Jesus, Martin Luther King and Protesters are feathers of the same bird, and I salute them.

Mike Ghouse

Some of you may detest protesters and use an authoritarian language to describe them, and you should be ashamed of your attitude. Without protesters we would have ruthless dictators, monarchs and bullies ruining the nations, societies, communities and the families. The rights you have taken for granted today came to you because of the protesters at one time who were hated and persecuted, but they stood like a rock like MLK.

My friend and I chanced at the MLK memorial last week on the anniversary week when he was silenced. We have to honor him for releasing America from the guilt of oppression that would have haunted us Americans, the way we treated fellow Americans who were black, poor and weak was shameful. I walked through the complex and captured his quotes inscribed on the marble walls. Said a silent prayer thanking him for what America is today.

None of the immigrants would have come to America had it not been for MLK and civil rights act. I would not have come to America, if I had to sit in the back of the bus or get humiliated to drink water from a different fountain or not allowed to eat in a restaurant. We the immigrants, all of us from all over the globe thank MLK for that.

Now take a look at the history.

Was George Washington a conformist? Wasn’t he a protester? Did the British leave because he said so? Did they all write the constitution without protests from one or the other? Wasn’t Zoroaster, Confucius, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Muhammad, Nanak, Bab and many more great individuals, the protesters? For God’s sake they changed the societies through their protests, none of them were conformists.

Please don’t look down at the protesters at Trump, Clinton, Sanders or any rallies. They have the balls to stand up for us the chickens, instead of looking down at them; we should admire them for holding the fort of freedom and democracy. Almost all the laws and amendments we have in place is because of the protesters. When I see the protesters around the Capitol Hill, which is daily, I will stop and appreciate them for doing it, even though I disagree with their cause.

Next time, any one puts down the protesters anywhere, let them know that they should be grateful to the protesters like our founding fathers who have given them the freedom to speak up.

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, Interfaith Wedding officiant, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine, motivation, and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Visit him (63 links) at www.MikeGhouse.net and www.TheGhousediary.com for his exclusive writings.

Who created Religion - Man or God?

Religion can be seen from two perspectives; God and Man. I have interviewed and met many people who were not conditioned with any religion or any versions of God. Both were alien thoughts to them, however, it helps us see Religion from a different point of view.

One view holds that Religion is man’s attempt to understand God and the nature, about life, death, sickness, incomplete things in life, the love or hate for each other and where we fit in the scheme of things.

The other view can be seen as an expression of God’s love for his creation. Creation can be broadly categorized in to matter and life.

Every piece of matter that has evolved or created is designed to have its own balance, whether it is Jupiter or the moon or other objects of nature, they were designed to remain and operate in balance without any interference.

Whereas humans were not put on auto pilot like the matter, instead we were given the freedom and ability to think and find our own balance.

Even though the creator gave (or evolved out of necessity) the free will to humans, the goal remained “harmony” or “balance” among humans and its environment. Just like the mother loves the well being of her children, teacher wants every student to excel, a chef wants every patron to enjoy his or her food, and the creator wants every one of us to live in peace and harmony. 

It was this love of God that he chose to restore trust in the society through peace makers, prophets or messengers to give us guidance, in the form of religion, wisdom or tradition so we can live in the “Kingdom of heaven” where no human has to live in apprehension, anxiety, discomfort or the fear.

These thought are derivatives from Bhagvad Gita, Bible and Quraan.

A few more details at: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2012/05/texas-faith-how-far-should-religious.html

MikeGhouse is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. The blog www.TheGhousediary.com is updated daily.

Texas Faith: Do we need a Steve Jobs of religion?

Texas Faith : Do we need a Steve Jobs of Religion?
http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2012/01/texas-faith-do-we-need-steve-jobs-of.html

Do we need a Steve Jobs of religion, an innovative thinker who can "invent not a new religion but, rather, a new way of being religious?" If so, where would that person come from? And what would they try to offer? If you don't think we need a "Steve Jobs of religion," please explain why. Here is my response;

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

Throughout the history of mankind, the "Steve Jobs of religions" have made significant contributions to innovative universally-synthesized acceptable traditions for living a balanced life. However, they ended up becoming another competitive religion instead of the one that everyone would embrace. Indeed, there is a new focus in understanding the essence of religion and looking at all religions as valid alternative paths to achieve freedom.

Three thousand years ago, a man shared a corollary between the laws of physics and laws of society. Just as matter finds its own balance, the society will find its own order whenever it goes awry. Someone from among them will rise up and restoresthe order, or the dharma as Lord Krishna called it.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, another Steve Jobs of religion appeared with the name Gautama Buddha. He shared a simple philosophy of life to live with minimum (or no) suffering. He taught a balanced approach between ascetic life and living with given human desires. Today, it has not only become a distinct religion with adherents performing specific identifiable rituals but has split itself into three threads.

Two thousand years ago, there was another one who found a way to bring relief to mankind through teaching and prescribing the psychological medicine of forgiving and loving thy enemy. His teachings were for the whole humanity. but they got monopolized by a group. Two thousand years later,multiple groups claim their version is the truth. Jesus was his name.

Fifteen hundred years ago, yet another Steve Jobs appeared on the horizon with an innovative idea to bring harmony among creation. He said all men are equal before God and that God's love reaches out to every human and every community through the peace makers, messengers and the prophets. Prophet Muhammad said it behooves us to know each other so we can learn to co-exist. He said submitting to the idea of a cohesive society (will of God) is Islam.

