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.Questions
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How
does a pluralist view things? If you have specific questions,
please send to
Questions@foundationforpluralism.com
What Is Pluralism?
Pluralism is an attitude
of accepting and respecting every beautiful way people have come
to worship the divine, including but not limited to the Bahai,
Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jain, Jewish, Sikh,
Zoroastrian and other systems of belief. We ask you to consider
the following thought “the moment you believe yours is the only way, the
ego takes over and kills the spirituality and the piety in you”
and add, “And riddance of ego for ones peace and tranquility is
the summation of all religions.” Arrogance is the mother of all evil.
Who is a Pluralist?
A
Pluralist will look to the essence of the words rather than the
words themselves. Ex; a pluralist will have no problem accepting
greetings in any form; he or she will look beyond the words. You
can greet her/him with Shalom, Namaste, As-Salaamu Aliakum, God
Bless, Sat Sri Akal or whatever you are accustomed to, they all
mean the same to him/her; that you wish them well. He or She has
no qualms returning the greeting in the same format.
A pluralist will never
look down upon any form of worship, he looks to the devotion an
individual has towards the divine and not the method.
A pluralist firmly
believes in his faith, and believes in the path he follows and
understands that it will give him the salvation and takes him
closer to God. He or she understands and believes that all
traditions offer the salvation to the believer.
The Foundation for
Pluralism believes that God does not practice preferential
treatment towards any faith or a group; and we don't either. All
of us are HIS creation and HE belongs to us all. No one owns
HIM, nor does anyone have any exclusive influence over him. Who
would want a God that will not give equal access to all?
We honor, cherish and
respect every way people have come to praise and worship the
divine. We revere every one of the spiritual awakeners, to name
a few: Krishna, Zarthusthra, Moses, Mahavir, Buddha, Jesus,
Muhammad, Nanak, Bahaullah, and every Great Spirit that people
have to come respect.
We believe that each
one of us is created by the same divine system, and respecting
each one of his creations is the best form of honoring that
divinity. Knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to
acceptance and appreciation of people with different points of
view. If we can learn to accept and respect the God given
uniqueness to each one of the 7 billion of us, then conflicts
fade and solutions emerge.
Every religion frees us
from the negative engagements. When we truly believe in the
oneness of God and the oneness of mankind, we have accepted
God’s greatness and parity of human beings.
The world is a better place today because of spirituality,
without which there would be chaos. All the religions are on
the same side; that of goodness for mankind.
The
Foundation is committed to providing the media and world leaders
with insights, and policy solutions to effectively managing the
multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural societies. We
are committed to developing solutions for pluralistic governance
of diverse people.
We believe that the
purpose of all faiths is to bring peace and happiness to each
individual and connect humans with the divine. We strongly
defend the goodness of each religion. We believe that political
motivations have deliberately blamed the wrongs of the world on
religion. It is our commitment to identify and ascribe the
wrongs to individuals responsible for it and uphold the honor of
each faith.
Membership is open to
all those who subscribe to the idea of a pluralistic society, a
society where people are treated with full dignity without
regard to race, color, gender, religion, social status or any
other distinctiveness.
Points
to Ponder
God is omniscient,
omnipotent, eternal, boundless, and genderless and he is
everything, and every atom is created by him. And yet a few of
us insist that we can invoke God only with certain names. Isn’t
that confining God?
The Revelation:
All religions are
founded on the basis of Pluralism, meaning inclusiveness of all
human beings. If you are a Good Jew, Muslim, Christian ……or a
Hindu, you are indeed a pluralist. When Jesus says follow me,
Krishna says surrender to me and Allah says, submit to my will;
they are all saying the same thing. “Be like God who loves and
belongs to all.” And, when you do become like God, all the
distinctions fade; everything belongs to you and you belong to
all. That is salvation and that is, eternal peace.
Our
Mission
Our mission is to
encourage individuals to develop an open mind and an open heart
toward their fellow beings, and look to individual’s God given
uniqueness and make efforts to remove prejudices based on
religious, racial, nationalistic, linguistic, social, and
cultural or any other affiliations.
Pluralism is accepting and respecting every way
people have come to worship the divine, including but not
limited to the Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic,
Jain, Jewish, Sikh, Zoroastrian and other systems of belief.
Questions to ask
oneself
What do you believe about the origins of the earth and man?
- God did it, in seven days
- Yeah, but "seven days" is a metaphor
- Angels helped God make man from different colors of earth
- A powerful God, Brahma, created it from a lotus flower
- What is important is my role on earth, not its creation
- The Big Bang
- Not sure
Someone smacks you in the face. What is your response?
- Turn the other cheek
- An eye for an eye, you hit him back to defend yourself
- Seriously, his parents didn't raise him right
- Bad karma will get him back
- Non violence is the best path, even if I get beat up
- I don't see what this has to do with religion
There's a spider in your shower, what do you do?
- Kill it, it's just a spider
- Just shower, it's only a spider
- Let it get washed down the drain, then feel bad
- Move it out of the shower
- Pick it up in a tissue and gently take it outside
- Spiders eat mosquitoes, leave it
How would you prefer to pray?
- Kneeling before bed
- Saying grace before meals
- Once in the morning and once at night
- Kneeling and standing, throughout the day
- Incense and an offering of food
- Repeat a mantra and use prayer beads
- As Prescribed by my Religion
- At a Starbucks
What day do you consider most sacred?
- Saturday
- Sunday
- Every day
- None of the days
Why do you pray?
- I don't see a reason to pray
- Forgiveness
- Betterment
- To praise and serve God
- To recognize the power of the creator
- I meditate to clear my mind and seek inner-peace
What do you not eat?
- Pork
- Cheeseburgers
- Meat on Friday
- Meat at all
- Beef
- Day old Sushi
What do you think about Charity?
- I give to foundations
- I give a little bit every week during services
- I give a percentage of my income to the institution
- I give to individuals on the street
- It is one of the pillars of a good life
Which of these activities gives you inner peace?
- Repenting and seeking forgiveness
- Seeking and finding the deep inner truths in religious texts
- Praying directly to God
- Yoga
- Meditating
- A long nature hike
How do you identify with religious holidays?
- A formal family dinner with services
- A big meal with lots of food and lots of people
- Fasting
- Thanksgiving is my holiday of choice
- Offerings to my God
What do you think happens when you die?
- You will be reborn depending on how you lived your last life
- You will be reborn and suffer again
- You will go to heaven or hell
- You hope to ascend to paradise
- You turn into plant food
How would you like your body to be treated when you die?
- Cremation is a must for me
- Burial
- Lay me to rest in a peaceful place
- It doesn't matter at all
What do you think of divorce?
- Divorce is not possible
- Only if absolutely necessary
- If it was not meant to be then it is okay
Who is the greatest spiritual leader on the planet today?
- Dali Lama
- The Pope
- Billy Graham
- Imam W. Deen Mohammed
- There are several great Yogis
- There are several great rabbis
How do you hope your good deeds on earth will be repaid in the
afterlife?
- You're reunited with your family and friends
- You live for eternity in Heaven
- You're showered with riches in Heaven
- You're reincarnated to a better life
- There is no afterlife
How do you expect your bad deeds on earth to be punished in the
afterlife?
- You go to Hell
- You do your time in Purgatory
- Nothing, if you confess your sins
- You're reincarnated to a worse life
- Doesn't matter, there is no afterlife
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