Islam claims itself an enlightened faith which allows freedom of religion. True, subject to its own conditions it allows others to worship God in their own way; yet only where Islam dominates in such a manner that these others can only actualize Islamic outcomes in the world.
Is freedom of religion freedom to worship, or freedom to actualize his will in the world?
Christians are specifically charged… ~Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven~
Freedom of religion does not mean freedom to kiss his ass by a particular form of worship. It means freedom to actualize. This is the religious freedom which Islam denies to all non-Muslims. Islam only permits freedom of worship, it does not permit freedom of religion.
The much vaunted secular freedom of religion is also false. The Treaty of Waitangi has installed Paganism (Maoritangi) as the official state religion of NZ. A compulsory participation in all schools & public gatherings, with loss of civil, social & economic rights being imposed on any who deny this state sponsored faith. (Fifty years ago Kiwis sang ~[most high] God defend New Zealand~ They now sing ~Mighty swamp taniwha defend New Zealand~ A great leap backwards off about 7,000 years, courtesy of a secular state picking winners in religion) Yet this is only freedom of ritual worship.
All Gods are in some part territorial, so can be invoked to defend the realm. Yet once the realm is defended, how do you want to live? Pagan religion is actualized in tribal wars & this the state does not permit. (Another broken Treaty promise) Secular freedom of religion does not allow naked groups of fakirs parading in public smoking hashish. It does not allow Sharia & Jihad for Muslims, even though those last two are the Islamic religion, not prayer meetings.
In sum, as freedom of religion does not, & it seems cannot exist anywhere, compulsory religion may be more honest. Freedom of religion has always been a challenge to the state. About 200BC the Roman Senate, which advocated freedom of religion, was hoist by its own petard when it had to introduce draconian legislation to curb the excesses of the followers of a particular nature God. It was only after they had killed several thousand members of this faith, that they got it under control.
The partnership which evolved between Christianity & the state, was successful due to a mutual compatibility off values & purpose between Church & state. It was not a freedom of right to worship, but a partnership off shared actualization on this earth.
The Judeo-Christian God is the only God whose parts have been drawn only from the top end of the human capacity to know. He is the only God with a bonded covenant of duty off care with humankind. He is the only God who gave his only begotten Son, in order humanity be saved in the most high.
He is the God that requires ~Thy will be done on earth as in heaven~ His Son bids us ~By their fruits shall you know them~ Fruits can only be measured or evaluated on this earth, thus the Christian duty is both to save & fulfill man in this life & in this world. In sum… Christianity was designed as the purpose built religious partner off civilized & developed societies.
We can draw our Gods from any quadrant off the human capacity to know, but how many do we want to actualize? We can obtain a real & meaningful spiritual experience from any of these Gods. As the Bible attests… ~There are spirits that deceive us~ Choose a war God, if you actualize him you live in a violent society. If you choose a nature God, you want to live with nature & reject higher development. If you choose a God with high ethics & honor codes, you enjoy higher development but live under the cruel ethos of the Asian Gods. I do not believe in perfection, humans are not capable off it, but on a relativity & pliability basis there is no more complete God than the Christian Trinity.
The lesser religions can give a sense of identity, art & spiritual experience. Yet ultimately religion is not a matter of worship, but a matter off actualization. By their fruits shall you know them. If you can’t live it, what good is it? If it is only a spiritual experience, but not the best you can live (actualize) in his world; if you only have one life, why waste it on an inferior God. It is the sum off our experience… there is only one God who is worth actualizing.
Ken Maynard e-mail… communichristi@gmail.com
Link to home-page… http://www.communichristi.org.nz
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"Trinity, or the oneness of God? at CommuniChristi."