Friday, April 6, 2012

Transcending Religions' Meaning and Value

Religion is a special way of sharing ourselves with others. Perhaps the best thing that we may share with others through our religions is our connectedness to each other and to our Creator.

We may go through many relationships with religion in our lives. Some of us may find our spiritual path by only a single religion, whether they find that path through their religious heritage or go seeking a path on their own. Some of us may try many religions and may finally understand that none of them will be their single path to the divine; these people may go on to develop a personal, independent relationship with their Creator.

Whether we have followed one religion or sampled many different religions, many of us celebrate our relationship to our Creator through religious worship. Our sacred traditions remind us of the intimate ways we are connected to each other and to all of Creation.

Some of us may sometimes err in our perceptions of religions. We may think one or another of the many religions we encounter may be false or hurtful. It is true that we may sometimes experience hurts from the careless words or hands of those who practice their religion sanctimoniously or dogmatically. There may always be those who would exclude from grace anyone who will not bow down to those holy laws peculiar to their own religion, holy laws which they may often purport to be the only path to God.