach God. I know there are Buddhist, Baptist, Hindu and Muslim saints. Each has followed the course that they felt drawn to. I don't have a problem with someone following a different course than mine though that does make me a sort of odd ball in Christianity. I do have a problem with a Buddhist, Baptist, Hindu, Muslim etc who uses his religion to attack others and does harm to others. I do not believe that he/she is really relating to God but merely following the teaching of some fanatic teacher.

(posted by Farid)
Posted:Tuesday, July 22, 2003 |