Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of Bosnia. Source: BBC

Tim Townsend’s story in the Saturday edition of the Post-Dispatch about the Interfaith Partnership/Faith Beyond Walls annual dinner included a remarkable statement by Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of Bosnia, described as “the highest authority for Bosnian Muslims.“

“Humanity is, at the moment, confused,” Ceric is quoted as saying. “People of all beliefs and concepts are claiming now that they possess the whole truth about our destiny. No one possesses the whole truth, but each of us has a bit of it. That’s God leading us toward each other.”

I could not possibly agree with the grand mufti more (except for the God part), and I trust the attendees at the dinner, all of whom are demonstrably interested in finding ways that people of different faiths can coexist in peace, found his remarks especially welcome.

As an atheist, I find I can agree with the lion’s share of…

photo courtesy photobucket

We believe that all religions are basically  the same-

at least the one that we read was.

They all believe in love and goodness.

They only differ on matters of creation,

sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

Steven Turner, “Creed”

I’ve been thinking of this passage from journalist Steven Turner’s satirical poem ever since reading Rosalynde Welch’s excellent blog yesterday.  Karen Armstrong’s suggestion that somehow religion is improved by a loss of religious belief …well, it gives me a headache.   What world does Armstrong live in, that she thinks people of religious faith will happily and knowingly accept a spiritual placebo - a God who doesn’t exist, but is terribly important, nonetheless?  Does anyone else find this condescending?  I need more than metaphor and folklore to help me grapple with the big questions of meaning, ethics and mortality.  I enjoy Santa Claus as much as the next person, but I wouldn’t build my life on…

The Supreme Court case about the cross in a remote part of the Mojave National Preserve is itself a monument–a monument to changing times.

The cross placed in the Mojave National Monument in 1934. Photo by the Associated Press.

The simple white cross was erected in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Death Valley Post 2884. A plaque accompanying the cross dedicates it to the memory of the dead of all wars. It is similar in design to the crosses we’ve all seen in photographs of the cemetery fields in France.

Fellow blogger Leigh Hunt Greenhaw has said she’ll approach the legal issues inherent in whether the cross’s placement violates the First Amendment’s requirements for the separation of church and state. (the “establishment clause”). There are other issues as well, which are covered in the story published in the Post-Dispatch last week. My own opinions are based not on the fine points…