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Intolerant theological concepts?
In a previous article, ken_stuart@macshasta.snowcrest.net (ken stuart) wrote:
>The tricky part of all this is that if one follows the devotional practices
>of ISKCON or Evangelical Christianity or Fundamentalist Islam, they work
>since God is only interested in the faith and love component, and doesn't
>care about theological concepts, no matter whether they are true or false.
>THUS, since the devotee receives real fruits from his devotion, he foolishly
>believes that all his intolerant theological concepts are thereby validated
>as true.
You mention "intolerant theological concepts" in the same paragraph
that you mention ISKCON, Evangelical Christianity, or Fundamentalist
Islam, and I find this very interesting.
I have friends who are Hindus, Christians, and Muslims, and all are
what you might call "fundamentalist", even though I see you only chose
to use that term in regards to Islam, for whatever reason. All three
groups of "fundamentalists" share a common belief that their religion
should be practiced in an unadulterated state. I'm not so sure that
"intolerant" is the label that applies.
It seems that you want to be tolerant of anybody who agrees with
you. Anybody else is labeled as intolerant.
That hardly seems like tolerance.
True story: just the other day, I was joking around with two
colleagues, where one was a Christian and one was a Muslim. We
were all discussing the concept of "do-it-yourself religion" and
how people were going for a pick-and-choose style of practising
religion - they want all the benefits, but don't want to follow
all of the rules and regulations laid down by the various religious
texts. So, we joked about forming a "Fundamentalist Interfaith Society"
on campus. It makes sense, though, if you think about it.
Another true story: shortly after the incident in Ayodhya where
a mosque/temple was torn down and people of many faiths (but mostly
Muslim) were killed, there were many "retaliation" incidents in
Pakistan & Bangladesh where Hindu temples were attacked. An angry
mob was about to go after an ISKCON temple but were stopped by the
local villagers, who were Muslim. The villagers told the mob something
to the effect of "These people are not like the other Hindus. They help us".
The ISKCON temple was spared as a result of actions of the Muslim villagers.
Perhaps the villagers understood something about tolerance
(and about ISKCON) that you missed.
-Vivek
