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Joining him as panelists were Rev. Michael Buckner Fanning, Ph.D., Father David H. Garcia, Dr. Rama K. Rao, Imam O. Adib Shakir and Rabbi Emeritus Samuel M. Stahl, with Ruqayya Y. Khan, Ph.D., assistant professor of Islam at Trinity University, serving as moderator.
Presentations by Rev. Bodman and Imam Shakir were covered in the March 17 edition of Today’s Catholic.
RABBI EMERITUS SAMUEL M. STAHL
Rabbi Emeritus Stahl served for 26 years as senior rabbi at Temple Beth-El, where he established himself as a leader in interfaith work locally. He attained his Doctor of Hebrew Letters and Doctor of Divinity degrees from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. Previous posts include serving as a chaplain in the United States Army and six years as editor of the Journal of Reform Judaism, as well as authoring books in the religious field.
Rabbi Stahl opened on a hopeful note, mentioning that a new book by Rabbi Irving Greenberg, For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: the New Encounter Between Judaism and Christianity, has been referred to as the handbook for future Jewish-Christian relations.
While noting the world’s religions have contributed great gifts to the welfare of the human family, he observed there has always been a minority of fanatics within each faith community contributing to human woes. “Whether we’re Jewish or Christian or Muslim,” he said, “none of us today is exempt from this extremism of some of our people.”
Fanaticism is a curse in any religion, he said, and anyone claiming God as a cohort for their own partisan values and goals is, in effect, breaking one of the Ten Commandments by taking God’s name in vain. “I don’t believe that God, who is being served by at least 300 religions in the world, thinks that only one of them is correct and all the others are wrong,” he said, advocating a spirit of humility when approaching sacred Scripture.
“I assume that all of us believe that God is perfect,” he said, “and yet our knowledge of God’s world, because we’re human beings, cannot be perfect. ... We always have to leave room for other interpretations, other understandings.”
He pointed out the inconsistency of fanatics who uphold only those parts of the Bible that suit them, such as the verses in Leviticus that claim homosexuality is a grievous sin. Not far from these is a verse forbidding the eating of pig’s meat. “Why do the religious extremists accept the prohibition against gays and not the one against eating a ham sandwich?” he said, eliciting chuckles from the audience.
“I believe that the biblical writers tried to hear and understand what God was trying to tell them as best they could,” he added, “even with their human limitations.” Therefore, he noted, we must approach our religious tasks in today’s world of diversity “by affirming that there are many truths — truths spelled with a lower case ‘t’ and not a single absolute truth spelled with a capital ‘T.’ We need pluralism and not dogmatism in our religious quest.”
Rabbi Stahl referred to British Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby’s description of God as a good father who has given his children a set of guidelines but now wants them to develop them further on their own. “Thus we turn to the learned men and women of our traditions to find out how they understand what God wants of us, that this is what we follow,” he said.
He concluded with a favorite story, telling of the dedication of a new synagogue in Virginia that had previously held services in a variety of Christian churches over the years, the last one being Catholic. When asked about the relationship between the Catholic church and the synagogue, a member of the Jewish congregation replied, “We all have the same commanding officer; we just report to different chains of command.”
DR. RAMA K. RAO
Representing the Hindu perspective was Dr. Rao, a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist for more than 25 years and founder of the Hindu Temple of San Antonio, where he continues to serve on the Board of Trustees. His articles on Indian philosophy and spirituality have been published in national and international journals and he has received the honorary title “Aastika Shiromani” (meaning “one who serves and guides the younger generation and society”) from the Austin Indian Cultural and Fine Arts Institution.
Dr. Rao noted that in his work of delivering babies he sees each of them enter the world in “total purity and innocence.” As these children grow under the love and direction of their family, acquire an education and are introduced to religious beliefs, some help make the world a better place, he said, while others, unfortunately, turn out to contribute to the “pain, agony and loss of peace in this world today.”
Noting the Hindu religion has been practiced in India for more than 3,000 years, Dr. Rao related that their ancient scriptures contain answers for the problems facing the modern world. The Hindu religion perceives God, “the Supreme Consciousness,” as being manifest throughout the universe — “into planets, into the earth, into human beings, into the birds, trees, everything that we see,” he said.
Describing this concept as like putting sugar candy into a glass of milk, “any drop, from top to bottom, is equally sweet,” he said. “That’s how God is in everybody, in every place, in every color and every creed.”
There would be no quarreling between religions if everyone could recognize this godliness in all people, said Dr. Rao, noting the importance of prayer and urging religious teachers to emphasize this oneness of humanity. “God is everywhere,” he said, adding that when that truth is truly accepted, a bridge will automatically be in place between all peoples.
Hindu scriptures teach treating one’s parents and teachers with respect, he said, and treating all guests, “the people who come to your house, to your country, to your city, as representatives of the same God whom you worship.” He quoted from Hindu teachings, “There is no religion greater than helping others. There is no sin meaner than hurting others.” And, as do the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions, the Hindu faith speaks out against greed, materialism, anger, jealousy and the like.
Dr. Rao noted that Mother Teresa’s great acts of kindness made her a saint to the people of India long before her canonization by the Catholic Church and that even those not familiar with the Christian faith could see Jesus’ gospel of kindness through her selfless actions.
“That practice has to govern,” he said. “Truth has to be encouraged. Righteousness has to be stressed.” With the world today becoming more and more a global community, he added, “the future generations need to be made to understand this universe is a family.” |