A picture similar to this caught my eye in this weekend’s WSJ.
The event was called “Islam on Capitol Hill” and was held to pray for the soul of America. It reminds me of a course I recently took from the Teaching Company called One God, Three Faiths. This traces the roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to Abraham.
Abraham’s first born was Ishmael by Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave. His second born was Isaac by Sarah in her old age. Ishmael was banished, Isaac was not. But according to Genesis, God promised both would be progenitors of “great nations.”
Fast forward to the present day. We have Judaism and its descendant, Christianity as one great nation and Islam as the other great nation. All “people of the book” as characterized by Muhammad.
So today we have one “great nation” growing dramatically and the other declining. Look at the birth rates; demographics don’t lie. In the main we have one great nation religious, save for the lunatics that legitimately concern us, and the other while still religious tending to be more secular, amoral, and atheistic. How many are moving to raise their children in Hollywood or San Francisco?
I wonder, did God intend a competition? If so did he ordain an outcome? Win or lose, for which great nation? A draw, perhaps? The Bible tells us that God chooses, Abel over Cain, Jacob over Esau, Moses over Aron. See a pattern here? Has He chosen? I wonder?
The point I attempt to make is twofold: freedom is essential in life and all its aspects, and therefore for religion. A necessary corollary is that tolerance is essential for respect of each individual’s exercise of freedom within moral limits. Those limits have been called moral law; they are essentially a broad societal consensus fostering peace, lawfulness and individual freedom.
I’d be less than honest if I did not say that my first reaction on seeing the WSJ photo was to caption it with something like, “the future for America?” On further reflection though, I believe a more religious future is exactly what America needs!
Tom Motherway