{"id":5812,"date":"2013-11-21T21:27:49","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T02:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=5812"},"modified":"2013-11-21T21:48:23","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T02:48:23","slug":"god-has-no-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html","title":{"rendered":"God Has No Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Photo: Namaste ?\" src=\"https:\/\/scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-prn2\/p480x480\/1465385_10153491656995247_1910338444_n.jpg\" width=\"606\" height=\"306\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When I first saw this quote today, it resonated resoundingly in my heart as Truth with a capital T.\u00a0 Goosebumps, which are what I call my &#8216;Truth Barometer&#8217; rose on my arms. There\u00a0are some who are reading these words who may disagree and yet, to the best of my knowledge, both as an interfaith minister and a human being who has lived on the third rock from the sun for a bit more than 55 years, I have learned that religion is meant to unite and not divide. When people ascribe to the idea that &#8216;their God is better than&#8217; someone else&#8217;s, we are in deep doo doo. All manner of violence, both physical and verbal have ensued as a result. What if, as a collective humanity, we looked at religion as different ways of &#8216;voting for&#8217; the God of our understanding and lived as if the love that is at the core of all spiritual traditions was who were born to be? If we see ourselves as love incarnate, we could ask ourselves WWLD?\u00a0 What would love do? I know I have shared that before, but it bears repeating. How would you go through your day to day, knowing that love is never wasted, that everyone with whom you crossed paths was a brother or sister traveler on the journey? What judgments could we release if we knew that we were all, as Ram Dass says &#8220;Walking each other home.&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>Too often, people use their interpretation of religious doctrine and dogma as justification for enslaving, abusing or otherwise causing harm to others. One of my favorite songs about this subject was written by singer songwriter John Flynn. It is called <em>Not With My Jesus<\/em> and it speaks to the idea that no religion has a monopoly on salvation, that a God of love, loves us all equally.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/birIfEtYsdM\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/birIfEtYsdM<\/a>\u00a0Not With My Jesus by John Flynn<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.johnflynn.net\">www.johnflynn.net<\/a><\/p>\n<p>and another musical friend named Billy Jonas offers his deepest heart knowing that God is in all things, even those people and actions we might see as irreverent or sacrilegious.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billyjonas.com\">www.billyjonas.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/BKZ82oo-jN0\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/BKZ82oo-jN0<\/a>\u00a0God is In by Billy\u00a0Jonas<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; When I first saw this quote today, it resonated resoundingly in my heart as Truth with a capital T.\u00a0 Goosebumps, which are what I call my &#8216;Truth Barometer&#8217; rose on my arms. There\u00a0are some who are reading these words who may disagree and yet, to the best of my knowledge, both as an interfaith&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,13,50,45,14,4,54,16,10],"tags":[3509,88,1215,803,632],"class_list":["post-5812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-blissfull-thinking","category-god","category-goddess","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-interfaith","category-my-personal-bliss","category-spirituality","tag-billy-jonas","tag-ghandi","tag-jesus","tag-john-flynn","tag-ram-dass"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>God Has No Religion - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God Has No Religion - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; When I first saw this quote today, it resonated resoundingly in my heart as Truth with a capital T.\u00a0 Goosebumps, which are what I call my &#8216;Truth Barometer&#8217; rose on my arms. There\u00a0are some who are reading these words who may disagree and yet, to the best of my knowledge, both as an interfaith&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-22T02:27:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-22T02:48:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-prn2\/p480x480\/1465385_10153491656995247_1910338444_n.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"God Has No Religion - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"God Has No Religion - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"&nbsp; When I first saw this quote today, it resonated resoundingly in my heart as Truth with a capital T.\u00a0 Goosebumps, which are what I call my &#8216;Truth Barometer&#8217; rose on my arms. There\u00a0are some who are reading these words who may disagree and yet, to the best of my knowledge, both as an interfaith&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2013-11-22T02:27:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-11-22T02:48:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-prn2\/p480x480\/1465385_10153491656995247_1910338444_n.jpg"}],"author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html","name":"God Has No Religion - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-prn2\/p480x480\/1465385_10153491656995247_1910338444_n.jpg","datePublished":"2013-11-22T02:27:49+00:00","dateModified":"2013-11-22T02:48:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-prn2\/p480x480\/1465385_10153491656995247_1910338444_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-prn2\/p480x480\/1465385_10153491656995247_1910338444_n.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/11\/god-has-no-religion.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"God Has No Religion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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