New Thoughts as a New Decade Begins

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

Romeo & Juliet, Act II, Scene 2.

Forty-five years ago, when I was a young US Army soldier stationed in what we then called West Germany, I met an Arab Christian couple from Lebanon who had a new baby. They graciously invited me to their apartment where we shared an evening of food and conversation. During our delightful time together, I noticed the mother and father frequently bending over their infant son and repeating the same word: “Allah, Allah, Allah.”

The father explained, “We want his first word to be the Name of God.”

They were Marionite Christians, teaching their baby the same Arabic word for God as the followers of Islam use in prayer: Allah.

Westerners sometimes translate the great creedal statement of the Islamic world with the words, “There is no God but Allah,” as if our Muslim friends were praying to some alien deity. But the Arabic expression really means, “There is no God but God.” The same Divine Power celebrated in Lebanese Christian liturgies is addressed five times a day by 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.

It started me thinking…how many more things do people of different faiths have in common? Certainly, there are differences among the world religions. Not surprisingly, civilizations separated by geographical, cultural and linguistic barriers have solved their spiritual equations differently. Diverse spiritual traditions have inspired rich cultural heritages—beliefs, practices, and theological nuances; characteristic music, dance, and art—which make each faith distinct from all others.

Yet, all the religions of humanity seem to offer a sense of wonder, reverence for life, ethical teaching, some form of the Golden Rule, and an abiding sense of life’s okay-ness because, despite all appearances to the contrary, God has everything under control. Beyond these rudimentary similarities, much healthy diversity is readily apparent.

As I reflected on my Lebanese Christian friends in Germany and their Muslim countrymen back home, it occurred to me that all parents want similar good for their children. Happiness, wholeness, a sense of purpose, and a faith which sets them free to be the best person they can possibly be. Whatever combination of phonemes we select to identify the mystical presence and power of the Divine outpicturing in our lives—even if we find it difficult to use God-language at all—one could argue that the goal of a prosperous, healthy, joyful existence is the baseline hope of all sentient beings and the common religion of humanity.

Last spring I visited Sri Lanka and traveled in the company of Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims. The intense compassion for humanity and desire to leave our children a better world was indistinguishable among the faith groups I met. Perhaps this speaks to an even deeper common ground than ideas or culture or ritual.

Perhaps the universal yearning for meaning and wholeness indicates we have a self-correcting program running within humanity, and tendencies toward violence and selfishness must give way as we learn more about our brothers and sisters across the street and across the world.

Join me and ponder these thoughts about the underlying oneness of humankind in the decade now begun...