TEXAS FAITH: What gives rise to end-times predictions?

Everything that has a traceable beginning must also come to a traceable ending. In our life time, we witness births and deaths as a part of the immortality of life, and we are conditioned to think in terms of beginning and end to every thing within the scope of our thinking.

Mike Ghouse
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A question is asked by Bill McKenzie of Dallas Morning News and usually about of twelve panelists respond in the weekly Texas faith panel.  Here is my response. Link: http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/05/texas-faith-what-gives-rise-to.html

Mike Ghouse, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas, Texas

Everything that has a traceable beginning must also come to a traceable ending. In our life time, we witness births and deaths as a part of the immortality of life, and we are conditioned to think in terms of beginning and end to every thing within the scope of our thinking.

No matter what is out there in the universe, it has its own balance and its own trajectory.  Where as no such balance is determined for humanity, we are in the open and have the free will to find our own balance.

Religions are designed to give that balance; when injustice is done to us, we may get enraged or melancholic and lose hope and balance – religion offers the wisdom to restore that balance through the device of forgiveness. It works within the frame work of every religious tradition to help the individual cope with the imbalance.

Giving hope is a big part of the religion, in areas where one loses hope, the restoration comes with the belief that there is a life here after where the evil will be punished and or the process of reincarnation will serve justice to those that are evil and reward those who have done well. Again, we are conditioned with the pleasure principle.

On a larger scale religions have offered similar hopes. The calamities like the Tsunamis, the tornadoes in Missouri or the Hurricane Katrina are explained away as “God only knows” and some find it convenient to blame human behavior such as the events of Sodomites to the victims of Katrina or Haiti. Very soon we will be hearing some pastor blame human behavior for the Missouri tragedy and beef up the claim for end times.

When hopelessness, lawlessness, corruption and distrustful behavior become common place, people seek an answer and Imagineering end times gives them the hope and a sense of relief that ultimately everything will be alright.

Jews, Christians and Muslims are expecting Messiah the Jesus to come back and restore peace and tranquility on the earth; thus the balance, it will end our suffering as he will lead us all into a new realm. The Hindus on the other hand believe that Lord Krishna will reappear to restore the righteousness back on the earth, and every religions tradition has an answer to the mass inexplicable suffering of humanity through the prism of end times.

There is a full blown discipline called eschatology that predicts the end times. I personally don’t believe that any one can predict the end times, it is a metaphor to bring an end to human suffering or giving it new beginning. However, in the oral traditions of Prophet Muhammad it nears when human suffering increases, when injustice becomes the norm of the day. This is a behavior modification tool designed by the religions consciously to bring about a change. I hope each one of us had a chance to think about it and clean our slate and start the life afresh with no-ill will, malice, anger and hate and I hope every one started forgiving others and requested for forgiveness to have a new beginning. The Jain tradition sums this act of cleaning the slate in a beautiful phrase called Michami Dukadam.

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies. He is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, interfaith, cohesive societies offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He work is logged in at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

I welcome hearings on Islam - II

There are responses on the Morning News, Huffington Post and several newspapers to the article I wrote, this was the short version in letter format at Dallas Morning News, you are welcome to respond as well. The links are provided below. # # RESPONSES AND THOUGHTS Thanks for expressing your opinions   We all should be concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other.   Acknowledging that “some of our own” are a security threat to our nation is the right thing to do; Mr. King is not the right one to do that with his own bias and his support for IRA terrorism. We Muslims should have done it ourselves, since we did not, we have to accept the bad choice of Mr. King. I trust our Systems and the moral goodness of our nation, if Mr. King takes the wrong step, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights and other issues.   I welcome the hearings, Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry, let the man fall flat on his face “if” he resorts to untruths. What if he turns out to be honest and finds guys like Shehzad? Then we owe him gratitude, not just Muslims but the whole nation. Just as we produced the Quraan conference in Dallas to evaporate the lies the right wingers had propagated, this will perhaps become the first nail in their coffin and hope they will stop pitting one American against the other to have political gains. Solutions abound.   If nothing else comes from the hearings, one thing is for sure. Muslims are not a monolithic lot and they are no different than any of the 301 million of us. Each one of has a different thumb print, eye print, DNA, different sizes, shapes and colors, political affiliations. Let there be different faiths or no faiths as well. That is God’s universe.

I welcome hearings on Islam

http://letterstotheeditorblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/i-welcome-heari.html

 

I welcome the initiative by U.S. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to hold hearings on Islamic radicalism.

It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting peace in a society, and it is our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate and find lasting solutions.

Indeed, the last few attempts to mess with our nation's security have come from men flaunting the Muslim label, and, as Muslim Americans, it becomes our individual and collective responsibility to participate in ensuring the safety of every American.

We have to identify the criminals who are individually accountable for their actions and need to punish them expediently according to the law.

As a civil society, we must also resist the temptation to blame their family, nation and religion and not legitimize their attempts to hide under a religious label for their evil acts.

Phrases such as "Islamic radicalism" are oxymoron and must be avoided to uphold our civility. 

Mike Ghouse, President

World Muslim Congress

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Glen Beck barks in the dark,

 When you shoot in the dark, it is likely to hit some one.

Glen Beck apologizes for comparing reformed Judaism to radical Islam. That is how much the man knows about Judaism, Islam or anything.  

An idiot randomly says things that may suit one at a given time, but that should not encourage the one to support the idiot, in the long run; he will nail every one unintentionally.

I am glad the Jewish groups took action; actually we all need to join hands together against stupidity. Muslims should join them and vice versa.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/4299/glenn_beck_apologizes_for_comparing_reform_judaism_to_%E2%80%9Cradical_islam%E2%80%9D/