"Live and let live" is a good rule to follow

Religious Views, by Art Carney

From the Middle East conflict, to gay bashing and protests about the separation of church and state, it seems that our separate religious beliefs continually keep mankind at war with itself. To some extent, intolerance and negative attitudes toward other people or groups are spawned by the belief that our own particular religious faith is favored by God, and that our way of life gives us a higher purpose in the scheme of things. In the distant past, that line of reasoning is what gave people a common ideology and a moral code to live by that was needed in the formation of different human cultures -- cultures that enabled the people of a tribe or nation to live together in peace.

However, in these modern times of multi-cultural societies, it is the different organized religions that need a common ideology -- in order that they, too, can learn to live side by side in peace.

In the same way that individual people have learned to tolerate their differences with each other through the acceptance of a higher ideal, it seems possible that the administrators of organized religion could expand the ideals of religion to include a broader understanding of tolerance and a truer recognition of the brotherhood of mankind -- with something more than mere lip service.

Forty years ago, Pope John XXIII had the right idea, but it didn't get very far, even though a few ecumenical activities continue to survive. In general, though, instead of understanding our common humanity by the light of a higher ideal, it is the differences between our religious views that we are most aware of, and the tolerance that we do display seems to be directed only toward the people of our own general group. Obviously there is a flaw of some sort in our broad religious view of things.

Perhaps our willingness to trust in a divine plan that is administered through the mysterious ways of God gives us a false sense of security in the status quo. Maybe we expect too much from God and not enough from ourselves. Maybe our higher purpose in the scheme of things is to use our own mind to work toward the betterment of ourselves and of mankind, and maybe even God Himself wants us to find our meaning and purpose in life through our own efforts -- within our present circumstances. However, regardless of the actual nature of our own, or of God's role in the scheme of things, it is unlikely that being tolerant of others would be detrimental to the accomplishment of our own "higher purpose", whatever it may be.

In the less complicated lifestyles of the past, individuals would automatically contribute to the good of mankind simply by being a good citizen of the community, but the multicultural make-up of modem society requires an added measure of tolerance toward the customs and beliefs of others. The encouragement of the widespread employment of tolerance ought to be a priority of organized religion. An ecumenical development of a well thought out plan of action toward the practice of tolerance between different religious groups could possibly -- perhaps within a few generations, as opposed to a few centuries -- bring about a second Renaissance that would revise our concept of what human life is capable of being.

But regardless of our religious affiliations, and in spite of how brilliant an ecumenical plan of action may be, only individuals can refrain from being selfish, intolerant, dishonest or violent, and no matter how well organized or how united in the spirit we may be under the guidance of a religion, only the efforts of individuals can change things -- one way or the other. In other words, while organized religion is helpful to mankind, it is only through the efforts of individual people that changes occur. We can modify our own beliefs a little, and we can change our own behavior to some extent, but we can never change the beliefs or the behavior of others -- they must do it themselves -- and attempting to do so results in much of mankind's inner turmoil.

In an atmosphere of true tolerance there is no need for any particular belief or religious faith to prevail, and our best course of action is to seek out those good things in our own life that do no harm to others. Simply put, "live and let live" is a good rule to follow in the course of everyday life.

Art Carney is a Wasilla resident and a frequent contributor to the Religion page.