{"id":1565,"date":"2011-09-09T10:13:14","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T14:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2011-09-09T10:13:14","modified_gmt":"2011-09-09T14:13:14","slug":"god-is-not-a-christian-other-universals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2011\/09\/god-is-not-a-christian-other-universals.html","title":{"rendered":"‘God is Not a Christian’ & other universals ~"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I’ve written about this quote (his book<\/a>‘s title) from Biship Tutu before. But in the mania ‘remembering’ the horrible nightmare that is the aftermath of the 9\/11 tragedy, it’s good to hear.<\/p>\n

Unlike some, I see nothing good that has come from 9\/11. War, with its thousands and thousands of deaths? The acceptance of increased public racial profiling<\/a>? TSA procedures that apparently aren’t even effective<\/a>? A widened schism between cultures and religions? The so-called patriot laws…?\u00a0 This is the legacy we’ve built following the amazing outpouring of international grief and support after 9\/11?<\/p>\n

My deepest grief is that my Muslim friends (& extended family) now walk through their lives with many of the same fears and day-to-day humiliations of other ‘non-white’ friends. A pervasive ‘you’re different, and that’s not good’ attitude that daily slams many of the people I love.<\/p>\n

What\u00a0 Bishop Tutu says is compelling: what kind of God wouldn’t recognise the divinity in Ghandi? In the Dalai Lama? In what world is the good done by a Muslim \"\"<\/a>unequal to the good done by a\u00a0 Christian? And yet — I have family members who believe I’m destined to spend eternity in hell, simply because of my rejection that belief in Jesus’s divinity is the only way to grace.<\/p>\n

So this decade past the tragedy of 9\/11 and its aftermath, I offer a humble spin on Bishop Tutu’s powerful words: God is more<\/em> than Christian. As a friend of mine told me once, ‘all religions are just different ladders to the same God.’ That makes such good sense to me… Far more\u00a0 than an after-life where you only get in if you know the secret handshake…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve written about this quote (his book‘s title) from Biship Tutu before. But in the mania ‘remembering’ the horrible nightmare that is the aftermath of the 9\/11 tragedy, it’s good to hear. Unlike some, I see nothing good that has come from 9\/11. War, with its thousands and thousands of deaths? The acceptance of increased…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,15,4,68],"tags":[187,11,1181,1187,10,186,1179,1204],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism","category-compassion","category-unitarian","category-universalism","tag-911-legacy","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-desmond-tutu","tag-god-is-not-a-christian","tag-unitarian","tag-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\n'God is Not a Christian' & other universals ~ - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've written about this quote (his book's title) from Biship Tutu before. 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But in the mania 'remembering' the horrible nightmare that is the aftermath of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2011\/09\/god-is-not-a-christian-other-universals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beginner's Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-09T14:13:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/files\/2011\/09\/desmond-tutu-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Britton Gildersleeve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'God is Not a Christian' & other universals ~ - Beginner's Heart","description":"I've written about this quote (his book's title) from Biship Tutu before. 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Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. 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