"The United Nations says there is a significant rise in religious extremism and intolerance throughout the world. 'No religion is free from extremism,' declares Abdelfattah Amor, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance." http://allafrica.com/stories/19991220004.html .
I have had firsthand experience with extremism in my family. My father was brought up in a fundamentalist Muslim home. He was an Islamic extremist. Later he became a Christian, through meeting loving Christian missionaries. He was thrown out of his hometown and disowned by his family. My sister and I were born into this Christian home.
I had come to expect that I would probably never see my father's family, and without realizing it, I had in my own way disowned them. I was sure our Christian way of living and worshiping was the only correct way.
One dictionary defines toleration in part as: "recognition of right of private judgment in religious matters, liberty to uphold one's religious opinions and forms of worship, or to enjoy all social privileges etc. without regard to religious differences."
This definition presents religious toleration as a human rights issue. People are tolerant when they respect the right of others to hold different religious beliefs. Someone might believe that their faith is the only valid religion—the one fully approved of and created by God. Yet, this person can still express religious tolerance toward others if he or she recognizes that all individuals and religious groups have the basic human right of religious liberty—to freely follow their faith's beliefs and practices.
As I said earlier, I was at one point convinced that our way of life was best, and these opinions limited my experience. Such strong opinions acted as a substitute for spiritual growth. They contributed to the gradual weakening of my own spiritual growth. I had to learn that true growth is always open to varying opinions and experiences—that moral and spiritual battles cannot be fought when the heart is closed. To fight on the side of truth, beauty, and goodness, my heart and mind must open, and open wide. The more my heart and mind are open, the more I will realize that opinions formed in the past have no bearing on the present. I see now that religious fundamentalism was really closing me off to new truths and experiences.
All people should have the right to religious freedom.
One day I came across a passage in Science and Health: "... let human justice pattern the divine." Science and Health, p. 542. It flashed across my mind that I was not being fair to my father's family in Iran. I had developed certain expectations about what they would be like and how they would act, but these old expectations kept me from accepting the thought that people could change and be different from how they were in the past.
If there is to be peace in the world, it is vital to drop the burdens of the past, to move beyond well-worn battlegrounds, and to work toward reconciliation. Forgiveness provides a foundation for reconciliation. Reconciliation is the only way to cooperation, harmony, and peace. The Christian ministry of reconciliation will and must contribute to the restoration of human dignity, equality, and unity through the grace of God in which we all see each other as members of the family of God.
I had to follow the Golden Rule, which asks us to do unto others as we would wish them to do unto us, See Matt. 7:12 . and not only love God, but love as God loves. See I John 4:11, 20, 21 .
I decided to try to contact my father's family and get to know them. I wanted to open up my mind and let divine Love guide me. Last year I traced four of my cousins, and we made contact on the telephone for the first time. Since then we have had many wonderful conversations and regularly exchange gifts. They are all devout Muslims, but we have found much common ground. My life is richer for knowing them.
