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Of course Thanksgiving, focused as it is on assessing our lives, creating common rituals, and generally thanking and supplicating the Divine is a religious holiday. The beauty of Thanksgiving is that most everyone has something for which to be thankful.
Implicit in "On Faith's" latest question is a broader one affecting the interests not just of all religions, but the geopolitical interests of democratic nations as well: To what extent can “outsiders” influence the struggle for moderation within religious communities?
There is a distinction to be drawn between the cultural expressions of the American people and the formal role of government.
To deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is anti-Semitic; to be critical of Israeli policy is not.
How can anyone doubt the positive impact that the religious community has in addressing these issues? Let me deal with very real ways that day in and day out religion, religious groups, and religious individuals play vital roles in the fields of international relations and humanitarian assistance.
Arun Gandhi’s statement this week on Jewish identity, the firestorm of controversy it evoked, and his inadequate apology, requires a response.
There is a magnificent sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi in a little park off Dupont Circle in Washington. It is inspiring, capturing the moral energy of this frail but towering figure of justice. It sits just a few yards from my desk and every time I look up, it reminds me of the moral underpinnings of the work I do — a source of optimism for the world of justice and peace that, together, we may yet achieve.
Yet it reminds me vividly as well of another part of my task. For one of the several moral blind spots that Mahatma Gandhi had concerning anti-Semitism, particularly in the context of Nazi depredation and use of violence to destroy the Jews.
The integration of religion fully into our lives, including the need to use it to address the great moral issues of our time, is something to which Jews can strongly relate. So as Pope Benedict used this quote in this speech, I fully concur. However, while keeping religion as purely a private matter endangers it soul, so too does a response that makes religion a government matter. Such a relation was not what the Pope suggested in his speech, yet out of context, the quote in the question might have inadvertently lent itself to that interpretation.
What Islam Really Says About Violence, Rights and Other Religions
Gomaa, Fadlallah, Mubarak, Khan, Siddiqi, Ellison, others | On Faith
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