We all yearn for freedom. It is the reason the United States of America was created in the first place. As I bicycled across America in 2002 and asked hundreds of people, “What has become more important to you since 9-11?”, two of the most frequent answers I received were ‘my faith’ and ‘American freedoms’ (democratic process, speech, religious preference, etc.)
Events this past week remind me just how vital freedom of choice is to our well-being.
On Monday, I had the honor and privilege of speaking at a rally for two bicyclists who stopped over in Tempe, Arizona, enroute to Los Angeles, California, from Atlanta, Georgia. Seijin Tranberg and Josh Wildman are 23-year-old college students who were inspired to raise awareness of human rights violations occurring in Japan where some religious organizations are experiencing persecution. Seijin and Josh chose to endure the pain and uncertainty of cycling 2,300 miles in order to be “rays of hope” for improving human rights worldwide. Seijin and Josh have chosen to make a difference by assuring that people have freedom to choose their own spiritual path.
Click here to view Ray’s “Be a Ray of Hope” 10-minute video.
At that rally on the ASU campus, speakers from different religious faiths shared their insights. One speaker told us that his choice to practice the Sikh religion in America has caused him to be on the receiving end of persecution from time to time. Some people even confuse his religion with the Muslim religion simply because both religions practice the wearing of turbans. After his talk, I thanked him for his insights and also for hosting a Sikh dinner last year in which people of different faiths broke bread together and shared about their religious beliefs.
I find that when we permit ourselves to sit across the table from each other in the spirit of openness and desire to understand another’s viewpoint of God, the faith of each of us strengthens. It seems to me that God (Infinite Intelligence or Creator) that we each speak of is the same God. I wonder what it will take to stop the bloodshed in the name of God? When will we seek to understand rather than to judge or convert? I believe that when we do, we will find that we share more in common than we ever could have imagined.
A stanza from my It’s Time! poem in Ray of Hope for Peace says…
It’s time that we see past the color of one’s skin
or the name of one’s God –
That we realize we are merely traveling parallel paths
leading up the same mountain.
Even today as presidential candidates hit the campaign trail, religious persecution is a sidebar. What difference does it make whether a candidate is Catholic, Mormon, Muslim, or any other religious persuasion? Aren’t the most important qualities of a President the content of their character and their leadership abilities? Still we struggle with this.
What would our founding fathers think of our progress? In 2002, while bicycling through Charlottesville, Virginia, we visited Thomas Jefferson’s home in Monticello. One thing that he had wanted to include in the Declaration of Independence, but which was rejected by his peers, was “freedom of religion.” Fortunately, amendments allowing religious freedom of expression and freeing slaves followed, but almost 90 years later. Native Americans waited until 1978 to be granted the freedom to speak their native languages and practice their religious ceremonies again.
Today, as then, our society seems to be struggling, still learning how to allow people their freedom of religious choice. Why?
Maybe it would be good to remember the root of all religions. Before Monday’s rally began, a gentleman asked about my religious faith. I responded as I always do these days, “The religion of love. Love is the common thread among all religions.” Yes, I do have a particular faith group as my “home base” but what does it matter? All the great spiritual masters have taught and demonstrated the importance of living lives of exemplary character. The doctrines of every major religion of the world incorporate some form of the “Golden Rule” for treating others the way one would want to be treated.
Email me if you would like to receive free a list of expressions of the Golden Rule from various spiritual masters and faiths.
No matter what your chosen faith is, I invite you to practice the “Religion of Love” and live the “Golden Rule.”
(Adapted from Chapters 9, 13, 20, and an new chapter of the update of Ray of Hope for Peace which will be released in the Summer of 2012)
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