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In 2005, a diverse group of religious leaders in Ohio formed a group called “We Believe Ohio.” This network sprang into being in response to a conservative Christian pastor announcing in on the statehouse steps in Ohio that he and other conservative pastors were “locking, loading and firing on Ohio” to restore what they claimed were traditional religious values.
There’s a reason children drive their parents crazy with question after question. Why is the sky blue? Why can’t I see air? Are we there yet? Where does God live? Children question everything because their brains are still growing. Questions grow the brain. Questions tingle the nerve endings, plump up the cells and cause lively connections to jump from one area of the brain to the other. Questions are better than Sudoku for keeping your brain (and your faith) alive and ticking.
When the U.S. decided to pre-emptively attack Iraq, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa predicted that the invasion would “open the gates of hell” in the region.
As the saying goes, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” This administration had a grand vision of ‘bringing democracy to the region’ and did not stop to check that vision against historical precedents for conflicts where religion plays a significant role, nor moral precedents against pre-emptive war.
When Dante’s voyager-narrator in the Inferno reaches the entrance to hell, he reads the following inscribed above the gate:
THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,
THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN, THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS
AMONG THE LOST…
ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.
What Islam Really Says About Violence, Rights and Other Religions
Gomaa, Fadlallah, Mubarak, Khan, Siddiqi, Ellison, others | On Faith
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