This week: Let's Celebrate our Similarities Edited by: Lilith of House Martell  
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| The world's religions are similar in many ways. All religions include rituals, scriptures, sacred days, and gathering places. Each religion gives its followers instructions on how human beings should act toward one another. In addition, three of the world’s religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share a common origin: all three trace their beginnings to the biblical figure of Abraham. |
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I consider myself to be a ‘searcher’. I’ve studied a few different religions and spiritual belief systems; even immersing myself in a few to find the right path for me. Over the years, I have discovered that many religions have significant similarities, which leaves me to wonder ‘why we just can’t get a long better’.
On July 10th, I noticed a holiday pop up on my calendar; curious, I looked it up. Muslims celebrated “Eid al-Adha”. Eid al-Adha is the ‘Holiday of the Sacrifice’ and the bigger of the two major holidays celebrated in Islam (the other being Eid al-Fitr). It honors the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to God’s command. Before Ibrahim could sacrifice his son, however, God provided him with a lamb that he was supposed to kill in his son’s place because of his willingness to sacrifice his own son in the name of God. In commemoration of this intervention, Muslims ritually sacrifice animals. The family, which offers the animal consumed part of their meat, while they distribute the rest of the meat to the poor and the needy. Anyone familiar with Christianity or Judaism is likely familiar with this story.
After a bit of reading about Eid al-Adha, I wanted to do a little digging to find other similarities among the world’s major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The example above is just one of many.
The monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were all born in the Middle East and are all inextricably linked to one another. Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism. While there have been differences among these religions, there is a rich cultural interchange between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Therefore, how could they avoid similarities, right?
Jews, Christians, and Muslims have “remarkably similar notions of the divine,” says Karen Armstrong, author of “A History of God.” Ms. Armstrong delves into those similarities, as do almost three dozen other experts, from Harvard, Yale, and other universities and organizations like the Progressive Muslim Union of North America, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, and the Church of England. “A History of God” is a really outstanding book, by the way, for anyone interested in further reading on this topic.
I assure you; I am not advocating for ‘one world religion’. And I know well that there are extremists in every religion. What I am suggesting is that we use similarities to bridge the gap and promote friendship and mutual respect.
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From "Sharing your Spiritual Journey..."
Sunny  wrote:
I Love your Spiritual Newsletter here and I have also saved it! I plan to do all the prompts and go over your points repeatedly. I have a Spiritual Group that I hope you will share in your next newsletter if it's not too much trouble. " Spiritual Talk Place Group " . Keep up the wonderful work you do! Love it!!
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Spiritual: July 20, 2022 Issue [#11462]
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