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Differences that dictate who we are

What do other countries see in the US? Despite all of the good things that the US does, and the well-meaning purpose, it is things like the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo that come to define the US: arrogance and mistreatment. The nation that considers itself the world leader and proactive proponent of human rights manages to smear its image across the world? Why?

Because there is this leading foot of arrogance - utter disregard for what seems inferior - and is therefore treated as something of lower caste. Couple that with the hypocracy of prisoner abuse....

It is "differences" that the US can't live with. Despite the US being a melting pot of many cultures, there is this attitude of being superior and intolerant of the mainstream. Tolerance of differences is one thing - conquering the ability to respect differences is something else.

Way too many people in the US are too eager to point to differences as a way of building up their own image.

The new leadership of the Roman Catholic Church addressed challenges on three fronts, stepping backwards. One, the new leaders may be tolerant of other religions, but maintain that others are inferior. Naturally we all subjectively think that our religious beliefs are superior, but why make an objective issue of it? Two, they decided that the world is divided into two camps, "relativists" and "traditionalists." And three, if you don't agree with their point of view, there is no point even talking about it - dissenting voices are silenced by being removed from their posts, and the media is directed to put out only information that supports the view. In a major oxymoron, relativism is labeled "tyranny," while the "dictatorship" is labeled right. People are now drawing parallels between the new Roman Catholic leadership and extremist fundamentalist Muslims.

Bureacracies have difficulty living with differences, especially when such a diverse worldwide congregation makes up the Catholic Church. Yet for another religion, as Muslims feel the strain of moving into the modern world - the very thing that turns many people of any religion into extremists - they continue to address such issues as women in the Mosque (leading prayer, being beside the men, etc.), which are cultural traditions, not religious.

Roman Catholics are just one branch of Christianity that has difficulty tolerating differences and living with dissenting opinions. Various Protestant denominations take similar stances.

One of the major problems is that often people regard tradition as having a higher value than religion. This is the path to destruction. It leads people to false ideas of what religion is about, and leads them to do things that violate relgious teachings. It stops progress on living with modern problems.

Religions have to be based on time tested principles that guide what they do. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all have the same book from which to derive principles as their initial guide: the first five books of the Bible. Each then has its own historical experience, leaders, and literature from which to seek additional guidance.

One of the problems with religion is that the "letter of the law" is often cast as the basis of religion, missing the spirit of the law - the principles from which laws are derived. Such ideas are commonly cast as "relativism," yet they are at the very heart of religion. When we stop asking, "why," examining our conduct, and adjusting it accordingly, we have stepped from the purview of spiritual growth, progress, and the work of the Spirit, into the tyranny of radical extremism. All religions need to continuously ask, "why?" and go back to principles, not tradition.

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