Right God? Wrong God?

Over on my facebook page (which you might “like” if you haven’t already …), Michelle DeRusha posted this:

Brian, your Jesus/Moses/Buddha/Mohammed book and a conversation with my 8-year-old son about “right God vs. wrong God” prompted me to write this column for my local newspaper. Thank you for giving me much to think about and for helping me navigate a tough question with my son!

Here’s the article…
It seems like the perfect article to ponder on September 11. Michelle writes:

In my mind, the bigger issue isn’t so much “right God” vs. “wrong God,” but the fact that it’s a very small step from there to “I’m right, you’re wrong” or “I’m good, you’re bad.”

And, I would add, it’s a very small series of steps from “We’re good, you’re bad” to “So we will fly planes into your buildings, or drop bombs on your neighborhoods to demonstrate our superiority.”

Frankly, drawing a line in the sand and naming myself “right” and the others as “wrong” doesn’t feel like love to me. It also doesn’t feel like the most productive, fruitful way to live out my faith. Dividing people into “right God, wrong God” camps doesn’t seem to leave much room for compassion, generosity, forgiveness, respect and love.

That’s not to say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe.” It’s to say beliefs matter a great deal – and not just what you believe, but how you hold those beliefs. Without love, any set of beliefs can sound like falling bombs and crashing buildings.