Five hundred years ago, Akbar, the Great King of India, made serious efforts in finding a common ground among Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism and initiated Deen-e-Ilahi, religion of the creator. It died with that Steve Jobs.

The last four hundred years have witnessed Guru Nanak and Bahaullah initiating interfaith movements to bring people together in spirituality. However, they ended becoming Sikhism and Baha'i faiths.

Rituals are the differentiators; they signify the mile stones of our daily life. Every significant moment of the day is a ritual. It is an unwritten way of measuring our progression; a memory pattern to bring discipline to our actions. From the moment we are born to the last rites of our life and every moment in-between is laden with rituals, though some of us may deny it.

When specific rituals are prescribed or become a part of the group it will generate yet another religion rather than a commonality.

The bottom line to religion is to bring a balance to an individual and the balance with what surrounds him, people and the environment.

We have to shed the arrogance that our tradition is superior or the only way to salvation. Indeed, arrogance is the root cause of all conflicts. We have to remember that God has not signed a deal with anyone behind my back or your back, if he did, then we don't a God like that and he is not the one we need to bow.

The foundation for pluralism has done extensive experiments and workshops in religion and getting for people to see the value and essence of each religion that are deeply embedded in the rituals.

Steve Jobs would probably have echoed my belief: To build a cohesive society where no one has to live in apprehension of the other, we have to learn to respect every which way one worships (or not) the creator and accepts the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

# # #

For all the twelve responses go to:
http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/01/texas-faith-do-we-need-a-steve.html

Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day; he is a writer, thinker and a speaker. www.MikeGhouse.net

How do you commemorate Imam Hussain?

Since, I write about every festival and commemoration of the people of the world, I was asked by a friend and then more asked, how do I pay my respects?

You don’t have to be a Muslim to commemorate Imam Husain’s commitment to righteousness.  We celebrate the birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi, MLK and others regardless of what religion we practice, and commemorate their death as well. Imam Hussain is another great personality who refused to endorse a corrupt man to govern his state, his endorsement was critical for the ruler Yazid, which he did not get, and like all other dictatorial maniacs, Yazid had Imam Hussain and his entire family killed. Imam Hussain may be gone, but his legacy lives on. Imam Hussain was killed on this day, the 10^th day of the first Month of the Muslims calendar called Muharram. I believe this day coincides with the day Moses returned, Noah’s ship landing and among other things.

The easy thing to do is sit down for five minutes, close your eyes and reflect on all men and women who stood up for righteousness, we are all beneficiaries of such a gift of sacrifice on their part. And make a small commitment to yourselves that you will stand up for the rights of others regardless of who they are,  and the least you can do is to speak up, or write a comment when you read, don’t back from doing the right thing…. Great men and women of spirit do not want anything, all they want is for all of us to get along and live a greater life and when you make a small commitment, they feel that their effort was appreciated.

Muslims do a variety of things including fasting and joining together to pray and pay a tribute to him. You can read more about the imam and share the article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/muharram-2011-centrality-imam-hussain_b_1117929.html

Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His work is listed at www.MikeGhouse.net

Moses in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Today, Sunday, I attended the program connecting our faiths at Temple Shalom this evening.

Rabbi Jeremy Schneider said Moses is viewed as a deliverer of Torah and not a divine person per the Reformed Jews, where as the Orthodox view him as a divine person. President Smith of the Mormon Church spoke about the role of Moses as a Prophet and Imam Shakoor talked about the critical role Moses played in the lives of Muslims - the five times a day Muslim prayers was Moses's idea if not, it would have been 50 times.

Rabbi spoke about God speaking to him in terms of the debates we go through in our daily lives in making a decision; Barry shared the inspiration and divine revelation one receives in times of conflict to do the right thing, and Imam shared what God wants us to do, pointing to Qur'aan and we cannot go wrong if we follow it.

Quite a fascinating program about Moses in three faiths. In the last few years, we have done the whold enchilada - Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed in each faith.

Way back in 2005, we planned on celebrating the birthday of each one of the spiritual leaders and understanding their contributions towards creating a better world. We are looking forward to taking it up - http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Pluralism101_WhoisPluralist.asp

The interfaith prayer in unison was read by all the attendees;

The one God who loves each of us as if He has no other to love, yet loves each of us the same; Thank you for helping us to better claim that love within us that we might better understand and know how to love others and your creation. - written jointly by Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, Rev. Don Benton & Imam Warith Din Mohammed.

In the sanctuary, Torah Scrolls were opened and the Rabbi explained about Hebrew and answered quite a lot of my questions and I asked him if I could kiss the Torah, which he allowed. I touched it with both of my hands with deep respect, and told the story about Prophet Muhammad kissing the Torah and telling his followers that we have to respect the religious books of all traditions.

Distributed the fliers of Holocaust and Genocides event listed at http://www.holocaustandgenocides.com/

It is good to be recognized by the Rabbi and Barry along with a whole lot of Jewish and other friends.

Rabbi Jeremy Schneider, Temple Shalom
Barry Smith, President of the Mormon Church
Imam Shakoor, Masjid Warith D. Mohammed
Moderator - Alexis Jaami
Organizer - Connecting our faiths
Place: Temple Shalom, Dallas
Hosted by : Temple Shalom

#