Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

UU Collective

Home
New Visions
Do Your Religion a Favor: Live Up to Its Principles

Do Your Religion a Favor: Live Up to Its Principles

Last updated on: December 10, 2015 at 7:27 am by David Breeden

Do Your Religion a Favor: Live Up to Its Principles 2015-12-10T07:27:20-07:00 David Breeden

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I meet monthly with the Downtown Senior Clergy of Minneapolis. This week we listened to one of the imams in the group describing increasing violence toward Muslims. Last weekend cars in the masjid’s parking lot were spray painted and otherwise damaged. Women wearing the hijab have been sworn at and confronted in public spaces. Muslim children are being ostracized and humiliated in schools. There have been several acts of vandalism and arson against shops owned by Muslims.

First, I have to ask a few purely logical questions:

Q: What is the quickest way to recruit fence-sitters into radicalized partisans?

A: Extreme reactions against peaceful Muslims.

Q: What do terrorists want?

A: Extreme reaction against peaceful Muslims and hardline action by governments that will catalyze opinion against moderates and liberals.

Q: What is the best guarantee that there will be another generation of extremists?

A: What we are doing now.

Q: What is the social cost of excluding the many because of the few?

That’s the logic. The logic says don’t be stupid. Don’t do exactly what the extremists assume you will do.

Whatever religion (or no religion) you are, this simple logic should be enough to convince you that Muslim-baiting among the US ruling class needs to stop right now, and with it the taunts and violence from the general population.

But we know that logic plays little part in US public discourse. So let’s go with religion—say, the higher values espoused by religions. Hate in the name of Christianity is the same as hate in any other name. Do your religion a favor: live up to its principles. Christianity doesn’t have a lot to say in its scriptures about refugees. Judaism, that “old testament,” certainly does, however.

Humanists don’t have any scriptures—our thinking moves too fast for that—but we do have a few core principles:

We believe that human beings are more valuable than ideas.
We believe that religions are completely and only human constructs.
We believe that nation states are completely and only human constructs.
We believe that human problems can be remedied only by human beings.

For Humanists, appeals to nationalism (“patriotism”) or a particular religion in order to justify inhumane acts are specious self-delusion. People act badly because we are primates and primates by nature sometimes resort to violence against our own kind. This is an unfortunate aspect of being a primate, and we need to work together to curb the impulse in ourselves, in others, and in the collective.

The human project is to encourage the flourishing of all living things and the earth itself. These goals are not accomplished by division and suspicion. The call of Humanism is to help heal.

Previous Post

December 3, 2015

Fear, Hope, and Hell In A Hand Basket

Next Post

December 15, 2015 Holy Patience: Beyond hope and fear

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #9/11 Abortion Class community conflict Digital Life Diversity Divorce Environmental issues Evangelism Faith Development Foregiveness Garden glbt Gratitude Grief Healing health care Holidays Hospitality Interfaith LGBT Issues Military Service Mortality Orlando Parenting Peace Politics Power Prayer Racism Relationships Religion Scripture Senior citizens Sermons simplicity Social Justice Spirituality Sports Sustainability Uncategorized Unitarian Universalist Values Women's Issues World Community Worship

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Satan" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Murderer Destroyer Adversary Deceiver