Rex,

I am delighted to get to know you through this blog. I am with you in "ecology as a spiritual movement." I am with you in "worship the earth and living systems." Meeting one another, sharing conversation and taking action together as an inspired collective body is good news!

My volunteer work involves promoting giant peace doves (Jane Goodall) and Circle the World peace concert celebrations (Dana Lyons). You offer much to celebrate. Thank you!

Trish~~

It is a bit of a rarity for an IB contributor to respond to questions, especially when it is done in a language that suggests the contributor lives in the real world.

Thanks for this, Rex. You are in good company; Einstein, Spinoza, Sagan and many other great men all lived in the real world.

Einstein once said: “I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.”

You say, “first, we must distinguish between the facts of history, personal spirituality, and organized religion”. No problem with that, but why not simply sum up Jesus’ teachings with something like: “Treat others the way you want to be treated”.

In your Earth Day sermon at the Unitarian Church you told us about instances of civil disobedience. Whenever Greenpeace protested it helped shape the world for the better. As a Vancouverite I will be forever grateful for the group of people who stood in front of that bulldozer forty years ago, helping to make Vancouver one of the most liveable cities in the world.

One thing few of us have the will for, is protest against religion itself. Whether this is done out of respect, or fear, or maybe a combination of both, is not really clear. But just like the current economic system that only works at an expansion rate of three percent or more is unsustainable, so is the current way we treat religion.

Why not be honest and talk about it, like these guys do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjfCWy6dmco

Sorry, this maybe posted twice, the first time may not have gotten through because of a youtube URL. Here the original post without that URL.

It is a bit of a rarity for an IB contributor to respond to questions, especially when it is done in a language that suggests the contributor lives in the real world.

Thanks for this, Rex. You are in good company; Einstein, Spinoza, Sagan and many other great men all lived in the real world.

Einstein once said: “I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.”

You say, “first, we must distinguish between the facts of history, personal spirituality, and organized religion”. No problem with that, but why not simply
sum up Jesus’ teachings with something like: “Treat others the way you want to be treated”.

In your Earth Day sermon at the Unitarian Church you told us about instances of civil disobedience. Whenever Greenpeace protested it helped shape the world for the better. As a Vancouverite I will be forever grateful for the group of people who stood in front of that bulldozer forty years ago, helping to make Vancouver one of the most liveable cities in the world.

One thing few of us have the will for, is protest against religion itself. Whether this is done out of respect, or fear, or maybe a combination of both, is not really clear. But just like the current economic system that only works at an expansion rate of three percent or more is unsustainable, so is the current way we treat religion.
Why not be honest about it, especially about Islam?