What Do We Believe About Each Other?

Unfortunately, so much of the political turmoil in the world today revolves around religious differences. I remember the theme song from a movie that was produced back in the 1970s or 80s: Billy Jack. One of the protagonists in the movie was a strong-willed woman named Jeanne. She would remind you a little of the role Barbara Stanwyck frequently played in westerns - righteous and stalwart. She reminded me a great deal of my 8th grade teacher whose name was Sister Mary Jeanne.

Anyway, a phrase in the theme song went like this:
Go ahead and hate your neighbor;
go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do in the name of heaven,
you can justify it in the end.

There's a new book out by popular writer Sister Joan Chittister, called In Search of Belief. The catalog copy for this book states, "we live in a world where religion has become a tool people can use to their advantage rather than a means of growing closer to God."

The elections here in the U.S. this past week seemed to be a struggle between the Christian right and everyone else. People are suspicious of Muslims, and Jews, and liberal Christians, and humanitarians.

I recently attended a memorial service for a young Jewish man that was held in a Christian church with two women ministers and a woman rabbi all playing parts in the service. The rabbi spoke profoundly when she said, "This shows that there is much more we have in common as a believing people than we have that divides us."

Liguori Publications has published a series of small pamphlets titled What Catholics Should Know About... . These tracts could be useful to a member of any other religion as well. Among the newest titles in this series are WCSKA Mormons, WCSKA Judaism, WCSKA Islam, and WCSKA Evangelicals. Each of these pamphlets was written by Father Vincent Heier who is an expert in ecumenical relations. He a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

I just seems to me that knowledge about each other will take away the fears people have of each other. Only then can we begin to live side-by-side in peace with respect and even reverence for each other's beliefs and traditions.